Rasbaserade

Rasbaserade is a Swedish adjective meaning based on race. It describes actions, policies, or attitudes that are motivated by racial characteristics or origins, or that treat people differently on that basis. The word stems from ras (race) and baserad (based) and is common in discussions of racism, discrimination, and hate crime in media, academia, and public debate.

Usage-wise, rasbaserade is often applied to discrimination in areas such as employment, housing, education, or the criminal justice system, as well as to threats, harassment, or violence with a racial motive. In legal and policy contexts, rasbaserade motives are used to identify liability, justify sanctions, or shape remedies, and are frequently cited in analyses of bias and injustice.

In legal and policy contexts, many jurisdictions have hate crime or anti-discrimination provisions that address racially based offenses; the term helps describe motive and guide responses, including enforcement and reporting. In public discourse, rasbaserade can be a critical label that emphasizes the role of race in harms, but it can also be contested or debated depending on framing and evidence.

Criticism and nuance: some scholars caution against overgeneralization or essentialist uses of race, highlighting intersectionality with ethnicity, nationality, religion, and other identities. Others stress precise language to avoid obscuring multiple factors behind discrimination and violence.

See also: rasism, diskriminering, hatbrott, etnicitet.