Sweden

Sweden – a pocket guide 7
First steps on
Swedish soil.
A family from
Kosovo in the
Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia
arrives in
Karlskrona in
hopes of a new,
more peaceful
life in Sweden.
Photo: Torbjörn Andersson / PRESSENS BILD
The new country
Introduction
Until just a decade or so ago, Sweden was a society that
assumed all its residents were the same. They spoke the
same language, shared the same history, religion and traditions,
and had more or less the same ideas about what
constitutes a good society.
It is possible that the similarities seemed greater than
they really were. The regional and cultural differences that
existed in pre-modern Sweden were great, as were the
differences between social classes, and the differences
between locals and outsiders. Even in the strong commu-
The new country
– introduction