Is Religion a Dividing Force? A mixed methods approach to the experiences of religious Muslims in the secular society of Sweden

Abstract: The idea that increasing immigration will lead to a growing Muslim presence in Western Europe and that this in turn stands in contrast to the secularity of these states frames the context of this study. Therefore, this thesis explores the experiences of religious Muslims in the secular Swedish society. Potential problems between the religious Muslim minority and secular Swedish majority have been examined through a mixed method approach. This approach combined semi-structured interviews with Muslims and a logistic regression with data from Swedes. The results show that the religiosity of Muslims does not hinder their subjective integration into the Swedish society. This is especially the case for the second-generation immigrants who want to adapt to the customs of the society, which was a strong factor for Swedes to rate Muslims positively. Therefore, religion itself does not seem to be the divider between the Muslim participants and Swedes in this study. What seems to be more problematic is the general perception of Muslims as being distinct according to Swedes. This relates to the finding that Muslim women wearing the hijab were the most vulnerable to discrimination based on religion. Thus, even though the second-generation immigrants are not asking for special treatment due to their religion, take part in Swedish celebrations, speak Swedish and are part of the labour market, they still face discriminatory behaviour. The wearing of the hijab identifies them as Muslims and thus as an culturally and religiously different group. Even though they personally feel accepted, it cannot be said that integration is achieved since they remain discriminated against by the majority society due to the identification as a different group.