The aim of this study is to analyze the concept of antiracism and explore what characterizes the kind of antiracism that the empirical examples presented in this study represent. The empirical examples are instances of what I call antiracist actors. They are rooted in civil society, but also have strong connections with the government through government funding. The empirical data has been gathered through both qualitative and quantitative methods, mainly in the form of a survey and interviews. In order to explore the antiracist actors I have focused on three themes: (1) the shapes and forms of racism, (2) antiracism as a phenomenon, and (3) antiracism as a social arena. Through these themes I have gathered information about how the antiracist actors interpret their activities and the context in which they are working. On the subject of the shapes and forms of racism, I establish that racism is a concept that is hard to define. The antiracist actors lack a common language regarding racism, which affects the antiracist rhetoric. Regarding antiracism as a phenomenon, I conclude that the antiracist strategies mainly consist of three components: (1) knowledge is used as a strategic instrument internally to strengthen the volunteers, (2) knowledge is spread externally to increase awareness of racism, and (3) the antiracist actors deconstruct racist beliefs when opposing racist opinions. Finally, I research antiracism as a social arena and study civil society and theories about social movements in order to explore organizational aspects of the antiracist actors. Using Alberto Meluccis’ social movement theories, there is some evidence to support the thesis that the antiracist actors could be defined as part of an antiracist movement. However, overall there are stronger arguments to suggest the opposite, mainly since the antiracist actors are not in opposition to one or more adversaries. Instead they work with target groups, sometimes targeting the general public, sometimes specific groups like children in a certain school. The main conclusion from my study in this respect is that the antiracist actors are part of what I call association-driven antiracism. The associationdriven antiracism is characterized by non-violent methods and the antiracist actors do not focus on racist adversaries, instead they work with target groups trying to influence them in an antiracist way. The association-driven antiracism secures its continuity through networks, since many activities are project-based and only last for a limited period of time. Also, the antiracist actors are not representatives of particular political parties, instead they gather around the question at hand, antiracism. The antiracist actors within the association-driven antiracism are in close collaboration with the government and partly finance their activities with government funding. This collaboration can be explained as a positive steering process, the rulers (the government) and those who are ruled (the antiracist actors) agree on an antiracist ideology and work in the same direction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-10395 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Malmsten, Jenny |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för samhälls- och välfärdsstudier, Linköpings universitet, REMESO - Institutet för forskning om Migration, Etnicitet och Samhälle, Linköpings universitet, Filosofiska fakulteten, Linköping : Linköping University Electronic Press |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Doctoral thesis, monograph, info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Linköping Studies in Arts and Science, 0282-9800 ; 406 |
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