Islamophobia in Sweden: Muslim Advocacy and Hate-Crime Statistics

• Like elsewhere in Europe, Sweden suffers from under-reporting and methodological problems when it comes to recording, countering and defining Islamophobic and other hate-crimes that target religious groups. Statistics on the self-reported targeting of Islamophobic hate-crimes indicate much higher numbers than those reported to the police. This chapter provides an accessible overview to the existing data on Islamophobia in Sweden, contrasting official data with how Muslims in Sweden perceive their situation. The official data come from annual reports on hate-crimes and National Safety Surveys collected by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) from 2006 to 2012. To include Muslim perceptions we have primarily used the Swedish Muslims in Cooperation Network Alternative Report (SMCNAR). The latter provides information on how many Muslims perceive Islamophobia, inequalities and discrimination in contemporary Sweden. This chapter finds that it is necessary to pay close attention to the problem of how to define and measure Islamophobia in explaining the differences between the sources of data. While the official records seem to indicate that Islamophobia is a relatively minor problem, the SMCNAR paints a different picture. No matter how we analyse existing records, the fact that there is a gap between how minorities perceive the level of hate-crimes and how this problem is shown in the official records constitutes a problem. Without better correspondence between official records and the perceptions of a minority, the ability of government bodies to tackle the problem of hate-crimes in society becomes seriously limited.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Islamophobia

Sweden

Methodology

Definition

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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