Notes on a cultural sociology of immigrant incorporation

Voyer, Andrea

doi:10.1057/ajcs.2012.5

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Economic and political integration are pursued, with the assumption that cultural integration would follow naturally from structural inclusion (Westin ). However, cultural and economic integration do not always neatly coincide, and Sweden's state‐focused multiculturalism neglects many of the symbolic aspects of integration (Voyer ). Indeed, what Swedish immigrant integration looks like on the ground often differs markedly from the rosy picture painted by policy analysis (Lindström ; Pred ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Again, the search term nationaldag * was used to identify sixty relevant articles in the online archive from the years 2003 through 2011. These sources focus on official discourse, providing the top‐down perspective on the creation of National Day and the history of top‐down multiculturalism in Sweden in general (Voyer ). Data were analyzed qualitatively, with the aid qualitative software package, N*Vivo 9 (NVivo qualitative data analysis software; QSR International Pty Ltd.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Multicultural iteration:SwedishNationalDay as multiculturalism‐in‐practice

Schall

2014

Nations and Nationalism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper examines the creation of ‘national day’ in Sweden in order to understand how such a holiday works to shape the Swedish nation's relationship with diversity. Analyzing parliamentary debates and press coverage, the author finds that official national day coverage tends to invest the nation with progressive and multicultural meanings, foregrounding immigrant voices. However, this multiculturalism is polysemic, vague and subject to contestation, both from far right ‘traditionalists’ seeking to ‘protect’ Swedishness from outside influences and cosmopolitans who see the nation as outdated and dangerous. The creation of a new national holiday can be seen as a ‘democratic iteration’ wherein democracy is restated and reinvested with meanings, and new lines of cleavage are drawn, and also as a ‘multicultural iteration’ where multiculturalism is invested with new meaning. Finally, the author argues that multiculturalism benefits from polysemy in that the concept can then adapt to changing circumstances, and, thus, survive.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Multicultural iteration:SwedishNationalDay as multiculturalism‐in‐practice

Schall

2014

Nations and Nationalism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, this civil sense of Swedishness is laced with the primordialism of Swedish2 -the same ethnic conception of Swedishness that holds immigrants at arm's reach while enabling a primetime television programme in which Swedish-Americans "come home" to Sweden (Sveriges Television 2019). At minimum, this category may be applied based on behavioral indicators such as are participating in the social welfare system by speaking fluent Swedish, working in above-board jobs, paying taxes and collecting benefits (Voyer 2013).…”

Section: Uncovering the Symbolic Classifications And Factors In Theirmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sociology of the Symbolic Landscape

Voyer¹,

Lund²

2018

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The study of meaning is a cornerstone of sociology, but the context-dependence of meaning is also a challenge for sociologists, especially sociologists of race. This article offers the Sociology of the Symbolic Landscape (SSL) as the theoretical solution to the challenge of studying meaning and applying the concept of race within and across contexts. SSL focuses on the relationships between symbolic categories within a context and their positions in the core/periphery distinction. Incorporating insights from Durkheim, Interpretive Sociology, the study of Symbolic Boundaries, Civil Sphere Theory, and Postcolonial Theory, SSL makes it possible to identify and categorize positions, thereby identifying the way meaning acts as a source of constraint and of creative possibilities, and enabling cross-contextual comparison of culture-structures and forms. Through application of SSL to data on categorizations in Sweden, we demonstrate the analytical traction SSL provides. SSL offers a portable understanding of the racial other as “outsider within,” a distinct position of enduring alterity and persistent difference within the symbolic landscape. Unlike outward-looking categories defined on the basis of a pre-existing religious attachment, ethnic group, or non-native nationality, the outsider within is an internally referenced category defined in negation – social membership with problematic and atypical belonging.

show abstract

“…'Symbolic boundaries' , i.e. divisions based on culturally desirable values which are evidenced by specific modes of behaviour as described in the posts, form the basis of these categories (Voyer 2013). People who accept and adopt the version of the Australian way of life that is promoted in the posts hold culturally desirable values and fit into one category.…”

Section: The Australian Way Of Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

Undermining Cosmopolitanism - Cyber-racism Narratives in Australia

Connelly

2016

Sites

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cyber-racism is a relatively new and yet increasingly pervasive form of racism that adds another dimension to the proliferation of race hate. Multi-cultural countries such as Australia share a concern for the effective development of online strategies to alleviate this problem. Understanding the connections and disjunctions between cyber-racism, multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism as an ideal and as an everyday practice provides insight into the underlying issues that contribute to the persistence of cyber-racism. Using a narrative approach, this research investigates an Australian Facebook page that has been reported to the Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPi) as racist. Specifically explored is how the narrative on this Facebook page impacts on cosmopolitanism as a worldview that encourages and sustains productive engagement with cultural difference. While Facebook offers the potential for cosmopolitan engagement, the findings of this research show that the worldview perpetuated on this page is one of cultural exclusion, undermining the prospect of cosmopolitanism in Australia.

show abstract

Notes on a cultural sociology of immigrant incorporation

Cited by 12 publications

References 25 publications

Multicultural iteration:SwedishNationalDay as multiculturalism‐in‐practice

Multicultural iteration:SwedishNationalDay as multiculturalism‐in‐practice

The Sociology of the Symbolic Landscape

Undermining Cosmopolitanism - Cyber-racism Narratives in Australia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About