War and challenges for contemporary criminology : an ethnography-inspired analysis of the narratives of unaccompanied young refugees with war experiences in institutional care in Sweden

Abstract

This study concerns young people who have experienced war, taken shelter in Sweden, and been placed in institutions. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze power relations that contribute to the shaping of young people’s identities and repertoires of action via stigmatizations and social comparisons with different reference groups. The study’s empirical material includes qualitatively oriented interviews with six young people from Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan who have experienced war followed by placement in institutional care in Sweden. Analytical findings with the following themes are presented: (1) power relations and war, (2) power relations and escape from war, and (3) power relations and post war. The narratives on war and flight recounted by unaccompanied refugee minors describe the exercise of power in practice, in which wartime interactions (based on the exercise of power) are compared and related to peaceful interactions (in which there is no exercise of power). In this context, the interactive creation of contrasts and comparisons in relation to other actors reveals various categories of actor: victim, perpetrator, and hero.(Il)legal organizations and crime. Challenges for contemporary criminology. 21st Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology, European Society of Criminology and University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania (20210908-20210911). ”War and challenges for contemporary criminology: an ethnography-inspired analysis of the narratives of unaccompanied young refugees with war experiences in institutional care in Sweden”, Goran Basic & David Wästerfors. Youth with war experiences in institutional care. A sociological study of young immigrants' stigma and social comparison