| 31. |
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| 32. |
- Nilsson, Per A., 1957-
(författare)
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Studying abroad : exploring mobility, expectations and experiences among mobile students
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis deals with the experiences and outcomes of temporarily studying abroad, via follow-up studies, aiming to explore international student mobility with a focus on the individual’s perspective. The specific research questions, dealing with the individual students’ expectations and experiences, are addressed in three papers. The fourth paper is a framing of these studies, using results from a global study.The first research question connects to the attractiveness of international study experiences: Q1. What are the individual’s expectations for studying abroad, among inbound and outbound students, and what are the students’ reported experiences compared with these expectations? The second research question connects to the mobility culture of youth: Q2. Does students’ reported life satisfaction change in any way after studying abroad?A main finding for outbound students was an appreciation of courses offered at the destination higher education institution that were not available at Umeå University. The students also had a desire to change their environment and have new experiences. Conversely, the desire to work abroad in the future was lower after returning home. A major finding for inbound students was that they assigned higher value to personal development than academic development. The experience made the students positive in regard to working abroad. Inbound students reported significantly higher satisfaction at follow-up six months later for the domains somatic health and activities of daily living. For both in- and outbound students, experiencing a new culture was more important than pure academic experiences.When the experience was compared with the expectation, in most cases the outcomes were positively related for both in- and outbound students. The motives for international study were primarily related to personal achievements, indicating a fulfilment of one’s potential and curiosity about a sojourn abroad.Finally, the results from the Umeå studies were compared with a global survey. The Umeå studies shows that the respondents viewed studying abroad as an important experience and as a merit later in life. The global survey results indicate that the transition from education to the world of work is of increasing importance to students, and that it matters more for non-European students. The global study showed that employability, teaching ability, expert lectures, and course organization are important to international students.
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| 33. |
- Olofsson, Jenny, 1978-
(författare)
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Go West : East European migrants in Sweden
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Many people have migrated between East and West Europe in recent decades. The daily life of these migrants is crucial not only for the migrants themselves but also for the development of future migration. The aim of this thesis is to explore the interaction between migration motives, integration, social networks and migration, and how this affects international migration processes in general. This is done using migration between Sweden on the one hand and Russia, Poland and the Baltic States on the other as a case study.The thesis consists of three empirical studies which derive from different sources of data: the first (Paper I) draws on individual Swedish register data while the second and third are based upon a questionnaire survey. Paper I explores aspects of transnational social spaces in the context of migration from the non-Baltic former Soviet republics to Sweden before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. The results of this paper show rather limited migration and a lack of a more developed transnational social space. This is partly due to weak integration on the labour market, a high degree of intermarriage, no existing migrant community and limited return migration. The following two papers (II, III) focus on migrants from Russia, Poland and the Baltic States to Sweden after 1990. Paper II analyses migration motives and the outcome of the migration decision, and reveals significant gender differences in the motives for migrating and in how men and women adapt in their new country of living. While men mainly came for economic reasons, the majority of women came for intermarriage in Sweden; however, the migration motives have changed over time towards more economic ones. The final paper (III) shows significant gender differences in the migrants’ perceived sense of belonging in Sweden. Women report a stronger sense of belonging than their male counterparts, and while men’s sense of belonging is mainly affected by duration of stay in Sweden, language proficiency and citizenship, women’s sense of belonging is shown to be mostly affected by local social networks. In sum, the results in this thesis show that migration systems and transnational social spaces between Sweden and the respective countries have not yet emerged. This is partly due to the specific migrant composition and integration that characterize this migration process. The immigrants mainly function as weak bridgeheads, and do not facilitate the development of any further migration. However, with a changing migration flow, including migrants with different motives and migration agendas, future migrants can be stronger bridgeheads and facilitate further development of migration systems and transnational social spaces.
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| 34. |
- Olsson, Olof, 1984-
(författare)
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Out of the wild : studies on the forest as a recreational resource for urban residents
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores and analyzes the demand for and supply of forests in and near urban areas from a social perspective. Specific focus is directed towards recreational qualities of forests located just outside urban borders, that is, urban fringe forests. To this end, the thesis is based on four empirical research papers. Papers I and II explore the demand component, while Paper III focuses on the supply component. Finally, Paper IV integrates issues of both demand and supply. In Paper I, a survey directed to the general public in urban areas is used to address differences between public attitudes to the forest in general and to the urban fringe forest more specifically. Paper II builds upon interviews with municipal planners with responsibility for green space issues in nine Swedish cities. In Paper III, spatial forest data is analyzed in a GIS to examine how urbanization and population developments influence the supply of urban fringe forests over time. Spatial analysis is further used in Paper IV to quantify forest attractiveness and accessibility in a single measure of urban fringe forest demand and supply.In Paper I it is shown that urban residents associate the urban fringe forest with a variety of design characteristics, as people’s opinions do not solely concern social qualities but also ecological and functional qualities. It is concluded that the overall influence of socioeconomic and demographic attributes is modest in comparison to the basic values and beliefs people hold about life, the environment, and the forest in general. In Paper II it is demonstrated that it is imperative for municipalities to own forest, since this allows them to secure sufficient provisions of recreational forests for future residents and from urban land developments. However, as private citizens do generally not take part of local planning and management decision-making there is an obvious risk for decisions biased towards the interests of social organizations, with specific activity and structural demands that do not necessarily reflect the interests of the general public. From Paper III it is evident that urbanization and population developments do not necessarily lead to a reduced supply of urban fringe forests over time; forest management practices are equally important to consider with regards to people’s opportunities to visit attractive forests for recreation. Finally, in Paper IV it is shown that more attractive forests are generally less accessible to urban residents, regardless of mode of transportation, and that the accessibility to urban fringe forests is generally lower in more deprived neighborhoods.
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| 35. |
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| 36. |
- Phouxay, Kabmanivanh, 1959-
(författare)
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Patterns of migration and socio-economic change in Lao PDR
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of the thesis is to investigate patterns and consequences of internal and international migration in Laos during the period 1985-2005 on both a macro-and a micro-level. The thesis focuses on the influences of socio-economic change and government policies on inter-regional and rural-urban migration as well as on crossborder migration from Laos to Thailand. The study also examines the effects of migration and industrial factory work on gender relations during economic transition and consequences of undocumented migration to Thailand. The background consists of a discussion on socio-economic change within the country and on government policies influencing migration patterns, as well as on how socio-economic change, urbanization and industrialization in the region affect internal and international migration in Laos. The thesis consists of three empirical studies which derive from different sources of data; the first is based on Population Censuses in 1995 and 2005 and the second and the third draw from empirical surveys in 2004-2005 and 2006. Paper I focuses on how socioeconomic factors and government policies influence migration patterns in Laos. The paper found that the interregional migration rate decreased in the later census period. This was due to significantly higher rural-rural migration in the earlier period, which in turn was influenced by various types of government policies. Papers II and III are based on micro surveys; paper II focuses on an urban industrial area in Vientiane Capital and explores the current feminization of rural-urban migrations during economic transition with specific focus on the effects of industrial work on gender roles and status of women as industrial workers. Industrial work was seen by the women as temporary jobs for saving money, for sending remittances, and for either returning home or moving to other jobs in Vientiane or Thailand. Paper III is based on surveys in three provinces, and deals with undocumented migration from Laos to Thailand and its consequences. Different income levels, existing social networks, similar language and socio-cultural backgrounds were determinants of cross-border migrations. The study found that migrants who had contacts with informal brokers were highly exposed to risks of human trafficking and violence.
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| 37. |
- Rataj, Marcin, 1978-
(författare)
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The Geography of Entrepreneurship : regional and individual determinants of new firm formation in Sweden
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- While there is a rich and growing body of literature on both individual and regional determinants of entrepreneurship, the dominant perspective assumes that these factor play a similar role in different spatial contexts. The thesis investigates in the first place the link between firm formation and economic opportunities that might be conditional on the regional setting. That is, that do not necessarily provide universal outcomes. Investigating that link might be of particular significance for the formation and performance of new firms in peripheral and stagnating regions. Such regions may benefit the most from tailored-made and research-guided policies.To address this goal, three quantitative studies were conducted based on data from Swedish registers and other sources provided by Statistics Sweden. Each study aimed to answer key questions regarding firm formation and regional development: (1) can regional unemployment trigger a new wave of business formation, (2) how can regional characteristics compensate for a relative absence of agglomeration externalities, and (3) how may the region utilize the potential of people moving into a region (non-local entrepreneurs) to foster entrepreneurship?The results suggest that while entrepreneurial activities indeed might absorb some redundant employees during times of less favorable labour market conditions, entrepreneurial policies cannot be considered a universal and anticyclical driver of economic growth. Instead, the more acute the labour market conditions are, the lower the quality of an average start-up becomes. According to the results, human capital, social capital and entrepreneurial culture are important for the variation in start-up rates across municipalities in Sweden. Human capital and entrepreneurial culture might enhance start-up activities in a similar way in different regional contexts. Social capital, in contrast, might exert effects of different magnitude depending on other regional characteristics and can moderate the scarcity of local resources. Finally, the results show that benefits stemming from access to local networks, information or locally recognizable credibility can be diminished when more diversity is introduced into the regional economy.Overall, the results suggest that regional disadvantages might be offset at least to some degree by other types of regional assets. These findings calls for more flexibility in our thinking about entrepreneurship agendas as a part of regional development that do not need to deal with all regional challenges, but instead focus on some regional advantages and how they can compensate for a lack of resources that are abundant in other regions.
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| 38. |
- Sandberg, Linda, 1978-
(författare)
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Fear of violence and gendered power relations : Responses to threat in public space in Sweden
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Several cases of single repeat offenders in urban space have raised public concern in Sweden during recent decades. Few studies have been conducted on consequences of the kind of ‘hostage situations’ that emerge when one individual offender causes fear and affects a larger group of people in a specific place. The concern of this thesis is to examine consequences of the Haga Man phenomenon: the case of a serial rapist operating between 1998 and 2006 in Umeå, a medium-sized Swedish city. This thesis explores some of the ways not only women but also men in Umeå responded to this specific situation, the threat from a single repeat offender, and how fear of crime and changing public crime discourses influenced gendered power relations. The thesis examines different aspects of fear and safety in public space, such as the views of those who are fearful; of those who are feared; perceptions of both women’s and men’s bodies; their emotions and experiences in relation to fear of violence in public spaces; and the significance of space and place for our understanding of fear. The empirical data of this thesis consist of in-depth interviews with a total of 47 women and men in Umeå.The thesis is based on four empirical studies. The first (Paper I) sought to identify similarities and differences across narratives in terms of the major components of young people’s talk about fear. In their stories women positioned themselves as fearful and in need of protection, while men in their stories positioned themselves as fearless protectors. Men and women reproduced ways of speaking considered appropriate to their gender, thus performing masculinity and femininity through their talk. Paper II, examines consequences of the Haga Man phenomenon on constructions of white masculinities. Three masculine positions; the dangerous stranger, the suspect and the protector were identified. These three constructions of masculinity were not clear-cut or ‘belonging’ to specific men – several of the interviewees articulated various forms of masculinities but stressed them in different ways depending on, for instance, age and/or ethnicity/race. Paper III, focuses on changing perceptions and representations of female and male bodies, and illustrates how a change took place; from a focus on how women should conduct themselves to be safe, towards men’s bodily behaviour in order to present themselves in non-threatening ways. In Paper IV, women’s fear of violence is discussed in relation to Swedish gender equality discourses and contextual constructions of femininity. The results show the difficulties of claiming the official position of a gender-equal femininity. Several female respondents expressed an ambivalent attitude about their own fear; they felt afraid, but also felt that as (equal) women they should be able to do what they wanted, whenever they wanted. Result from this thesis shows that this situation produced a shared approach to fear for women of different ages, classes and ethnicities in Umeå. The similarity in the women’s responses to the threat from the Haga Man is as an expression of a normative femininity. The male respondents did on the other hand express complex emotional positions as they talked about their own fears, women’s fear of unknown men and how they felt they were under suspicion and compared to the perpetrator. As this thesis provides an understanding of how men and women responded and reacted to the threat from the Haga man, it contributes to a better understanding of how fear of violence affects people in their everyday lives.
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| 39. |
- Sandow, Erika, 1978-
(författare)
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On the road : Social aspects of commuting long distances to work
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With its point of departure of increasing numbers of people being engaged in commuting, the aim of this thesis is to reveal prerequisites for and consequences of long-distance commuting in Sweden for the individual and his or her partner. Special attention has been given to prerequisites for long-distance commuting in sparsely populated areas, and to social consequences related to long-distance commuting in terms of gender differences in commuting patterns, earnings and separation. The thesis is based on four empirical studies, presented in different papers. Two studies draw on individual longitudinal register data on all Swedish long-distance commuters living with a partner. The other two focus on commuting behaviour in sparsely populated areas, one based on individual register data and the other on a survey. Long-distance commuting (>30 kilometres) has become an increasingly common mobility strategy among Swedish workers and their households. Results from the thesis show that 11 percent of Swedish workers are long-distance commuters and about half of them live in a relationship. Among these couples many are families with children, indicating the importance of social ties in households’ decisions on where to work and live. Most long-distance commuters are men, and it is also likely that long-distance commuters have a high education level and are employed in the private sector. For the majority, long-distance commuting gives higher earnings; however, men benefit economically more than women do. As long-distance commuting reduces available family time, the non-commuting spouse often takes on a larger share of household commitments. The thesis shows that men’s long-distance commuting may therefore serve to reproduce and reinforce traditional gender roles on the labour market and within households. On the other hand, women’s long-distance commuting can lead to more equalitarian relationships on the labour market and within households. For the majority of couples it seems as if long-distance commuting becomes more than a temporary mobility strategy, while for some couples it does not work out very well. Separation rates are found to be higher among long-distance commuters compared to other couples; especially the first years of commuting seem to be the most challenging. It is suggested that coping strategies are important to make the consequences of long-distance commuting easier to handle and adjust to in the daily life puzzle. For those unable to handle these consequences, long-distance commuting is not a sustainable mobility strategy and can even end a relationship. The extent of long-distance commuting is low in sparsely populated areas, and those who do long-distance commute are mainly men. Most people work and live within the same locality and do not accept longer commuting times than do those in densely populated areas. In this thesis it is argued that facilitating car commuting in the more sparsely populated areas of Sweden can be more economically and socially sustainable, for the individual commuters as well as for society, than encouraging commuting by public transportation.
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| 40. |
- Sörensson, Erika, 1975-
(författare)
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Making a living in the world of tourism : Livelihoods in backpacker tourism in urban Indonesia
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In many ‘Third World’ societies tourism is seen as a force for economic development and socie-tal change. Employment in tourism has increased, new destinations have been drawn into tour-ism circuits, and many ‘Third World’ governments have adopted ‘pro-poor’ tourism policies as part of their poverty reduction strategies. However, the tourism sector appears to be particularly volatile and can be subject to dramatic fluctuations, both in terms of volumes and tourists’ des-tination choices, which means that people working in tourism are exposed to globalising forces and preferences far beyond their control.The aim of this study is to explore the contents and meanings of work within tourism as narrated by formal and informal tourism workers in an urban backpacker enclave in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The study is concerned with the ‘receiving end’ of international tourism, and specifi-cally with the experiences of people who make their livelihoods within the low-budget tourism sector, in which ‘Western’ backpackers are key actors.In this study the tourism phenomenon is seen from the context of global asymmetrical power relations, but social relations at the local level in Yogyakarta city are given centre stage. The social relations that constitute the Sosrowijayan area as a place are complex. While back-packers come to Sosrowijayan in search of cheap tourism facilities, the general public in Yogya-karta construct the area as the centre of prostitution in the city. However, the inhabitants of Sosrowijayan draw boundaries between people and places in very refined ways.These boundaries are gendered in the sense that above all female sex workers are blamed for the negative perceptions of the area. They are constructed as ‘outsiders’ because of their ‘deviant’ lifestyle and ‘choice’ of occupation (social class) and because they are said to be migrants from other areas in Indonesia. In Sosrowijayan boundary constructions also take place between male tourism workers who claim allegiance to different groups and categories within their profession or livelihood niche. They make distinctions between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’; the ‘insiders’ are born in the area, while the ‘outsiders’ are narrated as being from other parts of the city, or the country, and/or engage in sexual relations with Western tourists.The study shows that relations of class, gender, and colonial and/or ‘race’ stereotypes come into play in encounters between tourists and tourist workers. Tourism workers consider themselves to be ‘providers of fun’ which means that they are supposed to meet the needs of the tourists, whatever those needs might be, such as material or sexual. In this relationship the Indonesian tourism workers might be interpreted as the racialised service class that make the backpacker-consumer possible. The study also shows that tourism workers in Sosrowijayan are not only immobile in comparison to the highly mobile backpackers from whom they earn their livelihoods, but also that they are at the receiving end of a type of mobility which is initiated and performed far beyond their control.
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