Hjältar, skurkar och vanligt folk i berättelsen om det förlorade landet Sverige

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to the knowledge about the success which nationalist parties have experienced during the latest decades in western societies. By a qualitative text analysis, using a case study method, a Facebook-group anonymously named Sverigesidan (The Swedish page), has been studied in order to discover patterns which can explain how nationalism can attract groups who obviously are disadvantaged by the right-wing politics offered. The result show that the discussion on Sverigesidan mobilize a master narrative created in the twentieths century by nationalist strategists, which can be summarized in four theses:1) Immigrants presence alters Sweden negatively; 2) the Swedes are displaced; 3) left wing politiciansare responsible; 4) media produces only “fake news”. Using narrative theory for an in-depth analysis, I focused on the construction of the dichotomies Us and Them. A main finding was that the image of Us on Sverigesidan is split between an established nationalist Us, which legitimizes influence over Swedish territory, culture and political power and an outsider populist Us, which legitimizes the struggle against supremacy. Finally I argue that the hateful, shameless and aggressive expressions, present in a virtual space like Sverigesidan, can be explained by the excessive construction of Us and Them, which tend to take place in contextswhere people experience distance to The Other