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- Backlund Rambaree, Brita, 1977-
(författare)
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Contextualising Constructions of Corporate Social Responsibility : Social Embeddedness in Discourse and Institutional Contexts
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- ‘Corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) and ‘socially responsible investment’ (SRI) have become predominant frameworks connecting business to society that have spread across the globe. They comprise a shared set of ideas and practices, such as those promoted in global reporting standards and by international organisations such as the UN Global Compact. Nonetheless, both are constructed and reproduced by companies in relation to context-specific social institutions, including norms and conventions shaping company engagement in social issues. Using a neo-institutionalist theoretical framework, the thesis examines constructions of social responsibility in discourse and within institutional contexts, across regions that are not often compared in the research terrain: two West European welfare states (Sweden and the UK) and two emerging African economies (South Africa and Mauritius). The purpose of the thesis is to add to the literature on CSR and SRI with a sociologically informed perspective that is comparative and connects institutional theory with social constructionism and a Foucauldian perspective on power. The thesis analyses how perceptions of CSR and SRI are constructed in relation to the social institutions that encase companies’ engagement with social issues, such as national level welfare configurations and the institution of financial investments. The main argument in this thesis is that CSR and SRI need to be seen as contextually constructed, in discourse and practice, in ways that draw the boundaries and set the conditions for company engagement with social issues.The thesis comprises three articles. Article 1 is a content analysis of company self-reporting on CSR and the article examines how the content given to CSR relates to broader welfare configurations and as such differs in four national settings across the divide between emerging African economies and Western welfare states. Article 2 is a discourse analysis that examines interpretative repertoires occurring in company self-reporting across the same set of four countries. The interpretative repertoires are analysed as discursive practices where power intersects with the production of knowledge on CSR. Article 3 focuses on SRI and examines responsible investing as a form of institutional work that institutional investors engage in. Based on an interview study with institutional investors in Sweden, the article analyses institutional work as a process that has the effect of both institutional creation and maintenance and it connects these institutional processes to the construction of meaning on SRI. In its entirety the thesis contributes a sociological perspective on how prevailing understandings of corporate social responsibility come into being and are reproduced.
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| 3. |
- Aytar, Osman, 1960-
(författare)
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Mångfaldens organisering : Om integration, organisationer och interetniska relationer i Sverige
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this dissertation is to examine inter-ethnic relations between organizationally active people with different ethnic backgrounds. I focus on relations that are based on a mutual interdependence between parties, mutual respect, common procedural rules, real opportunities that expressly approve or reject a proposal in a decision or deliberation situation free from compulsion, where people, who have different ethnic backgrounds, strive after insight and understanding in their relations.In this dissertation I present three empirical cases about cooperation, consultation and participation as forms of inter-ethnic relations from the organizational fields in the society. These cases are examples of what I characterize as “organizing inter-ethnicity”, or organizing people with different ethnic backgrounds around common concerns. Organizing inter-ethnicity is in turn a part of organizing and integrating diversity in society. Drawing on the results of three case studies, I distinguish between opportunities and barriers.My case studies clearly illustrate that the tensions that influence the patterns of and variation in opportunities and barriers have sources that reach well beyond ethnicity. Tensions between old and new organizations, between working immigrant organizations and refugee organizations, between organizations from same group or between organizations that have conflicts from their members’ countries of origin provide some examples of the difficulties that generate barriers to broad interest constellations between organizations.
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| 4. |
- Fuehrer, Paul
(författare)
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Om tidens värde
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 5. |
- Abiala, Kristina, 1948-
(författare)
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Säljande samspel : en sociologisk studie av privat servicearbete
- 2000
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Interaction between people can be seen as a distinctive feature of 'post-industrial society'. In this study I investigate some of the conditions for this encounter in private service work in Sweden. I start by discussing some important concepts: service, service encounter and emotional labour. Three parties in an interactional triangle can be perceived: the service enterprise, the service worker and the customer.The service encounter is embedded in organisational frames. Recruiting for social competence and training for selling interaction are two facets of these frames. In interactive service work, control is complicated by the fact that a third party, the customer, is involved and that the borders between worker, work process and result are somewhat indistinct. Indirect forms of control can be used to affect workers' attitudes and thinking, as well as behaviour.Service work can be described as a form of acting. Different service workers will identify differently with their work role. In my study I observe both positive and negative experiences of work. A majority report that they sometimes are so tired of people that they want to be alone after work.I distinguish two dimensions of interactive service work: type of interaction and sales situation. Interaction can be more or less important, and the sales situation can be more or less concealed. Based on these dimensions I suggest a typology to illustrate some differences between different service occupations. Four types are suggested: (1) Work first, and customer later; (2) Personalised services; (3) Routine selling; and (4) Persuasive selling. In the second group we find the experts of interaction, but also the strongest signs of social strain.
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| 6. |
- Barclay, Kieron, 1986-
(författare)
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The Long-term Impact of Birth Order on Health and Educational Attainment
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This doctoral thesis examines the long-term impact of birth order on health, and educational attainment. Swedish register data is used to link individuals to their siblings, thereby allowing members of the sibling group to be compared to one another. This thesis consists of an introductory chapter summarizing empirical research on the relationship between birth order and educational attainment, intelligence, health, and personality, as well the theoretical frameworks that have been developed to explain those relationships. This introductory chapter is followed by four original empirical studies. The first two studies show that relative to first born siblings, later borns have lower physical fitness in late adolescence, and higher mortality in adulthood. The third study uses the Swedish registers to identify sibling groups that entirely consist of adopted individuals, and shows that the commonly observed negative relationship between birth order and educational attainment persists in these fully adopted sibling groups. These results suggest that birth order effects are likely explained by post-natal, social mechanisms within the family. Finally, the fourth study shows that even though later born siblings do worse than first borns in a fully adjusted statistical model, educational expansion in the 20th century has meant that later born siblings actually tend to have greater educational attainment and are more likely to attend university in comparison to older siblings within the same family.
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| 7. |
- Bergman Blix, Stina, 1971-
(författare)
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Rehearsing Emotions : The Process of Creating a Role for the Stage
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis takes as its starting point the dramaturgical metaphor of the world as a stage, which is used in sociological role theories. These theories often presume what stage acting is about in order to use it as a simile for every day acting. My intention is to investigate how stage actors actually work with their roles, in particular how they work with emotions, and how it affects their private emotions.The thesis draws on participant observation and interviews with actors during the rehearsal phase of two productions at a large theatre in Sweden. The results show that the inhabiting of a role for the stage is more difficult and painstaking than has been assumed in role theories so far. Shame and insecurity are common, particularly in the start up phase of the rehearsals. Interestingly, these emotions do not disappear with growing experience, but instead become recognized and accepted as part of the work process.The primary focus is the interplay between the actors' experience and expression of emotions, often described in terms of surface and deep acting, concepts which are elaborated and put into a process perspective. Analysis of the rehearsal process revealed that actors gradually decouple the privately derived emotional experiences that they use to find their way into their characters from the emotions that they express on the stage. Thus private experiences are converted to professional emotional experiences and expressions, triggered by situational cues. When the experience has been expressed the physical manifestation can be repeated with a weaker base in a simultaneous experience, since the body remembers the expression. It is important though, that the emotional expression is not completely decoupled from a concomitant experience; then the expression looses its vitality. The ability to professionalize emotions makes the transitions in and out of emotions less strenuous but can infiltrate and cause problems in the actors' intimate relations.
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| 8. |
- Bogren, Alexandra, 1976-
(författare)
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Female Licentiousness versus Male Escape? : Essays on Intoxicating Substance Use, Sexuality and Gender
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this thesis is to study cultural aspects of alcohol and drug use in Sweden, and also to some extent in other countries. In the context of changing patterns of drinking and drug use in Sweden and in the rest of the world, such studies are increasingly important.The thesis comprises four self-contained but interrelated studies. Each study, in different ways, addresses the question of cultural variation (within and between cultures) and the cultural position of intoxicating substances. Acknowledging that young people’s use of intoxicating substances as well as women’s and men’s use of such substances are important social policy issues, each of the four studies also relates to the position of either young people or the position of gender with regard to intoxicating substance use.Study 1 investigates what it means to drink, take drugs and become intoxicated as understood from the official-organizational perspective of the FMN’s (Parents Against Drugs’) 2003 campaign directed towards teenagers´ parents. As a contrast to the hegemonic perspective presented by the organization in Study 1, Study 2 explicitly tries to find and describe different lines of reasoning with regard to alcohol use and intoxication among young people.Study 3 investigates the link – so commonly referred to in the Western world – between drinking, drug use and intoxication, on the one hand, and sexuality and gender, on the other. Study 3 further tries to grasp why women who drink are considered bad both because they violate the norms of feminine appearance and because they are perceived as sexually promiscuous and “available”. Study 4 focuses on cultural variation in the intoxication – sexuality link. It uses cross-country comparisons and multiple regression analysis of data from 11 countries within and outside the West to examine the link between positive expectancies about the effects of drinking on sexual feelings, on the one hand, and drinking, on the other.
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| 9. |
- Bohman, Love, 1978-
(författare)
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Director Interlocking and Firm Ownership : Longitudinal Studies of 1- and 3-Mode Network Dynamics
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is based on three empirical studies of the director interlock network among Swedish firms listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, focusing on its consequences for firm behavior and its association with ownership structures. Director interlocks are created when directors serve on, and hence interlock, several boards. Director interlocks aggregate to a social network that not only connects most firms into a single component, but are, more essentially, also shown to affect firm behavior. The introductory chapter contains a review of the director interlock research as well as some suggestions for future research directions.Study I is an examination of the importance of director interlock relations for stock repurchases. Using parametric survival analysis, it is demonstrated that the decision to repurchase stocks is dependent on both the firms’ economic settings and their director interlocks.Study II examines the network impact on recruitment of new board members in the network of firms, directors, and owners. Using simulations, it is shown that directors with personal contact with a director and/or owner of the recruiting firm have a substantially increased probability of being recruited to the focal board.Study III examines the association between ownership and director interlocks. Re-analyses of the same network examined in Study II show that multiple director assignments are highly dependent on ownership interlocks.The three studies exemplify the real-world consequences of board interlocks and field a new understanding of the mechanisms behind their formation. Furthermore, the association between the director and ownership interlocks suggests that the ownership network (co-)produces some of the phenomena that have been attributed to the director network. These results underscore the need for further examination of director interlocks to bring the owners back into the analysis.
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