51.
Minissale, Alessandra, 1992-
(författare)
Emotions in Legal Decisions : The Construction of Objective Narratives in Italian Criminal Trials
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Drawing on ethnographic data collected in Italian courts and prosecution offices, this dissertation offers new perspectives on legal decision-making by highlighting the importance of emotions for constructing and evaluating legal narratives. Focusing on criminal cases, it describes and dissects how judges and prosecutors use emotions in reflection and action tied to lay narratives and legal constraints. The analysis shows that legal professionals engage in different types of emotional dynamics when dealing with stories; first, they develop gut feelings, which are either endorsed or kept at distance by means of emotional reflexivity, to comply with legal ideals of objectivity and impartiality. Second, empathy emerges as a crucial tool to direct the interaction with lay people and to interpret legal prerequisites, such as credibility, and intent. Finally, the dissertation shows that lay stories lead legal professionals to become passionate and committed towards the correct application of the law, the restoration of the moral order, and the achievement of justice. In light of the empirical findings, this thesis strives to develop a theoretical understanding of legal decision-making as narrative work that includes emotional dynamics consistent with rational, objective action.
52.
Nordin, Therese, 1980-
(författare)
Harnessing togetherness : perceptions of loneliness and promotion of social participation in the home care context
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Introduction: It is well known that older adults have a higher risk for loneliness, which is detrimental to health. Home care in Sweden has a responsibility to address social needs, but systematic approaches are lacking and there is a know–do gap. The overall aim of this thesis was to develop knowledge about older home care recipients’ and home care providers' perceptions of loneliness and social participation among older adults, and furthermore, to develop a work model for supporting social participation in home care and explore that process.Methods: Four studies were included. In the first study, care recipient interviews explored perceptions of social participation. In the second, a total population survey investigated the association between perceived care quality and loneliness. The third study used individual and group interviews with home care providers to explore discourses on loneliness and social support. The fourth applied a participatory action research(PAR) process with care workers to develop strategies to alleviate care recipients’ loneliness.Findings: Enjoying personally relevant occupations, both in solitude and with others, was found to be important for satisfactory social participation. Low perceived quality in home care quality was statistically associated with loneliness. Two discourses, one in which care recipients were described as valued but vulnerable “others”, and another in which they were described as competent peers, were identified. A work model facilitating social participation was created, and the process was applied to a “framework for occupational enablement for change in community practice”.Conclusion: The understanding of loneliness and social participation in the complex home care context has been nuanced, as have discourses that affect home care practice. The work model itself could become a first step towards systematically addressing loneliness and social needs, and the application of an occupational enablement framework onto the PAR process ties the methodologies together and facilitates participatory research for occupational therapy and science.
53.
Nordstedt, Maria
(författare)
Konsten att göra (sprut)utbyten : Sprutbytets betydelse i skärningspunkten mellan politik, yrkespraktik och människors vardagsliv
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The Art of Needle Exchange: The Significance of Needle Exchange Programs at the Intersection of Politics, Professional Practice, and People's Everyday LivesThis doctoral thesis discusses how social meanings are constructed in needle exchange programs. For nearly four decades, Sweden has implemented needle exchange programs to prevent the spread of bloodborne viral infections. However, a restrictive drug policy and resistance to harm reduction efforts have led to limitations in access to these programs, both in terms of geography and through an exclusionary regulatory framework. The effectiveness of needle exchange programs in reducing the risk of infection associated with injection-related behaviour is clearly positive. However, there are limited scientific studies on the more socially oriented meanings of needle exchange programs. With needle exchange programs as a physical and social place, the overarching aim of this thesis is to understand how the creation of social meanings of needle exchanges is achieved through time, space, and social interaction, primarily between the program's visitors and its staff. The empirical material primarily consists of 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork, including participant observations and informal conversations at two needle exchange programs in southern Sweden, as well as in the everyday lives of individuals who visit these programs. Through extensive ethnographic narratives and analyses based on theories of everyday life, resistance, time, and gifts, the thesis demonstrates that needle exchange programs hold multiple meanings created through interactions between visitors and staff. Two concurrent and parallel tracks contribute to understanding what needle exchange programs mean to those who visit them. One track starts with a counterproductive regulatory framework where requirements and rules result in some visitors coming less often than they need to or not at all. The other track involves countless material and relational exchanges that foster positive experiences of the needle exchange program, turning it into a place of social hope and a changed future. One of the thesis's most significant findings concerns the social work that takes place at the needle exchange program in the interactions between visitors and staff. These interactions also occur at the intersection of the norms and hierarchies of the drug world and the Swedish dream of a drug- free society. In the waiting room of the needle exchange program, negotiations are constantly underway to maintain it as a place of hopeful encounters, as opposed to a destructive refuge.
54.
Nylin, Anna-Karin, 1984-
(författare)
The making and breaking of families : Studies on inequalities in the face of parenthood and separation
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Becoming a parent for the first time is one of the most life-altering events individuals experience. For some, this life-altering change is also followed by the breaking of families when couples part ways in either divorce or separation. This thesis is comprised of four studies in which women and men are followed over the process of becoming parents as well as through separation from marriage and cohabitation, and is mainly centered on Sweden. Study I gives an overview of how parents’ labour earnings have developed over time in Sweden within couples. At the birth of the first child, women's contribution to the family's work income drops sharply. The study shows a small change among couples who became parents more recently, especially in those families where the woman has a high level of education. The change seems to be driven by men’s work adjustments, pointing to a small, albeit important shift towards increases in equal parenting.Study II tracks how first-time parents’ labour earnings develop in relation to separation from cohabitation and marriage. In the study, it is argued that the benefits from the economies of scale that exist when resources are pooled in one household unit cannot be accessed following a separation and that this would constitute a driving force for separating women and men to take measures that increase their labour earnings. As a side effect of the separation, earnings would thus develop better for separated parents than for coupled parents. Contrary to expectations, the results show how separating mothers’ earnings trajectories instead lag behind coupled mothers’. This is most pronounced among women who already from start has the lowest labour earnings. Among men, separating fathers are on poorer earnings trajectories already before the separation compared to coupled fathers.Study III broadens the previous argumentation to also include counterarguments about constraining factors. By comparing the situation for mothers in Sweden with that in Western Germany, where women's labour market participation is lower after childbirth, strengths and weaknesses are revealed in both countries' social policies. In Sweden, separations are followed by a negative effect on mothers' labour earnings, raising the question of what constraints single mothers face in working life. German mothers are instead pushed towards increasing their earnings. But also here, women face constraints as they never reach the same earnings levels as before having children, which Swedish mothers do. In both cases, mothers with the lowest earnings seem to face the greatest obstacles.Study IV investigates how sick leave patterns for mothers and fathers in Sweden vary over time around the separation. The study supports that both selection- and causal effects explain parents’ sick leave patterns. Clear peaks in sick leave rates during the separation year indicate a crisis effect among mothers and fathers across educational levels. Sick leave patterns following the separation show that mothers experience cumulatively growing sick leave rates compared to partnered mothers that exceed the initial peak, while fathers, especially those with primary education, have chronically higher long-term sick leave rates compared to partnered fathers.
55.
Palmtag, Eva-Lisa, 1982-
(författare)
Breaking down break-ups : Studies on the heterogeneity in (adult) children’s outcomes following a parental separation
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This thesis comprises three studies investigating heterogeneity in children’s outcomes post parental separation. The studies analyse diversity in outcomes after parental separation, applying both a retrospective long-term approach and a child perspective. The aim is to identify conditions that might buffer negative outcomes, intensify them or add additional stress. The data used comes from the nationally representative Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU). The first two studies (I and II), take a long-term perspective to investigate outcomes among adult children of divorce or separation compared to adult children from intact families, emphasizing the diversity among separated families. Study III takes a short-term perspective to further understand the diversity in the parent-child relationship after separation.Study I focuses on the link between four post-separation childhood circumstances – inter-parental conflict, post-separation contacts with the non-resident parent, age at separation, and the experience of living with a stepparent – and later parent-child contact. The results show that a separation in childhood associates with later intergenerational contact. In general, adult children with separated parents have less frequent contact with their parents compared to children in intact families. Lowest rate of contact is found within the father-child subsystem as the father tends to be the non-resident parent. However, children with regular contact with the non-resident parent showed higher rates of adult contact with the father, without the contact with the mother being negatively influenced. These results support equal contact distribution between children and both parents in childhood after a parental separation.Study II uses a similar approach but focuses on variance in the adult child’s health and the main heterogeneity aspect under investigation is family conflicts. The results show that both parental separation and conflicts in the childhood family associates with children’s self-rated health in adulthood. Although parental separation can lower the degree of parental conflict, parent-child conflicts are still associated with a higher risk of less than good self-rated health in adulthood after controlling for separation. These results support the spillover hypothesis and suggest that parental quarrels spill over into the parent-child relationship. It underlines the importance of considering children’s own participation in family concerns during childhood.Study III applies a “here and now” approach and investigate how children’s perception of the relationships with their parents is influenced by residence arrangements and other post-separation circumstances. The findings indicate that shared residence arrangements enable children to maintain a social relationship with both parents post-separation to a higher degree compared with children in a sole parental residence. Additionally, the study found no significant difference in emotional support seeking patterns between children in shared residence arrangement and those in intact families. These results support previous research highlighting the benefits of shared residence when it comes to maintaining high levels of parent-child contact as well as support after the parental break-up. Collectively, these three studies contribute to the field of family sociology and separation (divorce) research by providing new insights into the effects of parental separation on child outcomes.
56.
Persson, Max, 1990-
(författare)
Turning Privilege Into Merit : Elite Schooling, Identity, and the Reproduction of Meritocratic Belief
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Previous research on meritocratic ideology and elite adolescent identity has mainly approached it from the outside, understanding meritocratic identity as a rhetorical cover to justify privilege. Through a frame analytic approach this study nurtures a phenomenological insider perspective, exploring through a one-year ethnography how adolescents at an elite high school experience, negotiate and perform identity in the tension between the school’s institutional definition of identity and their everyday life as young adults.The findings show that the students relied on a ‘meritocratic frame’ to make sense of situations in the school. First-year students framed situations as meritocratic competition, which positioned them as individual antagonists. The students were engrossed in competition, which reinforced their belief in meritocracy as unequivocal and in themselves as genuine meritocrats. Third-year students framed situations as if meritocratic competition was over—they had endured it together—engrossing them in the shared sense of being a meritocratically tested elite collective. These findings indicate how elite schools contribute to reproduce belief in meritocracy, shaping the students’ sense of who they genuinely are and what the world truly is. Furthermore, the meritocratic frame hides certain aspects of situations, so that students tacitly agree to find social class and ethnic background, ‘irrelevant’ and ‘un-noticeable.’ This inattention denied students from disadvantaged backgrounds to challenge the exclusion they experienced, and simultaneously allowed advantaged students to experience elite belonging as achieved rather than inherited. Nonetheless, the impression of meritocracy was fragile and sometimes doubted and challenged as when students evoked the ‘privilege frame,’ bringing class, ethnicity and exclusion back in.In addition to the situational condition of shared engrossment, the thesis points to two central conditions that contribute to foster and maintain belief in the meritocratic impression. On the one hand, the study shows how the students learn a local and institutionally supported definition of merit and are tacitly trained in the meritocratic game, acquiring the skill to turn social background, popularity and self-confidence into legitimate merit. On the other hand, the study points out the relation between situational framing and structurally determined socialization patterns, indicating that the class and ethnically privileged students have learned the meritocratic frame from experiences in families and previous schooling, while students from dominated backgrounds tend to have been socialized into applying the privilege frame, being more prone to see through the meritocratic impression by drawing attention to how social background structures inclusion and exclusion.
57.
Raoust, Gabriel
(författare)
Decision-making in obstetric emergencies. Individual differences and professional boundaries.
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
In affluent nations, variations in obstetric care, particularly during emergencies, perplexingly manifest in differing intervention and outcome rates. Although these variations mirror systemic disparities, they are also suggested to reflect the interplay of social and professional interactions between obstetricians/gynecologists and midwives, stemming from adherence to distinct professional paradigms and the influence of personal factors on decision-making and collaboration. This thesis sought to unpack these complexities by exploring individual differences and professional perspectives in decision-making during obstetric emergencies through a blend of interpretive and statistical approaches in a series of studies.Utilizing a narrative methodology with in-depth interviews and subsequent thematic analysis, Papers I and IV investigated the experiences of obstetricians/gynecologists (N=17) and midwives (N=27) during obstetric emergencies. Paper I used images of artwork as associative triggers in interviews, helping to illuminate decisionmakingprocesses, while Paper IV critically evaluated its thematic findings through the sociological lens of “boundary work”. Concurrently, Papers II and III employed psychometric instruments, including online questionnaires and the Five Factor Model personality test, to collect and analyze data from obstetricians/gynecologists and midwives (N = 472 for Paper II and N = 447 for Paper III). This involved investigating variables, such as Decision-Making styles, Negative Impact of Inductions, Healthcare Crisis Experience, and Job Satisfaction, alongside personality dimensions and complementary variables through various statistical tests.The studies revealed a diversity of findings: Paper I highlights that obstetricians/gynecologists navigate flexible decision-making environments, crystallizing into one of three distinct styles intertwining with their identities and practice narratives. Paper II unveils a specific personality profile among obstetricians/gynecologists and demonstrates correlations between personality traits, particularly Neuroticism, and distinct decision-making styles, while spotlightinggender and experience as significant influential factors. Paper III identifies divergent perspectives between the professions regarding labor inductions and job satisfaction, and highlights correlations among job satisfaction, views on labor inductions, and Neuroticism. Lastly, Paper IV underscores the multifaceted roles of midwives, who navigate, and sometimes resist, medical hierarchies to advocate for women’s physical and emotional well-being during childbirth, in a manner reshaping healthcare norms yet potentially sustaining historical tensions with obstetricians/gynecologists.This research highlights the intricate ways in which the personal and professional identities of obstetricians/gynecologists and midwives impact decision-making during obstetric emergencies. These insights invite a thoughtful reevaluation: How can training, support systems, and collaboration be recalibrated to encompass theseinfluential dynamics comprehensively? How can we as practitioners create work environments that not only acknowledge but also actively integrate varied personal perspectives and professional values and goals?
58.
Rasan, Imad
(författare)
Women in the public sphere in Egypt : 2011–2014
2023. - 1
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Through interviews, many documents and secondary data, this dissertation investigates how fifty-four women activists participated in the public sphere in Egypt from the outbreak of the 2011 uprising to the re-emergence of the authoritarian regime in 2014. The women activists studied in the dissertation took part in various counter-publics of social movements, opposition political parties, and civic engagement. Their aim was to influence the political scene at large by participating as women and as citizens in ways that placed their demands within the broader context of the national revolutionary discourse. At the same time, they increased their visibility through participation in the face of various constraints, including the patriarchal order and masculine norms at the family, community, and societal levels while challenging the regime’s repression.The findings of the dissertation emphasise ‘participation’ as encompassing collectivity – which here refers to the process of accessing the public sphere – and visibility – which refers to the content of this participation thereafter. The findings give us a new perspective on how women pushed gender boundaries in different contexts in the public sphere and how they developed a new agency through which they employed different strategies to overcome their exclusion and marginalisation. The findings show how they consciously resisted acting and being portrayed as agents of a liberal/secular Western discourse or submitting to cultural nationalists and Islamists who regard them as victims of an anticolonial nationalist discourse.
59.
Rodineliussen, Rasmus, 1990-
(författare)
Underwater Worlds : An Ethnography of Waste, Pollution, and Marine Life
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
In this dissertation, I investigate relations between humans, waste, pollution, and marine life. I introduce the concept of Aquabiopolitics as a means to understand how humans govern life in water in order to enrich human life on land. The study focuses on the Baltic Sea and Lake Mälaren, using Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, as the connection point. Throughout the dissertation, I explore how human practices over time have had devastating effects on marine life and continue to have so today. The dissertation engages with the marine world through underwater ethnography to provide a perspective on water from below the surface. In this endeavor, I employ the assistance of marine scientists and trash scuba divers who are jointly invested in tracking human maltreatment of water and finding solutions for treating water differently in the future. We will follow the scientists on expeditions at sea and to their laboratories in order to learn about their methods and relations to underwater worlds. Together with the trash scuba divers, we will dive into the dark murky waters around Stockholm—experiencing what it is like to move below water, among sharp and toxic waste, without any visibility. The work of creating a knowing and caring relationship between humans and water is of key importance to both scientists and divers. Therefore, one of the main parts of this dissertation is to analyze how, and if, this relationship can be created: via social media, images, installations, or other means. For as the divers often say: Water is Life. Make it Important!
60.
Samzelius, Hanna, 1975-
(författare)
Bakom bonusfamiljen : Kvinnliga föräldrapartners och partnerdöttrars omsorgsgörande
2023
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The purpose of the thesis is to contribute new knowledge about how relationships and care in stepfamilies are constructed, negotiated and renegotiated over time. The study is based on life-story-interviews with stepdaughters and stepmothers about their experiences of care from the beginning of the relationships until the stepdaughter has children of her own. The following questions have guided the analysis: 1) How is care done and negotiated over time? 2) What values, principles and/or motives emerge as important in exercising care? 3) How is good care portrayed in the stories? 4) What events and circumstances are portrayed as significant in terms of the change in the relationships and the practices of care? The study’s perspective is that both families and care are best viewed as negotiated and moral practices. The study shows that the housework and significant emotional work was done by the stepmothers, in the stepdaughters´ childhood as well as in adulthood. While the stepdaughters wanted to feel like the stepmothers´ own children, it was seen as taboo for her to claim a place or title as mother or grandmother, make decisions, set boundaries or have opinions about finances. The principle of “children’s best interests”, together with gender structures, seemed to limit the ability of the stepmother to choose how care was done if it should be perceived as being of good quality. On the other hand, the fact that the adult stepdaughter made a distinction between caring for her biological mother and stepmother was perceived as morally defensible and almost self-evident. The motives for the stepdaughter to provide care seemed to be about emotional closeness or reciprocity, rather than obligation. The study suggests that relationships between stepdaughters and stepmothers are more fragile than those between parents and their own children. The care during the step-daughter’s childhood had an impact on the development of the adult relationship. Moreover, the relationship could be renegotiated after some identi-fied turning points: the stepdaughter´s move away from home, a separation between parent and stepparent, and the stepdaughter’s own parenting. After such events, the relationship could become both closer as well as more distanced. The findings show how the care practices are partly detached from blood ties and legal ties but stuck in conceptions of gender.
