The moral economy of housing provision in Scandinavia and beyond : A conversation
(2025) In Berliner Journal fur Soziologie 35(3-4). p.497-513- Abstract
Housing is crucial for people to flourish, as it is more than shelter and physical infrastructure. The conversation discusses trajectories and ‘variegations’ in universal, decommodified, non-profit housing provision in Scandinavian countries, focusing on Sweden (allmännyttan) and Denmark (almen). It explores how Sweden’s municipal rental housing was transformed by neoliberal market fundamentalism, while the Danish tenant-owned housing associations turned out to be more resilient to neoliberal reforms. The conversation’s second part discusses the potential of a moral economy perspective to enrich our understanding of contemporary transformations. Such a perspective involves reintroducing moral arguments pointing towards a sustainable... (More)
Housing is crucial for people to flourish, as it is more than shelter and physical infrastructure. The conversation discusses trajectories and ‘variegations’ in universal, decommodified, non-profit housing provision in Scandinavian countries, focusing on Sweden (allmännyttan) and Denmark (almen). It explores how Sweden’s municipal rental housing was transformed by neoliberal market fundamentalism, while the Danish tenant-owned housing associations turned out to be more resilient to neoliberal reforms. The conversation’s second part discusses the potential of a moral economy perspective to enrich our understanding of contemporary transformations. Such a perspective involves reintroducing moral arguments pointing towards a sustainable organisation of livelihoods, not least with regard to privatisation, individualisation and financialisation and their impact on inequalities. A moral economy approach allows to broaden the objects of study, moving towards an integrated analysis of habitation, including sustainable and caring neighbourhoods, by transcending academic habits of myopic disciplinary isolation.
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- author
- Clark, Eric LU ; Novy, Andreas and Volmary, Hans
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-12
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Denmark, Housing, Moral economy, Provision, Sweden, Transformation
- in
- Berliner Journal fur Soziologie
- volume
- 35
- issue
- 3-4
- pages
- 17 pages
- publisher
- De Gruyter
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105022598897
- ISSN
- 0863-1808
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11609-025-00577-0
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 5198eff0-426e-485f-b5de-5362b16b609f
- date added to LUP
- 2026-02-09 14:49:55
- date last changed
- 2026-02-09 14:49:55
@article{5198eff0-426e-485f-b5de-5362b16b609f,
abstract = {{<p>Housing is crucial for people to flourish, as it is more than shelter and physical infrastructure. The conversation discusses trajectories and ‘variegations’ in universal, decommodified, non-profit housing provision in Scandinavian countries, focusing on Sweden (allmännyttan) and Denmark (almen). It explores how Sweden’s municipal rental housing was transformed by neoliberal market fundamentalism, while the Danish tenant-owned housing associations turned out to be more resilient to neoliberal reforms. The conversation’s second part discusses the potential of a moral economy perspective to enrich our understanding of contemporary transformations. Such a perspective involves reintroducing moral arguments pointing towards a sustainable organisation of livelihoods, not least with regard to privatisation, individualisation and financialisation and their impact on inequalities. A moral economy approach allows to broaden the objects of study, moving towards an integrated analysis of habitation, including sustainable and caring neighbourhoods, by transcending academic habits of myopic disciplinary isolation.</p>}},
author = {{Clark, Eric and Novy, Andreas and Volmary, Hans}},
issn = {{0863-1808}},
keywords = {{Denmark; Housing; Moral economy; Provision; Sweden; Transformation}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3-4}},
pages = {{497--513}},
publisher = {{De Gruyter}},
series = {{Berliner Journal fur Soziologie}},
title = {{The moral economy of housing provision in Scandinavia and beyond : A conversation}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11609-025-00577-0}},
doi = {{10.1007/s11609-025-00577-0}},
volume = {{35}},
year = {{2025}},
}