Swedish Defence Research Agency (Totalförsvarets forskningsinsitut, FOI) (2022) A study in prejudice - about rasist stereotypes in digital environments (En studie i fördom - om rasistiska stereotyper i digitala miljöer), report, October 2022

Country

Sweden

Title

Swedish Defence Research Agency (Totalförsvarets forskningsinsitut, FOI) (2022) A study in prejudice - about rasist stereotypes in digital environments (En studie i fördom - om rasistiska stereotyper i digitala miljöer), report, October 2022

View full Research

Year

2022

Type of publication

Report

Geographical coverage

National

Area/location of interest

Not applicable - national level

Type of Institution

Public authority

Institution

Sweden, Swedish Defence Research Agency | Totalförsvarets forskningsinsitut, FOI

Main Thematic Focus

Public perceptions & attitudes

Target Population

Ethnic minorities

Key findings

This report studies manifestations of racism in digital environments. It studies in particular expressions of prejudice against some of the minority groups that have been indicated in the Swedish government’s plan against racism, similar kinds of hostility, and hate crime, as particularly exposed to racism. The study shows that people of Middle Eastern and North African descent are particularly exposed to prejudice, as are Muslims. Prejudicial statements were found to often display ignorance and conflation of different ethnic and religious minorities. The result indicates that a substantial increase of islamophobic expressions coincided with the so-called 2022 Sweden riots.

Methodology (Qualitative/Quantitative and exact type used, questionnaires etc)

All research in this report is based on quantitative analysis of textual data.

Sample details and representativeness

The data used for this study is collected from five Swedish-language discussion forums and social media during the time period 2020-07-01 – 2021-06-30. The sources are chosen to give a broad picture of Swedish digital environments. A total of 6.8 million comments have been collected.

DISCLAIMERThe information presented here is collected under contract by the FRA's research network FRANET. The information and views contained do not necessarily reflect the views or the official position of the FRA.