Vaddå ekonomisk utsatt? : Tankar om ekonomisk utsatthet bland barnfamiljer med utländsk bakgrund i Växjö kommun

Sammanfattning: Abstract This thesis is centered on the economic condition and background of immigrants living in Sweden, with focus on Araby, Växjö. To guide us through this enormous work we formulated research questions, which are: Why have foreigners (immigrants) a greater risk of becoming economic vulnerable? How does economic vulnerability effect families with children? What strategies do families adopt under hard economic conditions? What strategies does the society adopt in assisting families, by economic aid, that are economic vulnerable?  Our sample was from a school where we administered an open ended questionnaire to selected students and we also had a comprehensive interview session with ten families in the community so as to have a complete picture of their living condition and how they think people are economically vulnerable. We concentrated on the causes, consequences and strategies of how economic vulnerability is handled by immigrants in Sweden. In our analysis we found out, though our respondents’ answers, that the causes of economic vulnerable are background, language, priorities et cetera. For the consequences we have health and social network, living environment and material resources and finally for the strategies we have borrowing, prioritizing and working. Amongst the theories used are micro and macro perspectives, identity, independence, social and economic capital, social exclusions and norms. In conclusions we can say economic vulnerability varies depending on the individual involved, foreigners (immigrants) are more liable to this vulnerability due to the language difficulty, inadequate knowledge about Swedish society, and the relationship between the society and their own network.