Den nyliberala välfärdskommunen : En diskursanalys av den avbefolkande kommunen Hagfors

Sammanfattning: Since the 1980’s there has been a neoliberal development in society and politics, especially inthe Western world, where the welfare state has taken a step back and new ideas such asmarket and privatisation has had a breakthrough within the public sphere. Under theneoliberal development there has been an ongoing urbanisation but also a depopulation inapproximately half of the Swedish municipalities. Municipalities, which can be understood asthe lengthened arm of the welfare state, which have been affected by depopulation hastherefore had it much more difficult fullfilling their welfare duties due to the negative effectsof depopulation. Despite structural population changes both growing and decreasingmunicipalities tend to strive for growth, something that is not one of the municipalities tasks.It can be understood as a part of a neoliberal context where a so called market based ideologycan be found among municipalities who’s trying to create growth through its place brand. Oneof the municipalities which has experienced a considerable depopulating development isHagfors kommun (municipality), a municipality which can also be understood as anillustrative example of a depopulating municipality. The purpose of this thesis is therefore toexamine if there is a tension between the municipality Hagfors as a welfare organ and aneoliberal hegemony in society, and if there has been a neoliberal development over time. Inorder to carry this thesis out a qualitative method is used with discourse analysis which stemsfrom Laclau’s and Mouffe’s discourse theory and selected terms suited for the thesis’ scopeand purpose. The material consists of developmental documents from Hagfors kommun. The analysis treats meaning-making and expression as something that can be understoodwithin a neoliberal discourse as well as a welfare discourse. The analysis is lead by especiallyLaclau’s and Mouffe’s discourse theoretical term hegemony and its sub-terms. It appearsfrom the analysis that a neoliberal discourse can be found and is incused in the documentsfrom both points in time, 2002 and current documents from 2017 and 2019, and that it hasgrown stronger. The municipality has gone from hegemonising its role as a welfare organ anda welfare discourse to hegemonising itself as a place brand and hence hegmonising aneoliberal discourse. The conclusion as to whether there was a tension between themunicipality as a welfare organ and neoliberalism is that since the municipality chooses tohegemonise itself as a place brand and a part of a neoliberal context in contrast to trying toadapt to the negative development and minimising its negative consequenses, there is atension between the municipality as a welfare organ and neoliberalism.