Under the Responsibility of the State – Care for People with Intellectual Disability in Denmark, c. 1930-80

PhD Student Annemarie Borregaard
2022 - 2025
Independent Research Fund Denmark

Project description

The purpose of this ph. d. project is to examine and discuss the political and administrative history of the special care sector in Denmark from c. 1930-80. The sector cared for people with intellectual disability either in institutions or in families supported financially by the state.

The positive narrative on the Danish Welfare State is, that the Public Care Act of 1933 replaced the patchwork of laws regulating the social sector and made the social system just-based on a principle of equal rights to social assistance if needed given from a set of law-regulated criteria. A recipient was considered deserving or undeserving of whether the need for help was legitimate or not. The group of ‘deserving’ had contributed to society but could not any longer due to changed life circumstances. In the group categorised as ‘deserving’ was also people with disabilities. None of the ‘deserving’ could be blamed for their poverty.

This could not be said about the situation for the ‘undeserving’. Their problems were of their own making, and therefore they could help themselves and social assistance came with a price: loss of rights and stigmatisation. For the disabled, the state established a ‘Special Care Sector’ in the Public Care Act in 1933. The overall purpose was to give one of the most vulnerable groups of people a more dignified life than before with the state as responsible care provider. The state took over the responsibility and most of the expenses. However, the care system was already there – based on institutions founded already in the 19th century.

The general aim of my project is to describe the organizational developments within the special care system, to analyse the public welfare policies on people categorized as intellectual disabled and to explain why the care system was centralised (nationalised) from 1933 until it in 1980 was decentralized and localized. In other words, I analyse when, how and why changes in the care system occurred.