Det är långt mellan gårdarna. En studie om Sverigebilden i Sverige - en jämförelse mellan storstad och landsbygd.
National identityNational self-imageSocial constructionismSwedenQualitative methodSocial sciencesSamhällsvetenskaperPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapSocial SciencesLaw and Political Science
The aim of this thesis is to illustrate the principal problem of the study of national self-images and by questioning the congruent existence of one in the case of Sweden. Through the use of qualitative method and semi-structured interviews the ambition of the study is to compare and to understand the national self-images portrayed in a major Swedish town, Stockholm and to that of a smaller town on the countryside, Sjöbo. A social constructionist approach in co-operation with key temporal and spasial dimensions are used to penetrate the interviews at hand. The main conclusions drawn from this study highlights the difficulties in addressing the concept of a congruent national self-image. Several major discrepancies appear in the analysed material, mainly in the past and the external dimensions, both from a regional approach, but also very much within the local entities themselves.