TY - JOUR

T1 - An investigation of politicians' responses to urban diversity and disadvantage

T2 - The case of the Danish ‘parallel societies’

AU - Madsen, Thomas

AU - Morton, Thomas

AU - Power, Séamus A.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. British Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - We examine how Danish politicians articulate views on the ‘parallel society agreement’ (aka, the ‘ghetto-laws’), a controversial legislative intervention aiming to manage urban migration-related diversity. Through nationwide urban redevelopment aimed at facilitating residential ‘mixing’, the goal of the legislation is to eliminate so-called ‘parallel societies’—socio-economically deprived neighbourhoods characterized by high concentrations of ethnic minorities. In-depth interviews with Danish politicians (n = 11) explored how this proposal was supported, contested or rejected in situated discourse. Following social representations theory, we focus on how ‘parallel societies’ were constructed in relation to differing ideas about ‘mainstream society’ and value-laden oppositional meaning-categories (i.e. themata). In particular, we highlight processes of socio-ethical reasoning that occurred through thematization of a shared oppositional meaning-category: ‘freedom-constraint’. Views on the intervention were articulated around this oppositional meaning-category. Moreover, a connection was observed between the views articulated by individual politicians and sets of congruent ideas and images mobilized to represent ‘parallel societies’. We discuss the theoretical value of taking a social representations approach to urban policy debates, and the practical limitations of dominant representations for successfully promoting intercultural dialogue and engagement—the stated goal of this intervention.

AB - We examine how Danish politicians articulate views on the ‘parallel society agreement’ (aka, the ‘ghetto-laws’), a controversial legislative intervention aiming to manage urban migration-related diversity. Through nationwide urban redevelopment aimed at facilitating residential ‘mixing’, the goal of the legislation is to eliminate so-called ‘parallel societies’—socio-economically deprived neighbourhoods characterized by high concentrations of ethnic minorities. In-depth interviews with Danish politicians (n = 11) explored how this proposal was supported, contested or rejected in situated discourse. Following social representations theory, we focus on how ‘parallel societies’ were constructed in relation to differing ideas about ‘mainstream society’ and value-laden oppositional meaning-categories (i.e. themata). In particular, we highlight processes of socio-ethical reasoning that occurred through thematization of a shared oppositional meaning-category: ‘freedom-constraint’. Views on the intervention were articulated around this oppositional meaning-category. Moreover, a connection was observed between the views articulated by individual politicians and sets of congruent ideas and images mobilized to represent ‘parallel societies’. We discuss the theoretical value of taking a social representations approach to urban policy debates, and the practical limitations of dominant representations for successfully promoting intercultural dialogue and engagement—the stated goal of this intervention.

KW - assimilation

KW - citizenship

KW - Denmark

KW - ghetto

KW - social representations

KW - themata

U2 - 10.1111/bjso.12673

DO - 10.1111/bjso.12673

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37497874

AN - SCOPUS:85165900015

JO - British Journal of Social Psychology

JF - British Journal of Social Psychology

SN - 0144-6665

ER -