Sweden’s new Minister for Education and Integration, Simona Mohamsson, says it’s time to stop relying on gut feelings and start using facts when it comes to integration.
The new Liberals leader called for plans to map immigrants’ values, to find out where many sit on cultural issues that may not align with those held by native Swedes.
“It is not a human right to live in Sweden,” she said in a recent interview with Dagens Nyheter.
The government has asked the World Values Survey (WVS), a global research group, to study how immigrants’ views compare with those of people born in Sweden. Mohamsson says it’s about time Sweden looked at hard data instead of assumptions.
“For too long, integration has been based on gut feeling and guesswork,” she said. “With real facts, we can finally talk clearly about Swedish values and take proper action on integration.”
Mohamsson pointed out that Sweden is very different from many countries when it comes to things like religion, gender equality, and family roles. “We’re an extreme country in a good way,” she said. “People coming here can find it hard to understand how our society works.”
Mohamsson said the results could lead to changes in schools, civic classes, or language courses for migrants.
Past surveys have shown that many migrants arrive in Sweden with very different views on topics like divorce, premarital sex, abortion, and homosexuality. Over time, those views tend to shift — after about 10 years, migrants’ values start to resemble those of Swedes. But Mohamsson says that’s too slow.