“Not as bad as they seem” : A discourse analysis of representations of particularly vulnerable areas in Sweden, within student theses

The main purpose of this thesis is to analyse the discourses of particularly vulnerable areas in Sweden, a categorization made by the police authority, as these areas appear within student theses, written between 2010 and 2018. The aim of using this material along with theoretical discourse analysis is to gain a deeper understanding of academic as well as non-academic perspectives of these areas, in relation to the ongoing discussion of territorial stigmatization. Three main discourses where identified, structuring the analysis: the suburban discourse, the Swedish society discourse, and the critical meta discourse. In addition, I found that these are also present within studies conducted by higher scholars, and thus conclude that student theses can successfully serve as a source through which wider academic discourses can be understood. While parts of the discourses found has been identified by previous researchers as well, I argue that the critical meta discourse, having been dismissed as marginal, is prominent as a discourse within student theses. However, although the critical meta discourse serves to nuance the predominantly gloomy discourse of the suburb, I argue that this narrative also functions to preserve this image, and therefore should be used with some caution. Due to the magnitude of studies set out to “challenge the bad reputation” of these areas, the solidity and importance of these reputation are seen as given and thus possibly enhanced.