Growing up in Sweden - Perspectives on Integration

The number of Swedish children who were born in other countries, or who have parents who were born outside of Sweden, has increased in recent decades. A parallel development during this time is that both schools and residential areas have become more ethnically segregated. This segregation means that young people of today to a greater extent grow up in separate worlds with diverse conditions, and in many cases with limited contact with young people with different backgrounds. In the anthology Growing up in Sweden – Perspectives on Integration, nine researchers from different disciplines shed light on young people’s living conditions growing up in Sweden today.

Some of the questions answered in the anthology are: To what extent do school quality, school results and study ambitions for children with different backgrounds differ? And how are school results, the propensity to attain higher education and future incomes affected by growing up in a poor neighbourhood? What does young people’s social integration look like today? How do young people, with and without a foreign background, view their national identity and what are their values and attitudes? What role do gossip, and rumours play in maintaining honour-based norms and what strategies do young women use to prevent that kind of rumours? How is the meeting between young people with different socio-cultural and national backgrounds in schools’ everyday life? What preconditions do teachers have to handle problems related to cultural diversity in Swedish schools?

Some conclusions and recommendations

One conclusion that can be drawn from the studies of this anthology is that schools and teachers have a central role for integration. In order to give young people with a migration background an opportunity to create a good life and a future in Sweden, and to take advantage of the high study ambitions that many young people with a foreign background have, it is crucial that schools receive the resources needed.
Further training for teachers can make them better equipped for the challenges of an increasingly multicultural classroom.
Another conclusion is that the higher the degree of segregation, the more the living conditions of young people will diverge. In order to give young people more equal life chances, the increasing segregation needs to be counteracted.
Phenomena such as racism, intolerance of homosexuality, abortion, honour-related oppression and violence need to be prevented and combated if we want everyone, regardless of ethnic background, gender and sexuality, to be able to fully enjoy the equal freedoms and rights of a democratic society.

Contributing authors are Jan O. Jonsson, Susanne Åsman, Thomas Johansson, Ylva Odenbring, Sevgi Bayram Özdemir, Metin Özdemir, Erik Lundberg, Bo Malmberg och Eva Andersson. Editors are Sara Thalberg, André Asplund and Daniel Silberstein.

Picture by Michelle Raponi from Pixabay.

The picture on the report by Maskot / Maskot / TT.

Some conclusions and recommendations

Download the report and policy brief (only available in Swedish)