The Sweden Democrats’ Criminal Discourse: An Ideational Analysis of the Party’s Criminal Policy Programme Cover Image

Sverigedemokraternas kriminaldiskurs: En ideationell analys av partiets kriminalpolitiska inriktningsprogram
The Sweden Democrats’ Criminal Discourse: An Ideational Analysis of the Party’s Criminal Policy Programme

Author(s): Daniel Gaszewski
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Language studies, Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Uniwersytet Gdański
Keywords: systemisk-funktionell grammatik; ideationell analys; läsbarhetsindex; modelläsare; stämplingsteori

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the criminal discourse of the Sweden Democrats through an ideational analysis of their criminal policy programme. The study applies an analytical tool drawing on systemic functional grammar. Analysing nuclear participants and using readability index, the article explores the question of how model readers are constructed in the text. The conclusion is that the Sweden Democrats focus mostly on material processes that refer to physical violence (very rarely on other types of crime). The party’s view on criminal policy is focused on support for the police force. The Sweden Democrats’ descriptions largely adopt the perspective of crime victims, while the model reader is a law-abiding and well-educated citizen.

  • Issue Year: 27/2023
  • Issue No: 7
  • Page Range: 95-107
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Swedish