Ov Cristian Norocel
Director of Doctoral Studies | Docent | Senior lecturer
Constructing radical right populist resistance : Metaphors of heterosexist masculinities and the family question in Sweden
Author
Summary, in English
The construction of radical right populist resistance around metaphors of
masculinity at the beginning of the 21st century is a little researched area. This
article accounts for the discursive redefinitions of Swedishness enabled by
conceptual metaphors in order to accommodate centrally located heterosexist
masculinities at the intersection of gender, class, and ‘race’, as heralded by the main Swedish radical right populist party, the Sweden Democrats (SD). The analysis of articles published by the SD leader in SD-Kuriren, the party’s main media outlet, focuses on a well defined timeframe in the recent history of radical right populism in Sweden, from Swedish Lutheran Church elections in 2005, through Swedish Parliamentary elections in 2006, up to the church elections in 2009 and the subsequent Parliamentary elections the following year. The staunchly restrictive definition of the family – examined from the point of view of the Lakoffian ‘nation is a family’ conceptual metaphor – appears as the heteronormative domain of the Swedish male, and bans the existence of family narratives that inlude ethnically diverse or sexually different Others. I maintain that in the Swedish case, the nation metaphor accommodates for the contesting ‘conservative son’ who attempts to replace the mismanaging father of the national family.
masculinity at the beginning of the 21st century is a little researched area. This
article accounts for the discursive redefinitions of Swedishness enabled by
conceptual metaphors in order to accommodate centrally located heterosexist
masculinities at the intersection of gender, class, and ‘race’, as heralded by the main Swedish radical right populist party, the Sweden Democrats (SD). The analysis of articles published by the SD leader in SD-Kuriren, the party’s main media outlet, focuses on a well defined timeframe in the recent history of radical right populism in Sweden, from Swedish Lutheran Church elections in 2005, through Swedish Parliamentary elections in 2006, up to the church elections in 2009 and the subsequent Parliamentary elections the following year. The staunchly restrictive definition of the family – examined from the point of view of the Lakoffian ‘nation is a family’ conceptual metaphor – appears as the heteronormative domain of the Swedish male, and bans the existence of family narratives that inlude ethnically diverse or sexually different Others. I maintain that in the Swedish case, the nation metaphor accommodates for the contesting ‘conservative son’ who attempts to replace the mismanaging father of the national family.
Publishing year
2010
Language
English
Pages
169-183
Publication/Series
NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies
Volume
5
Issue
2
Full text
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Links
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Topic
- Gender Studies
- Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalization Studies)
- International Migration and Ethnic Relations
Keywords
- radical right populism
- heteronormative family
- Sweden Democrats
- conceptual metaphors
- Gender Studies
- Genusstudier
- Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)
- Statsvetenskap (exklusive studier av offentlig förvaltning och globaliseringsstudier)
- International Migration and Ethnic Relations
- Internationell Migration och Etniska Relationer (IMER)
- Sweden
- populist radical right
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1890-2138