Belonging in Sweden’s ‘Förorter’: The role of ethnic residential segregation in integration discourses

Rose Persson Esfandyari [LinkedIn]

Ethnic residential segregation is consistently portrayed as a problem and a barrier to integration in Sweden’s metropolitan areas. This article focuses on the contrast between the governmentality behind counter-segregation policies and the narratives of belonging experienced by inhabitants in multiethnic urban neighbourhoods. In combination with my own ethnographic findings as a volunteer for ‘Tillsammans i Förening’ (TiF) in Malmö and spatially dependent studies on school-choice as well as linguistics, this article delves into the question of the extent to which ethnic residential segregation poses an obstacle for integration. Ultimately, the notion of citizenship, and more specifically ‘Swedishness’, colours inhabitants' perception of not only their neighbourhoods, but themselves. The tension between the appreciation for the diversity and sense of belonging found in multiethnic urban neighbourhoods such as Rosengård in Malmö, and the simultaneous perception of being outsiders in Swedish society, in my view, sums up the precarious place of non-white persons in Sweden.

När vuxna kolla snett, kände bara skam / Och fick höra order n**** som det var mitt förnamn

Felt the shame when adults gave me strange looks / and had to hear the word n**** as if it was my first name

/ Jag var “andra generationen” / Kände tonen på lektionen / I bussen, på vägen till stationen /

/ I was the “second generation” / Heard the tone in class / On the bus, on the way to the station /

Trivdes bäst i orten, kanske bråkigt / Men aldrig tråkigt, mångfald, flerspråkigt /

Felt the most comfortable in “the hood”, maybe rowdy / But never boring, diversity, multilingual

Suedi by Erik Lundin

This verse from Erik Lundin's song 'Suedi' perfectly captures the essence of this essay. He communicates a sense of belonging based on the diversity found in peripheral and marginalised urban neighbourhoods, commonly referred to in Swedish as "förorter". During my time at the local organisation 'Tillsammans i Förening' (TiF) in Malmö, I observed this sentiment as I was tasked to interview residents in Rosengård (a so-called "förort"), collecting feedback for municipal policy-makers on inhabitants' experiences in the city. With a few exceptions, all interlocutors were of foreign descent and consistently expressed that despite their grievances, what they appreciated the most about Malmö was its diversity.

Metropolitan areas in Sweden are shaped by residential segregation, which implies that "förorter," with a housing stock designated for the working class, predominantly houses vulnerable groups. Grundström and Molina (2016) stress that this segregation pattern was already visible by 1974. In tandem with the fact that ethnic minorities face substantial mobility barriers in the housing market, one observes a spatial racialisation process that has "relegated immigrants to stigmatised urban fringe neighbourhoods" (Grundström and Molina, 2016: 317). Racialisation is defined as "a process of categorisation, a representational process of defining an Other” (Miles, as cited in Singh, 2020: 3138) which in the case of housing entails that a particular area represents a specific group and vice versa. Therefore, Lundin declaring a sense of belonging and safety is interesting as these areas are consistently framed as a problem in consecutive governments' formulation of counter-segregation policy, framing ethnic residential segregation as a barrier to integration (Andersson et al., 2010).

Housing serves as a source of insight into citizenship and labour in anthropological research (Alexander et al., 2018) as these policies are indicative of the governmentality of state authorities. Murray Li synthesises the definition of the Foucauldian notion of governmentality as governments' "attempt to shape human conduct by calculated means" and that they operate "by educating desires and configuring habits, aspiration and beliefs" (2007: 275). In other words, there is intent behind policy-making, meaning that the Swedish government's counter-segregation policy, with regard to ethnic residential segregation, reflects its rationality concerning immigration and integration at large. The first section of this essay will focus on the evolution of Swedish public housing as an indicator of the state's governmentality. The second section will delve deeper into narratives of belonging for residents, looking at spatially dependent studies relating to school choice and language use. The research question is then: To what extent does residential segregation hinder a sense of belonging for individuals of foreign descent in Sweden?

Context

"Förorter" such as Rosengård are known for high crime rates (Medic & Loftrup Ericson, 2018) and socio-economic deprivation, making them pockets of poverty within Metropolitan areas across Sweden. In 2008, Sweden was ranked as one of the countries within the EU where immigrants were the most likely to be poor and socially excluded, whilst the very same population remained, alongside immigrants in Norway and Ireland, the most educated in the EU (Eurostat, cited in Rosales et al., 2012). In Herrgården, a neighbourhood within the borough of Rosengård, many of my interlocutors shared how they struggled to find low-skill jobs. This speaks to the demonstrated reality of being trapped in a vicious poverty spiral with merely 25 percent of men and 15 percent of women ‘enjoying’ employment (Hrustic, 2015). They also emphasised that the area at large remains unsafe due to gang criminality and violence. Additionally, hygiene and lack of maintenance were identified as problematic, with one interlocutor, a kindergarten teacher unable to let the children play outside despite the summer heat, pointing out that the issue of rats was more of a concern for her than the more publicised issue of gang violence.

Furthermore, the labour and housing market in Sweden, which are deeply intertwined due to the distribution of public housing, reveal a clear segregation pattern, mainly due to the overrepresentation of ethnic individuals in low-skill jobs with low salaries and rare opportunities for advancement (Rosales et al., 2012). Rosales et al. (2012) stress that this segregation in the labour market is often taken for granted, resulting in the invisibility of systemic exploitation of non-whites. This process is indicative of the racialisation of the working class, which ultimately normalises the vulnerability of the non-white working class. This racialisation, subsequently, has a profoundly spatial layer to it as addressed in counter-segregation policy, which often portrayed the vulnerability of residents in "förorter" as largely the result of poor integration and residential segregation (Andersson et al., 2010; Arbaci, 2007; Ehrkamp, 2006). This is predominantly due to assimilation discourses on immigration that are by no means unique to Sweden (Ehrkamp, 2006). Ehrkamp stresses that assimilation is often conceptualised as a spatial process by which space is seen as a factor that determines immigrants' integration; in an ideal scenario, "the spatial distribution and residential patterns of immigrants will be indistinguishable from non-immigrant residents" (2006: 1675).

Theoretical Framework

Hannerz stresses the weight of the anthropology of immigration in the Swedish context, marking that the relationship between immigrants and "the various arms of the state machinery" has provided an insight into the essence of 'Swedishness' (1986: 146). What constitutes 'Swedishness' is illuminated in research of the 'Other', especially in Sweden where the government, through “Folkhemmet” (the People's home), has held a solid yet implicit commitment to "the fostering of a unitary national culture" (Hannerz, 1986: 146). This brings us to the critical debate, resting at the core of this essay: Assimilation versus multiculturalist discourses on integration in housing policy. Ehrkamp's study predominantly addresses the integration of Turkish minorities in Germany, but these very same assimilation discourses can be observed in Swedish immigration and housing policy through counter-segregation policies such as refugee dispersal programmes (Andersson et al., 2010). Arbaci (2007) underlines that the reasoning for such policies is rooted in the dualist conception of urban order, where spatial integration is seen as synonymous with social integration, resulting in immigrant-dense areas being perceived as problematic.

Moreover, a particular concern, which has secured ethnic residential segregation on Sweden's political agenda is that of 'neighbourhood effects' (Andersson et al., 2010). For instance, social mix policies that entail integrating the poor into relatively more affluent neighbourhoods indicate the belief that issues that public housing residents face "are rooted in an environment of social isolation and concentrated poverty" (Hoatson & Grace, 2002: 432). This has been criticised for simplifying the effects of residential segregation as social segregation is not solely caused by homogenous housing stock or neighbourhood composition (Musterd, as cited in Andersson et al., 2010). Adding to this, Scarpa (2015) stresses that Western governments believe that residential segregation hampers social mobility, indirectly framing residential segregation as the cause of income inequality. This is subsequently evident in Swedish policy, revealing this governmentality, which fails to acknowledge that income inequality is simultaneously a cause of residential segregation (Scarpa, 2015). She underlines that the current trajectory in Sweden of growing income inequality disproportionately affects ethnic minorities, echoing the fact that class and ethnic segregation are two conflated notions in policy formation (Andersson et al., 2010).

Residential Segregation

Bengtsson and Ruonavaara (2010) highlight housing policy's path dependency, rooted in its long-lasting and place-specific nature. Governments usually formulate housing in the form of "correctives to the housing market" (2010: 194), and as a result, one must scrutinise the evolution of the Swedish welfare system. Schall (2016) stresses that the Social Democratic Party (SAP) dominated the political scene from 1932-1990s and that the rhetorical transition from one of class to that of a nation through the notion of the People's home was the key to their success. In the aftermath of WWII, Sweden's "Keynesian model of housing provision" came to shape the welfare state (Grundström & Molina, 2016: 316), and the metaphor of a People's home marked SAP's determination to make Sweden a home for all, ensuring that ordinary people could enjoy socio-economic stability (de Vries, 2011). Housing was asserted as the government's responsibility, meaning that the housing market was protected from financial speculation (Grundström & Molina, 2016).

Moreover, SAP constructed a complex system of subsidies and regulations which incentivised developers to build rental housing (Grundström & Molina, 2016). Per Kemeny's model, Sweden has a unitary rental sector where "nonprofit and profit housing are in open competition with each other" (Eslinga & Lind, 2013: 960). The Swedish public housing model was open to a broad target group, and consequently, the state yielded immense power within the housing market (Eslinga & Lind, 2013). Between 1965 and 1974 there was a substantial increase in the construction of public housing (Boverket, 2020). The modernist ideal of large-scale standardisation resulted in Le Corbusier-style residential areas "distinctly separated from the existing urban environment" (Grundström & Molina, 2016: 322). It did not take long for concerns of residential segregation to be raised as the neighbourhoods largely consisted of homogenous buildings adapted to class (Grundström & Molina, 2016). Interestingly, Rosengård was already the target of stigmatisation by the mid-1960s, being referred to as a 'newly constructed slum' in newspapers and this portrayal often encouraged residents with sufficient financial means to move away from the area (Grundström & Molina, 2016). Andersson and Molina (2003) stress the significance of home hygiene in housing policy, emphasising that the worker's home was seen as a tool to discipline citizens that were perceived to have deviated from the bourgeois family ideal, and inevitably, this class-related legacy shapes the Swedish debate on immigration as these very same suburban neighbourhoods are immigrant-dense areas (Andersson & Molina, 2003).

Furthermore, one observes that the deregulation of the People’s home took place between 1974 and 2006 (Grundström & Molina, 2016). By 1978, deregulation came to entail that the state progressively started to relinquish its control of the housing market (Grundström & Molina, 2016). The banking crises of the early 1990s and Sweden's entry into the EU subsequently led to the gradual abolition of state subsidies (Grundström & Molina, 2016) and Hedman (2008) stresses that this, combined with the abolition of state housing loans, has led to the weakening of Sweden's public housing system. It no longer received preferential treatment and was now in open competition with private counterparts. Grundström and Molina emphasise that as the housing market went through radical restructuring, "processes of racialisation and socio-economic segregation" were further reinforced (2016: 318). Hence, it did not take long for the government to introduce counter-segregation policies, an example being refugee dispersal programmes.

As addressed earlier, the assimilation discourses on immigration and the economic motivation to reduce the 'burden' for Metropolitan municipalities motivated this policy (Andersson et al., 2010). The policy also indicates governmentality, which conceives multicultural hubs as a problem pertaining to a barrier to integration. The dispersal programme sparked great controversy due to its unethical nature, but Arbaci (2007) also underlines that governments and scholars often neglect the positive effects of ethnic residential segregation. She stresses that social networks that new arrivals establish in multicultural hubs found in Metropolitan areas are advantageous regarding economic integration. The refugee dispersal programme was subsequently loosened due to criticism of its faulty ethical grounds and failure to relocate refugees to parts of Sweden where they could effectively integrate (Andersson et al., 2010). Moreover, governments have also attempted to introduce social mix policies to dilute the so-called ‘neighbourhood effects’, but as the government had relinquished much of its control over the housing market and has merely encouraged municipalities to take these initiatives into their own hands, the realisation of such projects remains rare (Andersson et al., 2010). This makes it difficult to assess the impact of this policy initiative, hence one can merely note that the policy reveals that integration remains to be conceived as assimilation.

Belonging in “Förorten”

Finney and Jivraj's (2012) study on the importance of neighbourhood belonging for ethnic minorities in the UK underlines a similar invocation to my interlocutors’. Nearly all my interlocutors shared a strong sense of appreciation for Malmö's diversity, and a general sense of belonging rooted in the city's demographics made them want to stay despite all the neglect and decay that these areas have been facing since they were built (Boverket, 2020). Finney and Jivraj define neighbourhood belonging as "an emotional bond to a place which, as understood in community cohesion debates, is seen to be positive" (2012: 3324). For instance, they invoke a study of Asian populations by which it was shown that community spaces, as they saw them, were of great importance as they made interlocutors feel safe and comfortable, whilst other neighbourhoods did not engender a sense of belonging and were seen as unsafe with a greater chance of facing racism (Phillips et al. cited in Finney & Jivraj, 2012).

These findings are undoubtedly applicable to residents in Sweden's numerous "förorter" where one can go about one's day without ever having to speak Swedish or face microaggressions. Then again, it does not take away from the fact that issues related to deprivation colour the reality of residents. Müller et al. (2018) note, when assessing ethnic concentration as a potential source of neighbourhood instability, that these neighbourhoods tend to experience high turnover rates due to socio-economic deprivation. Conversely, Laurence and Heath found that high turnover rates, implying that there is a high rate of both out-and in-migration in an area, do not substantially affect the perception of community cohesion in a neighbourhood (cited in Finney & Jivraj, 2012). In fact, Finney & Jivraj (2012) found that nearly all the ethnic minorities they studied (when controlling for demographic and socio-economic compositions) had a higher likelihood of feeling a strong sense of belonging to their neighbourhoods than White individuals. One can speculate that this is because they move less freely in society, meaning that places where racism is absent, remain significant.

This rationale of belonging can also be found in studies on students' experiences in the aftermath of the Swedish Free School Choice reform. The reform entailed that through a publicly funded voucher system, students were free to select schools outside of their areas; a reform intended to increase educational quality and equality (Yang Hansen & Gustafsson, 2016). The policy directly addresses the issue of residential segregation that had translated into educational segregation, yet it has been observed that the socio-economically disadvantaged and students of foreign descent only benefitted slightly more from the policy than their counterparts (Yang Hansen & Gustafsson, 2016). Furthermore, it is not a given that disadvantaged students even take advantage of studying in a better school in a different neighbourhood. Bunar found that students who chose to stay in their community expressed satisfaction with the quality of their education, but also marked that they were "painfully aware and daily reminded of their schools' low status, bad reputation, and low expectations held for them by society" (2010: 10). But despite this awareness, which they ascribed to being rooted in xenophobia, students considered more resources to be the solution as opposed to attending a better school (Bunar, 2010). The school-changing students, on the other hand, expressed that they enjoyed "the high level of educational standards, tranquillity in the classroom, and access to proper Swedish in their new environments" (Bunar, 2010: 10). Then again, many still recounted that they were unable to raise their grade average, not to mention that they still predominantly socialised with friends in their neighbourhoods or other peers of foreign descent from different parts of Stockholm (where the study was based). This echoes the importance of belonging and the fact that social mixing did not necessarily prove to make a substantial difference with regard to academic results and social mixing.

Moreover, the point made by school-changing students about being able to access proper Swedish is of great interest as well. For context, across Sweden's Metropolitan areas with significant social and linguistic diversity, a wide range of Swedes of foreign descent tend to integrate one or more languages into their Swedish. This has often been referred to as youth slang, but Bijvoet and Fraurud (2016) make a distinction between suburban slang and suburban Swedish. Both originate from multiethnic urban neighbourhoods, but the first is that any given speaker can 'switch off' the slang, whilst with the latter (although it includes similar vocabulary and indicates the speaker's spatial origin in the urban context), the speaker is not able to adapt with the same flexibility. This means, in essence, that the speaker is not able to exercise a high degree of linguistic variation and 'switch' to 'proper' Swedish (Bijvoet and Fraurud, 2016). In their study, Bijvoet and Fraurud interviewed several Swedes of foreign descent, one being Eleni, who "explicitly expresses her wish to speak standard Swedish" whilst simultaneously, along with other interlocutors, stressing her "ambivalence and resistance with regard to adjusting to a standard norm" (2016: 23). In short, Eleni is torn between the normative idea of ‘proper’ Swedish and her resistance to conform, indicating a rejection of the need for her to adapt and assimilate.

Conclusion

Residential segregation does not appear to hinder a sense of community belonging for its residents, but with regards to immigrants' being able to successfully integrate into Swedish society, it is hard to answer in the affirmative with an assimilation discourse on integration in mind. The governmentality at hand is assimilative, framing ethnic concentration as a problem whilst ignoring the benefits highlighted by interlocutors. Individuals of foreign descent are not simply relegated to “förorter” as a result of the racialisation of the working class, but many also choose to remain due to a sense of belonging within these multicultural communities. The fact that ethnic individuals stress the importance of diversity in their choice of residence, despite there being affordable housing in less urban parts of Sweden, marks trends in preferences as well as the fact that social integration remains challenging in Swedish society at large. One ought to also note that the assimilation discourse is to some extent internalised by ethnic residents despite their supposed social isolation, best captured by Bijvoet and Fraurud’s study on ‘proper’ Swedish.

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