Love ain't got no color? : Attitude toward interracial marriage in Sweden

Sammanfattning: This dissertation focuses on the geographical area of Malmö, the third largest city in Sweden, and examines the majority society’s opinions and attitudes toward interracial dating, marriage and childbearing. The dissertation is driven by two theoretical frames: the theory of race as ideas constructed through the perception of visible differences and the theory of prejudice and stereotypes. Mixed methods have been chosen as a means of exploring people’s attitudes toward interracial relationships. Quantitative data was collected by means of an attitude survey and the qualitative data was collected by means of follow-up interviews with some of the respondents who participated in the survey. The study shows that although their attitudes vary depending on the different groups in question, the majority of the respondents and interviewees could imagine getting involved in interrelationships and would not react negatively if a family member got involved in such a relationship. The quantitative results address the importance of intimate contacts, in other words having friends of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in having more positive attitudes toward interracial dating, marriage and childbearing. Age, gender, education and the place of upbringing also affects people’s attitudes. The qualitative inquiry probes the reasoning behind the survey results and points to the complicated relations between individual attitudes and the sense of group position. The interviewees’ words depict color-blind ways of talking about attitudes toward interracial marriage and different groups. Ideas of race emerge in this color-blind reasoning and the role of visible difference is highlighted both through the quantitative and qualitative inquiries.