| 1. |
- Elgenius, Gabriella, et al.
(författare)
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The Politics of Ethnic Nationalism, Nostalgia and Anti-Immigrant Framing: The trajectory of the Sweden Democrats 1989 – 2022
- 2024
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Ingår i: Migration and Nationalism: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives. - : Edward Elgar Publishing. - 978 1 83910 075 8 ; , s. 114-133
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study analyzes the close links between nationalism and migration by exploring the ethno-nationalist rhetoric of nationalist and populist Radical Right parties, taking the Sweden Democrat Party as the case in point. The intersections of nationalism andmigration is analyzed by exploring frames and mechanisms of ethnic nationalism, nationalistnostalgia, anti-migrant frames, gate-keeping and resentment. Ethnic nationalism, thenostalgia for the imagined community that once was, alongside the framing of migration andmigrants as a threat to this community, the nation, are defining characteristics of the radicalright party family in Europe and elsewhere. Sweden was long considered immune to suchethno-nationalist rhetoric since the Sweden Democrats’, compared to the radical right partiesof the other Nordic countries, made it into the parliament comparatively late in 2010. Today,and after the parliamentary election of 2022, the Sweden Democrats’ is the second largestparty. Like many other nationalist and populist parties, the Sweden Democrats hasmodernized its rhetoric over time as will be outlined. However, the centrality of the party’s ethno-nationalist message and its diagnostic framing of problems identifying migration as a threat to the nation, show remarkable continuity over the period 1989 – 2022 and is key to explaining how and why the party has appealed to voters. Frame theory is used to analyze central components of ethnic nationalism and anti-migrant framing and the empirical materials used for this study include official party manifestos and position papers between1989 and 2022.
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| 2. |
- Krzyzanowski, Michal, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Discourses and practices of the ‘New Normal’ Towards an interdisciplinary research agenda on crisis and the normalization of anti- and post‑democratic action
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Language and Politics. - Amsterdam : John Benjamins Publishing Company. - 1569-2159 .- 1569-9862. ; 22:4, s. 415-437
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This position paper argues for an interdisciplinary agenda relating crises to on-going processes of normalization of anti- and post-democratic action. We call for exploring theoretically and empirically the ‘new normal’ logic introduced into public imagination on the back of various crises, including the recent ‘Refugee Crisis’ in Europe, COVID-19 pandemic, or the still ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Gathering researchers of populism, extremism, discrimination, and other formats of anti- and post-democratic action, we propose investigating how, why, and under which conditions, discourses and practices underlying normalization processes re-emerge to challenge the liberal democratic order. We argue exploring the multiple variants of ‘the new normal’ related to crises, historically and more recently. We are interested in how and why these open pathways for politics of exclusion, inequality, xenophobia and other patterns of anti- and post-democratic action while deepening polarization and radicalization of society as well as propelling far-right politics and ideologies.
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| 3. |
- Elgenius, Gabriella, et al.
(författare)
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Nationalism and the Politics of Nostalgia
- 2022
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Ingår i: Sociological Forum. - : Wiley. - 0884-8971 .- 1573-7861. ; 37:51, s. 1230-1243
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article contributes to the analysis of the politics of nostalgia by focusing on its content, conditions, and mechanisms. Frame theory is used to understand the contested nature of nostalgia through the central framing of the past. We explore ways in which nostalgia relates to ethnic nationalism and populism and its close relationship to the rhetoric of the populist radical right. Components of nostalgia that stand out as particularly significant is the history of decline and loss. Whereas nostalgia is utilized by proponents of both civic and ethnic nationalism, we are particularly occupied with the ethnic substance of nationalist nostalgia. Nationalist nostalgia capitalizes on loss, idealization, and resentment and its contested nature may be brought out through diagnostic and anti-migrant frames. A central mechanism is the juxtaposition and unfavorable comparison between an idealized glorious past, a decaying present, and the creation of a utopian future, that in many ways resemble Christian narratives of fall and redemption. We therefore expect an increasing appeal of nostalgia as an orienting mechanism during unsettling times, rapid changes, and uncertain conditions. We draw upon critical cases of the radical right in Europe, and case studies from the Balkans, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United States. © 2022 The Authors. Sociological Forum published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Eastern Sociological Society.
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| 4. |
- Jylhä, Kirsti M., et al.
(författare)
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Xenophobia among radical and mainstream right-wing party voters : prevalence, correlates and influence on party support
- 2022
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Ingår i: Ethnic and Racial Studies. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0141-9870 .- 1466-4356. ; 45:16, s. 261-286
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Considering the current political relevance of anti-immigration sentiments, we examined preference to avoid interacting with immigrants - conceptualized here as a manifestation of xenophobia - among radical (Sweden Democrats, Sverigedemokraterna, N = 2216) and mainstream (Conservative Party, Moderaterna, N = 634) right-wing voters in Sweden. Correlates of xenophobia did not differ between the voter groups or compared to other populations in previous research, suggesting that increased societal focus on immigration has not altered the correlation patterns. Intended Sweden Democrat (vs. Conservative Party) voting correlated with Right-Wing Authoritarianism, institutional distrust, less right-leaning socioeconomic attitudes (in both low- and high-xenophobia subgroups), sexist attitudes (low-xenophobia subgroup), male gender and younger age (high-xenophobia subgroup). In both voter groups, respondents with higher xenophobia expressed on average more sympathy for the Sweden Democrats, perhaps indicating a larger potential voter base. We discuss the interplay of xenophobia and contemporary voting behaviours, and the concept of xenophobia in relation to anti-immigration attitudes.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Gustafsson, Nina-Katri, et al.
(författare)
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Social network characteristics and alcohol use by ethnic origin : An ego-based network study on peer similarity, social relationships, and co-existing drinking habits among young Swedes
- 2021
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 16:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The study explores how social network determinants relate to the prevalence and frequency of alcohol use among peer dyads. It is studied how similar alcohol habits co-exist amongpersons (egos) and their peers (alters) when socio-demographic similarity (e.g., in ethnicorigin), network composition and other socio-cultural aspects were considered. Data was ego-based responses derived from a Swedish national survey with a cohort of 23-year olds.The analytical sample included 7987 ego-alter pairs, which corresponds to 2071 individuals(egos). A so-called dyadic design was applied i.e., all components of the analysis refer to ego-alter pairs (dyads). Multilevel multinomial-models were used to analyse similarity in alcohol habits in relation to ego-alter similarity in ethnic background, religious beliefs, age, sex, risk-taking, educational level, closure in network, duration, and type of relationship, as well as interactions between ethnicity and central network characteristics. Ego-alter similarity in terms of ethnic origin, age and sex was associated with ego-alter similarity in alcohol use. That both ego and alters were non-religious and were members of closed networks also had an impact on similarity in alcohol habits. It was concluded that network similarity might be an explanation for the co-existence of alcohol use among members of peer networks.
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| 7. |
- Xia, Weiqian, 1991-
(författare)
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The Political Sociology of Religion : The Impact of Religion on Political Attitudes and Behaviors in Secularizing European Societies
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- European societies have experienced extensive secularization. However, the impact of religion in governing people’s political attitudes and behaviors persists, which has been enhanced by several recent developments, including the growing salience of religious and conservative values for the remaining committed religious people, the rise of radical right parties that use Christianity in their anti-immigrant and nationalist rhetoric, and the increasing number of immigrants from outside Europe that contribute to the diversification of religion in European societies. This dissertation investigates the continuing impact of religion on political attitudes and political behaviors in European societies under a secularizing age as embodied in those developments. I will inquire using aspects of political cleavage, political institution, and political articulation related to religion.Study I examines how national contexts related to religion (secularization and party polarization on morality issues) moderate the impact of same-sex marriage and partnership legislation on public attitudes towards homosexuality. Using eight rounds of European Social Survey (ESS) data, the study shows that, first, in more secular countries and after partnership legislation has passed, there are more divergences in attitudes towards homosexuality between core religious members and the more secular others, with the former showing more negative attitudes. Second, in countries where political parties are more polarized on morality issues, the impact of partnership legislation is more negative in the general population across religiosity and partisanship; however, this effect is not repeated for marriage legislation. The study uncovers distinct effects of different normative institutions in moderating the relationship between legislation and attitudes through the articulation process.Study II focuses on the mechanism underlying the relationship between Christian religiosity and voting for populist radical right parties in Europe, using ESS Round 8 data. Mediation analysis shows that the factors suggested by previous theories, including tolerance towards immigrants, pro-social values and social capital, hardly explain the underrepresentation of Christians in radical right voters. On the contrary, Christians and radical right voters across Europe have high ideological compatibility in authoritarian and moral conservative values, highlighting ample political space for radical right parties to articulate within for attracting Christian support that has yet to be successfully capitalized. This finding is against Christianity itself being an antidote to the radical right. It suggests that the enduring religious cleavage linked to mainstream right parties may still explain why Christians avoid voting for radical parties.Study III investigates the role of religion in mobilizing immigrant political participation in the context of Sweden, using the 2010 Level of Living Survey for the Foreign Born and Their Children (LNU-UFB) data. Contrasting the theoretical expectations, this study finds little evidence that religion mobilizes immigrants to participate in politics; actually, religious attendance is found to be negatively related to political participation. The demobilization effect of religion is stronger for women, first-generation migrants. Those who have experienced religion-based societal discrimination, especially Muslims, are less active in political participation. However, second-generation Muslim immigrants are more active in participating in demonstration than the first generation, possibly due to higher perceived discrimination. The results do not support the theory on religious organizations promoting immigrant political participation in Sweden, nor is there suggestive evidence for the emergence of immigrant or Muslim political cleavage in the Swedish context.
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| 8. |
- Jylhä, Kirsti M., et al.
(författare)
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Climate Change Denial among Radical Right-Wing Supporters
- 2020
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 12:23
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The linkage between political right-wing orientation and climate change denial is extensively studied. However, previous research has almost exclusively focused on the mainstream right, which differs from the far right (radical and extreme) in some important domains. Thus, we investigated correlates of climate change denial among supporters of a radical right-wing party (Sweden Democrats, N = 2216), a mainstream right-wing party (the Conservative Party, Moderaterna, N = 634), and a mainstream center-left party (Social Democrats, N = 548) in Sweden. Across the analyses, distrust of public service media (Swedish Television, SVT), socioeconomic right-wing attitudes, and antifeminist attitudes outperformed the effects of anti-immigration attitudes and political distrust in explaining climate change denial, perhaps because of a lesser distinguishing capability of the latter mentioned variables. For example, virtually all Sweden Democrat supporters oppose immigration. Furthermore, the effects of party support, conservative ideologies, and belief in conspiracies were relatively weak, and vanished or substantially weakened in the full models. Our results suggest that socioeconomic attitudes (characteristic for the mainstream right) and exclusionary sociocultural attitudes and institutional distrust (characteristic for the contemporary European radical right) are important predictors of climate change denial, and more important than party support per se.
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| 9. |
- Rydgren, Jens, et al.
(författare)
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Contextual explanations of radical right-wing party support in Sweden: a multilevel analysis
- 2020
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Ingår i: European Societies. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1461-6696 .- 1469-8307. ; 22:5, s. 555-580
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- With the aim of studying the role of contextual factors for explaining within-country variation in the vote share of the radical right-wing party, the Sweden Democrats, in the 2014 Swedish election, we specify and test hypotheses pertaining to social marginality, ethnic threat, the contact hypothesis, and the halo effect. We study the variation in the electoral share of the Sweden Democrats at two different levels simultaneously by performing multilevel analyses to account for the ways in which voting districts are clustered within municipalities. The main finding from our analyses is the support for the ethnic threat hypothesis, where the vote share of the Sweden Democrats is significantly higher in those areas that have seen an increase in the foreign-born population, and to some extent also in ethnically diverse areas, contradicting previous research on ethnic minority presence in fine-grained contexts. The expectation that the vote share for the Sweden Democrats should be higher in socioeconomic marginalized districts is partly supported, but we find no evidence of a halo effect, where ethnically homogeneous areas that are geographically close to heterogeneous districts were expected to have a higher vote share for the Sweden Democrats.
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| 10. |
- Voytiv, Sofiya, 1990-
(författare)
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Deterritorializing Conflict, Reterritorializing Boundaries : Diaspora and Conflict in the "Homeland"
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Ethnicized armed conflicts are usually studied in their territorial dimension and analyzed through the patterns of involvement of different direct and indirect actors. Mostly the focus lies on the multiple ways these direct and indirect actors affect the processes and outcomes of such conflicts. While direct actors mostly participate in the fighting itself, indirect ones can involve transnational advocacy organizations and diasporic groups. Diasporas in this perspective are usually considered to be either “peace-makers” or “peace-wreckers”. Less research has been done on the effects the ethnicized armed conflict in the “homeland” can have on diasporic communities.In this dissertation, I develop theoretical conceptualization of the intersection of armed conflict in the “homeland” and diaspora. I focus on a specific case of Ukrainian-Russian conflict and Ukrainian, Russian and conflict-generated diasporic groups in Sweden.I argue that the ethnicized armed conflict in the “homeland” can become deterritorialized. In other words, ideas, attitudes and ethnicized narratives of such conflicts can become detached from a certain geographical location and settle in the transnational space of interactions. Such conflict deterritorialization can in its turn trigger diasporization processes elsewhere. It can also mobilize the pre-existing diasporic organizations for “homeland”-related activism. If diasporic individuals and communities use the symbols, ideas and narratives of the conflict in the “homeland” in defining the Other, as well as their relationships and networks, another process – conflict reterritorialization – is at play. This process can subsequently shift group boundary making and maintenance processes.Together, the concepts of conflict deterritorialization and reterritorialization help explain the patterns and mechanisms of the armed conflict in its meaning dimension. In addition, such theoretical conceptualization enables the analysis of the effects the conflict might have in the diasporic setting, including the processes of politicization.Using the specific case of Ukrainian-Russian conflict (2014-ongoing) I analyze the collaboration networks of Ukrainian, Russian and conflict-generated organizations active in Sweden between 2013 and 2016 and interview Ukrainians and Russians from Ukraine living in Sweden. I show that both patterns of conflict deterritorialization and reterritorialization are present in this specific diasporic setting to different degrees.Study 1 theoretically conceptualizes conflict deterritorialization as a diasporization process using previous findings from different case studies. Study 2 investigates the mechanisms of diaspora politicization and the role of conflict-generated diasporas in facilitating these mechanisms. In Study 3 I find that during the most violent period of war in eastern Ukraine, the attitude towards the conflict might have become a leading factor for collaborations between diasporic organizations. And, finally, Study 4 explores the potentiality of armed conflict in the “homeland” to contribute to a shift in ethnic group boundary making processes in the diasporic setting.Taken together the four studies aim to shed light on the non-territorial meaning dimension of the ethnicized armed conflicts theoretically and empirically. Thus, the dissertation contributes to the development of the holistic understanding of war and diaspora while taking into account the importance of contexts, factors and conditions of the country of residence, the “homeland” and the transnational space.
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