How Sweden Became Multicultural

By M. Eckehart

Sweden prides itself on being a multicultural society, with a large fraction of its population originating in a diverse number of countries. Multiculturalism in Sweden is beyond criticism; the idea that Sweden might be anything but multicultural would strike the average Swedish citizen as absurd and even morally reprehensible. Yet this is a rece

• Language: English
• Publisher: Logik
• Release date: Sep 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9789188667168

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How Sweden

Became Multicultural

How Sweden Became

Multicultural

by

M. Eckehart

Originally published as:

Hur Sverige blev en mångkultur (Logik Förlag, 2007)

Cover Design: Andreas Nilsson

ISBN: 978-91-88667-15-1

©2017 Logik Förlag

Box 22120, 250 23 Helsingborg, Sweden

www.logik.se | www.logikpub.com

[e-mail]

I would like to thank Stefan Jacobsson for putting me in touch with Daniel Höglund at Logik Förlag who in turn greenlighted this translation. Last but not least I would like to thank Suomi, Viktor, and above all T.F. Leaf for helping me edit and proofread.

- William Johansson, translator

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Newspaper Debates 1964-68

Political situation:

Ethnic Dimension

Notes

References

Preface

Approximately three years have passed since I wrote the bulk of this text in an attempt to compile my research into how Sweden became a multicultural country. The fact that Sweden is a multicultural country is repeated ad nauseam by the media and the diversity is no longer exclusively found in urban areas but has begun to spread to smaller communities. Remarkably little is said about how and why Sweden came to identify as a multicultural country. This state of affairs has by no means always been the case, and since nothing arises out of the blue it is reasonable to assume that something caused the dramatic change in policy that led Sweden to pursue cultural pluralism as opposed to cultural homogeneity.

In the existing academic literature there is very little information as to how and why this paradigm shift took place. Several important events in this process are recorded but most academics have not explored the issue of causality. It is generally accepted that the key event that initiated the transformation was a newspaper debate that began in 1964. With that being said, the analysis does not touch upon who the debaters were, nor does it explore their motivations. When doing an in-depth examination it became clear that the debaters were not unbiased actors.

The purpose of this text is to educate the reader on the key events that caused Sweden to transform into a multicultural society, the people responsible for this development, and their motives. When I am talking about the transformation of Sweden into a multicultural country I am referring to a political decision in 1975, which proclaimed that Sweden was a multicultural country. The stated reasons for allowing large-scale immigration of foreign ethnic groups, and the consequences that followed, are not going to be the focus of this book. However, Sweden self-identifying as a multicultural country was undoubtedly an important factor.

In some parts of the text I also claim that the implementation of multiculturalism is (and was) contrary to Swedish ethnic interests. As is made clear in this text it was predominantly individuals from certain ethnic minorities who lobbied for Sweden to become multicultural. These individuals had a strong ethnic identity and saw their interests threatened by a culturally homogenous Sweden. The implementation of multiculturalism was thus a way for these ethnic activists to advance their respective groups’ interests, which to some extent occurred at the expense of Swedish ethnic interests. I won’t go into detail as to how Swedes lost out, but I believe that some comments are in order.

It is highly unusual that societal changes result in a situation where all parties are winners. When Sweden became multicultural, ethnic minorities won and Swedes lost. Swedes not only lost the advantage of forming their own nation with their interests being foremost, but they also lost economically in the short-term, and genetically in the long-term.

Amongst Europe’s people it is thus hardly surprising that there exists a universal and widespread opposition to immigration. The primary reason for this opposition is that ethnic minorities are perceived as threats and/or competitors. This perception is often warranted,¹ especially for the ethnic Swedish working class who are forced into a daily competition with minorities over jobs and housing. It should thus come as no surprise that the working class is the most critical of immigration and multiculturalism. The oft-repeated claim that people with a college degree are less negative to multiculturalism because they are more sophisticated and less prejudiced is false, not to mention self-serving, seeing as they are invariably the ones who make this claim. This phenomenon can instead be explained by the fact that individuals with a college degree don’t experience the same threat or competition from ethnic minorities as those with less education.² The effects of immigration are simply not as clear-cut or palpable for those who are highly educated.

Although Swedes with a college degree don’t experience the threat or competition from ethnic minorities as clearly as other segments of society they still, along with all other Swedes, lose economically and genetically in the long-run as a result of immigration and multiculturalism,