Urban or else? A combined method analysis of the discourse of the Swedish state during the years 2018-2020 on the choice situation of rural youths to move or remain

Abstract: The rural-urban divide is a long-established construct in sociology. More recently, the choice of rural youths to remain or move to an urban setting has attracted substantial research interest. One factor surrounding the choice situation of the youths consists of officially sanctioned norms in the form of the discourse of the state, in particular on the three key terms rural, urban and youth. The objective of this thesis is to analyze the present discourse of the Swedish state, as expressed in Swedish Government Official Reports published during the years 2018-2020 and containing the three key terms. In total, 45 such reports exist, containing more than 24,000 pages and approx. 6.2 million words, all which are part of the data analyzed herein. The analysis is carried out by a combined method of computer-assisted content analysis and discourse analysis. The results show a distinct discourse around the respective key term. The choice situation of the rural youths emerges as dominated by the state discourse on the value of taking part in the common social project of agglomeration.