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MAKING CITIZENS: THEORIES AND PRACTICES OF CONSTRUCTING CITIZENSHIP IDENTITIES YLVA STUBBERGAARD
Introduction
The point of departure in this chapter is that citizenship is constructed and re-constructed through both formal regulations and societal practice. Hence citizenship is understood both as formal relations between the state and the individual, manifested in constitutional rights and duties, but also as a social citizenship that depends on prevailing power relations. Being included as a citizen thus concerns, on the one hand, having equal constitutional rights and duties as others in society, and, on the other, having these rights in practice!in other words!having an experienced substantive citizenship. Research on citizenship has been concerned with different constraints on full inclusion in a society, especially inequalities and discrimination based on class, gender and race. Citizenship clearly has a special meaning for immigrants. In every society, there are legal rights and duties that are exclusive to members with legal citizenship. There are also informal demands and expectations concerning what kinds of knowledge citizens should have to be included in a community. Dominant societal demands and expectations are explicitly expressed in integration policies. In Sweden, implementation of integration policy largely takes place in local programmes and projects specifically directed at people who have not found a foothold on the labour market. Local civil servants and project managers are thus of great importance for how project participants experience becoming a citizen in Swedish society. This chapter aims to explore different aspects of citizenship theories that contribute to an analysis of the construction of citizens and the experience of citizenship. The ambition is also to illustrate how these theories can
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help us understand the opportunities and obstacles encountered by unemployed immigrants who wish to become citizens in practice.1 Two questions will guide the chapter: How can the construction of citizenship identity be understood theoretically? How do participants in integration programmes experience their becoming citizens? The first question refers to theoretical discussions of constructing citizenship identities. The idea of constructing citizenship opens up for problematizing ambitions to govern the meaning of citizenship and the processes of inclusion. Inspired by Lister (1997, 2007; cf. Saward 2006), citizenship is dealt with here as a contradictory concept: It signifies a disciplinary dimension when it refers to ideas about how members of a society should behave, but it also refers to ideas of emancipation, that is the rights and opportunities that come with the status of being a citizen. As will be elaborated later on in the chapter, the dimension of emancipation versus disciplining goes beyond the categories of rights and duties that are typically connected to the concept of citizenship, as the dimension also comprises ideas about encouraging citizens and fostering civic virtue. Inclusion versus exclusion is another key dimension that is often used in citizenship theories. As established in the introduction, this dimension refers to inclusion both in legal rights and duties and in actual opportunities and duties. The second question is empirical. It will be discussed through analyses of interviews with long-term unemployed immigrant women who are participating in integration programmes. The participants experiences of citizenship are related to status categories elaborated on the basis of citizenship theories. The two dimensions of emancipation-disciplining and inclusion-exclusion will be used both in reviewing citizenship theories and in interpreting the interviews. The interviewees are long-term unemployed women who have immigrated to Sweden and who are participating in publicly financed activities with the pronounced ambition to integrate and include immigrants in
The study was made possible by a grant from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation) and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions Research Council.
1
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Swedish society, particularly the labour market. Their sense of inclusion and their experience of becoming citizens are in focus in the analysis.
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The wish to strengthen peoples power and scope to act hence actualizes two power processes: the first working discursively and practically towards a change in dominant relationships; the second deciding who should be regarded as powerless and who is in need of empowerment. Part of these processes is the power to set the political agenda by raising the question of which power relationships are desirable (Cruikshank 1999; Stewart 2001; Kabeer 2001). Cruikshank considers social reforms designed to combat poverty in the US, starting by asking which problems the measures are intended to solve. She demonstrates that the measures are intended to transform people who are described as passive, powerless individuals into active, participating citizens, and that this is essentially a matter of making citizens.
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opponents are treated with respect and as adversaries instead of enemies (Mouffe 2005, 20). With citizenship thus comes the duty not to let opposition tip over into the antagonism that risk razing the political communitys institutions!the grammar of conduct (Mouffe 1993, 2005). In Mouffes theory of pluralistic democracy, particular emphasis is placed on the citizens obligation to observe the democratic process, matched by the political right to work for a change in power relationships. Democratic institutions and processes are supposed to guarantee that all are accepted and respected when they desire to change their situation. With a perspective on the political as an incessant, conflict-ridden power struggle between collectives that are moulded by their social relationships, it follows that politics is also exclusive. Membership in the collective and the construal of we in relation to others is a logical necessity in Mouffes perspective. It is thus not the construction of we and them that is morally awkward; the problems arise when categories of we and them are put to essential (as preceding the process of identification) and stereotypical use, with discrimination as a result (Petersson 2006). The collective is not fixed, and individual citizens multiple identities can overlap or coincide, conflict or harmonize. When Mouffe postulates the continuous reinterpretation of the meanings of central values such as equality and freedom, her emphasis is on how subordinates seek to shore up their position and their citizenship. Politicaladministrative entities regulate the processes of change. In political discussions, visions and reforms are formulated of what citizenship ought to mean and for whom, and specific strategies are formulated to these ends. Thus using Mouffes perspective, we can analyse constructing citizens as a political and an administrative process in which strategies are formed combined with an effort to implement ideas. The strategies then interact with people in a variety of subject positions, who react and relate to what is expected of them as citizens. The reactions that this encounter may give rise to!for example loyalty, dissent, or indifference!then play a part in determining the meaning of citizenship for people in the process of becoming citizens.
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virtue. According to the communitarian school of thought, for which the meaning of citizenship is created in a cultural collective, participation in public affairs, along with demonstrable tolerance and the mutual respect of fellow inhabitants, is seen as integral to moral citizenship. Similar ideas are found in the republican tradition, but here cultural community per se is not thought to promote the common good. Instead the collective is expected to override the interests of particular and private interests. For instance, when citizens join collective voluntary organizations, whether political or social, this is seen by both the communitarian and republican traditions as encouraging civic virtue (Seligman 1995; Walzer 1995; Stubbergaard 2000). Ideas about civic virtue imply that for any society, certain skills and qualities of citizens are particularly desirable (cf. Saward 2006; Cruikshank 1999). Citizenship legislation lays down the formal criteria for citizenship. The Swedish Citizenship Act (2001:82) states, for example, that acquisition of Swedish citizenship after application (naturalization) requires that the applicant: 1. has provided proof of his or her identity, 2. has reached the age of eighteen, 3. holds a permanent Swedish residence permit, 4. has been domiciled in Sweden for a period of time between two and five years depending on her or his national background, and 5. has led and can be expected to lead a respectable life. (SFS 2001:82; SFS 2005:722.) The fifth condition differs from the others because it requires a different kind of assessment. It brings to mind other kinds of stipulations, such as general knowledge tests and language proficiency tests that have been introduced to an increasing extent around Europe (Swedish Integration Board 2006; Lister et al. 2007, chapter 3; cf. Borevi, this volume). The formal construction of citizens can be regulated constitutionally, as in this example, but to have a real influence on practice, legal norms have to be interpreted and accepted by civil servants and others who are involved in socializing citizens in different policy areas. Some areas of policy express more clearly than others just what the right kind of citizen might be; this is highly applicable to policies that explicitly set out to
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socialize inhabitants as citizens. Those that immediately spring to mind include: Policies on children who are in the process of becoming independent adult citizens (educational policy); policies on people whose behaviour society wishes to change (criminal policies); policies on people who live in circumstances that society is assumed to have a responsibility to change (social policy); and policies on how new citizens should be integrated into society (integration policy). We now turn to the Swedish integration policy to consider how integration is promoted. In terms of making citizens!the right kinds of citizens!integration policy is extremely interesting. Integration policy, after all, is central to understanding how any state handles the relationship between the political affiliations and cultural affiliations inherent in citizenship. Since 1997, the line taken by Swedens formal integration policy is that society should be integrated, and that all citizens share in the responsibility for this integration. Formally there are equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities for all, regardless of ethnic or cultural background, in a society that is ethnically and culturally diverse. In principle, measures should thus not be directed specifically at immigrants (Proposition 1997/98:16). On the other hand, local authorities, funded by central government, are responsible for offering newly arrived immigrants (and particularly refugees) an introductory programme with language teaching and basic information about Swedish society (Regeringens skrivelse 2001/02:129).2 Political measures to create integrated citizens can be categorized by whether they intend to change individual circumstances in order to promote integration, for example through education, or whether they intend to change institutions and structures that have been found to restrict the individuals opportunities to attain genuine citizenship. In essence, Swedens integration policy is meant to be put into effect across the entire public sector!without special measures for immigrants!but as mentioned, it is also pursued in well-defined projects. Participants in two such projects were interviewed for this study.
2 In this chapter, the discussion is limited to actual practice related to citizenship theory. There is an extensive body of literature on Swedish integration policy from different perspectives, conducted in a variety of disciplines, and focusing on different aspects of the policies (see for instance SOU 2006:37; SOU 2006:79; Sandell and Mulinari 2006).
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Monk 2000). Regardless of whether the debate is about political or cultural affiliations, the notion of multiple identifications has had considerable impact. To some extent this has also seen legislative results in the acceptance of dual citizenship in a number of countries (in Swedens case from 2001). Be that as it may, the vertical relationship embodied by constitutional citizenship is still bound up with the state as a political entity, with farreaching consequences for anyone set on crossing political borders. Sovereign states, singly or in collaboration, effectively regulate rights and obligations, albeit within the parameters of (morally) binding international agreements (Lister 2007). Isin and Turner (2007) argue that because citizenship comprises both rights and obligations, it requires the existence of an authoritative decision-making body within a defined territory, one that can also enforce actual obligations!obligations in the shape of a transfer of resources from members of a society to society as a whole.
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upholding democratic freedom and rights (McKinnon and HampsherMonk 2000; Voet 1998). In practice, rights and obligations can have different consequences depending on both formal and informal power relationships in different spheres of society. There is good reason, then, as Lister et al. (2007, 11) have pointed out, to study the actual emancipatory and disciplinary consequences of the rules. Rights can serve disciplinary ends, while obligations can liberate. Exactly which rights and obligations are entailed by citizenship, and what their meaning may be, is subject to constant renegotiation. Marshalls theory that genuine citizenship embraces civil, political and social rights has had a considerable influence on discussions about citizenship. Feminist research, in its critical discussion of Marshalls categories, has developed the notion further (Lister et al. 2007), while other researchers have broadened the term citizenship to include cultural rights (Castles and Davidson 2000). The importance of cultural community to citizenship theories is also discussed in terms of particularism and universalism, where universal rights possessed by individuals are primarily a concern of the liberal school of thought. Researchers with a neo-republican approach, on the other hand, have tended to formulate theories that combine elements from the communitarian and liberal traditions. Whereas constitutionally regulated relationships between individuals and political institutions tend to the general, citing universal freedoms and rights, local political institutions can be considerably more cultural and particularistic in design (Habermas 1995; Linklater 1998; Delanty 2000). Mouffe (1993, 2005) is critical of both the liberal and the communitarian schools, and argues that a rethinking of citizenship is long overdue. Among other things, she recommends a combination of elements from the liberal and communitarian schools that would emphasize the intrinsic values of freedom and equality. These values, according to Mouffe, are the focus of every policy on citizenship, such that those who feel they have a subordinate position in society fight for increased freedom and equality. The main criticism of the established citizenship models is directed first at liberal notions of an atomistic individual and second at the communitarian idea of there being one community that offers the chance to reach an agreement upon the common good.
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port. The ongoing debate, and not least the political measures directed at people who are discursively defined as sponging off the system, can, among other things, change the publics moral views of people who are in need of economic support. Several studies have shown how people who are socially excluded and not treated with respect, or even viewed with outright suspicion, react by mistrusting institutions (Dahlstedt 2009; Fraser and Gordon 2006). With exclusion comes the risk that one will not identify oneself as a citizen, and thus feel that one has no say in the drawing up of rights or obligations, and no way of influencing ones situation through existing political institutions. On paper one is included as a citizen, but in practice one is excluded.
Concluding remarks on the theoretical frame and introduction to analyses of experienced citizenship
The theories and perspectives that have been introduced in the first part of the chapter are all important in understanding and interpreting narratives on experienced citizenship. The theoretical frame combines different elements from citizenship theories that, taken together, should be useful in a dynamic understanding of constructing citizenship. The frame is meant to capture some of the complexity involved when attempts to govern the construction of citizenship interact with citizens practice and the unemployed immigrants experience. The starting point in the theoretical frame consisted of the epistemological statement that citizenship is constructed and hence possible to reconstruct. Cruikshank (1999), together with Mouffe (1993, 2005), has contributed to theories of how we can understand the making of citizenship and how the meaning of citizenship is continuously politically contested and changed. In the next part of the chapter, these theories help us understand the power relations that are brought to the fore when authorities wish to emancipate and include citizens in Swedish society. Integration policies are preceded by ideas of how one becomes integrated, and someone decides when and why immigrants are in need of integration activities. Mouffes idea of transforming citizenship and power relations through temporally constructed collective identity and mobilization gives rise to questions concerning the common understanding of situations and mobilization among the interviewed persons. Inspired by citizenship theories, two dimensions were highlighted: inclusion-exclusion and emancipating-disciplining. The substance of the two categories was mainly discussed as different rights and duties. The
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difference between being legally included with access to formal rights and being included in practice was also emphasized. The dimension of emancipating-disciplining underlines the interviewees perception of public authorities efforts. For instance, is their opportunity to study Swedish perceived as emancipating or as disciplining? This dimension is also used to make more concrete the idea of constructing target groups. The four categories created by Ingram, Schneider and deLeon (2007) will be used in the interpretation of how the interviewees describe themselves in terms of a) political resources and social status, and b) the moral aspect of deserving benefits and social welfare.
Becoming citizens
How, then, do participants in integration projects experience their citizenship? I have analysed interviews conducted with women who participated in two separate Swedish integration projects5 applying the theoretical framework described above. The interviews are seen as a source of information on experienced citizenship. Publicly financed projects aimed at integrating and including immigrants in Swedish society were chosen because they are involved in constructing citizens as understood in the dynamic sense outlined in the theoretical framework. Due to their interpretation of the regulatory framework and their decisions on the running of actual operations, the project managers and public authorities involved play a role in shaping the citizenship that the interviewed women describe. It may be an indirect or direct effect. Naturally, the interviewees themselves also play a role in the construction and reconstruction of citizenship through their interaction, which is informed by previous personal experience, with the notions and expectations they encounter. The project participants political, social, cultural and economic resources also present varying possibilities to assert and exercise their rights and obligations. This is not an evaluation of how well the two projects have implemented their goals. The focus is on the women that have taken part in the project activities. Specific activities in the projects are considered only when the interviewees emphasize them as promoting or preventing their inclusion as citizens. Furthermore, because our interest is in the process of becoming a citizen, it is natural to consider a greater range of experiences and
5 Mahin Kiwi conducted the majority of the interviews with the project participants. Where necessary an interpreter was used.
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relationships than were actualized in the projects, including institutions and structures over and above the course of the projects.
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who speak their native tongue. Yet on other occasions they point to the problem of their children not spending enough time with Swedishspeaking children. Many defend their neighbourhood, saying that although so many bad things have been said about it, problems can be found everywhere, while where they live there is a degree of social control that gives them a sense of security, especially when it comes to their children. Quite simply, they can count on the fact that they will hear if their children get into trouble. Social control has its downside, of course. A couple of women explain that it is impossible to confide in anyone, as any news travels fast. In general, the interviewees know many of the people living in their area. Most of the project participants have joined one or more cultural associations for social reasons, and join in organizing parties for high days and holidays. Some have joined a womens association made up of immigrants from different countries. Others have deliberately avoided associations whose members come exclusively from the same country as themselves. Religious associations are of great importance for some of the women. Interviewees social networks consist primarily of women who have immigrated to Sweden from other countries; it is rare for people who grew up in Sweden to be members. Several speak in terms of nationality when asked if they are happy with their neighbourhood: There are Swedes living in our block of flats (2:6). There is a certain status associated with having Swedes in the same building, the assumption being that they are better able to choose where they live. A couple of families have moved in from other towns in Sweden after hearing that others from their country of origin live there. There is some unhappiness that so many participants in the projects speak Arabic and that many come from the same few countries. Interviewees express a wish for more women who grew up in Sweden to be included. Besides providing an opportunity to get to know more ethnic Swedes, it would also provide more opportunities to speak Swedish. Otherwise, broadly speaking, it is seen as positive that the projects result in contact with women from other countries; one woman says it has broadened her views, because she used to be prejudiced against Iranians and Iraqis. Several interviewees have chosen to send their children to private schools where they are taught in Arabic and study the Koran. At the same time, several stress how important it is that the municipal schools have native Swedish speakers on the staff rather than immigrant teachers. Several interviewees mention the prejudice of native-born Swedish women, and that women have discriminated against them. Likewise,
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differences in social status are mentioned when they bring up the subject of other women, but never when they describe men and their views: Women in top positions oppress women who dont have a higher education; often its women with an immigrant background who oppress women who are on income support or out of work (2:3). One project participant described the chilly reception she met from a female official because she was a student with five children!and no income. Similar situations are outlined by Schierenbeck (2004) in a study of the encounters between front-line bureaucrats and immigrant clients. In general, it is precisely these kinds of contacts with civil servants or other local officials that the interviewees describe when they talk about women who have treated them in a patronizing fashion. Several interviewees mention that there is a general prejudice against veiled women in Sweden: Society undervalues us women in headscarves; women think that we veiled women are oppressed, dont know anything, and that the ones from the Middle East are the stupidest. Thats the picture of us in Swedish minds (2:5). A completely different experience is described by a woman who had gone through a divorce, something that according to her ex-husband and former countrymen broke with traditional norms. She keeps returning to the fact that she has the backing of the law, and that she now lives in Sweden where a divorce is seen as something quite normal. But she also says that she gets no help from the police when she feels threatened. In this section the interviews have been analysed in accordance with the dimension inclusion-exclusion with a focus on social and cultural aspects. Constitutional inclusion is important, which is demonstrated by the fact that legal citizenship has been applied for and granted to 14 of the 16 interviewees. The question of social and cultural inclusion elicits more varied responses. Cultural affiliation is mentioned most when talking about close neighbours or other project participants. Friends are described in terms of the countries from which they have fled or emigrated. The interviewees own ethnicity is contrasted with the stereotypical notions others have of them, and in those cases where the interviewees belonged to minorities in their native countries, with the stereotypical notions held by their former countrymen. It is rare for participants to speak of the projects as positive cultural communities; on the contrary, many see the disadvantages of the lack of ethnic Swedish participants, for example, or of Arabic being the dominant language in the case of one project. On the other hand, it is seen as a considerable advantage that their native languages are heard where they live, and it gives them a sense of community that many of their neighbours are also immigrants. The projects work actively towards making citizens, but they do not operate in
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isolation: The participants previous experiences with institutions, power relationships, and their social circumstances naturally also influence their experienced citizenship.
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One of the arguments for why immigrants should become politicians is that they have been on the receiving end of racism themselves: They help us reveal the racism in society, and specially hidden racism they can show that we are a community that we are different but have the same worth (1:2). Racism and discrimination are also given as reasons why it does not matter much whether politicians have an immigrant background: There needs to be more immigrants. One or two for appearances sake to show that we immigrants are accepted is not enough (1:3). An interesting difference is that, in one of the projects, there is open distrust in politicians, while in the other!in another municipality!there is a more positive opinion, and a general belief that things would improve for immigrant citizens if they were represented by politicians who are immigrants themselves. As to political participation and commitment, in the eyes of most of the interviewees!even those who expressed the strongest distrust of politicians!political citizenship brings with it both the right and the responsibility to vote. Participants in one of the projects were encouraged to find out about the general election of 2006, a couple of politicians came to talk about the electoral platforms of their parties, and the project was visited by two government ministers. Most of the project participants took the opportunity to vote when they had a group visit to a polling station where the polling officers showed them the election procedure. In a couple of instances, project participants had asserted their rights collectively, putting their views to politicians and civil servants. On one occasion, they collectively protested against the regulations for that particular projects operation; during a ministerial visit they took the chance to tell the minister about their dissatisfaction with the projects working hours. Most of the mothers had turned to their childrens schools for information on how their children were doing, but none of them had tried to act collectively in an institutionalized forum to change the situation, for example by getting involved in school governing boards or parent associations. However, together with project staff, they have tried to change the rules that affected them most immediately, one example being the times for dropping off and picking up from nursery school. A couple of interviewees received help from the staff in objecting to the job centres assessment of their educational qualifications. Another woman described how she had been helped by a friend to appeal against a decision on social security payments. The right to demonstrate has been used to draw attention to conditions in the interviewees former homelands, particularly against the war in Iraq. However, none of the interviewees has taken part in demonstrations to
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change conditions in Sweden. Some of the project participants have continued to fight for minority rights in their native countries, for example by demonstrating in Sweden. In this section, the dimension inclusion-exclusion has been analysed with a focus on how political rights and political participation are experienced. The interviewees describe themselves as having severely restricted options, and evince scant faith in their ability to change their situation in the future. Generally there is little confidence in politicians, and only a few speak of collective organization and mobilization as a possible basis for effecting change. Subordination stemming from ethnic, gender, and class relations is much in evidence in the womens narratives. Such interwoven and mutually constitutive power relationships serve to complicate the creation of a collective identity, of the type that, according to Mouffe, would have the potential to reformulate interpretations of equality and freedom, and lead to collective action for change. Several participants explain, for example, that they cannot count on the support of ethnic Swedish women or on pursuing a common cause with them because of stereotypical assumptions about women who wear headscarves. In contrast, other interviewees wish they could have more encounters with women who grew up in Sweden.
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Both projects have ties to the social services, the social insurance office, and the job centre. In the second project, described above, participants illness and activity compensation are reckoned as part of the national cofinancing that EU projects must have. The fact that the participants benefits are dependent on their attendance record, as reported to their case officers, despite the project activities involving actual work, is seen by the women as a form of disciplining. Such measures mean that they continue to see themselves as dependent, despite having project work, and this merely complicates the process of emancipation. It risks reinforcing subordination through the use of control and discipline, while the threat of a withdrawal of benefits serves as a penalty. The obstacles to the participants choosing their own project work and traineeship strengthen their sense of powerlessness. At the same time, several interviews show that, despite the obstacles created by the regulations, the participants find some scope for change. Another target group criterion is that participants should be immigrant women. In one project, as mentioned, most participants see it as a problem that in effect mainly Arabic-speaking women are involved. Restricting participation to immigrants can reinforce segregation and the identification as dependant. Another problem with this kind of integration project is that such projects are intended to be temporary. In a project with a fixed closing date, there is considerable anxiety about what will happen next. In the project that is now on a permanent footing, the women are expected to participate for anywhere from six months to two years. When it became apparent that there were women who risked social isolation because they still had not found a foothold on the labour market, a parallel project was set up so they could continue under the aegis of the social services. Shortterm projects with uncertain immediate futures run the risk of contributing to a sense of powerlessness, of being dependent on the goodwill of others. In both projects, the participants feel they get support from most of the project staff and that their self-confidence has grown. One of the projects is managed by a woman who is highly appreciated by the interviewees. Her support in helping them try to change their situation is stressed. For some, her commitment and help have enabled them to join the ordinary labour market. A recurrent theme in all the interviews in this project is that the project manager shows respect and recognition. She listens and makes every effort to maintain a dialogue on the participants future plans. Some of the women from the second project emphasize that, for their part, participation has brought with it greater respect both from their families and their social circle. They now leave home to go to work,
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something that you are obliged to do and that is considered normal in Swedish society. That it is not normal work is more than apparent from the salaries, however: They receive only a small sum from the social insurance office or the welfare office while they participate in the project. The difficulty of making ends meet compounded by the stigma of being on benefits rather than receiving wages is mentioned in most of the interviews. In this section, the interviews show clearly that recognition and respect are crucial to whether the women experience emancipatory citizenship. In one project, participants acted collectively because they all had the same obligations to the project!obligations they felt were unreasonable. Similar situations that provoke a strong response are when participants are treated as dependent and deviant. Economic dependence on minimal income support, reports to case officers, and in some cases difficulties in finding a traineeship, mean that for many participants the projects can also be experienced as disciplinary. Events that can be described as emancipatory are particularly associated with the support of individual staff members. Some women see their very participation as emancipatory; by having a workplace and colleagues, they now have a working week that would be considered normal in Swedish society. Disciplinary measures are related primarily to regulations and authorities outside the project. Above all, encounters with civil servants have a direct influence on their income support and employment. The dread of being seen as nothing more than dependents, or worse as deviants, is hard to shake off.
Concluding remarks
The theoretical framework illustrates how constructions of citizenship can be studied. When applied to interviews with long-termed unemployed immigrants, it became clear that some aspects within the framework could be elaborated further. Mouffes theories of collective identification and multiple identities and Ingram et al.s theories of constructing target groups would all benefit from an explicit theoretical discussion of discrimination based on gender, class and ethnicity. The interviews make clear that it is important to consider both experienced citizenship and formal (as well as informal) regulations and means of control in discussions of constructing citizenship identities. Goals of including immigrants to Swedish society, which are formulated in political reforms, and interpreted and implemented in concrete programmes and projects, interact with individuals interpretations of these ambitions. The interviews provided examples of activities that the
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programme participants experienced as disciplining, although they were officially formulated as emancipating, and that can clearly be seen as reinforcing a self-image of belonging to the category of dependent. The interpretations of the interviews contribute to an understanding of experienced opportunities for and obstacles to becoming a citizen in Swedish society. The sense of being discriminated against or treated without respect, particularly in connection with economic dependence, makes inclusion and citizenship difficult to achieve in practice. Some interviews pointed to a desire to transform social positions and the practice of citizenship by creating a collective identity and mobilizing politically, in line with the discussion by Mouffe (1993). Forming womens group was mentioned as a possible strategy to improve subordinated positions. One of the obstacles mentioned several times was the perceived discrimination of Muslim women who wear veils by Swedish women. This highlights the need to take intersected power relations!combining, e.g., ethnicity, gender and class!into account when discussing possibilities of creating collective identities.
References
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to all project participants and project staff who kindly shared their experiences with us. I also wish to thank Mahin Kiwi for her commitment in the study and for all interviews conducted in several languages, and John Hennessey for his kindness to always standing by with proof-reading. All the participants in the workshop on "Diversity, Inclusion and Citizenship" in Troms have contributed with helpful comments.