Insidious de-democratization: conceptualizing anti-gender politics in Sweden.
This article aims to shed light on the forms and effects of anti-gender politics in a country that is widely regarded as being gender-equal. The empirical focus is on political debates and policy changes concerning gender equality and the rights of marginalized sexual and racial groups in Sweden bet...
| Published in: | Journal of Gender Studies Vol. 34; no. 5; pp. 732 - 749 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jul2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=186130707&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 186130707 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 09589236 JGS jtl: Journal of Gender Studies issn: 09589236 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2025 vid: 34 iid: 5 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 186130707 10.1080/09589236.2024.2446345 ppf: 732 ppct: 17 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 186130707 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 186130707 tig: atl: Insidious de-democratization: conceptualizing anti-gender politics in Sweden. aug: au: Karlberg, Eva Korolczuk, Elzbieta Sältenberg, Hansalbin affil: The School for Social Sciences, Södertörn University, Huddinge, Sweden The School of Historical and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University, Huddinge, Sweden Institutionen för historia och samtidsstudier, Södertörn University, Huddinge, Sweden su: Sweden Democracy Political science Gender inequality Political violence Anti-gender movements sug: subj: Democracy Political science Gender inequality Political violence Anti-gender movements Sweden keyword: anti-gender de-democratization democracy Gender anti-gender de-democratization democracy Gender ab: This article aims to shed light on the forms and effects of anti-gender politics in a country that is widely regarded as being gender-equal. The empirical focus is on political debates and policy changes concerning gender equality and the rights of marginalized sexual and racial groups in Sweden between 2020 and 2024. The existing literature on the anti-gender trend focuses mostly on the discourses and strategies of ultraconservative actors. In contrast, we examine the perspective of gender-progressive institutional actors to gain a better understanding of how the political elite perceives ongoing change and the impact of this trend on liberal democracy. We conducted a thorough analysis of parliamentary debates and interviewed parliamentarians and employees of state institutions. Our findings demonstrate that anti-gender politics in the country is inextricably linked with the use of political violence and the further normalization of exclusion. Thus, we argue that struggles around gender in Sweden can be framed as a case of insidious de-democratization. This trend is defined as a set of relatively small-scale discourses and practices that further discrimination, silencing, and intimidation of already marginalized groups, and have gradual and cumulative effects of eroding the normative foundations of liberal democracy. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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