Comparisons, Categories, and Labels: Investigating the North–South Dichotomy in Europe

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper presents genealogy-oriented analysis of how the Nordic model gained its dominant characterization as modern, advanced and superior to other European welfare models while Southern European countries came to be labelled laggards in the welfare domain. To illuminate the relational nature of these, and all, comparisons, the analysis accentuates how researchers, politicians, and civil servants alike designate Nordic and Southern European states, their societies, and their welfare models. The empirical analysis focuses on scholarly writings about welfare-state comparisons (1986–2017) and on European Union documents addressing cohesion policies (1986–2021). Analysis of the vocabulary and labelling illuminates how the Scandocentric and the South-related bias have been produced and reproduced.The analysis indicates that labels, once established, tend to get replicated without question and grow unquestionable in science and policy-making both. While reducing complexity and increasing predictability, this process simultaneously constrains alternative ways to interpret changing situations and alternative contexts.-