Den allmänna värnplikten som verktyg för ökad social integration : Upplevelser hos värnpliktiga med utländsk bakgrund

Sammanfattning: In the discussion of different integration solutions in Sweden, conscription usually appears. In Sweden, the conscription was disused from the year 2010 to the year 2017. When it was reintroduced in the year 2017 the conscription returned in a different context. Despite the argumentation for the conscription as a tool to increase social integration there have been no studies in Sweden examining this nor how people with foreign background experience the conscription in Sweden. Therefore this study aims to examine how people with foreign backgrounds experience conscription in Sweden and if and how they experience it as social integrative. The aim is also to examine if conscription can be used as a tool to increase social integration. Four interviews with Swedes who have foreign backgrounds and have completed the conscription constitute the empirical material. Socialization and social integration are the theoretical frameworks in this study. The material was analyzed with the thematic analytical method. The findings of the study revealed that two of the respondents experienced suspicion connected to their background during the muster. The respondents also expressed that they had unclear expectations of what the conscription would be like since they had no people in their closest circle who had completed the Swedish conscription. This may have led to a slight disadvantage during the beginning of the conscription. But overall the respondents had no negative experience during the conscription connected to their background and only positive experiences were highlighted. Furthermore, the findings of the study indicate that conscription in Sweden can be a tool to increase social integration. This was shown by the way the conscripts were treated equally and how they were formed to value the collective the highest. This also showed through the socialization process that the respondents underwent during conscription which had clear effects after the conscription as well.