Year: 2026
Type: dissertation
Abstract: While earlier policy framed self-employment as a pathway to integration, Sweden’s 2026 citizenship reform replaces this approach with measurable benchmarks: language proficiency (språkkrav), civic knowledge (samhällskunskap), and self-sufficiency (försörjningskrav). This thesis uses semi-structured interviews to examine how five cases of non-EU immigrant entrepreneurs in Malmö describe their experiences of entrepreneurship. It asks whether entrepreneurship acts as a springboard or a trap, drawing on Ager and Strang's (2008) four domains. The analysis draws on Yuval-Davis (2006), mixed embeddedness, and the distinction between necessity- and opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. All participants in this study broadly meet the state’s economic criteria by holding Swedish citizenship, operating legal businesses, and contributing to the national economy. Their accounts describe something more uneven. Several participants describe insecure income, language that plateaus at a working level, limited social connections, and uneven access to institutions. These constraints were less pronounced for participants educated in Sweden, where entrepreneurship was built on existing foundations. This small-N, qualitative critical-case study suggests that indicator-based models overlook the most important dimensions of lived integration.
Authors: Kockum Wanner, Wilma, Goel, Mayank
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7212097679