Reimagineering the Nation: Essays on Twenty-First-Century Sweden (Political and Social Change)

This collection of essays offers a critical analysis of neoliberal transformation as it has unfolded in Sweden, long regarded as exemplary in terms of social welfare, equality and an inclusive multicultural democracy. The book presents a multidisciplinary exposition on Sweden, seen in a wider European perspective. It addresses changing frameworks of citizenship, welfare and democracy, migration and asylum, urban segregation and labour market segmentation and processes of securitization. It illuminates intersecting dimensions of class, gender and racialization and juxtaposes xenophobic populism with new social justice and antiracist movements on a changing political stage. Addressing a growing alignment with retrogressive illiberal policies across Europe, the volume exposes the reach of the adverse direction in which European "integration" is currently heading. Cover......Page 1 Table of Contents......Page 7 Author Bioses......Page 9 1. Reimagineering the Nation: Crisis and Social Transformation in 21st Century Sweden. An Introduction (Carl-Ulrik Schierup / Aleksandra Ålund / Anders Neergaard)......Page 11 PART I: THE WELFARE STATE IN CRISIS. TOO DIVERSE... OR TOO AUSTERE?......Page 17 2. How the Swedish Model Was (Almost) Lost. Migration, Welfare and the Politics of Solidarity (Carl-Ulrik Schierup / Simone Scarpa)......Page 43 3. The Swedish Model in Transition: Trade Unions and Racialised Workers (Anders Neergaard)......Page 87 4. Invisible, Burdensome and Threatening: The Location of Migrant Women in the Swedish Welfare State (Diana Mulinari / Åsa Lundqvist)......Page 121 PART II: NEOLIBERAL REIMAGINEERING......Page 22 5. Rationalities of Exclusionary Inclusion: Constructing Others while Combating Social Exclusion (Viktor Vesterberg)......Page 143 6. Swedish Retirement Migrants and Domestic Services in Spain: Informalisation and Moral Economy in Reimagining Sweden (Anna Gavanas)......Page 167 7. Towards a New Education Regime: The Neoliberal Turn in Swedish Education Policy (Magnus Dahlstedt / Anders Trumberg)......Page 191 8. Problematizing Parents: Representations of Multi-Ethnic Areas, Youth and Urban Unrest (Magnus Dahlstedt / Vanja Lozić)......Page 211 9. Welfare Policing and the Safety-Security Nexus in Urban Governance: The Expanded Cohesion Agenda in Malmö (Randi Elin Gressgård......Page 237 PART III: REIMAGINING COMMUNITY......Page 27 10. From Racial to Racist State? The Sweden Democrats Reimagining the Nation (Diana Mulinari / Anders Neergaard)......Page 259 11. Workplaces on the Move: Professional Mobilisation against the Extreme Right (Paula Mulinari)......Page 287 12. Framing Solidarity in the Unionisation of Undocumented Migrant Workers (Nedžad Mešić)......Page 305 13. Reading the Stockholm Riots: A Moment for Social Justice? (Carl-Ulrik Schierup / Aleksandra Ålund / Lisa Kings)......Page 329 14. Renaissance from the Margins: Urban Youth Activism in Sweden (René León Rosales / Aleksandra Ålund)......Page 353 This collection of essays discusses Sweden’s current transformation in European perspective. The book addresses changing frameworks of citizenship, migration and asylum, urban segregation, labour market segmentation and politics of securitization. It juxtaposes xenoracist populism with new social justice and antiracist movements.