Folkmyndighetens språkbruk under Covid-19

Sammanfattning: The study will deal with the strategies used by the Swedish government and the Public Health Agency (FHM) to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Initially, the risk of general transmission was considered low and the strategy was to flatten the curve. However, the Swedish approach was criticized for being unclear and not imposing strict restrictions, while others hailed it as an exemplary model for a strong public health policy. During covid, FHM has used an authoritarian tone in its communication to emphasize the importance of following the recommendations and restrictions that existed during the period. The Swedish authorities' expertise has been used to legitimize restrictions and encourage people to comply. Among other things, their purpose has been to give the authority the authority and confidence that was needed, while the public has then felt compelled to follow the measures and advice that the authority has introduced. The language used by the authorities was tailored to convince people to follow the recommended measures, including social distancing, and to take the vaccine. FHM has also used the language to present itself as experts who can answer the questions the public has and then also be able to demonstrate their expertise through, for example, numbers, statistics and scientific research. In this way, FHM has mobilized the use of language as a discourse of power to give the authority support and legitimacy to introduce measures such as limited freedom of movement, visiting bans on nursing homes, etc. By emphasizing the importance of acting quickly but also following the recommendations given, this in order to gain credibility and legitimacy. To justify their advice, they have referred to various research studies and facts based on research, science and on trust in the knowledge of experts. (Giddens:1996:87) FHM referred, among other things, to the central legislation on the Infection Prevention Act (2004:72) where everyone must contribute to preventing infection, where the Swedish strategy was simply predetermined by the 2004 law. (Wenander 2021) In this way, the authority tries to get the public to take the pandemic seriously and take measures to protect themselves, so the authority a form of dependence on the public where they have then had power and knowledge over the population. The study's theoretical frame of reference is based on Michel Foucault's theory of critical discourse analysis, as well as Anthony Gidden's concepts of framing and expert systems.