School is commissioned by the Swedish National Agency for Education (“Skolverket”)
to impart democratic values, communicate information based on scientific grounds and
encourage students to form personal views. What does this mean when school teaches
about complex societal issues which, when dealt with in real life, are loaded with
ideology and political opinions?
This study places the politically loaded subject of crime in the context of school as an
agent of political socialization. A content analysis is executed of contemporary
literature intended for the teaching of social sciences in Swedish Upper Secondary
School. The questions asked are whether any ideological bias may be observed in the
depiction of crime and if the literature complies with what school should comply with
based on the guidelines issued by the Swedish National Agency for Education. The
analysis is made along a spectrum ranging from the view that crime is mainly
conditioned by society to the view that crime mainly is a matter of individual traits.
Simplified, these ideas correspond to the views of the political left and the political
right respectively.
It is concluded that the literature generally complies with the guidelines but with some
reservations. The ideological center of gravity varies between books. It also stands clear
that different authors make different choices regarding what to include in the limited
space a chapter of a book allows. This may influence the overall impression of the
matter. A final reflection is to which extent school literature should reflect the
mainstream currents in society in relation to the view sustained within academia, in the
case a discrepancy exists.
2015.