From ‘Nordic Exceptionalism’ to ‘Swedish Expansionism’
(2021) SOCM04 20211Sociology
Department of Sociology
- Abstract
- The recent growth of the Swedish prison population and police force suggests a stark reversal from the small, rehabilitation oriented criminal justice system described in the “Nordic penal exceptionalism thesis.” This paper is based on a narrative analysis of documents published by the Government Offices of Sweden in the collection titled “A Safer Sweden” from 2013 to 2021. This research aims to understand the narratives Swedish criminal justice institutions use to describe themselves and the crime problems to which they respond, as well as how narratives work to shape assumptions about crime control and harm-causing policies. By using the critical narrative criminology perspective, and specifically Lois Presser’s “general narrative logic... (More)
- The recent growth of the Swedish prison population and police force suggests a stark reversal from the small, rehabilitation oriented criminal justice system described in the “Nordic penal exceptionalism thesis.” This paper is based on a narrative analysis of documents published by the Government Offices of Sweden in the collection titled “A Safer Sweden” from 2013 to 2021. This research aims to understand the narratives Swedish criminal justice institutions use to describe themselves and the crime problems to which they respond, as well as how narratives work to shape assumptions about crime control and harm-causing policies. By using the critical narrative criminology perspective, and specifically Lois Presser’s “general narrative logic of harm” this paper will look at how narratives reduce targets of harm and how criminal justice institutions present contradictory stories regarding their license to harm and their unavoidable role in punishing. Presser’s framework allows for narrative theories to be linked with criminological theories on the growth and expansion of penal institutions. Building from these theories on political narratives, I will structure my results and analysis in three sections, actors, plots, and master narratives. These sections will focus on how narratives are used to construct collective identities and “target populations,” how narratives are sequenced in a way that creates causality, and how the narratives found in the dataset are nested within widely known master narratives that encourage specific types of policy action. Taken together, these narratives work to justify the cumulative expansion of penal power, which I term ‘Swedish expansionism,’ and overpower the solidaristic and egalitarian assumptions that were, at least theoretically, at the foundation of the ‘exceptional’ Swedish criminal justice system. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- In this paper, I analyze publications from the Government Offices of Sweden on topics of crime, crime control, and punishment. I will use theories based in narrative criminology to understand how stories inspire and give meaning to the harmful action of imprisonment. Therefore, I will analyze how Swedish criminal justice institutions tell stories about themselves and the crime problems they are trying to solve which in turn shape people’s beliefs about appropriate punishments.
This project challenges the assumption that punishment is an inevitable response to crime. Inspired by previous literature that shows no direct correlation between punishment practices and crime rates, punishment will be analyzed independently of crime to focus... (More) - In this paper, I analyze publications from the Government Offices of Sweden on topics of crime, crime control, and punishment. I will use theories based in narrative criminology to understand how stories inspire and give meaning to the harmful action of imprisonment. Therefore, I will analyze how Swedish criminal justice institutions tell stories about themselves and the crime problems they are trying to solve which in turn shape people’s beliefs about appropriate punishments.
This project challenges the assumption that punishment is an inevitable response to crime. Inspired by previous literature that shows no direct correlation between punishment practices and crime rates, punishment will be analyzed independently of crime to focus on the social and political factors driving the increases in Sweden’s prison population and the expansion of their police force. This expansion is analyzed against the backdrop of Sweden’s reputation for having a criminal justice system shaped by the egalitarian ideals of the welfare state that emphasizes alternatives to incarceration and rehabilitative practices.
Overall, I find that narratives about urban violence and gang crime have reshaped the meaning of safety and security in Sweden. Blaming immigrants and foreigners for these types of crimes abandons the assumption that lawbreakers are “just like us” that formerly drove Sweden’s emphasis on humane punishment and rehabilitation. Instead, stories about solutions to the crime problem fit into widely known stories about proportionality, deterrence, risk management, control, security, and threat which justify policies that target racialized urban populations and increase the use of imprisonment. I propose the concept of ‘Swedish expansionism’ as a way to describe how the expansion of Sweden’s punishing power is framed through the benevolent values of the welfare state and directed at the most marginalized and vulnerable communities in Sweden. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9053786
- author
- Lowe, John LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- A Narrative Analysis of Swedish Penal Policy
- course
- SOCM04 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- narrative criminology, Nordic exceptionalism, punishment, prisons, policing, political narratives, gangs
- language
- English
- id
- 9053786
- date added to LUP
- 2021-06-14 15:54:06
- date last changed
- 2021-06-14 15:54:06
@misc{9053786,
abstract = {{The recent growth of the Swedish prison population and police force suggests a stark reversal from the small, rehabilitation oriented criminal justice system described in the “Nordic penal exceptionalism thesis.” This paper is based on a narrative analysis of documents published by the Government Offices of Sweden in the collection titled “A Safer Sweden” from 2013 to 2021. This research aims to understand the narratives Swedish criminal justice institutions use to describe themselves and the crime problems to which they respond, as well as how narratives work to shape assumptions about crime control and harm-causing policies. By using the critical narrative criminology perspective, and specifically Lois Presser’s “general narrative logic of harm” this paper will look at how narratives reduce targets of harm and how criminal justice institutions present contradictory stories regarding their license to harm and their unavoidable role in punishing. Presser’s framework allows for narrative theories to be linked with criminological theories on the growth and expansion of penal institutions. Building from these theories on political narratives, I will structure my results and analysis in three sections, actors, plots, and master narratives. These sections will focus on how narratives are used to construct collective identities and “target populations,” how narratives are sequenced in a way that creates causality, and how the narratives found in the dataset are nested within widely known master narratives that encourage specific types of policy action. Taken together, these narratives work to justify the cumulative expansion of penal power, which I term ‘Swedish expansionism,’ and overpower the solidaristic and egalitarian assumptions that were, at least theoretically, at the foundation of the ‘exceptional’ Swedish criminal justice system.}},
author = {{Lowe, John}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{From ‘Nordic Exceptionalism’ to ‘Swedish Expansionism’}},
year = {{2021}},
}