ABSTRACT
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.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
i. In this article, the term ‘migrants’ is used to refer to this heterogeneous group of SD activists who, in different ways, have been and are racialised. The authors are well aware that both the processes and the experiences of racialisation vary for those who can and those who cannot pass as ‘Swedish’.
ii. Moderata samlingspartiet, M. 1997. Land för hoppfulla: manifest för ett nytt sekel. Moderata samlingspartiet.
iii. See http://www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se/pxweb/sv/ssd/START__ME__ME0201__ME0201B/Partisympati19/?rxid=8fcaa278-e6dd-4704-b89b-bb471d842bcd (retrieved 9 November 2017).
iv. Although the Christian Democrats have competed on conservative gender and sexuality values, they have gradually adapted these positions in response to their alliances with liberal parties and generally have been staunch defenders of a comparatively generous refugee policy.
v. Also see the SD’s 2014 election video featuring two racialised representatives and party leader Jimmie Åkesson.
vi. To protect the participants’ anonymity, they are identified by numbers, not names.