”FAREWELL TO WELFARE” : Constructing consequences of immigration on Flashback

Sammanfattning: Immigration has since long remained a contentious issue of debate. Researchers have illustratedconnections between standpoints opposed to immigration and certain views on welfare, which may beused to legitimize racism. Such perspectives on immigration and welfare have been shown to beprominent in certain contexts on the internet, like the Swedish web forum Flashback. The aim of thisthesis is to analyze discourses on Flashback about immigration, as well as discourses on Flashback regarding immigration‟s consequences for Swedish welfare. The intention is to contribute to an understanding of racist discourse on this platform specifically. The study is based on a discourse analytical approach and deals with a data set of Flashback posts to analyze constructions of immigration in relation to Swedish welfare. The findings suggest that racist discourse on Flashback islargely comprised of discursive constructions mutually reinforcing each other in a chain of feedback loops. This implies a form of circular reasoning in racist discourse on Flashback.