Vandalism and Social Capital : A case study of Hovsjö, Södertälje

Vandalism is a form of a crime and threatens the safety and unity of a neighborhood. To inspect the issues of vandalism, a case study of Hovsjö in Södertälje is chosen. The area has most immigrants mainly from the Middle Eastern descent. Attempt is made to investigate these issues of vandalism with the help of theory, public documents of the area, history, physical evidence using photographs and conducting interviews of the residents and the authority. The issues of vandalism upon thorough analysis are found to be very subjective and are open to different interpretations. Thus, this thesis is about the authors’ version of interpreting the issue as immigrants from India. One of the key findings from the study is that there is a clear lack of trust between the authorities and the residents of Hovsjö. The reasons for this lack of trust is due to many issues but mostly revolve around the integration of the immigrants into the Swedish society. Thus, few ideas are recommended as an attempt to encourage better integration of immigrants into the Swedish Society and other generic ideas to prevent vandalism and increase the social capital. These ideas include ‘earliest is best’, ‘one size does not fit all’, ‘break the ice’, ‘get the right mix’ etc. among others