Ruptura y sufrimiento social. La llegada de refugiados a Suecia desde la perspectiva de estudiantes de trabajo social

Abstract

In 2015, the Swedish government made a shift in migration policy: In order to reduce the amount of refugees arriving in Sweden, the government changed asylum and refugee protection laws, and introduced permanent border controls. In this article, we discuss these changes from the perspective of social work students. Our study is based on qualitative material compiled within the framework of an international project, with the aim of developing good practices for the reception of refugees recently arrived in Europe. The students discussed the responses of the Swedish authorities, expressed their anxieties and concerns about the impact of the policy shift on asylum seekers, society in general and their own environment. Their reflections express uncertainty and impotence, as well as fear, as they meet growing racism, both in public space and their immediate surroundings. We identify the processes described by the students as an increasing loss of community identity. Students suffer from this loss, which reduces their social interactions, contributing to the weakening of social ties and the reinforcement of the processes they criticize. Thus, despite being positioned against refrugee resusal policies, when they discuss Social Work education in relation to migration they maintain the distance between nationals and migrants and reinforce the division between “us” and “them”.