Several scholarly works have identified the weakness of mainstream social science and the humanities to theorize racism. The sociology of absence grasps the systematic exclusion of specific experiences and specific voices within social theory. We are inspired by these contributions in our exploration of the role and the location of the category of residents racialized as not belonging to the Swedish nation, in anti-racist struggles. We are also inspired by the scholarly tradition that explores the relationship between haunting, ghosts and social justice. As a complement to the concept of waves of anti-racism, we use the concept of ‘critical event’, identifying events that challenge and transform existing frames of interpretation regarding racism. In this chapter, we focus on three critical events: the 1990 Karl XII neo-Nazi celebrations in the city of Lund, the 2000 “Kämpa Showan/Kämpa Malmö and finally, the solidarity crisis in the 2016 at Malmö Central Station. The empirical material is crafted through a patchwork of sources, being participant observation, in-depth interviews and two focus groups with anti-racist activists, identified as “second generation” participating in anti-Nazi/anti-racist mobilizations.

In October 2022, a new employment protection regulation, often seen as a core aspect of the Swedish model of industrial relations, was implemented in Sweden. While the debate around the new regulation was heated, one interesting omission was that, in the unions’ advocacy for maintaining various forms of labour market security, the racialised labour market was never discussed, despite a strong racially segmented labour market with varying working conditions. In this article we explore how three white, male-dominated trade unions representing employees in different class locations positioned themselves around the change in the new Employment Act. Inspired by contributions on racial capitalism, we unravel how trade unions take part in the contestation over industrial relations in a context in which neoliberal and ethnoracial policies are growing. Using the ‘Swedish model’ as an ‘empty signifier’ – highly variable in meaning, hence contestable – we find that the unions advance three different positions on employment protection regulation: flexible, skilled and protective, and in doing so contribute to the self-racialisation of white male workers in working life.

In this article, Bojanic, Jonsson, Neergaard and Sauer present a synthetic overview of the five country cases included in the special issue that analyse the emergence of cultures of rejection since 2015. In general, they discuss the conceptual framework of 'Cultures of Rejection', elaborated throughout the issue as a more encompassing approach that is sensitive to the values, norms and affects that underlie different or similar patterns of exclusion and rejection in different contexts. These cultures are located in the everyday lives of people. The article, therefore, first identifies contexts, objects of rejection--often migrants and racialized Others, but also 'the political' or state institutions-narratives and components of cultures of rejection that we label reflexivity, affect, nostalgia and moralistic judgement. The contrasting reading of the five cases shows that people struggle for agency under precarious and insecure conditions, and fight against imagined enemies. As Bojanic, Jonsson, Neergaard and Sauer conclude, cultures of rejection mirror ongoing processes of neoliberal dispossession, authoritarization and depolitization that culminate in a wish for agency and resovereignization. Second, and based on this overview, trends in cultures of rejection are detected against different national contexts as well as against common trends of social and economic transformations and crises, such as, for instance, the COVID-19 pandemic. This results, finally, in a discussion of ways of challenging the cultures of rejection towards more democratic and solidaristic societies. One starting point might be the 're-embedding' of the economy in society, that is, a more equal distribution of resources and future perspectives.

Kriterium - kvalitetsgranskning och publicering av vetenskapliga böcker Open Access Kriterium är en plattform för granskning, publicering och spridning av högkvalitativa vetenskapliga böcker. Kriterium är ett nytt sätt att kvalitetsmärka vetenskapliga böcker med en certifiering som ska säkerställa och visa att en vetenskaplig bok genomgått en kontrollerad peer review-process. Kriterium-märkningen innebär också att boken ska finnas fritt digitalt tillgänglig, Open Access.

Kriterium - kvalitetsgranskning och publicering av vetenskapliga böcker Open Access Kriterium är en plattform för granskning, publicering och spridning av högkvalitativa vetenskapliga böcker. Kriterium är ett nytt sätt att kvalitetsmärka vetenskapliga böcker med en certifiering som ska säkerställa och visa att en vetenskaplig bok genomgått en kontrollerad peer review-process. Kriterium-märkningen innebär också att boken ska finnas fritt digitalt tillgänglig, Open Access.

Kriterium - kvalitetsgranskning och publicering av vetenskapliga böcker Open Access Kriterium är en plattform för granskning, publicering och spridning av högkvalitativa vetenskapliga böcker. Kriterium är ett nytt sätt att kvalitetsmärka vetenskapliga böcker med en certifiering som ska säkerställa och visa att en vetenskaplig bok genomgått en kontrollerad peer review-process. Kriterium-märkningen innebär också att boken ska finnas fritt digitalt tillgänglig, Open Access.

I Ungdomars fritidsaktiviteter studeras fritidsaktiviteter och dess betydelse for ungdomar. Vilka ar engagerade i fritidsaktiviteter och vilka ar det inte? Forstarker aktiviteterna skillnader mella ...

ABSTRACT Using quantitative and qualitative methods, this study investigates inequalities in occupational status and wages between native-born and foreign-born employees in elderly care institutions in Sweden. It finds that employees from Africa, Asia and Latin America – the “Global South” – are disadvantaged in both respects. Combinatory explanations of the inequalities are needed. The shorter work experience of foreign-born workers in the care sector plus the lesser value given to educational credentials obtained outside Sweden are among the factors related to human capital theory. Access to less-valuable resources in the workplace social networks of foreign-born employees is related to social capital theory. The processes that result in exclusion from powerful social networks, in turn, are found to be affected by discrimination in the workplace.

This special issue seeks to investigate and understand the various experiences of asylum-seekers, beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and refugees in accessing labour markets across the EU and EEA countries. The first section of this introduction provides an overview of the three groups of people who are the focus of this special issue and their relationship to the labour markets in the EU Member States and EEA countries. The second section provides insights into how the essential features of their labour market integration may be understood by using Levitas' discourse analysis. The third section explores a range of different labour market access dimensions by focusing not only on the human capital aspects of migration in general but also on the contextual factors of civic stratification; the broader societal context, including public opinion and civil society; the background and situation of earlier migrants, especially asylum-seekers and refugees with respect to national/federal laws; and the countries of origin of migrants as well as demographic trends across the EU. The fourth and final section explains and justifies the focus of this special issue and emphasises the relevance of this topic.

Europe is in crisis. In recent years, there has been a rise of xenophobic parties in a number of European countries. While arguing that there is indeed a European crisis, this article focuses on the Swedish take on the crisis. The aim is to contribute to the understanding of migration, from a Swedish vantage point. This orientation has particular significance since Sweden has traditionally been extolled as defending human rights and multiculturalism by opening its doors to refugees – the so-called Swedish exceptionalism. Reality, however, is quite different and former policies are contested, raising the question whether this signals the end of this exceptionalism. In Sweden, ongoing processes are transforming the core social fabric of what was previously known as the Swedish model. It is potentially a bellwether for the transformation of a previously inclusive democratic society into something quite different, in which ‘the Other’ increasingly plays a defining role.

Right-wing, xenophobic and racist parties have enjoyed immense successes in Europe in recent decades. In Sweden, the third-largest party in Parliament is the Sweden Democrats (SD), with 13% in the 2014 general election. Sympathy for the SD among foreign-born Swedish citizens, both women and men, is far lower than among Sweden-born men, but an increasing number of Swedish citizens with migrant backgrounds support the party. The aim of this article is to explore the subject positions open for citizens with migrant background in the Swedish public space with special focus on the identities and worldviews developed by migrant activists who have joined the SD party and are, to differing degrees, racialised and perceived as non-Swedish. Using the concept of migrant respectability, this research is intended to understand why and under what circumstances migrants chose to join and represent a xenophobic and racist party.