Nordic Care and Care Work in the Public Service Model of Denmark: Ideational Factors of Change

Changes in care policies for children and older people are evident across Europe, reflecting changes in need, structures and available resources, such as demographic pressures and changing family structures and employment patterns, which have triggered a new recognition of the need for providing and receiving social care across generations. This has stimulated a new interest in the development of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) policies and interventions for children, as well as interest in the development of long-term care (LTC) policies and interventions for older people. However, care policies are also affected by changing discourses and policy agendas, which shape the identification of the need for policy change as well as the direction of policy changes. This chapter has as an overall goal to present how Denmark as a representative of the Nordic public service model has institutionally approached social care for children and older people, what policies are presently in place or pursued, and how effective these policies have been for the constitution of care and care work. The chapter will more specifically focus on how policymaking in social care in Denmark has been influenced by new ideas, what these ideas have consisted of and how successfully they have influenced new policy direction. The chapter will conclude with a focus on what consequences policy changes have had for the user in terms of accessibility to and quality of care, as well as for the informal and formal care provider in terms of quality of care work.