Master of Arts Thesis Euroculture
University of ___Uppsala_________ (First semester) University of ___Udine__________ (Second semester)
September, 2020
Discovering the understanding of host society’s role in sociocultural integration with refugees
in Sweden
Submitted by:
Ala Sivets Student number first university:
Student number second university:
Contact details:
Supervised by:
Name of supervisor first university: Önver Cetrez Name of supervisor second university: Monica Pascoli
Uppsala, 30 September 2020
Signature
2 MA Programme Euroculture
Declaration
I, Ala Sivets, hereby declare that this thesis, entitled “Discovering the understanding of host society’s role in sociocultural integration with refugees in Sweden”, submitted as partial requirement for the MA Programme Euroculture, is my own original work and expressed in my own words. Any use made within this text of works of other authors in any form (e.g. ideas, figures, texts, tables, etc.) are properly acknowledged in the text as well as in the bibliography.
I declare that the written (printed and bound) and the electronic copy of the submitted MA thesis are identical.
I hereby also acknowledge that I was informed about the regulations pertaining to the assessment of the MA thesis Euroculture and about the general completion rules for the Master of Arts Programme Euroculture.
Signed _______________________________________
Date ___30 September 2020_______________________
3 Abstract
In 2015, Sweden was one of the exemplary member states of the European Union that took in a disproportionate number of refugees. Five years later, Sweden has adopted much stricter migration policies restricting access to residence permits and citizenship. The focus has shifted to integration policies aimed at including refugees in the host society.
Integration has become widely accepted as a process that is primarily a proactive adaptation and assimilation on the side of the newcomers, rather than a dynamic two-way process. Moreover, this paper argues that integration has largely been reduced to the socio-economic dimension and ignored the sociocultural dimension that is central to the integration process. Using Axel Honneth’s Theory of Recognition as a theoretical base to understand the importance of sociocultural dialogue and interpersonal integration, this paper shines light on the problematics of current integration policies and its effects. Using empirical research this paper aims to explore the host societies understanding of integration and using Foucauldian discourse analysis the theoretical framework and Said’s Orientalist critique, expose an underlying power dynamic between host-society and newcomers. Shining light both on governance and socio-cultural dynamics, this paper explores the gap left in sociocultural integration through the lack of dialogue and solidarity has affected the social reality of immigrants in Sweden.
Number of words 22 547
Keywords: refugee integration, policymaking, power discourse, sociocultural integration
4 Table of Content
1. INTRODUCTION………..7
1.1 Problematizing “immigrant integration”………..8
1.2 Aim of the research……….11
1.3 Structure of the paper………..12
1.4 Limitations………..13
2. BACKGROUND………...14
2.1. Sociocultural power dynamics in the EU in terms of the refugee “crisis”………14
2.1.1. Refugee crisis at the time of European identity formation………....14
2.1.2. “United in diversity” and “welcoming culture”: two faces of integration...16
2.1.3. The nature of two-way preparation measures of integration policies...21
2.2. Sociocultural dynamics of immigration and integration in Sweden……...24
2.2.1. Historical brief on immigration to Sweden (after the second World War): from labor migrants to asylum seekers……….….25
2.2.2. Dynamics in Swedish reception and integration policies.………28
Conclusion to the Background Chapter………..29
3. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES……….….30
3.1. RESPOND research findings: intersection of culture and health………30
Conclusion on the Review Chapter……….33
4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK………..34
4.1. Axel Honneth’s Theory of Recognition ………...34
4.2. Michel Foucault’s Discourse of Power:...………....36
4.3. Edward Said’s Theory of Orientalism……….…37
4.4. On the concept of integration in discourse analysis…………...38
5. METHODOLOGY……….…..41
5.1. Object and Subject of the research………..41
5.2. Sample………...41
5.3. Procedure………...………..43
5.4. Ethics and Validation………...44
5.5. Coding and analysis……….44
6. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS…..……….46
6.1. Problematizing social accessibility in Swedish society………..46
5 6.2. Understanding of the role of the Swedish society in sociocultural integration with
refugees………...48
6.2.1. Role: to help to integrate to the system………..50
6.2.2. Role: To help “new Swedes” to integrate and transform Swedish culture to exchange new elements with the culture of the refugees “to start new Sweden”...52
6.2.3. Role: See unique individuals……….…..…55
6.3. Points of conflicts……….…... 56
Conclusion for the Results and Analysis chapter……….………...58
7. DISCUSSION……….……59
CONCLUSION………..61
Bibliography……….….63
Annex 1……….……..66
List of abbreviations………..…………..67
6 I was born with pain, with difficult situations and a difficult life, and we can never be like Swedish people, they have never experienced problems here like I have at home. I feel like a cactus, it is an ugly plant but it has a beautiful flower with no smell, you can’t touch it because it will hurt you. But Swedish people are like a rose that smells nice, it looks nice, you can touch and smell it. But not me.
Afghan woman, a quote from the RESPOND’s interview material
If Swedes understood how extreme we are... that being a Swede is nothing normal, we are so extreme in every single way. We are so liberated, we are so fortunate. And that is not normal, that is extreme. If we could understand our experience maybe that would help us to accept other cultures more, to see that we are not a normality. And the refugees, they are probably not a normality either.
Everyone is complaining about the integration, that it hasn't really worked out, but we haven't given it a try either.
Swedish woman, a quote from the interview for this paper
7 INTRODUCTION
The integration of newcomers constitutes a great concern for Sweden and the EU after the large arrival of refugees to EU countries since 2014. The EU and the Member States implement a number of measures to ensure social well-being and cohesion between the native population and newcomers. Among them are access to the labor market, vocational and language courses, political engagement, and guarantee of rights and freedoms.
Nevertheless, the integration process, semantically and functionally, consists of not only instrumental measures of inclusion of refugees to the local society but implies a certain degree of transformation of the cultural paradigm. The shift of the local cultural paradigm is possible, given the number of asylum seekers carrying different cultural codes granted with the refugee status, and the implications that the status of refugee entails, such as possible duration of stay that may mean ultimate settlement. Despite (or due to) this, the sociocultural aspect of integration in the policies stays considerably vague. At the same time, the public discourse agonizes in the debates about Muslim invasion1, while scholars alarm failed multiculturalism, parallel communities2, and self-segregation issues3.
Many scholars highlight the constructivist potential of discourse for forming certain models and conditions for interaction of different groups. Foucault defines the
“political economy” of truth where “truth” is “the issue of a whole political debate and social confrontation (“ideological” struggle)”4 and “produced and transmitted under the control, dominant if not exclusive, of a few great political and economic apparatuses (university, army, writing, media)”5. Thus power can manifest itself by producing knowledge and certain discourses that get internalized by individuals and guide the behavior of populations. This idea is supported by van Leeuwen and Wodak that are saying that:
Through discourse, social actors constitute knowledge, situations, social roles as well as identities and interpersonal relations between various interacting social groups. In addition, discursive acts are socially constitutive in a number of ways:
Thorburn Stern R., Responses to the “refugee crisis”: What is the role of self-image among EU countries?, European Policy Analysis, SEPTEMBER, SIEPS, ISSUE 2016:10, https://www.diva- portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1064226/FULLTEXT01.pdf, p.7-8.
Kudnani A. (2002), An unholy alliance? Racism, religion and communalism. Race and Class 44: 71-80.
Kundnani A (2009) Spooked! How not to prevent violent extremism. London: Institute of Race Relations.
Phillips D (2006), Parallel lives? Challenging discourses of British Muslim self-segregation. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 24: 25-40.
Michel Foucault, Paul Rabinow, The Foucault reader, (1984, New York: Pantheon Books), p.73.
Ibidem.
8 first, they play a decisive role in the genesis, production and construction of certain social conditions (…)6.
Synthesizing the top-down and bottom-up discourse formation, Robert Entman talks about the Cascadian activation model, arguing the link, exchange and correlation among the three levels of discourse: governmental, media and public. According to Entman:
Spreading activation of interpretations within individuals’ knowledge networks is a largely automatic and unconscious psychological process, whereas the spread of interpretative schemas within and across other levels of the system is rarely automatic or unconscious. What is analogous across the levels is the existence of networks of association: among ideas, among people, and among the communicating symbols (words and images)7.
In the paper, I base my assumptions on the correlation and inter influence of the governmental discourse and public discourse and discursive practices in regard to the
“integration of refugees”.
1.1. Problematizing “immigrant integration”
Undoubtedly, the EU is devoting a huge amount of resources on the integration pursuing the idea of a dignified life for everyone and social cohesion, tackling the issues of segregation and discrimination. However, I argue that the neglect or distortion of sociocultural integration in policies represents and results in the specific power dynamics between the newcomers and the native societies (here, in the example of Sweden). This specific power dynamics of the sociocultural integration in the EU, that Foucault calls
“governmentality”, is evident in the formulation of the process in the policy discourses per se. It is persistently named as the “integration of immigrants” and “immigrant integration”, whereas the linguistic position of the words as integration of something to something distorts the meaning of integration semantically: the process implies the existence of two parts that are in the process of making whole8.
The original meaning of integration assumes symmetry of the parts. In contrast, the formulation of the integration process in the EU and Swedish policy in the genitive case expresses a possessive relationship between the nouns “immigrants”/ ”refugees”/
”third-country nationals” and “integration”, thus framing the integration process within
Ruth Wodak, de Cillia, Rudolf, Reisigl, Martin, and Liebhart, Karin. 2009. The Discursive Construction of National Identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. Accessed April 10, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central., p.8.
Entman R.M. (2003) Cascading Activation: Contesting the White House's Frame After 9/11, Political Communication,, 20:4, 415-432, DOI: 10.1080/1058460039024417, p.419.
Online Etymology Dictionary, Integrate (v.), https://www.etymonline.com/word/integrate
9 affairs of newcomers. This paper is not meant to serve as an ideological lecture in order to prove the necessity of the cultural integration or any other form of acculturation but instead aims to explore how the discourse of integration (as the EU and the Member States chose to name the process) shapes the understanding of “integration” process and thus position, behavior and discourse of the host society.
Thus I argue that the “integration of immigrants” discourse produces a complex social reality contradicting the EU and the Member States’ intention of the establishment of social cohesion and cultural dialogue between host societies and refugees. The complexity of the reality is expressed in the dynamics of the interplay between institutional and human dimensions in the interaction. Bringing associated issues from their fields, these dimensions display different forms of cooperation reinforcing, complementing and replacing each other depending on motivations and discourses determined by the existing power relations between the groups. Therefore, due to the
“integration of immigrants” discourse, the process of integration is misinterpreted as:
1) the responsibility of the newcomers that does not require sociocultural involvement of the native society.
By phrasing the integration process this way, the EU and the Member States implicitly construe the discursive frame where major responsibility for integration is laid on the newcomers, while the responsibility of EU society is not to hinder them from integrating (mainly represented in “anti hindering” activities for the host societies as anti- discrimination programs). Symptomatically, the probable (symmetrically) active role of the host society in the new stage of social development with the newcomers is not in the focus of the policies. Moreover, shading the process of sociocultural integration under a vague definition of culture and thus focusing cultural policies on the art component of culture, power manifests itself in the avoidance of approaching the sensitive topic and responsibilities it implies. Thus, delegating the responsibility for the integration to the government, precisely to the labor market management, the native society is treating the newcomers instrumentally, not humanly. In this way, the newcomers are seen more like an object but not a subject of the process. This positioning reveals power relations between the groups in the (sociocultural) integration along with its specific
10 governmentality - the organized practices (mentalities, rationalities, and techniques) through which subjects are governed9;
2) acculturation in the form of assimilation.
The frame “integration of refugees” eventually works for a division of the groups rather than understanding their unity and cohesion as one society – something that integration is aimed for. The generalizing naming of the people seeking asylum as “immigrants”,
“refugees'' and “third-country nationals'', notwithstanding, frames them in the normative dimension. However, in the given absence of well-elaborated discourse of sociocultural integration policy, the reduction of their different cultural identity to the immigrant status highlights their not belonging and, thus, supports the division of natives and migrated in the society. While there are Swedish, French, German, etc. citizens, to the people of a different ethnic, cultural, and social background, the discourse refers as to a mass of Others. The instrumental character of the integration, lack of mutual involvement, and recognition of the diversity of cultures in the sociocultural dimension in practice would confirm the discursive asymmetry of groups. This asymmetry constitutes a barrier for recognition and the dialogue of cultures - something that is seen as the desired outcome of integration.
In Sweden, the recent country report of RESPOND on Policies, Practices and Experiences of Integration in Sweden10 proves that there is a significant sociocultural discrepancy between the native society and the refugees along with the difference in integration understanding. According to the research, this manifests itself not only within the sociocultural dimension but creates a loop in all the spheres, including core integration fields for Sweden as the labor market, education, health sector, and social engagement.
This will be discussed further in the paper.
Considering this, it is critical to study the understanding of the host society’s role in the sociocultural integration that prevents them from or facilitates the encounter of the groups that respectively contribute to the division and alienation in society or the practices of mutual respect and recognition. This research synthesizes the theories of critical discourse analysis claiming that poor sociocultural integration (cultural dialogue)
Thomas, Lemke, "Foucault, Governmentality, and Critique." Rethinking Marxism 14, no. 3 (Fall, 2002):
49-64,141. http://ezproxy.its.uu.se/login?url=https://www-proquest- com.ezproxy.its.uu.se/docview/212150224?accountid=14715.
Cetrez, Onver, DeMarinis, Valerie, Pettersson, Johanna, & Shakra, Mudar. (2020, July 19). Integration Policies, Practices and Experiences – Sweden Country Report (Version v.1). Zenodo.
http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3951714.
11 in Sweden is both a reason and a result of lack of social and cultural recognition, which is produced, in turn, by the circulating power discourses of assimilation and Othering as a foundation of social reality.
1.2. Aim of the research
The aim of the research is to identify the role that ethnic Swedes take in the sociocultural integration with refugees. By doing this, the research will shed light on the current power relations in the sociocultural dimension of the integration and highlights core expectation differences between the groups that hinder the integration process. Thus, the research focus on the following research questions:
Research Question 1: How do Swedish ethnic citizens understand their role in social and cultural integration with the refugees in Sweden through three main aspects:
● subquestion 1: How do Swedish ethnic citizens see their involvement in the integration process? - through this domain, one-way or two-way integration behavior and contribution and the character of the contribution will be discussed;
● subquestion 2: What position do Swedish ethnic citizens have towards integration with refugees? - through this domain, understanding of integration and integration expectations will be discussed;
● subquestion 3: What knowledge and interest do ethnic Swedish citizens have regarding integration? - through this domain, mental involvement in the issue of integration will be discussed.
To answer the research question 1, I will employ Honneth’s theory of recognition that allows to reveal the features of the Swedish society’s interaction with the refugees thus giving an idea about the disposition of the groups in the integration process (instrumental - human; unilaterality - mutuality).
Research Question 2: What governmentality does this understanding reflect and reproduce?
To answer the research question 2, I will use the concept of governmentality and Foucaudian approach to power discourse to analyze the possible historical effects of power disposition on the existing discourse on the Swedish society’s role in integration and its correlation with the frame of “integration of immigrants”.
A preliminary assumption is that the Swedish ethnic population understands the integration rather institutionally and unilaterally, thus while not considering their personal involvement, they are indirectly delegating the responsibility for integration to
12 the government and the newcomers. Institutionalism is expressed in the exclusive emphasis on the labor market integration and services that the government provides the immigrants with, while the unilaterality of integration is expressed in the social and cultural dimensions as expectation of cultural assimilation from the refugees. Both result from the avoidance of the acknowledgment of the mutuality in the sociocultural integration, probably related to islamophobia and eurocentrism.
1.3. Structure of the paper
In order to achieve the aim, the research will:
1. Analyze historical, social and political context of immigration and integration in the EU and Sweden (history of immigration, integration policies and sociocultural component in it);
2. Conduct interviews and explore the episteme (as a principled system of understanding) of the concept of “immigrant integration” through the categories of interest, positions and involvement together with overall meanings, incorporated in the Swedish social discourse;
3. Identify patterns and themes semantically, interpret the derived conceptual framework within the theoretical framework of the research.
Therefore, I will begin the paper with an overview of EU migration and Swedish migration history, and related migration and integration policies, thus providing the background for the further analysis of the power discourse behind the sociocultural integration in Sweden. Then, I will discuss the notions of welcoming culture, cultural dialogue and culture as seen by EU decision-making and policy-making bodies proving how the concept of culture is conditioned in policies.
Further, I will review previous studies on the responsibilization of refugees and reports on integration in Sweden. After that, I will show how the theories of Honneth and Foucault intersect and work for this research, and how power dynamics between the groups prevents the social recognition (or dialogue) to happen.
In the main part of the paper, I will present the social discourse among ethnic Swedes on the matter of their role in sociocultural integration with refugees, highlighting the most popular narratives from the perspective of Honneth’s theory and Foucault’s theory. Foucault's theory will be complemented with the theory of Orientalism of Said, revealing the contextual nuances of the power dynamics in regard to religious and ethnic identity of the newcomers.
13 This is qualitative research in the form of a preliminary phenomenology study.
The research combines descriptive and interpretive frameworks. The first research question is situated in a social constructivist framework and the second research question is within a postmodern interpretive framework. Critical theory approach will be employed for the analysis of the data. Epistemological philosophical assumption informs the research questions. A participatory research approach will be applied by conducting semi- structured in-depth interviews with open-ended questions.
The research will contribute to the field of acculturation studies, refugee and migration studies. Acculturation (focusing mainly on the analysis of assimilation) in the Nordic countries has been recently studied by Jonas Kunst, I. Haugen (2017), Jonas R.
Kunst, Talieh Sadeghi, Hajra Tahir, David Sam & Lotte Thomsen (2015) mainly focusing on the immigrants (refugees) attitude and highlighting the need of the study of host society. The results of the research will help to point out crucial hindrances for social and cultural integration in Sweden and identify the area of possible intervention.
1.4. Limitations
In the paper, the integration discourse is discussed within a specific time frame of immigration from 2014 to the present time. The sample of respondents is limited to the age group of 35-45 years old and regionally - all of them are residents of Stockholm. A detailed motivation of the sample will be explained in the Methodology chapter. The limited number of respondents does not allow generalization of the results. The in-depth analysis of the influence of the policy discourses and media influence is beyond the scope of the paper and can be a continuation of the research topic.
Importantly, during the period of searching for respondents, it proved to be impossible to reach out to people supporting the Swedish Democrats Party’s views.
Despite being vocal and active in the groups, they showed great concern about the privacy of the interviewing and the use of the interview material, and refused to participate. Thus, it has limited the diversity of views regarding the topic.
14 2. BACKGROUND
In this chapter, I will make a brief of core events and concepts to contextualize the immigration and integration process in Sweden. As it is mentioned in the introduction, the issue of integration is complicated by the specific interplay of the dimensions of labor and culture. Therefore, I found it significant to provide the EU and Swedish historical immigration policy dynamics that reflect the narratives included in the migration and integration discourse. The chapter will highlight the relations between the nuances of the European identity construction, islamophobia and rise of right wing parties; trace the emergence and meaning of the welcoming culture concept; analyze framing of
“integration” by the EU policies; and finally, explore the notion and use of cultural dialogue. Understanding the background of “immigrant integration” discourse gives a chance to see where the discourse is situated and thus get a deeper understanding of the mental frames and implications. This, in turn, will serve for the further analysis of the interview material.
2.1. Sociocultural power dynamics in the EU
As a member of the EU, Sweden is legally bound to the law of the EU and shares competence with the EU that apply in the areas of social policy (for the aspects defined in the Treaty) and economic, social and territorial cohesion11. Therefore the Swedish integration policy is affected by EU political and cultural dynamics, so as the Swedish discourse is embedded in the EU discourse. Thus, EU context at the moment of the
“migration crisis” will provide some logic about its migration responses and further integration elaborations that may have had an effect on the political and sociocultural dynamics in Sweden.
2.1.1. Refugee crisis at the time of European identity formation
According to statistics from the EU of 2018, since 2014 the EU has hosted around 5 million asylum seekers and around 8 million refugees in total12 as a result of the escalation of conflicts in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Even though the majority of the refugees from the conflict zones stay in the neighboring countries, it is evident that
Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Art.4, 2 (b,c), https://eur- lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:12012E/TXT
A welcoming Europe? Asylum applications 2010-2018,
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/infographic/welcoming-europe/index_en.html#filter=2018
15 European countries have not experienced such mass immigration since the second World War.
The shocking number of asylum seekers arriving at the EU borders has provoked massive pressure on the economic and legal systems of the frontiers and later in the resettlement countries. At this point, the situation starts being named “crisis”.
Interestingly for marking the power dynamics from the start, researchers point out that the “crisis” refers to the burden on the EU countries but not to the armed conflicts or other human rights violations that forced people to flee13. However, apart from the significant number of the people and the trivial economic needs to incorporate them into the labor- tax system, the cornerstone of the increased attention to the migration is the cultural and religious identity of the newcomers14. Indeed, the phenotypic, ethnic and religious distinction has provoked controversial debates15 and alteration of policies and political parties in the EU countries, thus uncovering cultural codes, values and narratives of the European society in general and each of the Member States in particular. Indeed, the dream of the third stage of development of the EU - the formation of common European identity16 was triggered by the “Muslim invasion”17.
However, repeating the historical narrative, it increased and reinforced the articulation of the European identity at that time. As much as the idea of Europe that
“fashion itself for generations in opposition to Asia, has always owed its historical origin”18, the idea of European integration and formation of the EU owes its political origin to the socialist “oriental” and “barbarian” USSR. The Founding Fathers of the EU, together with the European Christian Democrats asthe dominant political force in all the Member States after the second World War and further in the ECSC and later EEC, saw the unified Europe as “a Europe that was Christian and occidental in its cultural and
Rebecca Thorburn Stern (2016) Responses to the “refugee crisis”, p.6.
Helen Dempster, Karen Hargrave, Understanding public attitudes towards refugees and migrants (Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, June 2017), https://euagenda.eu/upload/publications/untitled-92767-ea.pdf, p.11.
Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan and Elizabeth Collett, (2015) Refugee Crisis Deepens Political Polarization in the West, Migration Policy Institute, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugee-crisis-deepens- political-polarization-west
Andrew Lascaris, Being a Christian in Europe, New Blackfriars, Vol. 76, No. 890 (February 1995), pp.
60-69, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43249705 (accessed 10/03/2020), p.64 Pirenne, Henri, Mohammed and Charlemagne, (London, 1939).
Anthony Pagden, The Idea of Europe: From Antiquity to the European Union. (Cambridge University Press, New York,2002), p. 35.
16 political orientation, not socialist”19. The sentiments around common national identity, dramatically charged at the chaotic time of the crisis, contributed to the reinforcement of Eurocentric ideas. According to Mazower, Eurocentrism is based on three principals:
sovereignty, national self-determination, and “the dividing line between civilization and barbarism laid on Europe’s borders, on its eastern and southern borders”20. Following the flow, the patchwork quilt of the Europeans, including those who just recently have joined the EU, started to question themselves about common history, religion and values, gradually crystallizing the narratives of collective memory that unite them and oppose the Others. As a result, in 2014, anti-immigrant far right wing and populist parties won significant seats in the European Parliament election21. Some of European countries started to ramp up border protection and limit migration policies claiming that radically different culture and religion of the asylum seekers jeopardize social cohesion of the host country22. The repercussions of the “Christian” and “occidental” have reached the European cultural identity that during the migration crisis occurred at the risk of constructing itself by fencing off from oriental Islam.
As a result, much of the political and sociocultural discourses in the EU triggered by the mass migration have a strong anti-immigrant narrative that is associated with the cultural and etnic identity of the newcomers. Yet, discourses remain diverse, ranging from open populism and right-wing rhetoric to the promotion of the concept of welcoming culture.
2.1.2. “United in diversity” and “welcoming culture”: two faces of integration The stage of cultural integration of the EU was associated with the challenges of finding a right cultural policy for the integration of the multicultural, multilingual and multiethnic population of EU countries. Thus, one of the main pillars in the process of integration and following formation of the European identity was the idea of the unity in diversity.
The cornerstones of national European identity construction were expressed in legal and programme documents of the EU. According to the European Agenda for Culture among crucial ideas is the promotion of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue:
Michael Gehler, Wolfram Kaiser, TRANSNATIONALISM AND EARLY EUROPEAN INTEGRATION: THE NOUVELLES EQUIPES INTERNATIONALES AND THE GENEVA CIRCLE 1947–1957. (The Historical Journal 44, V. 03, 2001), p.776.
Mark Mazower, Europe, the World and the Nazi New Order, (Manifesto Challenge: Advancing Global Citizenship, London, 2006), p.7.
BBC News, European election results, (2014) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27575869 (accessed 07/11/2018).
Molly Quell, EU Court Says Countries Didn’t Meet Refugee Quotas, (CourtHouse News Service, April 2, 2020), https://www.courthousenews.com/poland-hungary-czechs-broke-human-rights-law/.
17 Promoting intercultural dialogue as a sustainable process contributing to European identity, citizenship and social cohesion, included by the development of the intercultural competences of citizens23.
The importance and comprehensiveness of cultural dimension is further emphasized where the Agenda is “stressing that culture and creativity are important drivers for personal development, social cohesion, economic growth, creation of jobs, innovation and competitiveness”24. Thus, the passages show awareness of EU policy-making and governing bodies there are several steps on the way to cultural integration. First, that for the creation of social cohesion in the multicultural societies within the theme of being European there must be a dialogue of cultures present. Second, in order to perform the dialogue there should be certain intercultural competences developed. Finally, the process is beneficial not only for the field of culture and European identity, but also it brings a great value for overall personal and country flourishing. This view and approach has been developed and promoted for Europeans.
An alternative concept of integration has entered the public discourse in the EU at the time of the “refugee crisis”. “Welcome culture” is a concept that initially arose from the intention of Germany to establish itself as an attractive country for high-skilled labour migrants in the 2000s. To be welcoming meant to provide language, administrative and cultural support to the immigrants. Since 2015, Germany has been accepting the largest number of refugees25 among European countries and has become an example of a country with a welcoming refugee policy, but also calling for a supportive and welcoming culture (attitude) of civil society towards acceptance and integration of refugees. Despite its labour market origin, according to Laubenthal, in 2015 the term had almost completely lost its original meaning and was rarely used anymore in the context of labour migration26. The term was implemented in official integration policies and declarations of Germany27 and further has become a motto of European refugee policy. Thus the concept originally
Resolution of the Council, of 16 November 2007, on a European Agenda for Culture, (2007/C 287/01), Official Journal of the European Union, C 287/1, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal- content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32007G1129%2801%29
Resolution of the Council, of 16 November 2007, on a European Agenda for Culture.
Eurostat, First instance decisions on applications by citizenship, age and sex, Annual aggregated data (rounded) https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do
Barbara Laubenthal (2019) Refugees Welcome? Reforms of German Asylum Policies Between 2013 and 2017 and Germany’s Transformation into an Immigration Country, German Politics, 28:3, 412-425, DOI: 10.1080/09644008.2018.1561872
Florian Trauner, Jocelyn Turton, “Welcome culture”: the emergence and transformation of a public debate on migration, Austrian Journal of Political Science, Bd. 46, Nr. 1 (2017), https://doi.org/10.15203/ozp.1587.vol46iss1.
18 functioning as a “soft instrument” in the field of German labour market shifted to the field of German asylum policy and EU refugee policy28.
In practice, this shift could be seen as simply expanding the focus group of labour policy to include a wider spectrum of skills The intention behind the welcome culture in the integration and refugee policies stayed the same, consequently defining the immigrant integration discourse expressed in Angela Merkel’s words:
Those who will most likely be able to stay should be integrated into the labour market at an early stage. Good German language skills are a precondition for this.
Therefore asylum-seekers will from now on be able to participate in the integration courses of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. Furthermore integration courses will be connected to the job-related language courses of the Federal Employment Agency’ (Die Bundesregierung)29.
Thus, the shift from labor oriented integration to refugee integration did not stimulate elaboration of any cultural dimension to the integration. On the contrary, it represents the mechanism of such integration that points “the logic of human capital which privileges the refugees according to their economic value”30.
It is an interesting dynamic to highlight. On the level of EU integration, cultural dialogue of Europeans carrying different cultural codes was considered strategically important, positively impacting social cohesion and economic growth. While the different cultures of people residing within one country after the refugee crisis, practices of recognition and intercultural competences of which could have stimulated the same effect, is not in focus of the integration policies. Notably, referring to the dialogue, the mutual involvement and curiosity was assumed. Welcoming culture has further development in the sector of civil society supportive initiatives and anti discriminatory movements, however aiming at facilitation of the integration of the newcomers and acceptance of them by the native society. Thus, the integration is predominantly considered within the framework of structural refugee integration and has unilateral character.
The pragmatic and economic oriented approach and understanding of integration can be found in the EU Action Plan on integration of third country nationals from 2016, where it is stated on the challenges and opportunities of integration:
Barbara Laubenthal (2019) Refugees Welcome? Reforms of German Asylum Policies Between 2013 and 2017 and Germany’s Transformation into an Immigration Country.
Ibid.
Chemin, J. Eduardo, & Nagel, Alexander K. (2020, June 3). Integration Policies, Practices and Experiences – Germany Country Report (Version v.1). Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3874426, p.16.
19 National economic and social policies will need to cater for the recent inflow of third-country migrants and refugees, in particular to provide for their immediate needs and their integration into the labour market and society. (…) it is also an opportunity, especially for Member States undergoing demographic changes. That includes on the economic front, as evidence shows that third-country nationals have a positive fiscal net contribution if they are well integrated in a timely manner, starting with early integration into education and the labour market31. The process of integration of “the recent inflow” of third country refugees is seen mainly in instrumental perspective as integration of the newcomers into the labour market under provision of them with educational training that further brings economic and demographic benefits for the Member States. The vision of the refugees as labour migrants and the mission to stimulate the economic involvement are highlighted by the further precautious reference to the document of the ECD General for Economic and Financial Affairs:
Failure to release the potential of third-country nationals in the EU would represent a massive waste of resources, both for the individuals concerned themselves and more generally for our economy and society32.
And then further it is said explicitly: “Employment is a core part of the integration process. Finding a job is fundamental to becoming part of the host country’s economic and social life…”33.
In a separate paragraph it is mentioned that refugees especially are at risk of stigmatization and facing specific problems as cultural and language barriers, etc.
However, the solution for this obstacle is described in the chapter “Building cohesive societies” as “facilitation of participation and empowerment for everyone - third country nationals and the communities into which they settle”, because “integration is most effective when it is anchored in what it means to live in diverse European society”34. At this point, the EC explains its understanding of what two-way integration means by referring to respect to fundamental rights and values of the EU as equality and democracy, and finally giving the definition:
This dynamic two-way process on integration means not only expecting third- country nationals to embrace EU fundamental values and learn the host language but also offering them meaningful opportunities to participate in the economy and society of the Member State where they settle. … Developing welcoming, diverse and inclusive societies is a process that needs engagement both of the third
EC, Action Plan for the integration of third-country nationals, 2016, p. 3.
Ibid., p.4.
Ibid., p.8. Ibid., p.5.
20 country nationals and of the receiving society. The promotion of intercultural dialogue … is essential35.
The refugees are represented as recipients of the policies and measures, and have the role of those who are required to learn how to function in the culture and order of the host society, and then participate and contribute, while the EU societies are providing them with the services to learn how. Legally prescribed provision of services and conditions to participate in the life of the Member States indeed contributes to the inclusion of the newcomers to the host society. However, the two-way process is not limited to the immigrants’ effort to receive approval and facilitation from the host society. The concept of the “two-way process” used in EU policies is still unilateral and significantly differs from the understanding of the “two-way process” by the refugees. Thus, it seems that the policies are oriented on incorporation of the immigrants but not integration with them. In another passage it is confirmed by the statement in the EC plan for social inclusion:
Organize civic orientation programmes for all third country national as a way to foster integration into the host society and promote the understanding and respect of the EU values36.
Council of Europe in its Measurement and indicators of integration says that the national policies of the countries reflect different definitions of what is meant by ‘integration”, while the term itself means “joining parts (in) to an entity”37. Further, the Council distinguishes three elements in EU integration: 1) the relation between the cultural aspects of the public and private domain which depends on the desired degree for cultural adaptation of immigrants; 2) the degree of inclusion/exclusion of immigrants in non- cultural aspects of the public domain; 3) immigrant’s role in the integration process determining what are his other duties in order to integrate in the public domain.
Following Castles’ classification of acculturation - the desired degree of cultural adaptation of the immigrants, the Council confirms that different cultural approaches in integration lead to different outcome: 1) assimilation when the immigrants become indistinguishable from the major population (immigrants give up their linguistic, social and cultural characteristics); 2) integration as the process of mutual accommodation between immigrants and the major population (two-way process in which majority and minority of the population learn from each other and take aspects of each other’s culture);
EC, Action Plan for the integration of third-country nationals, 2016, p. 5.
Ibid., p.14.
Council of Europe, Measurement and indicators of integration, Community Relations, p. 8-9.
21 3) multiculturalism as development of ethnic communities which remain distinguishable from the majority population with regard to language, culture and social behavior; and finally, 4) cultural segregation as a complete separation between the immigrants’ and host society’s cultures38. According to the Council, “integration” in EU countries ranges between cultural assimilation and cultural segregation39.
It is evident that there is a serious gap in the meanings of integration that national and EU policies are using and the one that is etymologically correct and is used in social science. This discrepancy, however, is reflected in the power dynamics and is even more prominent on the micro level -- between the groups of the refugees and the population that are not involved in policy making or provision of certain services for the refugees (macro and meso levels). These groups of people are the ones that (do not) experience the integration process practically and may choose the meaning according to their position regardless whether they know the meaning of integration etymologically. The examples of this will be discussed in the section of the results of the research project
“RESPOND”. The choice of the terminology by the EU and the Member States can be a question for further research.
2.1.3. The nature of two-way preparation measures of integration policies
Provision of the support to third country nationals is seen as measures for both those who arrive and the receiving society in pre-departure and pre-arrival measures. Among the pre-departure measures for refugees are provision with information on the country of resettlement and the host society, rights and duties, basic language training and “other skills that can help them to succeed in their new environment”. Further it is said that
gaining an understanding of the laws, culture and values of the receiving society is crucial for third country nationals to understand the responsibilities linked with their new life in the receiving society and actively participate in it40.
It is underlined in different parts of the Action Plan that along with the involvement into the labour market, education as one of the strongest tools in the process that can foster social cohesion, social inclusion and mutual understanding between the newcomers and receiving societies. Education here is considered as education of third country nationals and, thus, by their understanding of culture and values of the receiving society, aiming at
Stephen Castles, The Process of Integration of Migrant Communities, 1993. Paper, Expert Group Meeting on Population Distribution and Migration, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. UN/UNFPA.
Council of Europe, Measurement and indicators of integration, p.33.
Council of Europe, Measurement and indicators of integration, p.8.
22 further acceptance by and interaction (or dialogue) with the host society, social cohesion is possible.
Pre-arrival measures for the host society at the same time are mainly focused on
“building empathy and understanding to overcome prejudices and fostering an open and welcoming attitude”41. Empathy and understanding are valuable powerful human characteristics in the welcoming accepting attitude. However, it can be also a powerful tool in real interaction bringing it closer to the objective of social cohesion in the shape of personal encounter, physical or cognitive dialogue. I argue that the effect of welcoming attitude is questionable in isolation from cultural awareness in the context of migration or similar educational measures for the receiving society.
The position of the refugees in the approach is active - they are learning, working, participating, respecting -- they are actively receiving the good that the country is giving and following the conditions for “integrating’ (though rather incorporating or assimilating) into the host society and culture. Considering that from the protection- reception period the refugees are dealing with the people representing governmental decisions as the administrative sectors, reception centers and health care services - it is, perhaps, more precise to frame as the refugees are receiving the good and care that the government is providing (along with some civil society organization and faith based organizations). Since the measures for the host society are framed within developing anti discriminatory and facilitating attitudes, the position of the host society is predominantly about delegation of responsibility for the integration to the government and tolerance towards the newcomers. Thus, the cultural orientations of the groups in the process of integration are not meeting: the refugees’ objective is to be curious about the recepting society, meet and interact with them, while the host society does not perceive the process as a dialogue and therefore is not aware about the importance of their equal role in integration. The relations in practice produce a certain divergence making the cultural encounter of these groups of society and, thus, social cohesion, difficult to happen.
Creative Europe is the body responsible for cultural integration through active involvement in cultural activities and promotion of intercultural dialogue among different groups. The mandate of the Creative Culture is to promote intercultural dialogue and cultural diversity as well as to increase migrants’ participation in cultural and societal life - to involve them in design, organization and implementation of projects. The growing
Ibid., p.6.
23 economic gap between EU-born and foreign born population can limit the abilities of the refugees to participate in social and cultural life, and making their voices heard in the public sphere through intercultural dialogue can have a meaningful impact on their everyday lives and challenge power structures and patterns of inequality42. While the culture is understood in two dimensions in aesthetical and anthropological senses, the anthropological definition that CE employs is that culture “indicates a particular way of life, whether of a people”43, a period, a group, or humanity in general’. Intercultural dialogue is defined as
An open and respectful exchange of views between individuals, groups with different ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds and heritage on the basis of mutual understanding and respect. It operates at all levels – within societies, between the societies of Europe and between Europe and the wider world44.
It is equally important that projects are embedded in civic societies. For this reason too, it must be admitted that good cultural projects are engines of transformation:
they are not satisfied with recognizing otherness but are involving mechanisms that acculturate both migrants and nationals. These mechanisms are not only a dialogue of the deaf, they open up to controversy and confrontation, from which everyone emerges transformed.
The programmes have conducted several activities in the countries of the EU, among them 7 activities in the period of 2015-202045 in relation to integration in Sweden. The activities were targeting two groups: rarely locals - usually exchange of practices among the representatives of forefront services for refugees as social workers, police officers, administrators; and the refugees. The aims of the activities for the refugees were focused on improving their skills and image for the host society to make them be “recognized migrants as drivers of economic and social growth”46.
One of the key points of the European Commission mentioned in the Action Plan for integration was “developing handbooks and toolboxes for practitioners on cultural awareness and expression, and intercultural dialogue”47. This is how the cultural
European Agenda for Culture, How culture and the arts can promote intercultural dialogue in the context of migratory and refugee crisis”, March 2017, European Union, p. 17.
Ibid., p. 11.
Ibid., p. 10.
European website on Integration, Migrant integration information and good practices, Sweden, https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-
integration/search?advanced=1&search=sweden&advtype=intpract&advContentLang=all
European website on Integration, Migrant integration information and good practices, The Heartfelt Integration Work of Åre Kommun, https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/intpract/the-heartfelt- integration-work-of-are-kommun
EC, Action Plan for the integration of third-country nationals, 2016, p.13.
24 awareness understood in the eventually created handbook: “The term ‘cultural awareness’
means knowing about importance of culture and arts and developing the capacity to enjoy or be interested in them”48. The knowledge and attitudes of the cultural awareness as a competence, according to the handbook, are related to awareness about cultural heritage and art that are “essential to understand the cultural and linguistic diversity in Europe”49. The art/cultural education here is about creativity, “the aesthetic-expressive approach”50, and culture is considered in its artistic expression.
Notwithstanding the importance and representativeness of cultural expression in art, it can be argued that this kind of understanding of cultural education in terms of acquiring the competence of cultural awareness is lacking several crucial elements and consequently does not impose sufficient attention to it. Conceptualizing culture in the anthropological field, “culture is defined as the meaning systems and codes that inform and organize the experience of everyday life”51. Cultural anthropology analyzes culture combining causalities of human behavior and the spheres linguistics, sociology, political science, psychology, history and geography52. Thus, culture broadly explains patterns (causality, meanings) of human behavior in space and time. Following this, it is essential to understand that cultural awareness in artistic expression is not enough in the given migration settings.
Apart from noticing the demographic and economic changes brought with the immigrants, it seems important to recognize in the scale of more than 10 million people the presence of new cultural codes, narratives and meanings, understanding of which by the receiving society is equally crucial for cohesion and integration in the EU.
2.2. Sociocultural dynamics of immigration and integration in Sweden
As a country with immigration historical experience within the economic focus, the rhetoric of the EU on the integration of refugees that in practice mainly assumes economic integration culturally matches Sweden. In this chapter I will show that caused by long history of labor migration and lack of sociocultural integration concern, the integration policy in Sweden tends to be 1) labor market oriented, when all the activities are focused on facilitation of the refugees’ access to labour market as researchers name it: “creation
European Commission, Cultural awareness and expression handbook, p. 16.
Ibid., p. 17.
European Commission, Cultural awareness and expression handbook, p. 29.
Seremetakis, C. Nadia. An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, 2017, p. 17.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Paul Mercier. Cultural anthropology, 2019.
25 of good citizens in a high income country with a social welfare”53 or “focusing on employability of the refugees”54, and 2) have socioculturally a unilateral character.
This approach assumes primary provision of services for successful integration of the refugees “into the host society”, which creates so-called “responsibilization of refugees”55. Whereas the immigrants, especially those coming from community-based society understand integration more culturally and spiritually, communication-oriented and requiring social interaction as an essential part of it.
2.2.1. Historical brief of migration in Sweden (after the second World War): from labor migrants to asylum seekers
Throughout history, the immigration governance and integration policies in Sweden have its specific path of development. The increase in the number of people of non-Nordic and non-European origin, and their motivation for staying in Sweden caused elaboration of the integration perspective in the immigration policy. Swedish scholars distinguish several periods of immigration in the history of modern Sweden. In view of the military conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, despite the dramatic changes in migration dynamics after 2011, Sweden continues keeping the traditional strong focus on the labor market in terms of immigrant integration neglecting the cultural component of the process. The overview of the integration policy development and its nuances will be provided in the subchapter.
Immigration policies development in Sweden before 2011
According to Charles Westin56, orientation on the labor immigrants has its long history in Sweden starting from the peak of Swedish industrial development in the 1940s, setting up a common Nordic labour market in the 1950s and establishing Sweden as a welfare state. On the one hand, this has made Sweden an attractive destination for labour
Brell C., Dustmann C. and Preston I., The Labor Market Integration of Refugee Migrants in High-Income Countries, The Journal of Economic Perspectives , Vol. 34, No. 1 (Winter 2020), pp. 94-121, American Economic Association, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26873531.
Masoud, A., Kurki, T. and Brunila, K. 2020. ‘Learn Skills and Get Employed’: Constituting the Employable Refugee Subjectivity through Integration Policies and Training Practices. In K. Brunila and L.
Lundahl (eds), Youth on the Move: Tendencies and Tensions in Youth Policies and Practices (pp. 101–
123). Helsinki: Helsinki, University Press. https://doi.org/10.33134/HUP-3-6
Wikström, E., Ahnlund, P. (2018), Making Refugees Work?: Individualized Work Strategies in the Swedish Refugee Settlement Program, Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, 8(S4): 47-65, https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.v8iS4.111157
Charles Westin, “Sweden: Restrictive Immigration Policy and Multiculturalism”, migrationpolicy.org, June 1, 2006, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/sweden-restrictive-immigration-policy-and- multiculturalism.
26 migrants. On the other hand, in this period, Sweden itself was extremely interested in immigrant labor in order to create the tax-base necessary for the expansion of the public sector, thus the industrial companies were purposely hiring workers from specific countries - Yugoslavia and Greece - through recruiting agencies. In contrast to other Western European countries, Sweden had the unique permanent immigration policy for labor migrants that “treated these labor migrants as future citizens”57. Moreover, in the 1970s, the government started closely working with the trade unions ensuring the same rights and wages for foreign workers in order to prevent them from exploitation and to create favorable conditions for prolonged periods of working. The small number of refugees from the USSR at that time was accepted under the same framework of labor migration. However, the increase in the number of the permanently residing labor immigrants of non-Scandinavian origin (Southern Europeans after WWII) has led to the necessity of elaboration of a special integration policy in 1975. This integratio n programme was built on three main pillars: equality (meaning a normative framework as enjoyment of the same rights with the native population), freedom of choice for cultural identity, and partnership as a compliance with the Swedish norms and values. This policy also granted the right to vote to the immigrants and language classes. Since the matter of immigration was mainly in the frame of the labor market, the governing body regulating the issue was the Board of Labor.
Additionally, the early 1970s are associated with the beginning of the “asylum seekers” period of immigration, when the majority of the immigrants were from the Middle East and Latin America coming as refugees or by the reunification programme.
Notably, this was the first immigration of people of non-European origin to Sweden – people of visibly different phenotypic features as well as religious and cultural identities.
They were accepted in Sweden on humanitarian grounds. No integration policy adjustments followed until 1985, when the Board of Immigration was created for the governance of the growing number of refugees rather than labor immigrants. The board ensured the provision of language classes and vocational training for immigrants to improve their skills and stir them towards the labor market. Among other measures that have been taken is the attempt of even distribution of the refugees on the territory of Sweden. Under the subsidiary support from the government, the municipalities were supposed to organize integration measures for the refugees that would allow them to get
Ibid.
27 employed. Even though the Board of Immigration was created as a separate body respecting the presence of the people from different backgrounds, the agenda of the Board was still tied to the preparation of the newcomers to the inclusion into the economics.
This period was followed by the arrival of Yugoslavian refugees in the 1990s, as a result of the Yugoslav Wars Continuous arrival of refugees and significant numbers of labor immigrants coming from different cultural backgrounds have caused the discourse of diversity in Sweden and consequent development of the policy of diverse management.
In the policy, the process of integration was considered as “no longer a unilateral process but mutual adjustment and adaptation”58 between native Swedes and the immigrants.
However, the policy seemed not succeeded, and in 2003, the government has set up the Commission to investigate integration in relation to structural discrimination designed to find out the reasons behind low employment level among the foreign-born population of Sweden. According to the results of the investigation, the affirmative action strategy was suggested to ensure the access to work for the immigrants.
Here again, it is seen that the motivation for the study as much as the suggestions were grounded in the problem of low labor market involvement. Eventually, the study was criticized for not exploring the causes of the problem and not providing relevant insights for improvements59.
Political dynamics and changes after 2011
Since the escalation of military conflicts in the countries of the Middle East and Northern Africa in 2010-11, the number of forcibly displaced people started to increase dramatically, prompting a new era of migration in Europe, widely known as the
“migration crisis”. The mass arrival of asylum seekers from the above mentioned areas reached its peak in 201660. In Sweden, people from former Yugoslavia were the largest group of refugees before 2010. Since then, following EU resettlement obligations, Sweden became a leading asylum destination for non-Europeans, accepting one of the biggest number of refugees in the EU. Among more than 253 thousand of refugees in Sweden61, the biggest groups are people from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia,
C. Westin, “Sweden: Restrictive Immigration Policy and Multiculturalism”.
C. Westin, “Sweden: Restrictive Immigration Policy and Multiculturalism”.
Swedish Migration Agency, Asylum, Granted applications for asylum 2011-2019, https://www.migrationsverket.se/English/About-the-Migration-Agency/Statistics/Asylum.html
Sweden Refugee Statistics 1990-2020, https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/SWE/sweden/refugee- statistics
