Vad är problemet med flerbarnstillägget? : En diskursanalys av Socialdemokraternas, Sverigedemokraternas och Moderaternas problemrepresentationer kring flerbarnstillägget efter 2020.

Sammanfattning

This study examines how the Swedish Social Democrats, the Sweden Democrats and the Moderate party construct the problem of the multiple-child allowance in political discourse after 2020. The study is based on Carol Bacchi’s poststructural framework “What’s the Problem Represented to Be?” (WPR), which focuses on how political problems are constructed. The aim is to analyse how the political parties represent the problem of the multiple-child allowance, which assumptions underlie these representations, and what perspectives are left unproblematic. The material consists of political documents produced by the three political parties, including budget proposals, policy documents, party motions and political agreements. Through a discourse analytical approach, the study identifies how different ideological perspectives shape distinct problem representations. The Social democrats primarily frame the issue in terms of economic inequality and child poverty, emphasizing redistribution and universal welfare. The Moderates focuses on efficiency, incentives and the limitations of welfare transfers. The Sweden Democrats connect the allowance to migration, integration and conditional access to welfare. The study concludes that the multiple-child allowance is not only debated as an economic policy instrument, but also as an ideological issue where competing understandings of welfare, responsibility and citizenship are constructed and legitimized through political discourse.