The Rational Humanitarians 81
raises work with Mikael when he sees something intrinsically appealing for himself in them: he wants a job in which he can develop as person.
In politics, of course, almost anything can happen. But the best guess is that —
in Sweden - the final quarter of this century will belong to the Karlssons in the same way that the mid-century belonged to the Svenssons. This means that the emphasis on equality in Swedish politics will give way to an emphasis on freedom.
The increasing predominance of Mikael’s type is a problem to
politicians — particularly those on the left — because he places individual interests before collective interests. Apolitical types such as Mikael are easily drawn into the antitax, antiunion, antigovernment protests of the eighties. Yet, one cannot help but be concerned about his apathy toward the large issues of this decade: the cost of the welfare state; the problem of retired persons and providing for the aged; the problems associated with an overwhelmingly large public sector; the temptation to resort to protectionism and self-sufficiency; the conflict between the demands of nationally democracy and the demands of union democracy (which loom large Mikael’s country); the issue of defense against the ever-present urge among superpowers to put small nations under their ”protection”; and, not least, the threat of
fascism.˛ If Mikael and his kind prevail, politicians will to a large extent be left to solve problems in peace. If so, the eighties will be a decade lacking in vigorous political participation, despite prodigious political problems that clamor for far-reaching political changes.
Mikael Karlsson in profile was presented in lectures in Norway and Finland, and to symposia in Tokyo and Zurich. The reaction was the same everywhere: he may be a typical young Swede, but he is also very much like young Norwegians, Finns, Japanese, Swiss,... Daniel Yankelovich said that Mikael Karlsson is practically an American.
Values and fashion apparently vibrate trough all the modern industrial democracies with their interconnected media. What we had thought was a typical of a country was, with minor exceptions, typical of a time. And there was a little reason to assume that the Mikael of Stockholm was a more developed specimen than his counterparts in other countries. The modern Swede is not a precursor of the modern man. At best, the Nordic scene provides him with a unique setting in which the modern social drama can be played with different accents and in a different light.
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