Kulturbegreppet i skapandet av nya medborgare : En uppsats om integrationsprocesser och diskurser i det sena 1900-talets Sverige

Sammanfattning: In this thesis the author has through a discourse analysis examined how the concept of culture has been used in the discourse of integration during the late twentieth century in Sweden. The author argues that the integration of immigrating people has been the fundamental method in creating Swedish citizens within the immigrant communities. In this discourse the concept “culture” has been a constant recurring way of explaining differences among the immigrants towards “ethnic swedes” and Swedish way of life and establishing difficulties in performing integration outside of governmental policies. When looked upon in terms of discourse the integration process is the possibilities, intents and interests and the actual creation i.e. when immigrants become citizens of Sweden. The main source material has been legislative reports and bills which point out viewpoints within political institutions. In the discourse culture as a concept has operated in numerous ways. One key aspect has been to point out deviations from the “Swedish viewpoints and behaviours” by describing these deviations as “cultural expressions”. This in turn paved way for an ulterior nationalism and yet the legislative actors made it appear as a choice for the immigrants as well as an urge to keep an equivalence for all residents. Culture was also the main mode of giving the immigrants an identity. In turn the “Swedish” was both a culture that lacked a distinct content and something that was ”beyond culture”. Difficulties that immigrants would experience was in all circumstances a matter for the Swedish society as a whole but their presence was due to the immigrant’s actions or the cultural diversity in Sweden i.e. not because of Swedish policies.