Over the last few decades, Norway has experienced a major shift in its demographic
landscape, transforming from a relatively culturally homogeneous nation-state to a
diverse immigrant-receiving society. The present chapter offers an overview of the
demographic and political changes that preceded this major shift. It describes the
current and historical developments related to the diversity dimensions of ethnicity,
gender, sexual orientation, religion, and social class, including the Norwegian government’s
policy approach to this diversity. Further, the chapter covers some of the challenges
to diversity, such as the presence of prejudice and discrimination, that remain and
concludes by highlighting avenues for future research. Although the chapter is written
with a social psychological outlook, research from other disciplines, including sociology
and history, inform key parts of the chapter.
