Den allmännyttiga affären. I gränslandet mellan allmännyttan och egennyttan

Abstract

The essential empirical basis of this paper was an action research project conducted in 1990-92 with a major public housing company, Hyresbostäder i Norrköping AB. The hypothesis presented was that the public housing movement in Sweden (more than 300 companies with 850,000 flats) are facing a serious identity crisis. Owners (communities), boards and CEOs cannot cope with two major questions: (a) Is it possible to harmonize the movement's traditional vision, based on collective oriented ideals of democracy, with market strategies, strategies which must obviously be percieved as the logical choice of means for a totaly different set of ideals of democracy, namely individualistic ideals, (b) If not, is it possible to abandon the traditional vision and ideals of democracy in favour of a new vision based on individualistic ideals, a vision in harmony with the conception of the market? The analysis resulted in a picture of a public housing movement which has lost its bearings in the confusing borderland between vision, strategy and two opposing ideals of democracy.