The Intergenerational Carrying System: A Structural Reconstruction of Care, Risk, Buffering, and Dyadic Regulation in Sweden, c. 1500–Present

Abstract

This working paper reconstructs Sweden's intergenerational carrying system as a changing architecture of persons, households, dyads, kin, markets, services, and public institutions. It separates execution, financing, responsibility, coordination, buffering, repair, and residual consequence; reconstructs a five-stage historical sequence; and uses Swedish couple-level evidence to identify the adult dyad as a distinct regulatory carrier in parental-care allocation. The paper finds functional heterogeneity rather than a one-dimensional family-to-state or state-to-family transition. It introduces configuration reserve and reserve-failure routing, while leaving the historical derivative of total dyadic integration demand and reserve depth open. No fertility effect is inferred.