Logics of reciprocity in Denmark

Longing and belonging in a virtuous cycle of welfare

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2049098
AutoresOlivia Spalletta (0000-0002-1060-6837, University of Copenhagen, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen12
Número1
Fecha de publicación2025-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEconomic Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2330-4847 • E-ISSN: 2330-4847
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/sea2.12328
OpenAlexW4399463349
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas22

Nordic welfare states are characterized by universal access to generous welfare services, including education, health care, and developmental support. These benefits are maintained through a shared commitment to economic reciprocity. While the centrality of reciprocity to moral and social life in Scandinavian welfare states is well established, it is less clear how citizens evaluate their own and others' reciprocity in daily life. How do everyday Danes come to know that they are reciprocating properly? What does it mean to ask "too much" of the welfare state? What are the consequences for those seen as unable to reciprocate? In this article, I examine how understandings of reciprocity emerge through welfare access and use. I argue that my Danish interlocutors approach reciprocity as an obligation to use welfare resources for the mutual benefit of citizen and society. This is a lifelong project that involves properly positioning oneself within a virtuous cycle of welfare beginning in childhood. Taking the experiences of parents raising children with Down syndrome in Denmark as an empirical point of departure, I argue that this logic of reciprocity is employed not only to justify one's own welfare use but also as an explanatory model for excluding others from benefits

Economics · Keynesian economics · Market economy · Mathematical economics · Sociology · Virtuous circle and vicious circle · Welfare · Employment and Welfare Studies · Mathematics · Psychology · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Psychology