Research

Here is information about current research projects at the Segerstedt Institute. The projects are funded either through external research grants or through assignments from actors such as the government, authorities, civil society actors, and companies.

Becoming, belonging and leaving – exit processes among young neo-Nazis

The purpose of this study is to contribute new research on recruitment to neo-Nazi and right-wing extremist organisations, movements, and subcultures (hereafter, “right-wing extremism”), with a special emphasis on exit processes. The focus is on analysing how people in Sweden have been recruited to, become members of, and then choose to leave right-wing extremist environments.

HEX-NA: Handling extremism – Nordic approaches

The purpose of the research project: Nordic Multiagency Approaches to Handling Extremism: Policies, Perceptions and Practice, is to study multiagency collaborations – such as collaborations between school, social services and the police – in the work of preventing and dealing with violent extremism among young people. Cooperative organisations in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden are studied through three different approaches and empirical material.

Pan-Nordic and Transnational Dimensions of Nordic Right-Wing Extremism 2020-2022

Funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers

In this project, a research team from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden explores how the right-wing extremist environment in the Nordic region is connected. The project focuses on Nordic right-wing extremism from a historical perspective, the cohesion and threat of contemporary right-wing extremism, and strategies and efforts to prevent right-wing extremism. The project will contribute new knowledge about transnational right-wing extremism to the research community and provide insights that can improve decision-making on how right-wing extremism can be prevented.

Educational efforts to prevent antisemitism 2020–2021

Funded by the Ministry of Education

In this interdisciplinary project, researchers on right-wing extremism, antisemitism, and educational science work together with science theorists to map contemporary and historical efforts to prevent antisemitism. This scope also includes teaching and learning about the Holocaust. The systematic research overview aims to deepen the knowledge of which initiatives and mechanisms contribute to effective prevention work, and the results will be presented in connection with the Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating antisemitism and during a special IHRA-seminar on 7 October.

From Gothenburg to Paradise – how officials, relatives and ‘emigrants’ understand the decision to travel to the conflict in Syria and Iraq

The purpose of this study is to document and analyse whether, when, how, and where officials such as teachers, leisure leaders, social workers, and police paid attention to the fact that a growing number of Gothenburgers from 2012 travelled to join armed struggles in Syria and Iraq.

Research in collaboration with HDa, Hitatchi ABB and Spendrups

The Segerstedt Institute collaborates with Dalarna University (HDa) and with partial funding from Hitatchi ABB and Spendrups on a research project carried out by doctoral student Karin Årman as part of her doctoral work. In the collaboration, three premises have been developed: the context for the study shall be Dalarna, the method shall be empirical, and the object of study shall be preventive work against violent extremism. The purpose of Karin’s dissertation is to ‘develop new knowledge about strategies that can contribute to a classroom climate characterised by tolerance for dissent, where controversial issues can be discussed in a respectful way even when the conversation is surrounded by passionate emotions’. The work was supervised by Professor Maria Olsson at Stockholm University, Tomas Axelsson at Dalarna University, and Jennie Sivenbring at the Segerstedt Institute.

Fulfilling the school’s democratic mission: The encounter with racist hatred and national socialism in the classroom

After World War II, the Swedish school had the task of counteracting racism. This mission has – depending on how racism has played out and how its causes have been understood – changed over time. During the late 1980s, skinhead culture received increasing attention, not least in the local communities where there was a firmer foothold. During this period, the school became an important arena for countering right-wing extremism. Research has shown that right-wing extremist groups are constantly present in the same areas, which has caused particularly great challenges for schools in these areas. The school’s mission has also been sharpened further since 2010, when Sweden received its first action plan to counter violent extremism. By introducing work against violent extremism, further expectations have been directed at the school’s responsibility for problems that are deeply embedded in society. Despite the high expectations placed on the school, there are few studies on schools’ work to combat racism. The present study intends to contribute to this field of knowledge by studying how schools located in geographical areas with a high reproduction of right-wing extremism work to counteract recruitment to right-wing extremist social practices in schools.

Mission: History and Democracy – Perspectives on study trips to Holocaust memorial sites

The purpose of the research project is to contribute knowledge in the international research field of teaching and learning about the Holocaust (TLH). Four studies will shed light on and problematise how the relationship between education about the Holocaust and the school’s democracy mission takes shape in teachers’ and students’ practical work of preparing, carrying out, and following up trips to Holocaust memorial sites. Despite the fact that study trips are a frequent practice in Swedish schools, they have so far been unexplored. Thus, the research project also aims to generate new knowledge with practical relevance for teachers who conduct study trips to Holocaust memorial sites.

Last modified

23 September 2021