Identitetens gränser- en uppsats om invandrares identitetsskapande i en svensk mångkulturalistisk kontext
MulticulturalismIdentityPowerExclusionThe "other"Social sciencesSamhällsvetenskaperPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapSocial SciencesLaw and Political Science
This essay discusses immigrants? prospects of constructing an identity in a multicultural society like Sweden. The discussion is primarily theoretical but offers a few empirical examples to demonstrate its relevance. Furthermore, the ontological standpoint of this essay draws on an understanding of the world and our knowledge as constructed which implies that identities are also constructed. The process of identity making is further understood as a relational process in which others recognition is central to the individuals own understanding of his or hers identity. Therefore, immigrants must in their process of constructing an identity in a multicultural society consider how they are prescribed by the majority. Moreover, dictations of identity also inevitably contain an aspect of power since identity in the multicultural society most often polarises between an ?us? and a ?them? where ?them? is always constructed in denigrating terms. The argument of this essay is therefore that immigrants living in a multicultural society are limited in their identification possibilities.