ATT FÖRSÖKA STYRA STRÖMMEN - Hur de nationella brottsförebyggande programmen försöker styra civilsamhället genom normativitet

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine and compare how two national crime prevention programs published in Sweden describe how individual citizens can contribute to preventing crime and relate to aspects of normativity, norm breaching behaviour and informal control. This study examines this through the following questions: • How has the description of crime prevention by individual citizens developed between the two programs? • What form does the discourse of normativity in individual crime prevention take in the two programs? • How can the delegation of crime prevention to the civil society be understood as a way to exercise power and governing? • How can the national crime prevention programs’ description of how civil society should prevent crime form risks for individuals as well as the democratic society? This is a qualitative study using Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis as method. The material used in this study are the two Swedish national crime prevention programs Allas vårt ansvar, published in 1996 and Tillsammans mot brott, published 2017. In this study, I use theories and concepts of Governmentality, Private policing and Inverted prevention. The results suggest that both the description of how individuals can contribute, as well as the normativity discourse in Tillsammans mot brott are based on Allas vårt ansvar. The delegation of crime prevention to individuals is a way to govern citizens within the normativity. There are risks of individuals becoming victims of violence, exclusion, and stigmatisation through relying on individuals’ abilities to percept norm breaching behaviour.