Anders Wigerfelt

Media Images and Experiences of Being a Jew in the Swedish City of Malmö

A series of high-profile incidents in and after 2008 placed Malmö in southern Sweden on the national and international map as a place that was unsafe for people identified as Jews. The primary aim of this article is to explore and exemplify what it is like to live with Jewish identity in Malmö within a framework of how the media reports anti-Semitism and how this group copes with being the potential target of anti-Semitic harassment and hate crime. Based on interviews with people with Jewish identity in Malmö, we analyze and discuss their experiences using different themes, such as violent and everyday anti-Semitism, the local impact of the Israel–Palestine conflict, how media images affect their lives, and how exposure and vulnerability are dealt with. The findings are important in terms of both possible long-term measures against anti-Semitism and as immediate support for those targeted.

Online hate crime – social norms and the legal system / Crime de ódio virtual - normas sociais e o sistema jurídico

Trabalho enviado em 02 de outubro de 2015. Aceito em 11 de outubro de 2015. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12957/rqi.2015 Abstract A central point of departure for this socio-legal study about online hate crimes concerns the significance of analysing and understanding social norms in relation to these crimes on the Internet. This is of importance not least when one approaches the issue of how law and the legal system may contribute towards positive developments in this field and prevent hate crimes. It is apparent that law and social norms function concurrently in influencing behaviours. On the one hand, social norms have a strong impact on how law is formulated due to law typically being shaped to reflect the morals and values in society. On the other hand, the reverse effect can also play an important role: When law leads and paves the way for changed behaviours, it may in time produce changes in social norms. People tend to revaluate their views of right and wrong and adapt their values towards legally advocated behaviour. People also tend to make demands of their social environment in a manner that coincides with legally grounded values. Through clear legal signals, processes are initiated that have the potential, in time, to lead to changed social norms. People must, then, not only consider the legally constructed risk involved in being caught, sentenced and punished, we must also relate to the risk of being condemned by our fellow citizens. The empirical study is made in Sweden and the article present the Swedish legal and social context related to different hate crimes and how these phenomena are perceived among Swedish Internet users. Keywords: Social norms, Hate crimes, Socio-legal, Swedish Internet users, Legal system. Resumo Um ponto central de partida para este estudo socio legal sobre crimes de odio online refere-se a importância de analisar e compreender as normas sociais em relacao a esses crimes na Internet. Nao menos importante e a abordagem da questao de como a lei e o sistema legal podem contribuir para uma evolucao positiva neste dominio e evitar crimes de odio. E evidente que a lei e as normas sociais funcionam simultaneamente na influencia dos comportamentos. Por um lado, as normas sociais tem um forte impacto na forma como a lei e formulada devido a lei tipicamente ser moldada para refletir os costumes e valores da sociedade. Por outro lado, o efeito inverso tambem pode desempenhar um papel importante: quando a lei leva e abre o caminho para comportamentos alterados, pode no tempo produzir mudancas nas normas sociais. As pessoas tendem a reavaliar seus pontos de vista de certo e errado e adaptar seus valores para o comportamento legalmente defendido. As pessoas tambem tendem a fazer exigencias de seu ambiente social de uma forma que coincide com os valores legalmente fundamentados. Atraves de sinais juridicos claros, os processos que sao iniciados tem o potencial, no tempo, para alterar as normas sociais. As pessoas devem, entao, nao so considerar o risco legalmente construido envolvido em ser capturado, condenado e punido, tambem deve se considerar o risco de serem condenados moralmente pelos seus compatriotas. O estudo empirico e feito na Suecia e no artigo sera apresentado o contexto juridico e social sueco relacionado a diferentes crimes de odio e como esses fenomenos sao percebidos entre os internautas suecos. Palavras-chave: normas sociais; crimes de odio; socio juridico; internautas suecos; sistema juridico.