| Summary: | CITIES SHOULD BE OPEN AND INCLUSIVE, say municipality officials in Sweden. So why are they not? One answer is norms. Invisible norms are constantly present in our daily lives and affect us by limiting possibilities and narrowing our perspectives and views of each other in ways that can lead to exclusion and discrimination. The norm-critical approach has become a commonly used method to make norms visible and possible to work with. Piteå, Malmö and Gothenburg are examples of municipalities claiming to work norm-critically. Through semi-structured interviews with officials, the aim of this thesis is to explore the municipalities’ attitudes towards norms, the norm-critical method, and how it is implemented in practice. The material is analyzed through a theoretical framework concerning otherness, categorization, social diversity and intersectionality - a perspective that is central in the theory, but has variating impact in the municipalities. The study also shows that the municipalities have different views on what norms are and how they operate, placing norms in relation to what is normal and neutral. They all say that norms simultaneously generates power for the privileged norm followers and exclusion for non-followers in the city. The study sheds light on habit and hierarchies as an essential part of norms and how norms operate: by forced inclusion or exclusion. All interviewed officials agree that the norm-critical approach is a method for change, and addresses a need for continuity in practice. Prioritization of questions are nonetheless a problematized affect that show that even the norm-critical approach is directed by norms. Although some argue that limitation and prioritization are crucial in order to keep the norm-critical method manageable. The municipalities emphasize the role of the citizens, and agree on a new approach towards diversity-thinking instead of norm based understanding.
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