The Salaried Middle Class and the Welfare State in Sweden and Japan

This paper is an attempt to explore the ways in which the salaried middle class (SMC) in Sweden and in Japan, benefit from and influence social welfare policies. It is argued that in both countries members of the SMC benefit as consumers and producers of education, medical care and social security service; and that they advance their interests through corporatist institutions. Sweden’s SMC would seem to be larger, more cohesive and more powerful than that of Japan. The author concludes that where a working class is weak and divided, as in Japan, the SMC is largely a creature of capital; but that where a working class is strong and well-organised, as in Sweden, the SMC grows in response to the needs and demands of both labour and capital, and thereby achieves greater influence, autonomy and power.