21.
Kings, Lisa
(författare)
Till det lokalas försvar : Civilsamhället i den urbana periferin
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The current global restructuring processes are usually described in terms of increased integration and, concurrently, greater fragmentation among different regions and scales. How these parallel outcomes are reflected in the civic sphere, largely for those mostly affected, i.e. the urban grassroots, is the focus of this study. The theoretical objective is to develop an alternative way of conceptualizing engagement in the civil sphere in marginalized urban neighborhoods; this is presented in the form of a complementary analytical model named: the three pillars of simultaneousness. The empirical objective is to analyze the organization of civil society in two neighborhoods: Rinkeby and Tensta, both categorized as being on the lowest rung of the urban hierarchy in Stockholm, Sweden. The empirical analysis is based on three types of data: interviews, documentation and participant observation. The analysis reveals that these neighborhoods are well-organized and that it is the small, localized self-help organizations, conceptualized as the organizations of everyday life, which engage the urban grassroots. The configuration of the associations and the close face-to-face interactions, combined with traditional membership, imply that this form of activism cannot be understood without taking into account the specific national historic context. In the Swedish urban periphery, the reinvention of the Swedish social mass movement tradition is central when discussing both the constraints to and opportunities for suburban organizing. The strong movement tradition, together with political and financial incentives, has facilitated the development of a vigorous community life. At the same time, these prerequisites have undermined the political and critical potential of the urban grassroots.
22.
Kulin, Joakim, 1975-
(författare)
Values and welfare state attitudes : The interplay between human values, attitudes and redistributive institutions across national contexts
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
While there is much research aiming to assess the determinants of welfare state attitudes, there are not many studies focussing on how human values influence attitude formation. This thesis explores the relationship between values and welfare state attitudes across national contexts. In doing so, it focuses on the moderating influence of contextual factors on the values-attitudes link.In order to measure values properly, and to study their effects on welfare state attitudes, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multi-group structural equation modelling (MGSEM) is used. These methods enable testing for measurement equivalence across groups, a prerequisite for comparing the effects of human values across countries. The individual-level data used in this thesis comes from the European Social Survey (ESS) between 2002-08.The findings show that values can play an important role in welfare state attitude formation, but that the impact of values on attitudes differs considerably across national contexts. Several country-specific contextual factors such as the generosity of redistributive institutions, their framing and their distributive outcomes moderates the values-attitudes link. In more generous welfare states and where redistributive issues are more articulated in the political debate, the impact of, for instance, egalitarian values on redistributive attitudes is comparably strong. Moreover, in countries where lower social classes are more exposed to risks and lack resources to meet these risks, class differences in the values-attitudes link are greater. Finally, the results show that the particular values that underlie welfare state attitudes in Eastern Europe are fundamentally different to those in Western Europe.The results imply that the impact of values on welfare state attitudes mainly depends on (i) whether people perceive welfare state institutions to have important consequences for the extent to which their values are attained, and (ii) the presence of competing motives. Hence, it is not necessarily the case that people who support the welfare state do so, for example, due to holding egalitarian values. In contrast to previous research, which has been quite unsuccessful in confirming direct relationships between institutions and attitudes, the results in this thesis suggest that there are indeed clear and consistent macro-micro relationships, but that these are more complex. Rather, it is in the interplay between values, attitudes and institutions that this relationship can be found.
23.
Lindquist, Bert, 1941-
(författare)
Deltagande integrerar individ och organisation : En teoretisk studie i integrationens former, mekanismer och processer
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The aim of the present study is to clarify the nature of integration between the individual and the organization. I have utilized four analytical tools in this endeavor – forms of association, theoretical starting points, integrating factors, and principles of integration. The forms of association have been taken from Amitai Etzioni's model for describing the interplay between members' experience of an organization and organizational sanctions. These in turn provide us with three categories – coercion, when association is steered by constraint exercised by the organization; interest, when integration proceeds deliberately and voluntarily; and normative or institutional integration, when association is steered by a normative community. The starting point selected is important, and often decisive, for any effort to understand the connection between the individual and the organization. In the present effort to theoretically explain how a particular association between individual and organization emerges, I have deliberately selected human nature (the integrating unit) from the choice of two alternatives for the starting point. That is to say that the starting point for integration should be sought not in the organization, but in people. The reason for this decision is my contention that organizations have no organic form, and that they can be steered and influenced in a completely differently way than people. In order for the theoretical starting point to function as a explanatory factor, it should provide the location for an active element. I have chosen the individual's striving for development and maturity as the active element or integrating factor in this regard. The integration of individual and organization is fostered to the extent that the individual's striving for development is satisfied within the framework of the organization. I argue that participation is the principle of integration that serves this goal. In conclusion, participation promotes the integration of the individual and organization, and it drives the process of integration in respect to three forms of coordination – coercion, interest, and institutional integration. Submission (the absence of participation) leads to coercion. Negotiation (the preliminary stage of participation) leads to interest integration. Participation, finally, leads to institutional integration.
24.
Ngeh, Jonathan, 1979-
(författare)
Conflict, marginalisation and transformation : African migrants in Sweden
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Migrants from the Global South, coming to Sweden predominantly since the 1980s, have become a major focus of public discussions about immigration. The fears of and resentments toward the migrant ‘other’ appear to have shifted from European migrants to migrants of the Global South. Numerous studies (and official reports) showing the marginalisation of these migrants confirm their spotlight position. The aim of this thesis is to describe and explain the kind of challenges which African migrants face in their local Swedish context and to find out if they undergo any significant transformations affecting their identities and/or ways of life. This objective was pursued through a field study of African migrants from Cameroon and Somalia living in the city of Malmö. The empirical material consisted of semi-structured interviews with individuals and groups and participant observations at migrant cultural associations. The analysis utilised two main theoretical frameworks: theory of conflict transformation and theories of discrimination (racism). The choice of the former was made to illuminate the agency of migrants by highlighting their capacity to act in their own interests within the host society. A major strength of this approach is that it draws attention to the (re)actions of both ‘natives’ and migrants towards each other. Theories of discrimination address the important issue of unequal power relations working against migrants, which tend to be neglected in conflict theory. The advantage of using these different theoretical approaches is that they complement each other and thus strengthen the theoretical discussion in the thesis. Analysis of the empirical material indicated that established practices in major institutions, as well as individual actions at the micro level of society, contribute to the marginalisation of migrants. A major finding was that both migrants and ‘natives’ are involved in practices that produce experiences of marginalisation and discrimination for the former. Actions that produced conflicts, material deprivation and exclusion were identified with both migrants and ‘natives’. However, actions by ‘natives’ had a more negative impact than those by migrants. This was seen as the result of the fact that ‘natives’ have greater influence in society because of their relative position of power. Finally, the thesis showed that migrants perceive the challenges confronting them in Sweden in different ways, due to the specific experiences they face in Sweden but also by reason of their experiences in their countries of origins and their different migration histories. Some of them saw the practices that produced their marginalisation as infringements on their basic rights and responded by actively fighting back. Others were less critical of similar practices and did little or nothing about them. Important differences between migrants were also noted in relation to their transformations in Sweden affecting important aspects of their lives: their identities, power relations among them and between them and the host society, gender relations, and their ways of dealing with the challenges with which they were confronted. These differences were seen as a result of the heterogeneity of the migrants under study, who nevertheless are often homogenised as the African ‘other’. This heterogeneity consisted of hierarchical gender relations, varying access to material resources, and membership in exclusive networks of belonging based on particularistic national and regional identities.
25.
Olsson, Elin, 1980-
(författare)
Social Relations in Youth : Determinants and Consequences of Relations to Parents, Teachers, and Peers
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The thesis includes three empirical studies on Swedish children’s well-being. Central themes in these studies are how children’s social relations are influenced by and influence other dimensions of their well-being. The studies are framed in the introductory chapter, which includes an international comparison of children’s social relations. Study I analyses whether relations with parents and teachers are associated with the adolescent’s social background and whether the positive consequences of having strong relations are more important for disadvantaged adolescents. The results, based on nationally representative survey data, confirm that strong social relations are conducive to adolescents’ school and psychological outcomes, and show that disadvantaged adolescents have weaker relations with parents and teachers. Furthermore, these results imply that relations with teachers are of particular importance for disadvantaged adolescents’ outcomes, while parental relations are equally important for both advantaged and disadvantaged adolescents. Study II investigates the social side of consumption by studying the association between adolescents’ economic resources and their relations with peers. Analyses on nationally representative survey data; which include children’s own responses, as well as information from parents and register data, show that economic resources, in terms of both household economy and adolescents’ own resources, are positively associated with peer relations. Study III analyses whether final grades in compulsory school are influenced by the sex composition in school classes. Analyses using register data show that boys’ grades are negatively affected by the share of girls in school classes in typical female school subjects. Girls’ grades are negatively affected by the share of boys with highly educated parents. The proposed explanation behind the results is that sex composition effects are due to negative social comparisons with the other sex.
26.
Rudolphi, Frida, 1983-
(författare)
Inequality in Educational Outcomes : How Aspirations, Performance, and Choice Shape School Careers in Sweden
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This thesis examines different aspects of educational inequalities, drawing on the notion that inequality in educational attainment depends on two separate mechanisms: that children from advantaged social backgrounds perform better at school (primary effects) and tend more than others to choose to continue in education given performance (secondary effects). Study I shows that the long-term decrease in social class inequality in the transition from compulsory to academic upper secondary education since the middle of the mid-20th century up to the late 1990s, seems to be related to both declining primary and secondary effects. Secondary effects account for around 35 to 40 percent of the total inequality in academic upper secondary education. Study II suggests that there has been a continuing trend of declining inequality in academic upper secondary education between pupils of high and low educational origin between 1998 and 2006, a development mainly driven by change in secondary effects. Primary effects have remained more stable and account for a substantial part of the inequality process across the two most important educational transitions. Study III indicates that class inequality in educational performance at age 16 is attributable to a non-trivial degree to a class gradient in aspirations at age 13. It is argued that survey information on aspirations may help disentangle how educational inequalities develop through feedback processes between skills and ambitions throughout educational careers. Treating early aspirations as anticipatory decisions, by letting their effect on performance represent a choice effect, suggests that cross-sectional estimates of the proportion secondary effects are downwardly biased by up to six percent. In Study IV, Swedish-born children of immigrant parents are shown to be a heterogeneous group in terms of educational outcomes, with some subgroups doing very well and others quite poorly. A polarized pattern is revealed. Many minority groups do not perform on a par with their majority peers in compulsory school. Conditional on grades, children with parents of a non-European background often do not enroll in upper secondary education, but among those who do, the propensity is high to choose academic studies over vocational.
27.
Sarromaa, Sanna, 1979-
(författare)
DET NYE OG DEN UNGE NORSKE KVINNEN : diskurser, representasjoner og resepsjoner om ung kvinnelighet 1957-77 og i 2009
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Adolescent girlhood has been a marginalised field in twentieth- and twenty-first-century sociology, social history and women’s history. This dissertation is about feminine adolescence in Norway from 1957 to 1977 – and further in 2009. This study analyses discourses and representations of girlhood and proper girlhood, as well as the mediation and reception of such discourses and representations. More specifically, I examine adolescent girlhood from two intertwining perspectives. First, I analyze the textual representation of adolescent girlhood in Det Nye, the oldest young women’s magazine in Norway. Second, I explore the reception of the magazine’s discourses and representations of young femininity by interviewing girls and women about the magazine. The dissertation consists of four articles. Two of the articles are textual analyses of Det Nye’s regular columns and sections. In the first article, I analyze the question-and-answer column, “Beate.” For over 20 years, Norwegian girls asked Beate for advice about love, romance and sexuality. My focus is on the discursive change in her answers, and the way they moved from essentialist and rigid arguments in 1950s and 1960s to a more gender-equal perspective in the1970s. The second article addresses representations of proper girlhood in 1958 by way of an analysis of a series of so-called real-life stories in Det Nye in 1958. These stories are presented as if they are real stories written by the girls in the stories. In these stories, “proper girlhood” is defined by respectability, (sexual) innocence, cheerfulness, and the ability and willingness to be a good housewife. In the third article, the focus is on Norwegian women who came of age in the ideological landscape of the 1950s and 1960s and who tried to establish what they perceived to be good lives for themselves. The purpose of the article is to examine how these women experienced sexuality and housewifery, especially in relation to how they perceived their possibilities for shaping their own lives. In other words, I confronted today’s elder women, most of them previous housewives, with the discourses and representations that came up in the textual analysis of old issues of Det Nye. The oral history interviews showed that most of these women adjusted to the housewife landscape that was characteristic of Norway in those years. Most of them chose the life path they were “supposed to” choose, and they naturalised their choices. With the exception of one woman in my material, these women were no strong agents of change, at least in relation the division of labour. They married in their early twenties, after which they generally retreated from the labour market to become full-time mothers and housewives for many years. The rising discourse of feminism seems to have played a very small role in the lives of these women in 1950s and 1960s. In the last article, I ask today’s girls about ideal girlhood as portrayed in girls’ magazines, the girls’ own ideas about ideal girlhood, and about the practice of reading magazines for young women. I interviewed 18 girls between 13 and 17 years of age in focus groups, and the results show that girls’ magazines function as an arena for learning and education, providing guidelines about make-up, fashion, education, jobs and labour marked. Magazines are not read, however, only because of the information they offer. They are also read for their own sake – for the “brainless enjoyment” as one of my informants put it. Finally, the magazines also have a trait that appeals to girls with a hectic lifestyle – namely, their “putdownability.”
28.
Sarstrand Marekovic, Anna-Maria, 1976-
(författare)
Från invandrarbyrå till flyktingmottagning : Fyrtio års arbete med invandrare och flyktingar på kommunal nivå
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The dissertation investigates what happened when a new field – the incorporation of immigrants and refugees – was to be organized at the local level in Sweden. The result shows that the public authorities during the 40 year period that the study covers struggled with several questions, such as: how they should organize this, who should carry out the work, what should be done in practice, and towards which groups should it be directed? It is around these questions that the municipal work with immigrants and refugees revolved, without finding any clear and permanent answers. I analyze this in terms of four themes: responsibility, personnel and competence structure, direction of the work, and target group, which together constitute what I call the organizations’ ‘practices of incorporation’. The main aim with the dissertation is to illuminate and analyze how these practices have developed and changed from the mid 1960’s and approximately 40 years on. To accomplish this I have conducted a historical and comparative study of eight municipalities. The material comprises several different sources, from interviews with civil servants and participant observation, to archive material and secondary literature. My theoretical perspective is mainly drawn from the sociology of organizations, with a focus on the history of organizations.The analysis defines two roughly defined periods, the period of immigrant service bureaus (1965-1985) and the period of refugee reception centers (1985-2008). My study of the history of the organizations shows both the change of practice that has occurred and the stability that remains at the same time. It also shows that the transition to refugee reception centers made it necessary to redefine and renegotiate the practices of incorporation. During the first 20 years covered in this dissertation, the immigrant service bureaus developed into independent administrative agencies; they became institutionalized as organizations. The break occurred as soon as the new system for refugee reception was initiated in the mid-1980s, when the role of the social welfare offices increased considerably. In recent years there are signs that labor market units in the municipalities are strengthening their role in relation to the reception centers, but also that the social welfare offices ‘working under cover’ continue to have the main responsibility for reception centers. Criticism against the role of the social welfare offices is mostly based on the accusation that they tend to make immigrants and refugees into clients, dependent on subsidies and remaining outside the labour market. In sum, the introduction of municipal refugee reception centers ultimately led to the closing of practically all immigrant service bureaus during the 1990s. In some individual cases they have lived on, or had some of their functions included in the praxis of the refugee reception centers, but on the whole they became increasingly marginalized, and finally disappeared.
29.
30.
Söderberg, Johan, 1976
(författare)
Free software to open hardware: Critical theory on the frontiers of hacking
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Starting from the experiences of hackers developing free software and open hardware, this thesis addresses some key and recurrent themes in the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). It poses the question: how are technologies conceptualised, constructed and used in ways that render some aspects of them transparent, while leaving others opaque? This question is complicated by the fact that what is visible and transparent to some will remain opaque to others, depending on the level of technical expertise commanded. The political implications of this stand at the heart of my inquiry. Since technical know-how is unevenly distributed among groups in society, the same concern can be rephrased as follows: How are relations of power and conflict mediated through technology and relations of technical expertise/ignorance? While trying to address this question, the thesis delves into matters of epistemology. Just as programming skills are required for seeing what is going on behind the computer screen, so theoretically informed reflection can be considered necessary for rendering visible social relations not immediately apparent to the casual eye. Discussion of the actions of hackers is therefore combined in this thesis with discussion of the alternative programmes of research which can be applied to the study of these actions. Two programmes of research in particular receive attention: the critical theory of technology and constructivist science and technology studies (STS). Of these two, the relevance of the former tradition is emphasized and its value for research in the STS field defended. The thesis is composed of four articles and an introductory chapter summarizing and encapsulating my concerns. The first article discusses belief in technological determinism among hackers and how this does not necessarily stand in opposition to political engagement. On the contrary, it is common within hacker politics for contending viewpoints to be articulated in relation to seemingly apolitical narratives about technical neutrality and progress. The second article also deals with antagonistic relations at the heart of processes of technological change. It argues that the punitive actions of law enforcement agencies provide a clear indication of the presence of asymmetrical power relations in technological change through, for example, attempts to suppress filesharing inventions. Hackers are negotiating with legal authorities and the mass media, but also amongst themselves, about how to draw the line between the legitimate users and harmful misusers of technology. The third and fourth articles are based on a case study of a group of Czech hardware hackers who invented a wireless network technology for sending data with visible, red light. The challenges faced by these hardware hackers in their attempts to design technical solutions capable of being built by non-expert users are discussed at length in a theoretically-informed fashion.
