Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Becoming the perceived outsider? Building social trust as a newly arrived immigrant in Malmö

Gustafsson, Malin LU (2014) STVM25 20141
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Sweden was always considered a high trust country, yet recent extreme right movements and increased xenophobia have complicated the picture of a stable social cohesion. The problem with such phenomena is that it focuses on the fear of the “other”, as observed by a perceived societal in-group. The purpose of this thesis is, on the contrary, to examine the feelings of one perceived out-group. In reference to the research aim ten semi-structured interviews with newly arrived persons to Malmö have been conducted, examining the dynamics of trust in people who have gone from a low to a high trust environment.
The theoretical framework and literature on social trust and ethnic diversity claims that high social trust is strongly connected to the... (More)
Sweden was always considered a high trust country, yet recent extreme right movements and increased xenophobia have complicated the picture of a stable social cohesion. The problem with such phenomena is that it focuses on the fear of the “other”, as observed by a perceived societal in-group. The purpose of this thesis is, on the contrary, to examine the feelings of one perceived out-group. In reference to the research aim ten semi-structured interviews with newly arrived persons to Malmö have been conducted, examining the dynamics of trust in people who have gone from a low to a high trust environment.
The theoretical framework and literature on social trust and ethnic diversity claims that high social trust is strongly connected to the occurrence of bridging social networks. The stories collected from a narrative analysis of the interviews confirm that to be able to adapt to higher trust levels it is essential to learn the new language as well as having a job or going to school in order to make new social contacts. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Gustafsson, Malin LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVM25 20141
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
social trust, social capital, new arrivals, immigration, ethnic diversity
language
English
id
4448340
date added to LUP
2014-07-07 14:46:03
date last changed
2014-07-07 14:46:03
@misc{4448340,
  abstract     = {{Sweden was always considered a high trust country, yet recent extreme right movements and increased xenophobia have complicated the picture of a stable social cohesion. The problem with such phenomena is that it focuses on the fear of the “other”, as observed by a perceived societal in-group. The purpose of this thesis is, on the contrary, to examine the feelings of one perceived out-group. In reference to the research aim ten semi-structured interviews with newly arrived persons to Malmö have been conducted, examining the dynamics of trust in people who have gone from a low to a high trust environment.
The theoretical framework and literature on social trust and ethnic diversity claims that high social trust is strongly connected to the occurrence of bridging social networks. The stories collected from a narrative analysis of the interviews confirm that to be able to adapt to higher trust levels it is essential to learn the new language as well as having a job or going to school in order to make new social contacts.}},
  author       = {{Gustafsson, Malin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Becoming the perceived outsider? Building social trust as a newly arrived immigrant in Malmö}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}