Since the 1930s, there has been a mixed picture of Swedish legal culture. Sweden has either been described as a world-leading liberal rule of law or as a remnant of a pre-modern and absolutist system. The question of the split image of Sweden, on this point, has become more and more important for Swedish social research and debate since the 1980s, without any really decisive research. The central question seems to be how judicial review of administrative decisions has worked for politically sensitive social cases. Critical jurists have long described the Swedish administrative courts as bureaucratized and loyal to the government in this area. There is only one major study in legal research that has taken a closer look at this, and it has only studied judgments, not all the documents in the cases. The conclusion has nevertheless been that the administrative courts seem to be almost entirely on the side of the authorities. More in-depth studies are needed to address this issue, trying to determine exactly how the courts have ruled, and complementing the legal method with a social anthropological approach. This research project will examine sentencing in a large number of social cases (the target groups suspension from the job and development guarantee, sickness benefit and sickness compensation) that have passed through the administrative court in Stockholm. It includes case studies and an examination of how the media has dealt with legal issues.