Emotional expressions in the Swedish discourse on crime.
A comparison of the 2018 Moderate and Social Democratic election campaigns
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37062/sf.60.24779Keywords:
Criminal policy, sociology of emotions, worry, (dis)trust, political partiesAbstract
Crime and punishment are often described as emotionally-charged fields. The present article aims to concretise this account by addressing how different political actors make use of emotions in distinct ways in order to advance their criminal policy in Sweden. Drawing on sociological research on emotions, I illustrate how the Moderate Party and the Social Democratic Party both make use of worry and (dis)trust in their electoral campaigning. However, the article also shows that the two political parties differ in the ways they encourage the Swedish public to engage emotionally in criminal policy matters which may entail different political effects.
References
Agustín, Ó. G. (2019) ”Emotions and the Left in Denmark. Towards Left-wing and mainstream populism”, 115–131 in P. Cossarini & F. Vallespín (eds.) Populism and passions. Democratic legitimacy after austerity. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351205474
Andersson, J. (2002) Mellan tillväxt och trygghet. Idélinjer i socialdemokratisk socialpolitik under efterkrigstiden. Licentiate Thesis. Uppsala: Uppsala University.
Andersson, R. (2010) ”Tryggare kan ingen vara. En svensk kriminalpolitik för 2000-talet”, 141–163 in T. Hjort, P. Lalander & R. Nilsson (eds.) Den ifrågasatte medborgaren. Om utsatta gruppers relation till välfärdssystemet. Växjö: Linnæus University.
Barbalet, J. M. (1996) ”Social emotions. Confidence, trust and loyalty”, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 16 (9-10):75–96. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013270
Barbalet, J. M. (2001) Emotion, social theory and social structure. A macrosociological approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511488740
Barbalet, J. M. (2006) ”Emotions in politics. From the ballot to suicide terrorism”, 31–55 in S. Clarke, P. Hoggett & S. Thompson (eds.) Emotion, politics and society. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230627895_3
Barbalet, J. M. (2008) ”Tillitens emotionella bas och dess följder”, 57–77 in Å. Wettergren, B. Starrin & G. Lindgren (eds.) Det sociala livets emotionella grunder. Malmö: Liber.
Barker, V. (2017) ”Nordic vagabonds. The Roma and the logic of benevolent violence in the Swedish welfare state”, European Journal of Criminology 14 (1):120–139. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370816640141
Bauman, Z. (2000) ”Social issues of law and order”, The British Journal of Criminology 40 (2):205–221. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/40.2.205
Bauman, Z. (2006) Liquid fear. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Beck, U. (1986) Risksamhället. På väg mot en annan modernitet. [Risk society. Towards a new modernity.] Göteborg: Bokförlaget Daidalos.
Boutellier, H. (2004) The safety utopia. Contemporary discontent and desire as to crime and punishment. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Brader, T. (2006) Campaigning for hearts and minds. How emotional appeals in political ads work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bronstein, J., N. Aharony & J. Bar-Ilan (2018) ”Politicians’ use of Facebook during elections. Use of emotionally-based discourse, personalization, social media engagement and vividness”, Aslib Journal of Information Management 70 (5):551–572. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-03-2018-0067
Brownlee, I. (1998) ”New Labour – New penology? Punitive rhetoric and the limits of managerialism in criminal justice policy”, Journal of Law and Society 25 (3):313–335. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6478.00094
Carvalho, H. & A. Chamberlen (2018) ”Why punishment pleases. Punitive feelings in a world of hostile solidarity”, Punishment & Society 20 (2):217–234. https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474517699814
Christie, N. (2001) ”Det idealiska offret”, 46–60 in M. Åkerström & I. Sahlin (eds.) Det motspänstiga offret. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Clark, C. (1987) ”Sympathy biography and sympathy margin”, American Journal of Sociology 93 (2):290–321.
Clarke, S., P. Hoggett, & S. Thompson (eds.) (2006) Emotion, politics and society. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230627895
Collins, R. (2004) Interaction ritual chains. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Cossarini, P. & F. Vallespín (eds.) (2019) Populism and passion. Democratic legitimacy after austerity. Abingdon: Routledge.
Denney, D. (2008) ”Fear, human rights and New Labour policy post-9/11”, Social Policy and Administration 42 (6):560–575. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9515.2008.00624.x
Edelman, M. (1964) The symbolic uses of politics. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Fanghanel, A. (2016) ”The trouble with safety. Fear of crime, pollution and subjectification in public space”, Theoretical Criminology 20 (1):1–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480615582097
Furedi, F. (2005) Politics of fear. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Garland, D. (2006) The culture of control. Crime and social order in contemporary society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Goodwin, J., J. M. Jasper & F. Polletta (eds.) (2001) Passionate politics. Emotions and social movements. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
de Haan, W. & I. Loader (2002) ”On the emotions of crime, punishment and social control”, Theoretical Criminology 6 (3):243–253. https://doi.org/10.1177/136248060200600301
Hall, S., C. Critcher, T. Jefferson, J. Clarke & B. Roberts (1978) Policing the crisis. Mugging, the state and law and order. London: The MacMillan Press.
Hartnagel, T. F. & L. J. Templeton (2012) ”Emotions about crime and attitudes to punishment”, Punishment & Society 14 (4):452–474. https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474512452519
Hermansson, K. (2022) ”The symbolic potential of security: on collective emotions in Swedish criminal policy discourse”, Emotions and Society 4 (3):395–410. https://doi.org/10.1332/263169021X16517125618359
Hermansson, K. (2019) Symbols and emotions in Swedish crime policy discourse. Doctoral Thesis. Stockholm: Stockholm University.
Hermansson, K. B. (2004) Partikulturer. Kollektiva självbilder och normer i Sveriges riksdag. Doctoral Thesis. Uppsala: Uppsala University.
Hochschild, A.R. (1979) ”Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure”, American Journal of Sociology 85 (3):551–575.
Johnson, C. (2022) ”Feeling protected. Protective masculinity and femininity from Donald Trump and Joe Biden to Jacinda Ardern”, Emotions and Society 4 (1):7–26. https://doi.org/10.1332/263169021X16310949038420
Johnson, C. (2013) ”From Obama to Abbott. Gender Identity and the Politics of Emotion”, Australian Feminist Studies 28 (75):14-29. https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.2012.759311
Johnson, D. (2009) ”Anger about crime and support for punitive criminal justice policies”, Punishment & Society 11 (1):51–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474508098132
Karstedt, S. (2002) ”Emotions and criminal justice”, Theoretical Criminology 6 (3):299–317. https://doi.org/10.1177/136248060200600304
Karstedt, S. (2006) ”Emotions, crime and justice. Exploring Durkheimian themes”, 223–248 in M. Deflem (ed.) Sociological Theory and Criminological Research. Oxford: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1521-6136(06)07011-4
Karstedt, S., I. Loader & H. Strang (eds.) (2011) Emotions, crime and justice. Oxford: Hart Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781472565471
Karstedt, S. (2011) ”Handle with care. Emotions, crime and justice”, 1–19 in S. Karstedt, I. Loader & H. Strang (eds.) Emotions, crime and justice. Oxford: Hart Publishing.
Karstedt, S. & R. Endtricht (2022) ”Crime and punishment. Public opinion and political law-and-order rhetoric in Europe 1996–2019”, The British Journal of Criminology 62 (5):1116–1135. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azac040
Lee, M. (2007) Inventing fear of crime. Criminology and the politics of anxiety. Portland: Willan Publishing.
Ljunggren, J. (2015) Den uppskjutna vreden. Socialdemokratisk känslopolitik från 1800- till 1980-talet. Lund: Nordic Academic Press.
Loader, I. (2011) ”Playing with fire? Democracy and the emotions of crime and punishment”, 347–361 in S. Karstedt, I. Loader & H. Strang (eds.) Emotions, crime and justice. Oxford: Hart Publishing.
Manning, N. & M. Holmes (2014) ”Political emotions. A role for feelings of affinity in citizens’ (dis)engagements with electoral politics?”, Sociology 48 (4):698–714. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038513500103
Marion, N. E. & R. Farmer (2003) ”Crime control in the 2000 presidential election. A symbolic issue”, American Journal of Criminal Justice 27 (2):129–144. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02885690
Martin, J. (2015) ”A feeling for democracy? Rhetoric, power and the emotions”, 107–122 in J.G. Heaney & H. Flam (eds.) Power and emotions. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1080/2158379X.2013.846557
Mason, G. (2014) ”The symbolic purpose of hate crime law. Ideal victims and emotion”, Theoretical Criminology 18 (1):75–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480613499792
Pratt, J. (2007) Penal populism. Abingdon: Routledge.
Pratt, J. (2008) ”Scandinavian exceptionalism in an era of penal excess. Part I. The nature and roots of Scandinavian exceptionalism”, British Journal of Criminology 48 (2):119–137. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azm072
Pratt, J. (2011) ”The power and limits of populism. An illustration from recent penal developments in New Zealand”, 331–346 in S. Karstedt, I. Loader & H. Strang (eds.) Emotions, crime and justice. Oxford: Hart Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474505053831
Rosenwein, B. H. (2010) ”Problems and methods in the history of emotions”, Journal of the History and Philosophy of the Emotions 1 (issue not specified):1–32.
Rosenwein, B. H. & R. Cristiani (2018) What is the history of emotions? Cambridge: Polity Press.
Sahlin Lilja, H. (2018) ”’Otrygghet’ i politiska kommunikation. En begreppslig analys och jämförelse av 1970- och 2010-talen”, Nordisk Tidsskrift for Kriminalvidenskap 105 (2):170–190.
Sampietro, A. & L. V. Ordaz (2015) ”Emotional politics on Facebook. An explanatory study of Podemos’ discourse during the European election campaign 2014”, Recerca: Revista de Pensament i Anàlisi 17 (4):61–83. https://doi.org/10.6035/RECERCA.2015.17.4
Smith, P. S. & T. Ugelvik (eds.) (2017) Scandinavian penal history, culture and prison practice. Embraced by the welfare state? London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58529-5
Soriano, C. (2015) ”Emotion and conceptual metaphor”, 206–225 in H. Flam & J. Kleres (eds.) Methods of exploring emotions. Abingdon: Routledge.
Steenbergen, M. R. & C. Ellis (2006) ”Fear and loathing in American elections. Contexts, traits, and negative candidate affect”, 109–133 in D.P. Redlawsk (ed.) Feeling politics: Emotion in political information processing. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403983114_7
Strömbäck, J. & L. W. Nord (2008) ”Media and politics in Sweden”, 103–121 in J. Strömbäck, M. Orsten & T. Aalberg (eds.) Communicating politics. Political communication in the Nordic countries. Gothenburg: Nordicom. https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855299-6
Swedish television (SVT) (30 August 2018), party leader (M) interview.
Tham, H. (2001) ”Law and order as a leftist project? The case of Sweden”, Punishment & Society 3 (3):409–426.
Tham, H. (2022) Kriminalpolitik. Brott och straff i Sverige sedan 1965. Stockholm: Norstedts Juridik.
The Moderate Party (11 May 2018), party leader speech.
The Moderate Party (13 August 2018), Facebook post on the party’s official Facebook page. https://m.facebook.com/UlfKristerssonM/posts/2211616355740709 (Retrieved 1 November 2018)
The Moderate Party (2018) ”Gängmorden i Malmö hotar framtidstron” [”Gang murders in Malmö threaten belief in the future”], debate article written by Tobé, T. (M) and Tegnhammar, T. (M), Expressen newspaper, 20 June 2018, cited twice.
The Social Democratic Party (2018), Strategic plan for 2018 election.
The Social Democratic Party (2018), Party leader speech, 1 May 2018.
The Social Democratic Party (2018) ”Så föder M och SD gängkriminaliteten” [”This is how the Moderates and Sweden Democrats feed gang crime”], debate article written by Hultqvist, P (S) and Johansson, M. (S). Expressen newspaper, 12 July 2018.
The Social Democratic Party (2018) ”Ni är på väg mot ett historiskt misstag M”, [”You are heading for an historical mistake, Moderates”], debate article written by Löfvén, S. (S), Aftonbladet newspaper, 8 September 2018.
Tucker, E. (2018) ”Hope, hate and indignation: Spinoza and political emotion in the Trump era”, 131–157 in M. B. Sable & A. J. Torres (eds.) Trump and political philosophy. Patriotism, cosmopolitanism and civic virtue. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74427-8_8
Turner, J. H. & J. E. Stets (2005) The sociology of emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819612
TV4 (2 September 2018), party leader interview. Swedish television (SVT) (31 May 2018), TV-broadcast (organised by SVT) party leader speech.
Törnqvist, N. (2017) Att göra rätt. En studie om professionell respektabilitet, emotioner och narrative linjer bland relationsvåldsspecialiserade åklagare. Doctoral Thesis. Stockholm: Stockholm University.
Valentino, N., C. Wayne & M. Oceno (2018) ”Mobilizing sexism. The interaction of emotions and gender attitudes in the 2016 US presidential election”, Public Opinion Quarterly 82 (1):799–821. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfy003
Von Scheve, C. & S. Ismer (2013) ”Towards a theory of collective emotions”, Emotion Review 5 (4):406–413. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/1754073913484170
Walklate, S. (1998a) ”Excavating the fear of crime. Fear, anxiety or trust?”, Theoretical Criminology 2 (4):403–418. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480698002004001
Walklate, S. (1998b) ”Crime and community. Fear or trust?”, British Journal of Sociology 49 (4):550–569. https://doi.org/10.2307/591288
Wettergren, Å. (2013) Emotionssociologi. Malmö: Gleerups.
Yates, H. E. (2016) The politics of emotions, candidates, and choices. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51527-8
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Klara Hermansson
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All content in Sociologisk Forskning is published with immediate open access, under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
All content may be read, downloaded, shared and printed for non-commercial purposes, free and without fees. Contents may not be altered. When content is reused, author, source and a link to the copyright licence must be provided. The author retains copyright to their content. No publication fees are charged.
