The aim of the research project “The menacing immigration and ideal Swedishness: A semiotic analysis of the Sweden Democrats campaign films” was to highlight how ethnicities are portrayed in five different campaign films produced by the Swedish party the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna). The applied theories are stereotypes, binary oppositions as well as the theory of whiteness and blackness. The method used to analyse the campaign films are semiotics, and the tools denotation, connotation, anchoring, relay, metonymy and myths.   The results show that a person’s skin colour is of minor importance. What does matter, is if you are Swedish or not and how Swedish you are. All of the campaign films concern questions about “Swedishness” and immigration. When immigration and non-Swedes are in focus, the films present a dark theme with a sinister undertone. In contrast, when the issue of Swedishness is presented the films portray harmonious and idyllic images of Sweden. Sweden, Swedes and Swedishness is habitually portrayed as being the ideal, the desirable, and the good. It is the norm for being socially acceptable. Immigration, immigrants and non-Swedes on the other hand are consistently portrayed in a negative light. These extraneous groups of people are labelled as the others; they are the bad, and are portrayed as a threat that we Swedes have to defend ourselves against. A third, but less prominent theme that could be deduced from the films is that the Sweden Democrats are portrayed as martyrs. By presenting themselves as being misunderstood and as being the voice of the people, it can be interpreted that they attempt to detract the stamp they acquired as a racist party.   Although the Sweden Democrats seem to have refined the ways in which they express their opinions of Swedishness and immigration, it’s still a significant part of the message in their commercials. They glorify Swedes and reproduce coarse stereotypes of non-Swedes. With the portrayal and contrasting comparison there is an inherent consequence that immigrants are to be seen as less worthy, and that the Swedes in turn are indirectly attributed to a higher value and as such, being Swedish is set as the norm.

Detta examensarbete är skrivet med syftet att få inblick i hur svenskläraren implementerar värdegrundsarbete relaterat till främlingsfientlighet och rasism i svenskämnet, genom skönlitteratur, andra texter eller media. Ett delsyfte är att undersöka huruvida läraren tillämpar någon av de teoretiska utgångspunkterna kritisk teori eller critical literacy vid litteraturläsning eller studier av andra texter eller medier (Tyson 2003 och Janks 2013).Studien genomförs genom semistrukturerade intervjuer av fyra svensklärare verksamma vid en medelstor gymnasieskola i en mindre stad i Mellansverige.Resultatet visar bland annat att lärarna har belyst värdegrundsfrågor i direkt relation till främlingsfientlighet och rasism, genom skönlitteratur, film, aktuell nyhetsmedia samt diskussion, i varierande utsträckning: två lärare har inbegripit en större volym skönlitteratur och texter kopplat till värdegrundsfrågorna i svenskundervisningen än de andra.De kritiska teorierna har tillämpats av svensklärarna i undervisningen, men inte i någon större omfattning. / This thesis is written with the purpose to investigate and gain an insight into how teachers of Swedish Language Arts implement work with fundamental values related to xenophobia and racism, through fiction or other texts or media in Swedish high school education. One secondary aim is to investigate whether the teacher makes use of the theoretical approaches critical theory or critical literacy in reading fiction or studies of other texts or media (Tyson 2003 and Janks 2013).The study was conducted through semi-structured interviews of four High School teachers of Swedish Language Arts working at a medium-sized high school in a small town in central Sweden.The study shows that teachers have highlighted the value issues directly related to xenophobia and racism, through literature, films, current news media and discussion in varying degrees: two teachers have included a greater volume of literature and texts linked to values issues in education than others. The critical theories have been applied by the teachers in their teaching, but not to any great extent.

The purpose of this study is to present populism as a political phenomenon and to impose focus on the rightwing populist parties that are active in Scandinavia. This essay begins with a presentation of the three rightwing political parties in Scandinavia. The rightwing populist parties have successfully developed their rhetoric and effectively influenced the political establishment in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The parties that the essay focuses on are the Swedish democrats (SD), the Norwegian Progress party (FRP) and the Danish People`s party (DF). These parties are interesting in the sense that they share many opinions and are active in comparable political atmospheres, but also that they use approximately the same rightwing populist rhetoric as a way of exerting leverage on political policy. The theoretical segment is constructed on a descriptive historical background of populisms three different phases. It begins with the classic populism then the “dissatisfaction party” and in conclusion, today's rightwing populism. The theoretical segment also addresses populisms ideological foundations and its contents. This includes the country of birth, the people, welfare “chauvinism” on ethnic national grounds, targeted dissatisfaction, criticism against representative democracy, populisms dynamic structure, hostility to foreigners and stranger distrust. The empirical analysis of the political parties is based on seven starting points: basic values, views on peoples worth, most important unit in society, method for social change, political forms of managing, economic organization and utopia. To illustrate these points a comparison between the average parties is done, by examining their respective party agendas. The conclusion is drawn that there are few resemblances between the political parties examined; the differences considered are clearly stronger than the resemblances. The differences lie mostly in basis values, most important unit in society and political forms of managing. Furthermore are the resemblances only partial. The parties were most similar in relation to the family’s position in the society. SD and DF can be said to have similar ideologies while FRP’s ideology differs somewhat. SD and DF can be described as conservative nationalist parties, while FRP is a mixture of neoliberalism and conservatism. After studying each party’s principle agendas it can be established that all three parties utilize rightwing rhetoric. Keywords: rightwing populist parties, Swedish democrats, Norwegian Progress party and Danish People`s party, theoretical and analytical structure, empirical analysis.