41.
Jansson, Tobias, 1988
(författare)
Vem får stanna? Om politiska problemrepresentationer av rätten att stanna i Sverige 1936–1989
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
In 2015, the Swedish government restricted the right to stay in Sweden, to reduce the number of asylum seekers seeking protection in the country. Since then, it has established a restrictive migration policy that only allows people who require a residence permit to stay permanently if they become self-sufficient and are strictly law abiding. Based on a genealogical approach, the aim of this thesis is to analyze changes concerning the right to stay during the period 1936–1989, to make visible assumptions and conditions that underlie a contemporary understanding of this right. This concretely means analyzing the problem representations that precede changes in immigration legislation and related government guidelines, the assumptions on which these are based, as well as the effects in the form of technologies of government that follow from different problem representations. The data comprises 13 government reports and government bills published between 1936–1989. The study’s theoretical framework rest on a Foucauldian approach, combined with combined with selected parts from Bacchi’s analytical framework ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be?’, and analytical concepts from governmentality research and critical border studies. The analysis shows that problem representations of the right to stay during the studied periods (1930s, 1950s, 1960s and 1980s) have recurringly rested on an underlying assumption that the state is responsible for creating an ordered society. This kind of assumption has legitimized problem constructions and subsequent conditions for the right to stay – historically as well as in 2015 – as a way of achieving such an ideal. Although this type of assumption has existed for a long time, it has taken on a different meaning and form in relation to different discourses. For example, an assumption of state responsibility for an ordered society was clearly linked to an equality discourse during the 1960s, leading to state welfare initiatives as solutions to ‘the problem’. Following from the individualized, workfare discourse of 2015, however, the solutions to contemporary problem representations and underlying assumptions instead target individual asylum seekers, requiring them to prove that they deserve the right to stay permanently in Swedish society by becoming self-sufficient subjects. Moreover, governance within Swedish migration control has undergone multiple shifts during the studied periods, alternating between focusing on controlling territorial borders and making non-citizens in the country adapt to national norms. The contemporary use of temporary residence permits to discipline those granted residence permits towards norms of being self-sufficient and law-abiding thus contains clear traces of historical modes of governance. This study has shown, among other things, that problem representations of the right to stay continuously rest on distinctions between deserving and underserving categories of migrants, although these categories have altered over time. Historically and at present, categories such as ‘bogus refugees’ and socalled unwanted aliens – with ‘socio-economic’ or criminal motivations – have been constructed as undeserving, while hard-working and law-abiding migrants have been constructed as deserving. These constructions have linked the right to stay to notions of who is a ‘good’ citizen and has influenced people’s access to social work services. At the same time, the study has shown that historical problem representations provide political alternatives, such as the possibility to represent problems of the right to stay based on people’s basic need for security.
42.
Jemberie, Wossenseged Birhane, 1985-
(författare)
Alcohol and aging : a multimethod study on heterogeneity and multidimensionality
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Background and Objectives: With an ageing population, the number of older persons with substance use problems, particularly problematic alcohol use, is increasing. Despite growing recognition of the negative consequences of problematic alcohol use on older persons, there is a dearth of knowledge about the alcohol use profiles and the dimensionality of alcohol problems in older people. Moreover, little is known about older persons’ experiences and perspectives on alcohol use in relation to their ageing and their personal goals regarding treatment and recovery. This thesis aimed to (i) describe the characteristics of older persons who accessed municipal substance use treatment and care services (addiction services) and to investigate their future hospitalization; (ii) examine the heterogeneity and multidimensionality of problematic alcohol use among older persons; and (iii) to shed light on the experiences and perspectives of older persons regarding ageing, alcohol problems and recovery.Methods: For studies I-III, municipal Addiction Severity Index (ASI) assessment data (between 2003 and 2017) from adults aged 50 years and older were used to select the study samples. Generalized linear regression models investigated hospitalization related outcomes among 3624 older persons in Study-I. In Study-II, a latent class analysis was applied on ASI data from 1747 individuals with alcohol problems. Study-III linked the ASI data from Study-II to hospital discharge and mortality data forming time-to-repeated-event dataset; Andersen-Gill regression model with a robust variance estimator was used for the analysis. Study-IV applied qualitative content analysis on interview data from ten older persons recruited from a specialist outpatient clinic for alcohol treatment. Results: Nearly three-fourth of older persons assessed for substance use severity at municipal addiction services were later hospitalized (Study-I). Individuals diagnosed with substance use disorders, psychiatric or dual diagnoses had more cumulative hospitalized days, higher rates of hospital readmissions, and shorter time to first admission following an initial ASI assessment at municipal addiction services (Study-I). Five distinct groups of older persons with comparable alcohol problem severity but with variation in onset age, psychiatric comorbidities, polysubstance use, social support and gender composition were identified (Study-II). The five groups varied in risks of repeated hospitalizations due to substance use and psychiatric disorders (Study-III). Older persons experienced their ageing and alcohol use having a dynamic interplay (Study-IV). They needed to constantly negotiate with their environment to maintain a positive ageing trajectory. They perceived moderate alcohol use fosters healthy ageing, but over time, experienced their alcohol use as unsustainable and a threat to their pursuit of healthy ageing. Stigma and ambivalence delayed treatment seeking (Study-IV). They accessed treatment programs which respected their preferences and autonomy, engaged them in goal setting and strengthened their agency. After reducing their alcohol use, positive changes in their biopsychosocial functioning encouraged them to continue their recovery journey even in the presence of setbacks (Study-IV).Conclusion: Most older persons who access municipal addiction services are hospitalized repeatedly. Many older persons with alcohol problems live with medical and psychiatric comorbidities suggesting multiple care needs from health and social care services. Incorporating older persons’ desire for healthy ageing into alcohol treatment plan can facilitate treatment engagement and recovery. Many older persons aim to moderate their alcohol consumption. Clinicians can deliver person-centered care for older persons, by considering their heterogeneity in treatment goals, biopsychosocial functioning, and available resources. A multidimensional identification of alcohol use profiles could improve treatment by establishing the variation in alcohol problems among older treatment seekers. Older persons stay engaged in alcohol treatment programs which value their experiences and expertise, incorporate their personal treatment and life goals, respect their autonomy and agency, and involve them as active participants. Sensitizing service providers on old age substance use problems could provide multiple points of contact for screening of older persons and earlier referral to treatment. A streamlined data sharing within and between health and social care services fosters timely and equitable care and facilitates an integrated and person-centered care across the continuum.
43.
Jha, Rishi
(författare)
Unsettled City: Neoliberal redevelopment, state crisis, slum resettlement & biopolitical struggle in Mumbai
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This dissertation concerns capitalist urban redevelopment and the government of urban housing poverty. It examines the ways urban redevelopment regimes shape resettlements and governance of urban populations in Mumbai. The specific enquiries focus on salient accumulative and dispossessive dimensions of urban redevelopment and linked resettlement construction, the reformation of informal politics of the poor, and possibilities of reordering renewal and resettlement governance processes. These enquiries are addressed through an ethnographic exploration of two mega-projects: transport expansion and pipeline securitization, two resettlement townships, and their multi-scalar and multi-site sociopolitical dynamisms. The theoretical framework of “redevelopment as governmentality” guides analysis connecting macro-institutional practices and their human consequences.This is a compilation dissertation with a Kappa (comprehensive discussion) and four sole-authored journal articles. The dissertation makes four major contributions: First, urban redevelopment regimes employ an extractive-inclusive political economy in resettlement housing developments, which promotes urban growth. This is beyond facilitative or welfarist rehousing linked with displacement-based dispossession. The underlying political-economic logics, and institutional and policy frameworks also shape the life-allowing and limiting materiality of resettlement. Second, state and NGO-mediated resettlements employ unconditional urban displacements through strategies that speak of institutional violence, coercion, and abandonment, but are coated with the hope of inclusion and aspirational formal urban living. Uneven sociopolitical outcomes include contested formalization, widespread institutional vulnerabilities, and arbitrary post-dispossession rule. Third, state powers in redevelopment are complicit in creating death-allowing settlement forms and environmental concerns, and subjecting populations to them. Inhabiting such violent materialities exposes the embedded deadly powers, through life-compromising living. Inhabitation also leads to a new outlook of resistance and negotiation that redefines the politics of human lives at the urban margins. Fourth, the state bureaucracy maintains life-constraining post-resettlement scenarios and biopolitical struggles through arbitrary, informalized, humanistic interventions, and using a new vocabulary of urban habitability. This life-compromising subjection, however, also impacts urban renewal and allows some alternative rehousing. Overall, the dissertation shows certain contradictory outcomes of urban renewal and population governance in the making of the urban imaginary and modernity.
44.
Johansson, Carl, 1986-
(författare)
The quest for cultural sensitivity : how cultural sensitivity can be practised while mitigating othering in Swedish eldercare
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The need to provide culturally sensitive care for older adults with immigrant backgrounds has been expressed by care professionals. Meanwhile there is a lack of consensus about how this should be done, and critical perspectives in research highlight the danger of causing this group to be viewed as problem bearers. This thesis explores the possibility of using the welfare theory of health to achieve cultural sensitivity while limiting the risk of othering. It uses a goal-oriented perspective of health that could be useful in an active ageing context. Study I used a mixed-methods design and the Delphi method. Study II used a quantitative design and survey method. Study III used a qualitative design and semi-structured interviews. Study IV used a qualitative design and vignette method.Study I showed that municipal decision-makers in eldercare find it hard to agree on what cultural sensitivity entails. They prefer to consider individual preferences in less complex cases, but look for fixed cultural categories in more complex cases. Study II showed that the welfare theory of health can be used as a viable, personal, holistic approach to health among older adults, and that it can be measured with the HACT questionnaire. Study III built on the questionnaire in Study II, expanding it to include immaterial capital theory. It elucidated how immaterial resources of older adults with immigrant backgrounds, such as social capital, influence their goals related to good ageing. Study IV showed that assistant nurses could use the welfare theory of health to increase cultural sensitivity in their work. However, like the decision makers, they looked for fixed cultural categories in more complex cases.The thesis shows how the welfare theory of health can be used to conceptualize cultural sensitive care with a starting point in the personal goals of older adults with immigrant backgrounds. With the help of immaterial capital theory, the thesis can shed light on the importance of immaterial resources, such as social capital, both in forming those goals and as resources to achieve them. With this knowledge, decisions and practices aiming to provide culturally sensitive care could be based on assessments of needs and resources without relying on preconceived and fixed ideas about other cultures.
45.
Johansson, Kajsa, 1979-
(författare)
The Conditions of Peasant Organisation : Fragmented Livelihoods and Social Memory in post-Independent Mozambique
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The thesis is an inquiry into peasants’ collective organisation inMozambique since the country’s Independence in 1975. It brings togetherfour published studies and aims to understand the historical and socioeconomic conditions for different forms of peasant organisation in postIndependence Mozambique. An abductive approach is applied and adialogue between theory, method and the ethnographic material from thetwo northern provinces of Niassa and Nampula runs through the thesis. Thefirst study concludes that peasants’ organisation is hampered by thefragmentation, instability and unpredictability of peasants’ livelihood,leading to a low level of classness. The second study examines the strugglefor the right to land as an exception in terms of a broad-based collectiveorganisation. The third study explores how peasants’ memories of theindependence movement and first years of socialist policies are mobilisedin a critique against current policies. Finally, the fourth study examines thecontinuity of power of the traditional leadership at local level, providinginsights into the local structural conditions for peasants’ collectiveorganisation.Based on the four studies, the thesis suggests the following three mainconditions for peasants’ organisation: First, peasant household livelihood,where fragmentation, instability and unpredictability lead to difficulties toidentify central and enduring interests and conflicts peasants are engagedin, that could be the foundation for their collective organisation. Second, theorganisational structures and positions in peasant societies. In the contextof peasants, already occupied spaced for organisation, repression andhistorical backpack hamper their organisation. Peasants’ issues are capturedat local level by party, civil society and traditional leadership. Peasants arein abundance. And third, the peasants’ consciousness. The thesis concludesthat there is a relatively strong consciousness among peasants with regardto structure, inequalities, as well as formulation of thought, strong senseamong the elderly of peasant way and peasant society.
46.
Jönsson, Anders
(författare)
Professionellt pappersgöra : Att bemästra ett komplext handlingsutrymme i beslutstexter om ekonomiskt bistånd
2023. - 1
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Social assistance is the last safety net of the Swedish welfare system. It is designed to aid those individuals whom cannot support themselves through funds or income, including any form of social security. The Social Services Act, the law that regulates social assistance, is a framework law which focuses on the outcome of the assistance rather than the basis of eligibility assessment. At the same time the work of assessing social assistance is often seen as bureaucratic and heavily regulated by law.The aim of the thesis is to investigate and analyse justifications of decisions regarding social assistance, with a focus on social workers’ paperwork, and the conditions for professional practice by paying attention to discretionary aspects. The study was conducted by analysing social assistance decision texts and interviewing social workers in individual and group interviews. The study addresses the following research questions: (1) what discretion do the social workers reckon they have, and what do they reckon frames their discretion, (2) how do the social workers relate to these frames, (3) in what situations do the social workers choose to actively expand their discretion, and (4) how can the discretion of the social workers be understood?The findings show that the social workers relate to three frames when making decisions: the legal frame, the political frame and the collegial frame. The legal frame works as a minimum level both when it comes to what the social assistance includes and is regulated by law, preparatory works and precedents. The political frame is regulated by the municipal guidelines and works as an upper limit for the social assistance. Lastly the social workers relate to the collegial frame consisting of local workplace norms. The social workers can comply with all three frames, compliant discretion, or contest one of the frames when making decisions, contested discretion. There is always a potential of one or more of the frames reviewing the decisions. This potential review goes beyond the visual analogy of the panopticon and can be understood as a pantognostis, an omniscient reviewer.
47.
Kan, Maxim, 1986-
(författare)
Reproduction in the “Virgin Lands” : Fertility Outcomes in Kazakhstan
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This dissertation studies patterns in childbearing and reproductive behaviour in Kazakhstan, a context that has undergone a process of re-traditionalization since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Study I focuses on ethnic differentials in progressions to first, second, third, and fourth births, and assesses differentials by socioeconomic status. Study II explores how childbearing plans relate to gender ideology and the division of labour in the household. Study III looks at religious differentials in contraceptive use and potential mechanisms behind the association. The three outcomes represent key moments in fertility careers. The case of Kazakhstan tells us about the possibility of reversed demographic transition. It also points to the context-dependence of progress in gender revolution and hints at distinct forms of gender ideology. It further explores factors that might explain religious differences in contraceptive use.
48.
Kirgil, Zeynep Melis, 1993-
(författare)
Collective Intentionality and Solidarity : A Multi-Methodological Investigation of How Collective Intentionality Shapes Solidarity on Different Levels of Analysis
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Collective intentionality lies at the heart of solidarity and social action. Collective intentions refer to thinking in a “We-mode” oriented toward the social group, contrary to individual-oriented thinking in “I-mode”. Theories in philosophy and sociology have long recognized the importance of collective intentions for solidarity. Yet, less is known about how collective intentions affect solidarity on different levels of analysis. The dissertation aims to introduce collective intentions to sociological research and to close the research gap by studying the relationship between collective intentions and solidarity. In study I, we study collective intentions in small group dynamics via an online experiment. We find that collective intentions are strongly related to solidarity and emerge through social interactions in groups. Study II uses computational text analysis and qualitative in-depth reading to investigate how US governors draw on collective intentionality to mobilize people during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that political leaders evoke collective intentionality by emphasizing unity, vulnerability, action, and community boundaries. While Democratic governors emphasize a shared agency between government and citizens, Republican governors highlight more of a top-down approach to governmental action. Similarly, study III examines political leaders’ use of collective intentionality and the distribution of governmental and civic roles across nine countries during the coronavirus pandemic. While all political leaders highlight the importance of unity, solidarity, and social action in public speeches, I find that political leaders’ narrative on the distribution of governmental and civic roles does not align with existing patterns across party lines. Finally, study IV focuses on whether politicians’ use of collective intentionality in times of crisis influences peoples’ solidary intentions and behavior in an online experiment. We find no evidence that collective intentionality in political speeches affects solidarity, suggesting that collective intentionality cannot be built through speech acts only, without being based on shared we-experiences, community, and trust. Taken together, the studies in this dissertation contribute to research on collective intentionality and solidarity. Within social group interaction, collective intentionality fosters social cohesion and solidarity. In crises, collective intentionality provides insight into the group boundaries, responsibilities, and distribution of roles.
49.
Kjellberg, Josefin
(författare)
Fri från (efter)våldet? : Om partnervåldsutsatta kvinnors motstånd, uppbrott och stödbehov
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This dissertation investigates resistance strategies and leaving processes of female survivors of male intimate partner violence (IPV), and sheds light on the importance of support from social workers when survivors try to break free from IPV. It also contributes knowledge on how Swedish social workers in social service support units and women’s shelters (run by NGOs or companies) interpret and handle support needs of survivors. This is investigated through interviews with 17 adult Swedish survivors and 49 Swedish social workers in 13 different organizations, and through observations of social worker meetings and analysis of texts from the organizations. The data is analyzed thematically (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2022).Responding to Hydén’s (2005) and Rajah and Osborn’s (2022) call for further research on resistance, the dissertation shows how survivors may utilize several resistance strategies to end violence: active opposition, covert resistance, help-seeking, and leaving (cf. Rajah & Osborn, 2022). It also sheds light on what survivors think enable or hinder their resistance and leaving processes, especially the role of social responses. Hester’s (2011) Three Planet Model is used to analyze survivors’ experiences of vast differences in support from social workers on different “planets” post-separation – of positive experiences of support from social workers on the “Domestic violence planet”, but of post-separation violence being enabled on the “Child contact planet”. These results may aid social workers to better align their services with experiences of survivors.The dissertation also sheds light on how knowledge use and working conditions shape social workers’ support on the “Domestic violence planet”. Social workers in all organizations utilized a paradigmatic practice theory (cf. Payne, 2012, 2021) to educate survivors on violence and relieve them of guilt. The paradigmatic practice theory connected to goals of social work aimed at (cognitive, emotional) liberation from violence, rather than structural social change. Furthermore, the results indicate that structural obstacles preventing survivors from leaving their abusers may be handled as individual rather than social problems. Additionally, social workers expressed that survivors need long-term, holistic support when breaking free from IPV, but their discretion as street-level bureaucrats (Lipsky, 2010) to meet these support needs differed. Some (social service support units) offered only counseling, other (shelters) also more “practical” support. Hence, the dissertation indicates that what kind of support survivors are offered may differ, and that support risks becoming a lottery where survivors might not always receive the help they need to break free from violence.
50.
Klysing, Amanda
(författare)
Who is Woman and Who is Man? : Normativity at Intersections of Gender and Sexual Orientation
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Current gender norms predominantly construct gender as an expression of binary sex categories that are different but complementary. A performative view of gender instead analyses gender as an emergent feature of social interactions that is created by the constant repetition of acts in relation to discourses of gender. Within these hegemonic discourses, gender is constructed as fundamentally heterosexual. That is, there is an epistemic model of gender that justifies the existence of binary, complementary genders through appeals to complementarity within the structure of heterosexuality. Using an intersectional approach, this dissertation aims to analyse how gender norms of binarity and heterosexuality are expressed in mental representations at intersections of gender and sexual orientation. Study I examined how explicit and implicit stereotype content for groups at intersections of gender and sexual orientation relate to general gender stereotypes. Study II examined the influence of the social ideologies androcentrism and heterocentrism on cultural prototypes of general gender and sexual orientation categories and their intersecting subgroups. Finally, Study III examined how gender non-normativity in organisation communication and applicant gender expression can influence a recruitment situation.Study I showed that the content of explicit, but not implicit, cultural stereotypes for women and men in general only match the stereotype content for heterosexual women and men. Stereotype content for homosexual and bisexual women and men was incongruent with that of their respective gender groups and instead partially gender inverted. Study II showed that cultural prototypes for ‘women’ and ‘men’ are strongly influenced by heterocentrism, as they include an assumption of heterosexuality. The cultural prototype for ‘homosexual people’ was influenced by androcentrism, such that it was more representative of gay men than of lesbian women, but androcentrism showed no direct influence on cultural prototypes for ‘heterosexual people’ or ‘bisexual people’. Study III showed that organisational communication that explicitly moves beyond binary gender can increase perceptions of organisational attractiveness among gender minority individuals, with no measurable impact on gender majority individuals. Additionally, applicants with a non-normative gender expression did not face the hypothesised discriminatory outcomes when assessed by Swedish HR-professionals. This dissertation used empirical, quantitative methods to analyse how gender is structure within a heterosexual matrix of cultural intelligibility and what the consequences are of becoming unintelligible. The findings support the perspective that gender and sexual orientation categories do not represent natural kinds and are instead constructed in relation to each other. Treating gender and sexual orientation as co-constitutive is a break with dominant disciplinary practices in psychological research but doing so would provide a better possibility of analysing how gender influences the lives of those acting within and outside of gender norms.
