Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis Studies in Religion and Society 11
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Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis Studies in religion and society 11 Public Religions in Swedish Media A Study of Religious Actors on Three Newspaper Debate Pages 2001–2011 Marta Axner Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Ihresalen, campus Engelska parken, Thunbergsvägen 3H, Uppsala, Friday, October 25, 2013 at 13:15 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Theology). The examination will be conducted in English. Abstract Axner, M. 2013. Public Religions in Swedish Media: A Study of Religious Actors on Three Newspaper Debate Pages 2001-2011. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studies in Religion and Society 11. 261 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-8748-5. This study addresses issues concerning religion in the public sphere, brought about by the debates over the perceived resurgence of religion and the post-secular. The aim is to analyze the participation of religious actors in the public, using three newspaper debate pages as the empirical material. Building on theories by Casanova, especially his concept of public reli- gions, as well as mediatization theory and Habermas' writings on religion in the public sphere, 639 opinion pieces signed by religious actors were analyzed. The mixed-methods content analysis was conducted in two steps: first a quantitative overview of the religious actors pub- lished, to what extent and on what issues. The second step consisted of three qualitative case studies based on the results of the first step: an argument analysis of the debate over same-sex marriage; an exploration of the specific position of the Church of Sweden and the idea of the national church as a public utility; and finally a discourse analysis of articles by Jewish and Muslim authors. These were analyzed on the basis of criteria for public religions developed from Casanova’s theory and from the media logic of debate articles. While the results show no clear increase in the number of religious actors during the period under scrutiny, one notic- es a clear presence of Muslim and Jewish actors, eventhough Christians of varying denomina- tions dominate the material. There are also clear differences between the different religions: minority religion contributions are limited in terms of issues and scope, while Christian groups write about more varied issues. Muslims often relate to negative media discourse towards Islam, while Jewish signatories write on a limited number of themes closely related to the group itself. In many articles, one found a meta-debate over the place of religion in the public sphere even when specific issues were debated. The contribution of this dissertation is to critically discuss the concepts and assumptions underlying the debate over the place of religion in the public sphere. It stresses the importance of media perspectives as well as em- pirical studies for analyzing issues of authority, visibility, private/public and religion in late modern, mediated contexts. Keywords: religion, media, public sphere, public religion, content analysis, mixed-methods, media logic, public debate, secularization, post-secular, mediatization Marta Axner, Uppsala University, Department of Theology, Box 511, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden. Faculty of Theology, Uppsala Religion and Society Research Centre, Box 511, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden. © Marta Axner 2013 ISSN 1654-630X ISBN 978-91-554-8748-5 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-206649 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-206649) Printed by Elanders Sverige AB, 2013 In memory of my grandmother Annie Petrén and to all the women in my family who along with her inspired me to pursue my thirst for knowledge. Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................... xii 1. Introduction ...................................................................................... 15 Background .......................................................................................... 15 Outline of the dissertation ................................................................. 17 Previous research .................................................................................. 17 Aim and research question .................................................................... 20 Aim .................................................................................................. 20 Research questions ........................................................................... 20 Definitions and concepts ....................................................................... 21 Religion ........................................................................................... 21 The Swedish context ............................................................................. 23 Religion in Sweden .......................................................................... 23 Media in Sweden .............................................................................. 26 2. Theory.............................................................................................. 30 Secularization: A contested paradigm .................................................... 30 Modernity and the assumptions of religious decline .......................... 30 Casanova’s critique: De-privatization and public religion ................. 33 A public sphere ..................................................................................... 36 The public/private distinction ........................................................... 36 Habermas and the ideal of the public sphere ..................................... 42 Media and social change ....................................................................... 44 Mediatization: Media as agents of social change ............................... 44 Media logic ...................................................................................... 45 Mediatization of politics ................................................................... 48 Mediatization of religion .................................................................. 49 Theoretical model for analysis .............................................................. 52 Public religion, de-privatization and visibility of religion .................. 52 Criteria for mediated public religion ................................................. 54 3. Methodology .................................................................................... 58 Starting point: A social constructivist worldview ................................... 58 The problematic concept of religion .................................................. 60 Studying religion – separating definition and operationalization ........ 61 Material ................................................................................................ 63 The newspapers ................................................................................ 64 The genre and media logic of debate articles ..................................... 64 Research design .................................................................................... 68 Mixed methods content analysis with an abductive approach ............ 68 Research design in detail .................................................................. 70 Validity and transferability ............................................................... 74 4. Participation of religious actors......................................................... 76 Newspapers .......................................................................................... 76 Organizations and people ...................................................................... 80 The people and their positions .......................................................... 80 Gender ............................................................................................. 81 Religious affiliation .......................................................................... 82 Types of organizations...................................................................... 83 Themes and issues ................................................................................ 84 Most common areas or groups of themes .......................................... 84 Other variables ................................................................................. 87 Themes by religious affiliation .............................................................. 89 Summary and comments ....................................................................... 92 Issues for in-depth analysis ................................................................... 94 5. Debating the Swedish marriage law .................................................. 95 New marriage legislation ...................................................................... 95 Marriage on the debate pages ................................................................ 98 Time, actors, themes ......................................................................... 99 Types of arguments and the actors using them ..................................... 101 Argument analysis: concepts used .................................................. 101 Separating three different debates ................................................... 103 Debate over the concept of marriage ............................................... 104 Debate over the entitlement to solemnize marriages ........................ 108 Other articles relating to same-sex marriage .................................... 112 Discussion .........................................................................................