The Expanding Carceral Geography of Sweden and Counter-politics of Care

Abstract

Abstract This essay explores the entanglement of racial capitalism, carceral geographies, and counter-politics of care within the sociopolitical landscape of Sweden. It analyzes the government's response to gang violence in 2023, which mobilized the figure of a “racial threat” in advocating for the creation of “security zones” and militarized interventions. This approach, rooted in a so-called caring racism, argues for the protection of the welfare state by excluding and expelling racialized others. Understanding capitalism as requiring inequality, sustained by racism, Sweden's expansion of carceral geographies must arguably be read through a racial capitalism lens—where policing and border regimes are necessary to produce and control surplus populations. Through ethnographic engagements and social media interactions, the essay examines how marginalized communities navigate economies of dispossession, focusing on the resistance mounted by urban social justice movements against austerity measures and repressive policies—for a counter-politics of care rooted in abolitionism. Situating these developments within a broader political economy framework, the essay underscores the role of carceral geographies in perpetuating capitalist exploitation and authoritarian rule, while calling for a reevaluation of care as a site of resis- tance against state-sanctioned violence, offering insights into avenues for radical change amid growing precarity and injustice.