Symbolic Interaction, Power, And War. 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 study demonstrates that narratives about war, escaping war, and postwar life in Sweden construct and reconstruct an image of a series of interactive rituals that are both influenced by and influence the power dynamic between the actors. This relationship in turn creates and recreates an interplay among the stigmatizing experiences of the youths, their social comparisons, and definitions of inequality.Sociological Knowledges for Alternative Futures, the 15th European Sociological Association Conference, European Sociological Association, Autonomous University of Barcelona and Catalan Sociological Association, Barcelona, Spain (20210831-20210903). ”Symbolic interaction, power, and war: 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