“In other European countries it isn’t strange to have diversity in a group,” said Ohlsson to financial newspaper Veckans Affärer.
Sweden has long had a strong collectivistic tradition, but according to Ohlsson the time has come to exchange this ideal for individualism and facilitated social mobility.
Veckans Affärer held a seminar on how to discover and promote talented individuals in a society earlier this week, and Ohlsson is one of those whom the newspaper previously named a “Swedish super talent”.
“I want more of the American dream in Sweden,” said the EU-minister.
Birgitta Ohlsson also called for Sweden to modernize its view of the rest of the world, warning that with today’s out-of-date view, the country risks losing many future talents.
“Knowledge intensive jobs are moving straight from Sweden to Shanghai as we speak, and that’s serious. Besides, the most well-educated teenagers are already there. Our view of the tiger economies is extremely outdated,” she said.
Whilst agreeing with Ohlsson’s ideas, Green Party head Gustaf Fridolin called for a wider definition of individualism.
“When people are given the tools that individualism provides, they can find solutions together. We can’t solve the climate issue on our own, but the parallel between individualism and the desire for one’s actions to lead to change is very strong right now,” said Fridolin to Veckans Affärer.
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