Slussning in i Sverige. En kritisk diskursanalys av integrationspolitik i valrörelsen 2002
Interdisciplinary studiesIntegrationspolitikKritisk diskursanalysImmigrationValrörelseMediaDemokratiIntegration policiesCritical discourse analysisImmigrationElection campaignMediaDemocracyTVÄRVETENSKAP
Today, Sweden is to be regarded as a country formed by the influences and effects of immigration. The government is considering integration as a process aimed to influent all forms of welfare politics and as a project working both at an individual and at a social level. The aims of integration policies are to guarantee equal rights and opportunities, to form a public community characterized by diversity, and to mobilize all citizens to participate in and to be jointly responsible for a social development characterized by mutual respect and tolerance. During the Swedish election campaign of 2002, integration policies became one of the most reported and discussed political questions in the media. The aim of this essay is to study and analyze discursive statements on integration policies made by politicians during this election campaign. The method applied for this task is critical discourse analysis. The empirical ground consists of currently relevant political documents together with articles from Sweden?s four largest daily newspapers. The theoretical framework consists of knowledge of social constructivism, philosophy of language, democracy, Governmentality, media and postcolonialism together with knowledge of fields of tension within the field of integration policies itself. In this essay, the conclusion of integration policies is that it ought to be looked upon as a project of normalization. In this project, a subject of integration policies is constituted and made conscious of its unlikeness; objectives of a good life are formulated and a career for succeeding with the objectives is ascribed to the subject; and relations between the subject and other operators are being disciplined.