Public Religions in Swedish Media: A Study of Religious Actors on Three Newspaper Debate

262 Pages·2013·7.67 MB·English

by  Marta Axner

Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis
Studies in religion and society
11

Public Religions in
Swedish Media
A Study of Religious Actors on Three Newspaper
Debate Pages 2001–2011

Marta Axner
Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Ihresalen, campus
Engelska parken, Thunbergsvägen 3H, Uppsala, Friday, October 25, 2013 at 13:15 for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Theology). The examination will be conducted in
English.

Abstract
Axner, M. 2013. Public Religions in Swedish Media: A Study of Religious Actors on Three
Newspaper Debate Pages 2001-2011. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studies in Religion and
Society 11. 261 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-8748-5.

This study addresses issues concerning religion in the public sphere, brought about by the
debates over the perceived resurgence of religion and the post-secular. The aim is to analyze
the participation of religious actors in the public, using three newspaper debate pages as the
empirical material. Building on theories by Casanova, especially his concept of public reli-
gions, as well as mediatization theory and Habermas' writings on religion in the public sphere,
639 opinion pieces signed by religious actors were analyzed. The mixed-methods content
analysis was conducted in two steps: first a quantitative overview of the religious actors pub-
lished, to what extent and on what issues. The second step consisted of three qualitative case
studies based on the results of the first step: an argument analysis of the debate over same-sex
marriage; an exploration of the specific position of the Church of Sweden and the idea of the
national church as a public utility; and finally a discourse analysis of articles by Jewish and
Muslim authors. These were analyzed on the basis of criteria for public religions developed
from Casanova’s theory and from the media logic of debate articles. While the results show
no clear increase in the number of religious actors during the period under scrutiny, one notic-
es a clear presence of Muslim and Jewish actors, eventhough Christians of varying denomina-
tions dominate the material. There are also clear differences between the different religions:
minority religion contributions are limited in terms of issues and scope, while Christian
groups write about more varied issues. Muslims often relate to negative media discourse
towards Islam, while Jewish signatories write on a limited number of themes closely related to
the group itself. In many articles, one found a meta-debate over the place of religion in the
public sphere even when specific issues were debated. The contribution of this dissertation is
to critically discuss the concepts and assumptions underlying the debate over the place of
religion in the public sphere. It stresses the importance of media perspectives as well as em-
pirical studies for analyzing issues of authority, visibility, private/public and religion in late
modern, mediated contexts.

Keywords: religion, media, public sphere, public religion, content analysis, mixed-methods,
media logic, public debate, secularization, post-secular, mediatization

Marta Axner, Uppsala University, Department of Theology, Box 511, SE-751 20 Uppsala,
Sweden. Faculty of Theology, Uppsala Religion and Society Research Centre, Box 511,
SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden.

© Marta Axner 2013

ISSN 1654-630X
ISBN 978-91-554-8748-5

urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-206649 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-206649)

Printed by Elanders Sverige AB, 2013
In memory of my grandmother Annie Petrén

and to all the women in my family who along with
her inspired me to pursue my thirst for knowledge.

Contents
Acknowledgements ................................................................................... xii
1. Introduction ...................................................................................... 15
Background .......................................................................................... 15
Outline of the dissertation ................................................................. 17
Previous research .................................................................................. 17
Aim and research question .................................................................... 20
Aim .................................................................................................. 20
Research questions ........................................................................... 20
Definitions and concepts ....................................................................... 21
Religion ........................................................................................... 21
The Swedish context ............................................................................. 23
Religion in Sweden .......................................................................... 23
Media in Sweden .............................................................................. 26
2. Theory.............................................................................................. 30
Secularization: A contested paradigm .................................................... 30
Modernity and the assumptions of religious decline .......................... 30
Casanova’s critique: De-privatization and public religion ................. 33
A public sphere ..................................................................................... 36
The public/private distinction ........................................................... 36
Habermas and the ideal of the public sphere ..................................... 42
Media and social change ....................................................................... 44
Mediatization: Media as agents of social change ............................... 44
Media logic ...................................................................................... 45
Mediatization of politics ................................................................... 48
Mediatization of religion .................................................................. 49
Theoretical model for analysis .............................................................. 52
Public religion, de-privatization and visibility of religion .................. 52
Criteria for mediated public religion ................................................. 54
3. Methodology .................................................................................... 58
Starting point: A social constructivist worldview ................................... 58
The problematic concept of religion .................................................. 60
Studying religion – separating definition and operationalization ........ 61
Material ................................................................................................ 63
The newspapers ................................................................................ 64
The genre and media logic of debate articles ..................................... 64
Research design .................................................................................... 68
Mixed methods content analysis with an abductive approach ............ 68
Research design in detail .................................................................. 70
Validity and transferability ............................................................... 74
4. Participation of religious actors......................................................... 76
Newspapers .......................................................................................... 76
Organizations and people ...................................................................... 80
The people and their positions .......................................................... 80
Gender ............................................................................................. 81
Religious affiliation .......................................................................... 82
Types of organizations...................................................................... 83
Themes and issues ................................................................................ 84
Most common areas or groups of themes .......................................... 84
Other variables ................................................................................. 87
Themes by religious affiliation .............................................................. 89
Summary and comments ....................................................................... 92
Issues for in-depth analysis ................................................................... 94
5. Debating the Swedish marriage law .................................................. 95
New marriage legislation ...................................................................... 95
Marriage on the debate pages ................................................................ 98
Time, actors, themes ......................................................................... 99
Types of arguments and the actors using them ..................................... 101
Argument analysis: concepts used .................................................. 101
Separating three different debates ................................................... 103
Debate over the concept of marriage ............................................... 104
Debate over the entitlement to solemnize marriages ........................ 108
Other articles relating to same-sex marriage .................................... 112
Discussion .......................................................................................... 114
Authority and the religious argument .............................................. 114
Majority and minority positions ...................................................... 116
Pledging allegiance to pluralist society ........................................... 118
Expressions of public religion? ....................................................... 119
Conclusions ........................................................................................ 120
6. A church of the people: the Church of Sweden as a public utility .... 122
Public debate and vicarious religion .................................................... 123
Vicarious religion, the public and mediatization.............................. 124
Previous studies of debating on behalf of society ............................ 126
Debating a public utility, not a vicarious debate .............................. 127
Church of Sweden as a public utility: examples from the debate .......... 128
A public debate on internal matters ................................................. 128
Access to the Church ...................................................................... 130
Elections and the church political system ........................................ 131
Gender equality and “opinion minorities” ....................................... 133
The contrast: Examples of public religion-articles ............................... 134
Discussion: A public utility or a mediatized debate? ............................ 138
Conclusions ........................................................................................ 141
7. Muslim and Jewish participation: public minority religions? ........... 143
Media representations of religious minorities ...................................... 144
Previous research on representation ................................................ 144
Media discourse ............................................................................. 146
Material .......................................................................................... 148
Articles by Muslim actors ................................................................... 149
Presentation of the articles .............................................................. 149
Case: Reactions to violence on behalf of Muslims .......................... 150
A double trap of representation? ..................................................... 157
Articles by Jewish actors ..................................................................... 158
Analysis of articles ......................................................................... 158
Negotiating Jewish identity............................................................. 165
Discussion .......................................................................................... 166
Different minority positions: two different strategies ...................... 166
Caught in the media logic ............................................................... 168
Can a minority be a public religion? ............................................... 169
Conclusions ........................................................................................ 170
8. Public religions in contemporary Sweden ....................................... 172
Returning to the research question....................................................... 172
Participation of religious actors ........................................................... 172
Who is participating and to what extent? ......................................... 173
On what issues and with what arguments? ...................................... 175
Criteria for public religions – discussion of results .............................. 178
Participating on collective issues – not just visible .......................... 179
Focusing the “legitimate” questions ................................................ 180
Accepting modern, pluralist society ................................................ 182
Religious or commonly-accepted arguments ................................... 183
Who can act as a public religion? Majority/minority perspectives ... 184
Visibility is not authority ................................................................ 186
Importance of the logic of the debate article ........................................ 188
Evaluation of the research design ........................................................ 190
Towards a model for studying public religions .................................... 193
Final remarks ...................................................................................... 197
References .............................................................................................. 198
Debate articles cited ............................................................................ 209
Appendices ............................................................................................. 231
Appendix I: Detailed methodological description ................................ 231
Appendix II: List of organizations in the material ................................ 234
Appendix III: List of all theme nodes .................................................. 237
Appendix IV: Most coded nodes per religious affiliation ..................... 240
Appendix V: Full Articles Analyzed in Chapter 7................................ 250
Appendix VI: Interview Guide ............................................................ 261