The digitalization of care in Nordic welfare states: Sociological perspectives on exclusion, relations, and trust

This chapter aims to shed light on some aspects of the digitalization of care in the context of Nordic welfare states, namely on newly emerging forms of exclusion and inequality, as well as how the digitalization of care through mobile health technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions affects relations and trust in organized care settings. We identify patterns of both dispossession and empowerment: On the one hand, we observe new emerging patterns of exclusion concerning access to digitalized care services, with those who struggle with digital technologies being at risk of exclusion. Digitalized care services also often rely on some form of active digital participation, for example, when relatives are involved in the care of geriatric patients. This burden of care typically lands on the shoulders of female family members that take over the role of informal caregivers, hinting at a refamilialization trend. On the other hand, we find that digital solutions in care provision also have the potential to contribute to the well-being and empowerment of citizens. We identify preconditions for the realization of this potential. This includes the importance of introducing digitalized care voluntarily with a right to opt out and facilitated within already existing trustful care relations, which should be explicitly considered during the design and implementation of digital welfare services. Digital services should furthermore not replace face-to-face encounters but rather supplement them. Future research might investigate the emerging patterns of exclusion and inequality with the aim of identifying possible ways of addressing them.