Studying Cases Empirically: A Sociological Method for Studying Discrimination Cases in Sweden

Abstract

This paper uses two previous studies of unlawful discrimination, which I carried out in Sweden in 1992 and 1996, to develop a more comprehensive sociological method for studying anti-discrimination laws. The initial question asked in these studies concerned the impact of the Swedish Act against Ethnic Discrimination (the AED), i.e. how the legal system dealt with unlawful discrimination and to what extent it counteracted discriminatory practices using the AED. The data used comprised official studies of various aspects of immigrants' and ethnic minorities' conditions in employment and occupation, open interviews with various groups such as lawyers and immigrants, a study of the discourse on ethno-cultural relations in Sweden, and discrimination cases. The focus of this chapter will be on the limitations of discrimination cases which were used in the studies of ethnic discrimination in Sweden.

Keywords: Ethnic discrimination, gender, equality, ombudsman, Sweden, dispute, ADR, complaint, racism, dichotomy, methodology, immigration policy, textual analysis, sociology of law