“Why are you going there?” : A sociological study regarding driving forces in returnees to the Swedish countryside-municipalities

Since the 19th century, industrialization has led people from the countryside to the bigger cities, and Sweden is not an exception. Statistics from 2018 show that for the first time in 30 years, there is an increase in the people whom make the decision to move from the cities to the countryside. And from 2015 to 2018 there has been an increase of 11 000 people in the Swedish countryside. With this in mind, our study is going to explore the central driving forces in returnees; people returning home to the smaller towns in the Swedish countryside. We are also going to analyze how these people relate to the urban norm, with the intention of trying to explain how they identify with their role as returnee, as well as their ex-role they had before making the move home. To answer these two central questions, we have performed ten interviews throughout Sweden in smaller towns considered to be in the Swedish countryside. To analyze our empirical data four central concepts that constitute our theoretical framework have been presented. These concepts are turning points, role exit, social capital and the urban norm. Turning points and role exit is a part of Ebaugh’s theory about the role exit-process. Social capital is a broad theory, in which we have decided to apply the work of Robert D. Putnam and his focus on reciprocity and reliability in social networks. Finally, the urban norm is a theory that mainly explores the normative and hierarchical relation between the cities and the countryside, where the cities are always the norm. Our conclusion is that closeness to family and a sense of security is the most frequent driving force for returnees. There is also a duality in the way interviewees approach their roles as returnees and ex-city inhabitants, where they often keep relating to their past roles and have difficulties relating to their current role in their hometown