Dan-Erik Andersson

Since 2010 I am employed by the strategic research project Middle East in the Contemporary World (MECW) at Lund University. MECW consists of four research domains and my research is within the domain the Middle East in Sweden (MEIS).

The purpose of my research is to study value communities and value conflicts in the meeting between traditions of sobriety among individuals in Sweden and traditions of sobriety among immigrants to Sweden from the Middle East. By focusing on these meetings a renewed perspective of Swedish civil society will emerge.

Sweden has a long history of strong temperance movements and they are often stated to be one of the founding forces of Swedish democracy. Through extensive immigration to Sweden from the Middle East an unforeseen growth has occurred within the Temperance Movement in Sweden. This has led to a new “spring” for the Swedish Temperance Movement and has made the multiple traditions of sobriety more obvious.

The research project aims to analyze the renewal and transformation of Swedish civil society due to immigration from the Middle East. By focusing on sobriety and the value communities and value conflicts that appears when different value traditions meets, questions on continuity and change in civil society is given an exiting frame.