The ‘Invisible’ People : A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Swedish Shadow Society

The shadow society is a rather new and increasingly debated concept within the Swedish public sphere whilst remaining an unexplored research subject. To fill this research gap, this study uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to reveal and deconstruct problematic representations by Swedish political parties with the purpose of generating knowledge of how power, gatekeeping and exclusion/inclusion can explain the social construction of groups or categories positioned within the shadow society. The analysis focused on mapping who belong to/create the shadow society, how they are socially constructed and its potential consequences. The study found that different categories of immigrants are positioned as a part of the shadow society by the political parties. Moreover, they are socially constructed alongside four major themes: rights and belonging; responsibility; victimization vs criminalization and personal vs societal risks. Some political actors actively participated in constructing the social groups or categories within the shadow society as lacking rights and non-belonging, “responsible for their own situation”, “criminals”, and important contributors to the growth of societal risks, violence, and criminality. This can be seen as a solidifying construction of those positioned in the shadow society that contributes to their marginalization, legitimizes social exclusion, and further societal disadvantage. The research also located counteracting discourses in which some parties constructed the groups or categories as being wronged by the Swedish system and implicitly advocations for their rights and belonging in Sweden.