Guaranteeing Social Rights and Regulating the Public Sector

Summary, in English

Although the United States and Sweden are different in their government and legal structure, both countries have attempted to deter an increasing problem of bullying and degrading behaviour at schools. An unintended consequence in one country is to designate more youth as in need of special help and remove them from the classroom. In the other country we see an increased use of criminalisation and expulsion. This paper compares how each country tries to guarantee the social rights of students at school. Sweden, a social-democratic welfare state, has a history of legislating equality and safety at school, enforced by a School Inspectorate. The United States, a liberal state with a history of race segregation, relies on legislation against discrimination for bettering its school system. The paper concludes with a discussion of how law and policy change invokes embedded cultural processes that defend the autonomy of public institutions while resisting the challenges of political intervention.