Bratt, Christopher. Is it racism? The belief in cultural superiority across Europe. (2022) [PDF]

Bratt, Christopher. Is it racism? The belief in cultural superiority across Europe. European Societies, 24(2), 2022, 207–228.

Are Europeans racist if they maintain that some cultures are superior? Theorists of cultural racism argue so and suggest that modern racism in Europe is expressed as a belief in cultural superiority. But this claim has been based on theoretical arguments, not on empirical tests. The current research investigated how widespread a belief in cultural superiority was in European countries and tested how such a belief related to biological racism. Analyses of data from the European Social Survey (21 countries, total N > 33,000) showed large differences across countries in tendencies to endorse the belief in cultural superiority. But in nearly all countries, a factor model consistent with the theory of cultural racism had much better support than a factor model building on the assumption that culturalism is distinct from racism. Even when the factor analysis was able to maintain a distinction between racism and culturalism, the two factors had a very strong correlation. The present research suggests that although a belief in cultural superiority may harbour different views, expressed beliefs in cultural superiority and cultural concerns are strongly associated with traditional racism.

PDF: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2022.2059098

Dunlavy, Andrea, Karl Gauffin, Lisa Berg, Christopher Jamil De Montgomery, Ryan Europa, Ketil Eide, et al. Health outcomes in young adulthood among former child refugees in Denmark, Norway and Sweden: A cross-country comparative study. (2021) [PDF]

Dunlavy, A., Gauffin, K., Berg, L., De Montgomery, C. J., Europa, R., Eide, K., Ascher, H., & Hjern, A. (2021). Health outcomes in young adulthood among former child refugees in Denmark, Norway and Sweden: A cross-country comparative study. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 51(3), 2021, 330-338.

Dunlavy, Andrea, Karl Gauffin, Lisa Berg, Christopher Jamil De Montgomery, Ryan Europa, Ketil Eide, and others, Health Outcomes in Young Adulthood among Former Child Refugees in Denmark, Norway and Sweden: A Cross-Country Comparative Study, Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 2021.

Aims:This study aimed at comparing several health outcomes in young adulthood among child refugees who settled in the different immigration and integration policy contexts of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.Methods:The study population included refugees born between 1972 and 1997 who immigrated before the age of 18 and settled in the three Nordic countries during 1986?2005. This population was followed up in national registers during 2006?2015 at ages 18?43 years and was compared with native-born majority populations in the same birth cohorts using sex-stratified and age-adjusted regression analyses.Results:Refugee men in Denmark stood out with a consistent pattern of higher risks for mortality, disability/illness pension, psychiatric care and substance misuse relative to native-born majority Danish men, with risk estimates being higher than comparable estimates observed among refugee men in Norway and Sweden. Refugee men in Sweden and Norway also demonstrated increased risks relative to native-born majority population men for inpatient psychiatric care, and in Sweden also for disability/illness pension. With the exception of increased risk for psychotic disorders, outcomes among refugee women were largely similar to or better than those of native-born majority women in all countries.Conclusions:The observed cross-country differences in health indicators among refugees, and the poorer health outcomes of refugee men in Denmark in particular, may be understood in terms of marked differences in Nordic integration policies. However, female refugees in all three countries had better relative health outcomes than refugee men did, suggesting possible sex differentials that warrant further investigation.

Aims: This study aimed at comparing several health outcomes in young adulthood among child refugees who settled in the different immigration and integration policy contexts of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Methods:The study population included refugees born between 1972 and 1997 who immigrated before the age of 18 and settled in the three Nordic countries during 1986-2005. This population was followed up in national registers during 2006-2015 at ages 18?43 years and was compared with native-born majority populations in the same birth cohorts using sex-stratified and age-adjusted regression analyses.

Results:Refugee men in Denmark stood out with a consistent pattern of higher risks for mortality, disability/illness pension, psychiatric care and substance misuse relative to native-born majority Danish men, with risk estimates being higher than comparable estimates observed among refugee men in Norway and Sweden. Refugee men in Sweden and Norway also demonstrated increased risks relative to native-born majority population men for inpatient psychiatric care, and in Sweden also for disability/illness pension. With the exception of increased risk for psychotic disorders, outcomes among refugee women were largely similar to or better than those of native-born majority women in all countries.

Conclusions: The observed cross-country differences in health indicators among refugees, and the poorer health outcomes of refugee men in Denmark in particular, may be understood in terms of marked differences in Nordic integration policies. However, female refugees in all three countries had better relative health outcomes than refugee men did, suggesting possible sex differentials that warrant further investigation.

PDF: https://doi.org/10.1177/14034948211031408

Jensen, Tina Gudrun, and Rebecka Söderberg, Governing Urban Diversity through Myths of National Sameness – a Comparative Analysis of Denmark and Sweden. (2021) [PDF]

Jensen, Tina Gudrun, and Rebecka Söderberg, Governing Urban Diversity through Myths of National Sameness – a Comparative Analysis of Denmark and Sweden, Journal of Organizational Ethnography, 11.1 (2021), 5–19

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore problematisations of urban diversity in urban and integration policies in Denmark and Sweden; the paper aims to show how such policies express social imaginaries about the self and the other and underlying assumptions of sameness that legitimise diverging ways of managing urban diversity and (re)organising the city.

Design/methodology/approach Inspired by anthropology of policy and post-structural approaches to policy analysis, the authors approach urban and integration policies as cultural texts that are central to the organisation of cities and societies. With a comparative approach, the authors explore how visions of diversity take shape and develop over time in Swedish and Danish policies on urban development and integration.

Findings Swedish policy constructs productiveness as crucial to the imagined national sameness, whereas Danish policy constructs cultural sameness as fundamental to the national self-image. By constructing the figure of “the unproductive”/“the non-Western” as the other, diverging from an imagined sameness, policies for organising the city through removing and “improving” urban diverse others are legitimised.

Originality/value The authors add to previous research by focussing on the construction of the self as crucial in processes of othering and by highlighting how both nationalistic and colour-blind policy discourses construct myths of national sameness, which legitimise the governing of urban diversity. The authors highlight and de-naturalise assumptions and categorisations by showing how problem representations differ over time and between two neighbouring countries.

PDF: https://doi.org/10.1108/JOE-06-2021-0034

Kende, Judit, Julia Reiter, Canan Coşkan, Bertjan Doosje, and Eva G. T. Green, The Role of Minority Discrimination and Political Participation in Shaping Majority Perceptions of Discrimination: Two Cross-National Studies. (2022) [PDF]

Kende, Judit, Julia Reiter, Canan Coşkan, Bertjan Doosje, and Eva G. T. Green, The Role of Minority Discrimination and Political Participation in Shaping Majority Perceptions of Discrimination: Two Cross-National Studies, Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 2022

We develop a minority influence approach to multilevel intergroup research and examine whether country-level minority norms shape majority members? perceptions of discrimination. Defining minority norms via actual minority discrimination and political participation, we hypothesized that in national contexts with greater minority experiences of discrimination and greater minority political participation, majority perceptions of discrimination should be higher. We implemented two cross-national multilevel studies drawing on the European Social Survey and Eurobarometer data with 19,392 participants in 22 countries in Study 1, and with 17,651 participants in 19 countries in Study 2. Higher aggregate levels of minority discrimination were not related to greater acknowledgment of discrimination among majority members. However, higher aggregate minority political participation did relate to higher perceptions of discrimination in Studies 1 and 2. We conclude that country-level minority norms are consequential for majority attitudes, but these norms need to be actively communicated through political participation.

PDF: https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302221075711

Saarikkomäki, Elsa, Randi Solhjell, and David Wästerfors, Dealing with Police Stops: How Young People with Ethnic Minority Backgrounds Narrate Their Ways of Managing over-Policing in the Nordic Countries. (2023)

Saarikkomäki, Elsa, Randi Solhjell, and David Wästerfors, Dealing with Police Stops: How Young People with Ethnic Minority Backgrounds Narrate Their Ways of Managing over-Policing in the Nordic Countries, Policing and Society, 0.0 (2023), 1–16

Research shows that young people within ethnic minorities are subjected to police control more often than others, which seems to have a damaging effect on their trust in the police as well as on their wider sense of belonging. What is less often researched is how these young people deal with being over-policed. This article explores narratives of over-policing from those targeted by the police in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. By highlighting the patterns in these narratives in cross-national interview data, we seek to understand how young people manage interactions with the police and being stigmatised and ethnically profiled. The article distinguishes between three categories of narratives, (a) practical (b) emotional and (c) analytical, which the young people invoke and employ when they discuss their experiences and assessments of the police. The article concludes that we need a more dynamic perspective to understand and analyse how targeted groups constitute agency, resistance and active responses to ethnic profiling or labelling. Being young and belonging to an ethnic minority in the Nordic countries means developing and employing everyday tactics to both manage and account for the risk of police encounters.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2023.2216838

Spaas, Caroline et al. Mental Health of Refugee and Non-Refugee Migrant Young People in European Secondary Education: The Role of Family Separation, Daily Material Stress and Perceived Discrimination in Resettlement. (2022) [PDF]

Spaas, Caroline, An Verelst, Ines Devlieger, Sanni Aalto, Arnfinn Andersen, Natalie Durbeej, and others, Mental Health of Refugee and Non-Refugee Migrant Young People in European Secondary Education: The Role of Family Separation, Daily Material Stress and Perceived Discrimination in Resettlement, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51 (2022), 1–23

While scholarly literature indicates that both refugee and non-refugee migrant young people display increased levels of psychosocial vulnerability, studies comparing the mental health of the two groups remain scarce. This study aims to further the existing evidence by examining refugee and non-refugee migrants’ mental health, in relation to their migration history and resettlement conditions. The mental health of 883 refugee and 483 non-refugee migrants (mean age 15.41, range 11-24, 45.9% girls, average length of stay in the host country 3.75 years) in five European countries was studied in their relation to family separation, daily material stress and perceived discrimination in resettlement. All participants reported high levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Family separation predicted post-trauma and internalizing behavioral difficulties only in refugees. Daily material stress related to lower levels of overall well-being in all participants, and higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behavioral difficulties in refugees. Perceived discrimination was associated with increased levels of mental health problems for refugees and non-refugee migrants. The relationship between perceived discrimination and post-traumatic stress symptoms in non-refugee migrants, together with the high levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms in this subsample, raises important questions on the nature of trauma exposure in non-refugee migrants, as well as the ways in which experiences of discrimination may interact with other traumatic stressors in predicting mental health.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01515-y

PDF: https://europepmc.org/article/med/34686949

Thijssen, Lex, Frank van Tubergen, Marcel Coenders, Robert Hellpap, and Suzanne Jak, Discrimination of Black and Muslim Minority Groups in Western Societies: Evidence From a Meta-Analysis of Field Experiments. (2022) [PDF]

Thijssen, Lex, Frank van Tubergen, Marcel Coenders, Robert Hellpap, and Suzanne Jak, Discrimination of Black and Muslim Minority Groups in Western Societies: Evidence From a Meta-Analysis of Field Experiments, International Migration Review, 56.3 (2022), 843–80

This article examines discrimination against black and Muslim minority groups in 20 Western labor markets. We analyze the outcomes of 94 field experiments, conducted between 1973 and 2016 and representing ?240,000 fictitious job applications. Using meta-analysis, we find that black minority groups are more strongly discriminated against than non-black minority groups. The degree of discrimination of black minority groups varies cross-nationally, whereas Muslim minority groups are equally discriminated across national contexts. Unexpectedly, discrimination against black minority groups in the United States is mostly lower than in European countries. These findings suggest that racial-ethnic discrimination in hiring can be better understood by taking a multigroup and cross-country perspective.

PDF: https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183211045044

Gomez-Gonzalez, Carlos, Cornel Nesseler & Helmut M. Dietl, Mapping discrimination in Europe through a field experiment in amateur sport. (2021) [PDF]

Gomez-Gonzalez, Carlos, Cornel Nesseler & Helmut M. Dietl (2021). Mapping discrimination in Europe through a field experiment in amateur sport. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00773-2

Societies are increasingly multicultural and diverse, consisting of members who migrated from various other countries. However, immigrants and ethnic minorities often face discrimination in the form of fewer opportunities for labor and housing, as well as limitations on interactions in other social domains. Using mock email accounts with typical native-sounding and foreign-sounding names, we contacted 23,020 amateur football clubs in 22 European countries, asking to participate in a training session. Response rates differed across countries and were, on average, about 10% lower for foreign-sounding names. The present field experiment reveals discrimination against ethnic minority groups, uncovering organizational deficiencies in a system trusted to foster social interactions.

PDF: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-021-00773-2

Hassani, Amani. “Muslims and Islamophobia in ‘Raceless’ Societies: Critical Insights from Denmark and Quebec.” (2021) [PDF]

Hassani, Amani. “Muslims and Islamophobia in ‘Raceless’ Societies: Critical Insights from Denmark and Quebec.” The Sociological Review, The Sociological Review, June 2021. thesociologicalreview.org, https://doi.org/10.51428/tsr.gijy3798.

PDF: https://thesociologicalreview.org/magazine/june-2021/sociological-theories/muslims-and-islamophobia-in-raceless-societies/

Jensen, Kristian Kriegbaum. ‘What Can and Cannot Be Willed: How Politicians Talk about National Identity and Immigrants’. (2014) [PDF]

Jensen, Kristian Kriegbaum. ‘What Can and Cannot Be Willed: How Politicians Talk about National Identity and Immigrants’. Nations and Nationalism, vol. 20, no. 3, Wiley-Blackwell, 2014.

The ethnic-civic framework remains widely used in nationalism research. However, in the context of European immigrant integration politics, where almost all ‘nation talk’ is occurring in civic and liberal registers, the framework has a hard time identifying how conceptions of national identity brought forth in political debate differ in their exclusionary potential. This leads some to the conclusion that national identity is losing explanatory power. Building on the insights of Oliver Zimmer, I argue that we may find a different picture if we treat cultural content and logic of boundary construction – two parameters conflated in the ethnic-civic framework – as two distinct analytical levels. The framework I propose focuses on an individual and collective dimension of logic of boundary construction that together constitute the inclusionary/exclusionary core of national identity. The framework is tested on the political debate on immigrant integration in Denmark and Norway in selected years. Indeed, the framework enables us to move beyond the widespread idea that Danish politicians subscribe to an ethnic conception of the nation, while Norwegian political thought is somewhere in between an ethnic and civic conception. The true difference is that Danish politicians, unlike their Norwegian counterparts, do not acknowledge the collective self-understanding as an object of political action.

doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12069.

PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264773027_What_can_and_cannot_be_willed_How_politicians_talk_about_national_identity_and_immigrants

Fernández, Christian, and Kristian Kriegbaum Jensen. ‘The Civic Integrationist Turn in Danish and Swedish School Politics’. (2017)

Fernández, Christian, and Kristian Kriegbaum Jensen. ‘The Civic Integrationist Turn in Danish and Swedish School Politics’. Comparative Migration Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, Physica-Verlag, Dec. 2017,

The civic integrationist turn usually refers to the stricter requirements for residence and citizenship that many states have implemented since the late 1990’s. But what of other policy spheres that are essential for the formation of citizens? Is there a civic turn in school policy? And does it follow the pattern of residence and citizenship? This article addresses these questions through a comparative study of the EU’s allegedly strictest and most liberal immigration regimes, Denmark and Sweden, respectively. The analysis shows a growing concern with citizenship education in both countries, yet with different styles and content. Citizenship education in Denmark concentrates on reproducing a historically derived core of cultural values and knowledge to which minorities are expected to assimilate, while the Swedish model subscribes to a pluralist view that stresses mutual adaptation and intercultural tolerance. Despite claims to the contrary, the analysis shows that Sweden too has experienced a civic turn.

doi:10.1186/s40878-017-0049-z. 10.1186/s40878-017-0049-z.

Borevi, Karin, Kristian Kriegbaum Jensen, and Per Mouritsen. ‘The Civic Turn of Immigrant Integration Policies in the Scandinavian Welfare States’. (2017) [PDF]

Borevi, Karin, Kristian Kriegbaum Jensen, and Per Mouritsen. ‘The Civic Turn of Immigrant Integration Policies in the Scandinavian Welfare States’. Comparative Migration Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, Physica-Verlag, Dec. 2017.

This special issue addresses the question of how to understand the civic turn within immigrant integration in the West towards programs and instruments, public discourses and political intentions, which aim to condition, incentivize, and shape through socialization immigrants into ‘citizens’. Empirically, it focuses on the less studied Scandinavian cases of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. In this introduction, we situate the contributions to this special issue within the overall debate on civic integration and convergence. We introduce the three cases, critically discuss the (liberal) convergence thesis and its descriptive and explanatory claims, and explain why studying the Scandinavian welfare states can further our understanding of the nature of the civic turn and its driving forces. Before concluding, we discuss whether civic integration policies actually work.

doi:10.1186/s40878-017-0052-4.

PDF: https://vbn.aau.dk/da/publications/the-civic-turn-of-immigrant-integration-policies-in-the-scandinav-2.

Simonsen, Kristina Bakkær, and Bart Bonikowski. ‘Is Civic Nationalism Necessarily Inclusive? Conceptions of Nationhood and Anti-Muslim Attitudes in Europe’. (2020)

Simonsen, Kristina Bakkær, and Bart Bonikowski. ‘Is Civic Nationalism Necessarily Inclusive? Conceptions of Nationhood and Anti-Muslim Attitudes in Europe’. European Journal of Political Research, vol. 59, no. 1, 2020, pp. 114–136.

Despite the centrality of national identity in the exclusionary discourse of the European radical right, scholars have not investigated how popular definitions of nationhood are connected to dispositions toward Muslims. Moreover, survey-based studies tend to conflate anti-Muslim attitudes with general anti-immigrant sentiments. This article contributes to research on nationalism and out-group attitudes by demonstrating that varieties of national self-understanding are predictive of anti-Muslim attitudes, above and beyond dispositions toward immigrants. Using latent class analysis and regression models of survey data from 41 European countries, it demonstrates that conceptions of nationhood are heterogeneous within countries and that their relationship with anti-Muslim attitudes is contextually variable. Consistent with expectations, in most countries, anti-Muslim attitudes are positively associated with ascriptive – and negatively associated with elective (including civic) – conceptions of nationhood. Northwestern Europe, however, is an exception to this pattern: in this region, civic nationalism is linked to greater antipathy toward Muslims. It is suggested that in this region, elective criteria of belonging have become fused with exclusionary notions of national culture that portray Muslims as incompatible with European liberal values, effectively legitimating anti-Muslim sentiments in mainstream political culture. This may heighten the appeal of anti-Muslim sentiments not only on the radical right, but also among mainstream segments of the Northwestern European public, with important implications for social exclusion and political behaviour.

doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12337.

https://ejpr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1475-6765.12337.

Hovden, Jan Fredrik, and Hilmar Mjelde. ‘Increasingly Controversial, Cultural, and Political: The Immigration Debate in Scandinavian Newspapers 1970–2016’. (2019)

Hovden, Jan Fredrik, and Hilmar Mjelde. ‘Increasingly Controversial, Cultural, and Political: The Immigration Debate in Scandinavian Newspapers 1970–2016’. Javnost – The Public, vol. 26, no. 2, Apr. 2019, pp. 138–157.

Earlier accounts of the immigration debate in Scandinavia have suggested that despite the countries’ many similarities, Swedish newspapers are dominated by immigration friendly views, that Danish papers are very open to strongly negative views on immigration, and that Norwegian press occupies a middle position. However, this argument has until now not been tested through a large systematic, comparative, and historical study of newspaper coverage of immigration in these countries. As a part of the SCANPUB project [https:// scanpub.w.uib.no/], a content analysis of a representative sample of articles for two news- papers for each country for the period 1970–2016 (one constructed month pr. year, N = 4329) was done. Focusing on broad Scandinavian trends and major national differences, the results support the general claims about national differences in Scandinavian immigration debate, and also suggest some major developments, in particular the rise of immigration as an issue for debate and for national politicians.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13183222.2019.1589285

Abu El-Haj, Thea Renda, Anne Ríos-Rojas, and Reva Jaffe-Walter. ‘Whose Race Problem? Tracking Patterns of Racial Denial in US and European Educational Discourses on Muslim Youth’. (2017) [PDF]

Abu El-Haj, Thea Renda, Anne Ríos-Rojas, and Reva Jaffe-Walter. ‘Whose Race Problem? Tracking Patterns of Racial Denial in US and European Educational Discourses on Muslim Youth’. Curriculum Inquiry, vol. 47, no. 3, Routledge, 2017, pp. 310–335.

In this paper, the authors focus on everyday narrations of the nation as they are taken up by educators ‘in schools’ in the United States, Denmark and Spain. As the primary institutions within which children from im/migrant communities are incorporated into the nation-state, schools are the key sites within which young people learn the languages and practices of national belonging and citizenship. Comparing ethnographic case studies in the United States, Denmark and Spain, the authors trace the nationalist storylines that serve to frame Muslim youth as particular kinds of racialized and ‘impossible subjects’. Across national contexts, the authors document similar, often almost verbatim, stories that educators narrated about the disjuncture between liberal ideals of the nation, and what they imagined to be true of Muslim im/migrant youth. They theorize that, despite differences in US and European approaches to immigration, there are consonances in the ways that Muslims are positioned as racialized Others across liberal democracies because of the very ways that western liberalism has constructed notions of individualism and tolerance. These seemingly benign discourses of liberalism in schools provide the conditions of possibility for schools’ imposition of exclusionary nationalist values while keeping a safe distance from charges of racism. Thus, we show how liberalism’s imbrication with nationalism, and its promotion of goals conceived of as inherently humanist and universal, occlude the racial logics that ultimately restrict human freedom for Muslim youth.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03626784.2017.1324736?journalCode=rcui20

Shirazi, Roozbeh, and Reva Jaffe-Walter. ‘Conditional Hospitality and Coercive Concern: Countertopographies of Islamophobia in American and Danish Schools’. (2020) [PDF]

Shirazi, Roozbeh, and Reva Jaffe-Walter. ‘Conditional Hospitality and Coercive Concern: Countertopographies of Islamophobia in American and Danish Schools’. Comparative Education, Sept. 2020, pp. 1–21.

In this article, we explore how locally situated educational practices and policies aimed at inclusion and integration may contribute to racialised exclusion for students. Our analysis brings together two ethnographic studies of how minoritised Muslim youth navigate secondary schooling in Denmark and the US. Our cases illustrate how assumptions held by school staff toward the youth in our studies were rooted in both Islamophobic tropes and deeply held nationalist beliefs about the benevolence of the US and Denmark. Cindi Katz’s notion of ‘countertopography’ is critical to our argument that Islamophobia is productive of similar practices of surveillance and exclusion across disparate educational settings. As an analytical framework, countertopography opens important possibilities for critical and comparative qualitative inquiry, with specific promise for highlighting how seemingly dissimilarly educational spaces may be imbued with similar social meanings, and how these meanings are constituted by recurring unequal social relations between individuals and groups therein.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03050068.2020.1812234

PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Roozbeh_Shirazi/publication/344541667_Conditional_hospitality_and_coercive_concern_countertopographies_of_Islamophobia_in_American_and_Danish_schools/links/5f9ad817a6fdccfd7b884377/Conditional-hospitality-and-coercive-concern-countertopographies-of-Islamophobia-in-American-and-Danish-schools.pdf.

Jonker, Merel, and Sigtona Halrynjo. ‘Multidimensional Discrimination in Judicial Practice: A Legal Comparison between Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands’. (2014) [PDF]

Jonker, Merel, and Sigtona Halrynjo. ‘Multidimensional Discrimination in Judicial Practice: A Legal Comparison between Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands’. Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, vol. 32, no. 4, SAGE Publications Ltd STM, Dec. 2014, pp. 408–433.

The concept of multidimensional discrimination is claimed to pose considerable challenges for judicial practice. The methods for tackling discrimination on more than one ground have been extensively discussed in the literature but not yet comprehensively analysed empirically. The present study compares and analyses the case law of the Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish equality bodies concerning gender-plus discrimination in the labour market. Based on 74 cases, the comparison shows that neither integrated equality bodies nor anti-discrimination legislation is a prerequisite to protect against multidimensional discrimination, and that the appointment of comparators occurs on pragmatic grounds. These findings suggest that multidimensional discrimination can be adequately dealt with in judicial practice.

doi:10.1177/016934411403200405.

PDF: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/016934411403200405

Keskinen, Suvi. ‘Limits to Speech? The Racialised Politics of Gendered Violence in Denmark and Finland’. (2012) [PDF]

Keskinen, Suvi. ‘Limits to Speech? The Racialised Politics of Gendered Violence in Denmark and Finland’. Journal of Intercultural Studies, vol. 33, no. 3, Routledge, June 2012, pp. 261–274.

The ‘crisis of multiculturalism’ discourse characterises the current political and media debates in many European countries. This paper analyses how liberal arguments, especially gender equality and freedom of speech, are used to promote nationalist and racialising political agendas in Denmark and Finland. It detects the powerful emergence of a nationalist rhetoric, based on the ‘politics of reversal’ and a re-articulation of liberal notions, in the Nordic countries, which have been known for their collectivist welfare state models and commitments to social equality. Through an analysis of case studies in both countries, the paper shows how debates about gendered violence in Muslim families turn into attempts to broaden the discursive space for racialising speech and to individualise racism.

doi:10.1080/07256868.2012.673470.

PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263304082_Limits_to_Speech_The_Racialised_Politics_of_Gendered_Violence_in_Denmark_and_Finland

Kinnvall, Catarina, and Paul Nesbitt-Larking. ‘The Political Psychology of (de)Securitization: Place-Making Strategies in Denmark, Sweden, and Canada’. (2010) [PDF]

Kinnvall, Catarina, and Paul Nesbitt-Larking. ‘The Political Psychology of (de)Securitization: Place-Making Strategies in Denmark, Sweden, and Canada’. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, vol. 28, no. 6, Dec. 2010, pp. 1051–1070.

In this article we demonstrate how both state structures and collective agencies contribute to patterns of securitization and, in so doing, reconfigure conceptions of space and place. Focusing on the life-chances of Muslim minority populations in Denmark, Sweden, and Canada, we begin by establishing how experiences of empire and colonization have shaped dominant regimes of citizenship and multiculturalism. Analyzing responses to the Danish newspaper publication of the `Mohammed cartoons’, we illustrate the dynamics of place making that are operative in the political psychology of securitization. Our analysis illustrates the cosmopolitical and dialogical character of Canadian multiculturalism and how such a regime facilitates a politics of space that is distinct from the cartographies of imperialism that inform place making in Denmark and, to a lesser extent, Sweden.

doi:10.1068/d13808.

PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248880699_The_Political_Psychology_of_DeSecuritization_Place-Making_Strategies_in_Denmark_Sweden_and_Canada

Kühle, Lene, and Helge Årsheim. ‘Governing Religion and Gender in Anti-Discrimination Laws in Norway and Denmark’. (2020) [PDF]

Kühle, Lene, and Helge Årsheim. ‘Governing Religion and Gender in Anti-Discrimination Laws in Norway and Denmark’. Oslo Law Review, vol. 7, no. 02, Oct. 2020, pp. 105–122.

This article examines the decisions on religious and gender discrimination handed down by two quasi-judicial monitoring bodies in Denmark and Norway, mapping similarities and differences between the two bodies. While the monitoring bodies tend to arrive at similar results, their modes of reasoning and understanding of what constitutes ‘religion’ for legal purposes differ considerably. Looking in particular at the decisions on religious headgear and handshaking, the article suggests that these differences may be due to a range of different factors, from the legal framework on anti-discrimination in the two countries, to the staffing of the monitoring bodies, and the financial support available for their work.

doi:10.18261/ISSN.2387-3299-2020-02-03.

PDF: https://www.idunn.no/oslo_law_review/2020/02/governing_religion_and_gender_in_anti-discrimination_laws_i.

Lagermann, Laila Colding. Unge i – Eller Ude Af? – Skolen: Marginaliseringsprocesser Og Overskridende Forandringsbevægelser Blandt Udskolingselever Med Etnisk Minoritetsbaggrund. (2014) [PDF]

Lagermann, Laila Colding. Unge i – Eller Ude Af? – Skolen: Marginaliseringsprocesser Og Overskridende Forandringsbevægelser Blandt Udskolingselever Med Etnisk Minoritetsbaggrund. Dissertation. Aarhus University, 2014,

Denne afhandling er med finansiering fra DPU gennemført på Institut for Uddannelse og Pædagogik (DPU), Aarhus Universitet, i perioden 2009-2014. Afhandlingen har haft til hensigt at undersøge, hvilke muligheder og begrænsninger for handling, tilblivelse og forandring deltagelse i en skole skaber i henholdsvis  Danmark  og  i  Sverige for unge med etnisk minoritetsbaggrund set fra et første persons perspektiv, samt  hvordan  dette  kan  forstås  som  del  af  marginaliseringsprocesser  og  overskridende  forandringsbevægelser. Afhandlingen er en antologisk afhandling bestående af fire artikler og en indledende tekst. Den indledende tekst indledes med en indledning, efterfulgt af de indledende bevægelser gjort i relation til arbejdet  med  afhandlingen,  herunder  afhandlingens  kundskabsambitioner  og  forskningsspørgsmål. Herefter gennemgås den litteratur, jeg særligt har hæftet mig ved på området omkring marginalisering  og  overskridelse  af  marginalisering  blandt  unge  med  etnisk  minoritetsbaggrund  i  udskolingen.  Herefter redegøres for den anvendte teori, først overordnet og efterfølgende i relation til de teoretiske begreber anvendt i de enkelte artikler, og den indledende tekst afsluttes med en redegørelse for de  konkrete  metodiske  og  metodologiske  tilgange  og  fremgangsmåder,  herunder  et  afsnit  om  den  etiske fordring og praksis, der løber igennem afhandlingens teoretiske såvel som empiriske og analytiske  arbejde.  Den  indledende  tekst  afsluttes  med  nogle  konkluderende  og  afrundende  kommentarer, hvilket implicerer en gennemgang af afhandlingens bidrag, med et udgangspunkt i afhandlingens problemformulering og de dertil hørende tre forskningsspørgsmål. Efter den indledende tekst findes en oversigt over den anvendte litteratur i denne tekst, hvorefter de  fire  artikler,  som  udgør  afhandlingens analyser, præsenteres. Afhandlingen er baseret på et kvalitativt empirisk studie af 12 unge 9. klasses elever med etnisk minoritetsbaggrund i to skoler; én i København, Danmark, og én i Malmø, Sverige. Med et dobbelt perspektiv  på  både  marginaliseringsprocesser  og overskridende  forandringsbevægelser  undersøges  og  analyseres disse to fænomener i afhandlingen med en fundering i primært tre teoretiske tænkninger; en social praksisteoretisk (i hvilken situeret læringsteori er integreret i dansk-tysk kritisk psykologisk praksisforskning),  en  poststrukturalistisk  og  en  agential  realistisk.  Såvel den teoretiske som den metodologiske  tilgang  er  i  afhandlingen  valgt  ud  fra  et  ønske  om  en  decentreret  analytisk  tilgang,  der bryder  med  samfundsmæssigt  dominerende  individualiserede  og  essentialistiske  diskurser.  Således  er  ambitionen  med  afhandlingen  at  udarbejde  en  undersøgelse  på  området,  der  med  et  overodnet  udgangspunkt i de deltagende unges egne perspektiver og narrativer kan udgøre et sådan bidrag. I forhold til anden forskning på området adskiller afhandlingens sig ved et dobbeltperspektiv på både marginaliseringsprocesser  og  overskridende  forandringsbevægelser,  og  på  hvordan  race  og  etnicitet  får  betydning  i  den  sammenhæng, ligesom  det  undersøges,  hvordan  forbindelser  mellem de  unges  positioner og perspektiver i skolen og i deres øvrige liv har betydning for de unges deltagerpræmisser og handlemuligheder.

PDF: https://lailalagermann.dk/onewebmedia/Laila%20Colding%20Lagermann%20-%20PHD%20afhandling.pdf.

Lindekilde, Lasse, Per Mouritsen, and Ricard Zapata-Barrero. ‘The Muhammad Cartoons Controversy in Comparative Perspective’. (2009) [PDF]

Lindekilde, Lasse, Per Mouritsen, and Ricard Zapata-Barrero. ‘The Muhammad Cartoons Controversy in Comparative Perspective’. Ethnicities, vol. 9, no. 3, Sept. 2009, pp. 291–313.

doi:10.1177/1468796809337434.

PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237561106_The_Muhammad_Cartoons_Controversy_in_Comparative_Perspective.

Lövheim, Mia, Haakon H. Jernsletten, David Herbert, Knut Lundby, and Stig Hjarvard. ‘Attitudes: Tendencies and Variations’. (2018) [PDF]

Lövheim, Mia, Haakon H. Jernsletten, David Herbert, Knut Lundby, and Stig Hjarvard. ‘Chapter 2 Attitudes: Tendencies and Variations’. Contesting ReligionThe Media Dynamics of Cultural Conflicts in Scandinavia, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2018. DeGruyter,

This chapter presents an overview of religiosity and attitudes to religious diversity in media and other public spaces based on a cross-Scandinavian survey conducted in 2015. Although Scandinavians in general have a weak personal connection to religion, Christianity still holds a privileged position as an expression of cultural identity. Scandinavians express support for equal rights to practice religion, but also doubtfulness towards public expressions of religion. More than one-fourth of respondents discuss news about religion and religious extremism regularly. There is a widespread sentiment that Islam is a threat to the national culture, even though most respondents state that they oppose an open expression of hostile attitudes towards foreigners. Political orientation and gender are salient aspects that shape diverging opinions regarding tolerance or scepticism towards the public visibility of religious diversity. Furthermore, Danes and Norwegians are more critical of public expressions of Islam than Swedes.

doi:10.1515/9783110502060-007.

PDF: https://www.degruyter.com/view/books/9783110502060/9783110502060-007/9783110502060-007.xml.

Lundby, Knut, Stig Hjarvard, Mia Lövheim, and Haakon H. Jernsletten. ‘Religion between Politics and Media: Conflicting Attitudes towards Islam in Scandinavia’. (2018) [PDF]

Lundby, Knut, Stig Hjarvard, Mia Lövheim, and Haakon H. Jernsletten. ‘Religion between Politics and Media: Conflicting Attitudes towards Islam in Scandinavia’. Journal of Religion in Europe, vol. 10, no. 4, Nov. 2017, pp. 437–456.

Based on a comparative project on media and religion across Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, this article analyzes relationships between religiosity and political attitudes in Scandinavia and how these connect with attitudes regarding the representation of Islam in various media. Data comes from population-wide surveys conducted in the three countries in April 2015. Most Scandinavians relate ‘religion’ with conflict, and half of the population perceives Islam as a threat to their national culture. Scandinavians thus perceive religion in terms of political tensions and predominantly feel that news media should serve a critical function towards Islam and religious conflicts. Finally, the results of the empirical analysis are discussed in view of the intertwined processes of politicization of Islam and mediatization of religion.

doi:10.1163/18748929-01004005.

PDF: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/18748929-01004005.

Sauer, Birgit, and Birte Siim. ‘Inclusive Political Intersections of Migration, Race, Gender and Sexuality – The Cases of Austria and Denmark’. (2020) [PDF]

Sauer, Birgit, and Birte Siim. ‘Inclusive Political Intersections of Migration, Race, Gender and Sexuality – The Cases of Austria and Denmark’. NORA – Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, vol. 28, no. 1, Routledge, Jan. 2020, pp. 56–69.

The article aims to integrate key concepts from social movement, citizenship and gender theories with afocus on (political) intersectionality at the interface of migration, race, gender and sexuality. It explores the responses from civil society groups to the exclusive intersections of right-wing politics and discourses in Austria and Denmark with afocus on inclusive intersectionality and transversal politics. The article asks if and how the intersectional repertoires of NGOs were able to create transversal politics and joint activities and explains why these NGOs were unable to counter right-wing hegemony. It uses the cases of Austria and Denmark to illustrate the diverse mobilizations of counter-forces against the attempts to forge an anti-migration and anti-Muslim consensus. The focus is on the mobilization of anti-racist and pro-migrant groups, comparing their strategies and inclusionary repertoires including feminist claims, the framing of activist citizenship, acts of citizenship and of solidarity. The article scrutinizes strategies of transversal politics against the exclusionary right in the two countries; shows the influence of the different contexts of civil society mobilization, political cultures, welfare and gender regimes as well as the differences between right-wing forces in the two countries.

doi:10.1080/08038740.2019.1681510.

PDF: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/08038740.2019.1681510?needAccess=true