Who's afraid of the 'beggar'? A psychoanalytic interpretation of the crises triggered by the begging of 'EU migrants' in Sweden

The presence of poor migrants from the EU countries of Romania and Bulgaria (mainly Roma subjects) who beg in Swedish cities has since 2010 caused a collective crisis in Sweden, affecting Swedish identity and institutions such as the (local and national) welfare state. Employing a psychoanalytic framework, inspired primarily by Lacan and Zizek, we describe the various dimensions of this crisis and explain the socio-psychological processes that produce the experience of crisis. We argue that the reason the 'EU migrant'/'beggar' produces these crises is because this figure is a symptom of the Real. Encounters with 'EU migrants' in the Swedish landscape become ethical encounters with the Real within three main realms: intersubjective (individual), national identity (collective), and political economy (institutional). The individual experiences an ethical crisis where no action in the meeting with a 'beggar' provides a satisfactory solution to the problem. The presence of 'EU migrants' also threatens to undermine the hegemonic Swedish self-image as a moral superpower. And the 'EU migrant's' presence interferes with the nation's desire to believe in its political and economic institutions. Finally, the attempt to satisfactorily locate responsibility for solving the problem of the 'EU migrant' reveals contradictions within capitalism, nationalism, and liberalism as they operate in the Swedish context.