Multicultural Education in Denmark and Sweden: Collective Identities and Conflicting Ideals

Hi everybody! It's been a while... this past week was full of midterm assignments, so I spent last week preparing for them. In my last post, I mentioned that I had interviewed a number of Danes and Swedes about their thoughts on multiculturalism. I ended up with a pretty long analysis paper, but here are some overarching notes! :)

Introduction

Our Cultural Diversity and Integration course has been focusing on various countries’ differing responses to multiculturalism, immigration and, in particular, the refugee crisis. During Core Course Week (February 5-10), groups were assigned to interview people in both Denmark and Sweden about various issues related to these topics. My group was curious to know how multicultural education – in school and at work – affected an individual’s overall view of diversity and multiculturalism.

Methods

Between February 5th and 10th, 2018, my group mates and I separately approached a total of 13 Danes and 16 Swedes on the streets of Copenhagen (Denmark), Malmö (Sweden), and Göteborg (Sweden), asking them if they would be willing to participate in a short interview about culture. Because time was limited, we utilized convenience sampling, simply approaching people at restaurants, on the sidewalks, and in other crowded places around each city. If the individual expressed interest, we began by notifying them that the survey was anonymous; that responses would be recorded on our phones to ensure accuracy in recounting discussions later; and that the project held no official capacity.

We asked a combination of demographic, yes/no, and longer-response questions, which included the following:

- How old are you?

- What gender do you identify with?

- What is your ethnic background?

- How long have you lived in Denmark/Sweden?

- How many languages do you speak?

- What is the highest level of education you’ve obtained?

- Have you received any sort of multiculturalism-related training at your workplace?

- Do you have friends of different nationalities, ethnicities, and/or religions from you?

- Do you have family members of different nationalities, ethnicities, and/or religions from you?

- How do you define Danishness/Swedishness?

- How often did you talk about issues surrounding multiculturalism and diversity in school? What did this look like?

- In your opinion, what are the benefits or disadvantages of having a multicultural education?

- What are your perceptions of the Swedish/Danish school systems in regards to multicultural education (i.e., what is your perception of the “other” country)?

Some important things to emphasize:

• We were interviewing people in the middle of relatively large cities. Interviewees’ exposure to and ideas about multiculturalism may have differed if we had sampled from more rural areas.

• We only interviewed 29 people total; it is not possible for our data to be representative of the Danish or Swedish populations as a whole.

• All interviewees were at least bilingual (i.e., they spoke at least Danish or Swedish, plus English); it was difficult to ascertain the opinions and experiences of people older than 50, because many (at least of those I approached) did not speak English. It is also quite possible that, as 20-somethings, we generally gravitated toward people who appeared to be in our own age cohort.

• In class we discussed the “interview effect,” which refers to the fact that people in interview situations tend to tailor their responses to fit what they believe will please the interviewer. This is not to say that all interviewees lie; rather, they may subconsciously decide to phrase their responses in ways that may fit the interviewer’s biases. I cannot speak for my group mates, but I attempted to minimize this risk by refraining from sharing my experiences and opinions with interviewees until I had finished collecting data. I also realize that some ethnic Danes and Swedes may have been relatively candid with me because I looked like them; Denmark and Sweden are racially homogenous (i.e., white) countries, and because I am also white, I may have gotten different responses than my classmates of color. At the same time, the non-ethnic Danes and Swedes may have also been more candid with any or all of us than they would have been with their “native” counterparts, because as Americans, we shared with them a similar experience of “foreignness” in these cities on a daily basis. Overall, the people I talked with seemed to be very candid; they were upfront if they weren’t sure how to respond to a question, and a few seemed especially eager to tell their stories – I talked to a Danish-Australian couple for half an hour in Gammel Torv, and stayed in a Kashmiri man’s shop in Malmö for almost two hours.

Summary of Findings

Demographics and yes/no questions

I compiled demographic information into a chart ... which doesn't paste into the Wix template, so if anybody wants to see it, I can send it to you!

Definitions of “Danishness” and “Swedishness”

Values and ideas commonly associated with “Danishness” included diversity, egalitarianism (especially via the welfare state), happiness, solidarity, and pride in the country. The concept of hygge (which loosely translates to coziness) was mentioned by almost everyone. In addition, most interviewees decided that “if you feel Danish, you are Danish” – but despite espousing these ideals, some still stressed a willingness and ability to assimilate into Danish society as a prerequisite to true Danishness. Five women, in particular, said that they believed it was of utmost importance that immigrants learn how to speak Danish. Two of these women also felt it was necessary for an individual to “contribute to society” (i.e., through work, paying taxes, etc.) in order to be fully accepted as Danish. At the same time, other interviewees felt that Danishness was already becoming “more globalized” than it had been for previous generations (Danish woman, 23), and that “it’s important to rethink what it is to be Danish, so that more people can be a part of it; we can take some things from them and they can take some things from us” (Danish/Faroese woman, 24).

As for the definition of “Swedishness,” some common themes included multiculturalism, open-mindedness, collectivism, political correctness, and trust; many interviewees echoed the idea that “if you live here and identify as Swedish, then you are Swedish.” But one man, 35, said he couldn’t define Swedishness because it felt almost invisible to him – at least until he ran into people with different nationalities. A woman, 24, said she felt that Swedish culture had become so “Americanized” that she wasn’t really sure what was and wasn’t Swedish anymore. And Mohd, the Kashmiri shop owner in Malmö, said that he felt national borders were theoretically arbitrary, and that strong national identity seemed to cause more problems than it solved.

Benefits and/or Disadvantages of Multiculturalism and Multicultural Education

Views toward multiculturalism were overwhelmingly positive. Recurring themes in both Danes’ and Swedes’ answers included multicultural friendships and families, contextualization of differing priorities and habits, increasingly nuanced worldviews, socio-political awareness, and appreciation and celebration of differences. Interviewees in both countries stressed the importance of spatial integration in assuring true multiculturalism. One 22-year-old Danish man said that better integration of neighborhoods and schools, for example, would lead children to become accustomed to interacting with people of varying backgrounds from an early age. He said, “I think if you’re isolated and only read about [culture] in books […] it’s hard to really understand how they live and how they’re doing in life” (“they” being anyone of a different background). Many interviewees felt themselves duty-bound to promote these values and outcomes – and Swedes, in particular, explicitly discussed their individual efforts to do so. They regularly referenced a desire to be good parents, educators, friends, academics, and/or citizens. One mother, 42, talked about how she had grown up in an ethnically homogenous area, and wanted her children to have a different experience:

“Since I grew up in a really small place, we didn’t have any immigration at all. And it’s still a problem; it’s still very segregated. So I like to bring my kids into town to join clubs or sports where I know that we will meet different cultures. I try to bring it to them.” – Swedish woman, 42

An art instructor felt it was his “role as a teacher” to help his students strive for a “united world”, and believed that one way to do this was to gain a more nuanced appreciation of other countries’ histories:

“I’m studying and teaching art […] and I’ve done a lot of studies of artifacts, because it makes me humble to other cultures. So therefore I think culture is something very beautiful … They all have their own history. And my history is not better than others. It is just different history. So I think it’s made me more open-minded.” – Swedish man, 50

One woman was particularly emphatic about the relevance of diversity to everyone:

“I think there is a benefit to making this kind of education mandatory, especially if you’re going to talk about prejudice and norms and especially why in Sweden we have white norms and we have to talk about white privileges … It’s a topic that affects everyone; it doesn’t matter what color you have on your skin.” -- Swedish/Kurdish woman, 24

The only disadvantage anyone could come up with was possible bias of teachers. Sascha (Danish), 21, believed that inaccuracy of information may lead to further misunderstandings between people from different groups. One Swedish man, 32, seemed indifferent; he said, “it’s okay, but not everything is about that [multiculturalism]. Some, but not all the time.”

Education, training, and frequency of discussion

Without exception, interviewees over 30 said that they rarely, if ever, discussed cultural inclusion or sensitivity in the classroom; one Swedish woman, 32, pointed out that this was probably because “the concept of multiculturalism wasn’t really defined” when her generation was attending school. Swedes in their twenties, however, had each had history, immigration, and/or religion courses as part of their schooling. Danes of all ages had also taken a “world religions” class in primary and/or secondary school, but did not count it as “multicultural education” because it was mostly about identifying structure and doctrine, as opposed to cultivating interfaith dialogue.

Two women (Swedish, 24; and Danish, 23) reminded us that, after a certain point in one’s schooling, exposure to discussions of multiculturalism depends greatly upon one’s chosen field of study. For instance, a Swedish man, 31, had never discussed multiculturalism in primary or secondary school, but took a class on intersectional feminism in college. A Swedish/Italian woman, 21, was currently studying communications and said that cross-cultural dialogue was often part of her regular coursework. A Danish woman, 23, had taken a number of global studies courses in secondary school and in university, but they were all electives.

Overall, it seemed that explicit address of timely multicultural discourse was mostly facilitated by and among students themselves – especially if the school had a diverse demographic makeup. One Danish man, 42, told me about the Turkish friends he made in his primary school classes, and how multiculturalism was “not necessarily touched on so much by the teachers, but … between us students it was something that was discussed, something that was dealt with on a daily basis.”

In both Denmark and Sweden, those who received diversity training in the workplace each answered that they worked for (or attended) universities or multinational organizations (companies, sports teams, etc.) which required regular communication with colleagues and clients all over the world. Some felt that their training was more “ongoing” than targeted, while others could recall particularly effective events which were not part of any ongoing workplace campaign. As can be seen from the demographic chart [oops], the majority of Swedes had at least “kind of” received diversity training in some shape or form, while the majority of Danish interviewees had not.

In both countries, almost everybody brought up the importance of having close friends and family members from different cultural groups. In fact, chosen means of multicultural education seemed to have more impact on these people than mandatory/structural means. Particularly in Sweden, those who had not directly or explicitly received training stressed the importance of their exposure to multiculturalism through other means. One woman, 42, felt that the basic religion courses she took in secondary school broadened her worldview and increased her interest in getting to know different kinds of people. A man, 32, said that he had not received specific training but “because the workplace is a university you make a point of understanding students of different cultures.” Another man, 50, talked about how he knew “a lot of people from different places, and [had his] friends.” Mohd said that he had never had any formal training, but that living in several countries over the years made him adaptable and receptive to diverse interactions and experiences. Almost every Swede mentioned surrounding themselves with diverse friends and acquaintances during and after their school years; another man, 30, said that his involvement in politics allowed him to gain more exposure to people of different cultural backgrounds.

Thoughts on the “other” system

Seven of the thirteen Danes and seven of the sixteen Swedes interviewed said that they didn’t know much about each other’s countries. Two of these Danes, however, both said that they were aware that Sweden may have “let too many people in.” Two of these Swedes had the general impression that their own country was, indeed, more open to immigration than Denmark.

Those who felt more knowledgeable about the topic backed these impressions. Five Danes and six Swedes said that the Swedish system focuses much more on multiculturalism and political correctness in all aspects. Three Danes (two women, both 23; and one man, 22), used neutral language (i.e., just saying “I think Sweden has a bigger focus”). The other two individuals explicitly stated that they felt Sweden was better when it came to bridging cultural gaps: a Lebanese/Danish man, 38, said that Sweden doesn’t discriminate as much against brown and Muslim people, and Sascha, a 21-year-old ethnic Dane who had lived in both countries, thought “it was nice” that the Swedish schools had more of a focus on multiculturalism than Danish schools. Like Sascha, Mohd had also lived in both Denmark and Sweden; he felt that Swedes were “considerably more welcoming,” and that while Danish education prioritized assimilation into an existing structure, Swedish education seemed to focus more on a cultural give-and-take. A 24-year-old ethnic Swede backed this assertion by saying he felt the Danes were “much more vulgar at times” when it came to cultural issues. A 42-year-old ethnically Swedish woman even said she felt Danes “seem a little bit racist” to her.

In total, three people (one Dane and two Swedes) felt the two countries’ approaches were similar. I found the following to be the most interesting explanation:

“I think we are a bit similar […] We do not want to be racists, but we act with some sort of a suspicious way … I can understand that people come here from different countries and cultures, and feel like ‘they don’t respect me.’ […] I think Sweden and Denmark are right in the middle of that.” -- Swedish man, 50

Only one Swede believed that Denmark was more welcoming than Sweden, but did not elaborate.

Other discussion / analysis

The Danish interviewees’ impressions of themselves paralleled those of Michael Booth (2014), who observed a culture of work-life balance and humble pride. What the Danes didn’t easily see in themselves, though, was what Booth described as a “fear of change and external forces”; while the ethnic Danes considered themselves to be inviting people, their embrace of diversity was often qualified by an “if you assimilate” or “if you learn our language” attitude. This demonstrates a possible misunderstanding among our interviewees between the concepts of assimilation and multiculturalism. According to Algan et al (2012), multiculturalism constitutes “heterogeneous ethnic/racial minority groups coexist[ing] with a dominant majority group; immigrants actively shape their own identities rather than posing as passive subjects.” On the flip side, assimilation theory describes a society in which “diverse immigrant groups are expected to ‘melt’ into the mainstream culture through an intergenerational process of cultural, social, and economic integration.” So while a number of Danes claimed to believe in multicultural values, their impressions and expectations of immigrants often contradicted these convictions. While we did not observe the same level of cognitive dissonance in Sweden, it may very well exist there, too.

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One Danish woman, 24, said that she felt the younger generation was better at actively prioritizing multiculturalism than previous generations; however, given the data my group collected, I’m not sure that is true. At least in our sample, both older and younger interviewees held varied and conflicting views on what a multicultural society should look like. A better indicator of favorability toward multicultural values seemed to be what a person studied, and/or how many places a person had travelled to or lived in. Those who had chosen fields of study such as sociology or communications, and those who had lived in places other than their home country for any portion of their lives, had more to say about the importance of true multiculturalism (as opposed to a hybrid of multiculturalism and assimilation).

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I don’t think our sample was large enough to make any substantial conclusions about how demographic makeup may influence Danes’ or Swedes’ perceptions of diversity and multiculturalism. Notably, every single interviewee – from Denmark and from Sweden – said that they had close friends of different nationalities, ethnicities, and/or religions; families tended to be more homogenous, but this only rendered the reported benefits of multiculturalism more personal for those specific individuals. More than anything else, each individual’s experiences with living in, visiting, and/or studying other places seemed to have the most positive influence on his or her valuation of multiculturalism.