Civic Suspicion and Moral Sorting: Islamophobia, Folkbildning, and the Defunding of Muslim Civil Society in Sweden

Once heralded as a model of egalitarian democracy, Sweden’s welfare state, folkhemmet , “the people’s home,” has undergone a subtle yet consequential transformation. This article diagnoses how the erosion of universal welfare and the rise of neoliberal governance have given way to a racialized “governance of suspicion,” wherein Muslim civic actors are conditionally included only through ideological conformity, cultural transparency, and affective restraint. This transformation reflects not only an institutional shift, but a deeper moral and political reordering of Sweden’s civic contract. Grounded in Islamophobia Studies and interpretive policy analysis, the study argues that this reordering has reconfigured folkbildning , Sweden’s long-standing tradition of popular civic education, from a site of democratic empowerment into a mechanism of normative filtration. What once promised pluralistic engagement now disciplines Muslim visibility through ambiguous tests of “democratic values.” Through close analysis of the defunding of Sveriges Unga Muslimer [Sweden’s Young Muslims] (SUM) and the Ibn Rushd Study Association, the article shows how Muslim organizations are systematically marginalized under the guise of civic neutrality and democratic rights paradigm. These cases exemplify a broader civic realignment, from folkhemmet , the inclusive welfare ideal, to svenskhemmet , a narrowed, ethnonationalist civic order, where the contract of solidarity is narrowed and belonging becomes racialized. The study calls for a critical reassessment of civic inclusion, urging a shift from conditional recognition to genuine pluralist equality.