Christer Mattsson

Bio: Christer Mattsson is an academic researcher from University of Gothenburg. The author has contributed to research in topics: Racism & Radicalization. The author has an hindex of 7, co-authored 27 publications receiving 127 citations.

Youth ‘at risk’: A critical discourse analysis of the European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network Collection of approaches and practices used in education:

Abstract: The present article focuses on how the so-called War on terror discourse has merged into the educational system and brought about a securitization of education. As a part of efforts to prevent young people from becoming radicalized into terrorism, the educational system is expected to be able to detect individuals ‘at risk’ and deploy methods to prevent radicalization from happening. Through the critical discourse analysis of a collection of educational practices, sampled by the European Union working group Radicalisation Awareness Network, we have been able to generate knowledge about how the War on terror discourse tends to individualize and decontextualize tensions in society that may ultimately cause terrorism. With this individualized and decontextualized approach to preventing radicalization, it appears more important to control students rather than to develop their ability to analyse complex conflicts in society.

Violent Extremism, National Security and Prevention. Institutional Discourses and their Implications for Schooling

Abstract: Currently, threats to societal security from extremist groups are high on the political agenda in many countries. Politicians, policymakers at various levels and communities are searching for methods to counteract recruitment to violent organizations. These efforts are often referred to as Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE-programmes). One of the earliest PVE programmes in Europe was the British PREVENT programme, and it has to some extent served as a model for other countries, including Sweden. In this article, we scrutinize a particular method, inspired by the PREVENT, and developed by the Swedish National Coordinator against violent extremism, called The Conversation Compass (CC) intended for so-called front-line workers. This article reports an analysis of this method in order to provide a broader understanding of how the discourse on preventing violent extremism meanders from political and policy discourses into claims about how to organize educational practices and social work and the reg...

Caught between the urgent and the comprehensible: professionals’ understanding of violent extremism

Abstract: The present article focuses on how 13 professionals in key organisations in Sweden – all commissioned to design social and pedagogical efforts to prevent recruitment to terror groups that commit violence in the name of Islam – understand and reason regarding the root causes of recruitment and possible measures to counteract it. The 13 informants’ reasoning is analysed through critical discourse analysis, the aim being to investigate discursive practices that influence the construction of a Swedish discourse on the “prevention of violent extremism”. The analysis shows that in the informants’ reasoning, a conflict can be found between security-driven doctrines that strive to individualise the issue of “violent extremism”, and their understanding that segregation is the primary, though indirect, factor sparking “radicalisation”. This conflict seems to impair the use of a professional language to describe and talk about the practical methodology that the informants are developing.

Preventing radicalisation in Norwegian schools: how teachers respond to counter-radicalisation efforts

Abstract: This article explores how selected educators respond to the integration of counter-radicalisation efforts into Norwegian secondary schools. Our research participants describe having limited encount...

From subcultures to common culture : Bodybuilders, skinheads and the normalization of the marginal

Abstract: Using bodybuilding and skinheads/neo-Nazis as two rather diverse examples of subcultures, this study is a theoretical exploration of our understanding of the concept of subculture and common cultur ...

Narratives of Governing: Rationalization, Responsibility and Resistance in Social Work

Abstract: For many years, Sweden has had a reputation for having a comprehensive and women friendly welfare state. However, as in many other European countries during the past few decades, the organization a ...

Violent Extremism, National Security and Prevention. Institutional Discourses and their Implications for Schooling

Abstract: Currently, threats to societal security from extremist groups are high on the political agenda in many countries. Politicians, policymakers at various levels and communities are searching for methods to counteract recruitment to violent organizations. These efforts are often referred to as Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE-programmes). One of the earliest PVE programmes in Europe was the British PREVENT programme, and it has to some extent served as a model for other countries, including Sweden. In this article, we scrutinize a particular method, inspired by the PREVENT, and developed by the Swedish National Coordinator against violent extremism, called The Conversation Compass (CC) intended for so-called front-line workers. This article reports an analysis of this method in order to provide a broader understanding of how the discourse on preventing violent extremism meanders from political and policy discourses into claims about how to organize educational practices and social work and the reg...