1.
Alfonsson, Johan, 1985
(författare)
Alienation och Arbete. Unga behovsanställdas villkor i den flexibla kapitalismen
2020
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The aim of this dissertation is to investigate how flexible capitalism, drawing from the case of on-call employees, influences the ability to control life and work and affects relationships with other people, both inside and outside work; and to investigate how this can be understood in terms of alienation. A subsidiary aim that emerges from this investigation is to develop existing alienation theories in a way that enables them to be used to understand human existence under flexible capitalism. Alienation is understood as a process in which something that should be connected has lost its connection: it is a relation of relationlessness. This raises three questions: How can we decide what a relation “ought” to be? What relations are being alienated and what is causing these relations to become relationless? In the thesis I use an immanent perspective to identify the “ought” in the studied context: the capitalist mode of production. For value to exist it is required that man is, as Marx puts it in Capital, “the free proprietor of his own labour-capacity, hence of his own person”. Thus, there is a premise of self-determination in capitalism. A premise which, because of man’s need to create value and the fact that her activity must be subordinated to the value logic, cannot be realized. This applies to everyone in our society, capitalists and labourers alike, and alienates man from her activity, herself, others and her product. This is understood as abstract alienation. On a concrete and specific level the control of how to reach this value-goal and to what extent this affects the individual’s life may differ depending on how value production takes place and the individual’s position in production. I call this concrete alienation and it can be understood as the concrete expression of the abstract alienation. In this way, alienation is neither a purely structural nor a purely subjective phenomenon. It can be both. Following changes in the accumulation regime the concrete alienation has transformed during the last decades, which is expressed in the on-call employees’ situation. Based on an analysis of 17 in-depth interviews I conclude that that their subjective motifs of being in the employment differ and their employment is objectively shaped differently. The objective and subjective dimensions are the basis for understanding on-call employees’ alienation at a concrete level. Drawing from Jaeggi’s qualified subjectivism I argue that since a premise of capitalism is self-determination, the individual must have a say in their situation and experience. If an individual feels that she can’t control her life she is thus alienated from the premise of self-determination. If she feels that she can control her life but this feeling is not realised, meaning that there is no objective possibility to control or steer her life, there is no self-determination and thus alienation persists even though it is not perceived. The result tells us that on-call employment can be used both as a way to increase the freedom and self-determination over one’s life and hinder it, it can instrumentalise life and work in a specific way, and it can hinder the control over social relations, both in and outside of work. As a result, even though they all experience abstract alienation, their level of concrete alienation differs.
2.
Berg, Martin, 1977-
(författare)
Självets garderobiär : självreflexiva genuslekar och queer socialpsykologi
2008
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Det övergripande syftet med föreliggande studie är tudelat. För det första syftar den till att på teoretisk väg etablera en dialog mellan queerteoretisk och socialpsykologisk teoribildning om aktörer och aktörsskap med utgångspunkt i en kritisk läsning av Judith Butler och George Herbert Mead. För det andra syftar den till att på empirisk väg utveckla och fördjupa denna dialog i syfte att demonstrera och resonera kring de möjligheter som uppstår i spänningen mellan dessa teoretiska perspektiv. På detta sätt är avsikten att föra ett bidrag till såväl den queer- och genusteoretiska debatten som dess socialpsykologiska motsvarighet. Ambitionen är att detta sammantaget kan utgöra ett ramverk i vilket möjligheterna med en queer socialpsykologi skisseras. I jämförelsen mellan dessa teoretiska perspektiv fokuseras på frågan om hur människor antas bli till som aktörer och under vilka villkor och genom vilka processer detta äger rum. I centrum för denna diskussion positioneras relationen mellan deras respektive antagande om struktur och aktör samt hur denna relaterar till och förutsätts vara uppburen genom något slags praktik. För det andra diskuteras individens möjlighet att omförhandla sitt förvärvade aktörsskap och genom vilka processer och praktiker detta eventuellt kan göras möjligt. Avhandlingen är uppdelad i fyra delar. Den inledande delen (del 1: Inledande ord) introducerar studiens övergripande bakgrund, teoretiska position, syfte, material och de metodologiska överväganden som har gjorts under forskningsresans gång. Den andra delen (del 2: Teoretiska interventioner) utvecklar i tre kapitel den diskussion om spänningen mellan queerteori och socialpsykologi som påbörjades i avhandlingens första och inledande kapitel. I ett första kapitel fokuseras på Judith Butler för att ringa in och granska några centrala argument och faktorer i hennes tänkande. I ett andra kapitel diskuteras George Herbert Mead för att, i likhet med föregående kapitel, presentera hans övergripande argument och huvudsakliga tankegångar. Avslutningsvis avrundas avhandlingens andra del med ett kapitel som syftar till att summera och utveckla den spänningsrelation som hittas mellan dessa två teoretiker samtidigt som en diskussion förs om de möjligheter en empirisk utveckling av den teoretiska problematiken skulle kunna bidra med. Den teoretiska spänning som lokaliseras mellan Mead och Butler kretsar i första hand kring deras förståelse av relationen mellan aktör och praktik och med utgångspunkt i denna formuleras arbetsbegreppen transaktör och transpraktik som genomgående används i presentationen av det empiriska materialet. Avhandlingens tredje del (del 3: Empiriska nedslag) är i första hand av empirisk karaktär och är uppdelad i två kapitel. I det första av dessa förs en diskussion om hur de självreflexiva genuslekarna inbegriper formulerandet av ett särskilt transgenus och på vad sätt det är möjligt att förstå iscensättandet av genus som en i första hand självkommunikativ praktik. Gradvis demonstreras hur det går att utläsa en önskan om att iscensätta genus tillsammans med andra människor och därför kretsar det följande kapitlet kring en diskussion om betydelsen av social interaktion för detta iscensättande. Med andra ord går det att utläsa en rörelse från självkommunikation till (önskad) social interaktion och detta är ett tema som tydligt ringar in en stor del av den teoretiska problematik som genomsyrar denna studie. I den fjärde och avslutande delen (del 4: Avslutande reflektioner) knyts i tre kapitel de resonemang som hittills har presenterats och diskuterats ihop. Det inledande kapitlet för en teoretiskt orienterad diskussion om den föregående genomgången av det empiriska materialet. I ett därpå följande kapitel fokuseras på olika aspekter av självreflexiva genuslekar i relation till den klädda kroppen för att visa hur den tidigare presenterade praktik- och aktörsproblematiken är avhängig den klädda kroppens genusprägling. I detta sammanhang visas hur det är möjligt att upprätta en relation mellan självets framväxt, subjektivitet och den klädda kroppen. Avslutningsvis förs ett kortfattat resonemang kring avhandlingens huvudsakliga argumentationslinjer och vilka möjligheter ett tänkande inspirerat av queer socialpsykologi för med sig.
3.
Eriksson, Helena
(författare)
Befolkning, samhälle och förändring : Dynamik i Halmstad under fyra decennier
2010
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Changes in society are often discussed on an aggregated level and it is argued that society is changing from a modern industrial society to a post-industrial society. Through studying changes on a local level it is possible to study the complexity and variations of the general and aggregated theories of societal changes, and place changes in a context of time and place. The main object of this study is to analyse change in a locality. The study is a case study which studies Halmstad, a municipality on the west coast of Sweden, between the years of 1968 and 2006. The empirical material consists of analysis of demographic statistics and labour market statistics, using official statistical databases. The empirical material also consists of an analysis of official and historical documents as well as interviews with persons active in Halmstad. Three time periods are identified in the analyses which are characterised by different patterns in the population. The periods are also characterised by changes in the labour market and the employment of the population. These changes are analysed through the interplay between actors in the locality and actors and influences from outside the locality. Through the analysis of reflexivity it is shown how change and stability are interrelated through the interplay between the new and existing or innovation and tradition.
4.
Hilding, Lars-Olof, 1963-
(författare)
"Är det så här vi är" : Om utbildning som normalitet och om produktionen av studenter
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Avhandlingen, baserad på intervjuer med 58 studenter vid tre olika program vid Högskolan i Halmstad, behandlar de skäl olika studentgrupper beskriver för att börja studera, deras upplevelser av mötet med högskolemiljön, och vilken betydelse de en lokal högskola kan ha. Trots olika åtgärder var den sociala snedrekryteringen till högre utbildning i stort sett oförändrad mellan 1960 och 1990. Under 1990-talet skedde en utjämning, men 1999 kom fortfarande bara 24% av studenterna vid svenska universitet från arbetarklasshem, trots att de utgjorde 35% av hela befolkningen. Studenter med högutbildade föräldrar uppger att de egentligen inte träffar ett aktivt val att börja högre studier, det uppfattas snarare som en naturlig del av vuxenblivandet. Barn från hem utan utbildningstraditioner ger en annan beskrivning. De beskriver valet att utbilda sig som ett val bland flera andra, och att de fått stöd från föräldrarna oavsett vad de valt. För barn till lågutbildade var det ofta fråga om en särskild händelse som gjorde att utbildning blev ett aktuellt alternativ. I studien har det varit möjligt att jämföra hur både klassresenärer och arvtagare beskriver mötet med och vistelsen på högskolan. Båda grupperna beskriver hur de upplever miljön som förvirrande och otrygg. Arvtagarna utvecklar emellertid strategier för att hantera situationen, eftersom den är svårare att ifrågasätta för dessa - utbildningen är ju en naturlig del av vuxenblivandet. Klassresenärerna är däremot mer benägna att ifrågasätta studierna. Klassresenärerna beskriver hur de upplever att de förändras ifråga om språk och förhållningssätt under studierna, männen i mer positiva ordalag, kvinnor med en viss tvehågsenhet.
5.
Isaksson, Anna
(författare)
Att utmana förändringens gränser : En studie om förändringsarbete, partnerskap och kön med Equal-programmet som exempel
2010
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
In this thesis the overall aim is to analyse conceptions of change with the point of departure being texts developed within the framework of three development partnerships financed by the European Social Fund's Equal Programme 2001-2007. The development partnerships, consisting of collaborating parties from both the public and private sector, aimed at developing new methods and ideas in order to counteract discrimination and all kinds of inequality in working life. The thesis poses the following research questions: How are the problems that the development partnerships intended to counteract described? What appears as important to change in order for discrimination in working life to decrease? In what ways are changes aimed at combating discrimination and contributing to increased gender equality and diversity in working life deemed possible? What motives emerge behind the visions of creating a working life without discrimination? How are gender and other social categories constructed and how do these constructions impact on the conceptions of change that emerge? The ideas, perspectives and interests that characterise the understanding of changes in working life in the studied texts, are illustrated with the aid of theories on how society's forms of rule have changed from government to governance and theories on how gender is done. Furthermore, why certain perspectives and ideas emerge and the consequences of them is analysed based on institutional ethnography and concepts such as social relations and ruling relations. The thesis' analysis points to how the consensus-based organisational form of partnership and the politics and principles that are reflected in the Equal Programme together with notions on growth, leadership and gender create limits for the conceptions of change. Limits that in certain respects entail that society's relations of power and inequality, instead of being challenged, are reproduced. Based on the results of the study, the importance is emphasised of continuously taking one's point of departure in identifying and challenging the limits to how one can speak of change, since the dominant conceptions of change may be an expression of the ruling relations.
6.
Nilsen, Åke
(författare)
En empirisk vetenskap om duet : Om Alfred Schutz bidrag till sociologin
2000
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This dissertation examines Alfred Schutz's (1899-1959) approach to sociology, which early in his work he called an empirical science of the thou, with an emphasis on the sociological theory he worked out to strengthen interpretive sociology. Based on a methodological understanding about the possibility of being able to achieve scientific knowledge of the other's, the thou's, context within which meaning is created and action is based, Schutz further developed an interpretive approach which has its roots in Edmund Husserl's phenomenology. This dissertation highlights Schutz's contribution to sociology, both in terms of his own writing and the influence he has had on others, exemplified by Peter Berger & Thomas Luckman, Harold Garfinkel and Jürgen Habermas. The purpose of this critical analysis is to discern the positive contributions as well as deficiencies in Schutz's sociological theory, as well as locating Schutz's and his followers' perspectives in relation to sociology's methodological foundations. This dissertation primarily takes up two theory of science issues which are related to Schutz's and his followers' perspectives. The first issue revolves around the relationship between the theoretical development that Schutz undertakes through a phenomenological approach to analyzing the reality of everyday life and interpretive sociology's foundations. The second issue revolves around the relationship between Schutz's and his followers' approach and the methodological foundations of sociology. The dissertation is divided into three parts. Part I takes up Schutz's life and approach to sociology. Part II comprises of an analysis of Schutz's contribution to, and influence on, sociology with particular reference to his sociological theory. Part III takes up the issues of sociological theory and the methodological foundations of sociology.
7.
Schmitz, Eva
(författare)
Systerskap som politisk handling : Kvinnors organisering i Sverige 1968 till 1982
2007
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The second-wave women's movement emerged in Sweden with Group 8 in 1968, at the height of the anti-war struggle against the US war in Vietnam. A new generation of women took to the streets to demand free abortion, and free childcare, and to campaign against women's low pay and sexual exploitation. This thesis focuses on a number of women's groups? collective action and organising during a political period of different movements. With this thesis I have tried to show what characterised the new women's movement in Sweden from 1968 to the beginning of the 1980's and what happens when women decide to go out and fight against injustices from a gender and class perspective. Secondly, I hope this thesis will provide a better understanding of the social forces for a change in gender relations that existed in Sweden during the 1970's during a period of parallel gender equality work. It was a movement that shook the foundations of women's role in society. Both the women's group activists and the women employed by ASAB and Algots contributed to this. I argue that the collective actions of the women collectives and their experiences of organising cannot be marginalised. I also hope that this study will provide a broader perspective on studies of social movements and collective actions. The social landscape during the 1960's and beginning of the 1970's facilitated the emergence of the new women's movement. For a radicalisation to deepen it also requires political opportunities and openings. For Group 8 it was the international context ? both the anti-war movement and the Women's liberation movement in the US. Another opening was the class politics of the social democrats, where Group 8 saw an opportunity to make visible the situation for especially low salaried women in capitalist society. Group 8 politics were directed against capitalism and the government, the patriarchal relations were exposed on all levels of society. The possibility to free themselves from the expected role of first and foremost being a wife and mother became the trigger for many women to join the movement. The overall focus in my thesis is women's collective actions and social protests. By doing empirical research on some women's groups in different places in Sweden and some women's struggles at work, I focus on the collective strategies that the movement used to challenge women's situation in production as well as reproduction. The women's movement as an important political force was due to the women's creative and active commitment and their ability to mobilise. It was the possibility to create a collective identity in the small women's groups that led to a feeling of power that in turn inspired to political action. The principle was an anti-hierarchical and anti-authoritative organisation and that the small group should be independent. This organisational structure facilitated the creation of a women's solidarity but also deepened the women's consciousness. The Swedish women's movement was a political force active outside the parliamentary institutions and should be assessed in that context. Women activists pushed for a politics that lay in the interests and needs of the majority of women. I believe the new women's movement will be remembered by its extensive collective actions in the form of demonstrations and meetings combined with the sale of newspapers and petitions to municipal councils. The collective actions were characterised by making women aware of oppression and discrimination. This was done with sensational slogans and catchwords at demonstrations. I believe it was these extrovert activities by women activists in different places around Sweden that led to the reception of the ideas and demands of the women's movement reaching far beyond the members themselves and sympathisers.
8.
Kindblad, Christopher
(författare)
Gift and Exchange in the Reciprocal Regime of the Miskito on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, 20th Century
2001
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This dissertation is a historical-comparative analysis of a conflict that has developed in the economic system of the Miskito in the 20th century, concerning the use of common property resources. The study is based on empirical material collected in a Miskito/Creole village on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua in the 1990s. During the enclave period (1860-1960) Miskito men earned money as wage labourers at foreign companies (lumber, mining and banana plantations), and sent home money and purchased goods to women, who worked in subsistence agriculture. At this time the communal resources were reserved mainly for subsistence and food gifts. This permitted a symbolic transformation of money and purchased goods, which were distributed in a wider network of kin-related women. There was a relatively stable coexistence of short-term exchange and long-term gift, which is referred to as a reciprocal regime. However, the transition to the commercial period (1960-) resulted in a commercial exploitation of communal resources, which seriously started to compete with subsistence and the custom of food gifts in the 1970s. A contradiction developed between short-term exchange and long-term gift, which stems from a double and contradictory coding of communal resources. This development was interrupted during the 1980s - the decade of the Sandinist revolution - but continued in the 1990s, although new aspects were added due to increasing population pressure, external exploitation and few opportunities for wage labour. In spite of instabilities in the reciprocal regime, the analysis suggests that there could be a conflictual coexistence of gift and exchange, which is potentially creative for the future.
9.
Bengtsson, Åsa, 1967-
(författare)
Nyktra kvinnor : Folkbildare, företagare och politiska aktörer. Vita Bandet 1900-1930
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
In this thesis the female Christian temperance union the White Ribbon is in focus. The White Ribbon was founded in Stockholm in 1900 and it was part of the international organization World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WWCTU). The organization’s ambition was to create a temperate and moral society, running a variety of philanthropic institutions and adult education, as well as non-alcohol serving restaurants.The aim of the thesis is to study the White Ribbon’s social and political commitment and its ideological approach during the first three decades of the 20th century. The White Ribboners’ ideological approach and culture are problematized in relation to the prevailing and predominant view on women. The organization’s monthly journal has been closely studied and the ideas and practical social and political commitment have been analyzed in a theoretical perspective of social movement theory, according to the Swedish sociologist Håkan Thörn’s methodological framework. This theoretical approach is an instrument to analyze what the White Ribbon identified to be social problems; what was considered to be the reasons for these problems; and what strategy the organization regarded to be the best way to deal with them in order to reach the prognosticated change.The analysis shows that the White Ribbon identified the predominant gender system and the bourgeois view on women as a primary social problem. The organization’s strategy was to eliminate the patriarchal order of the gender system and to change the attitude of people through adult education, information and persuasion. The White Ribbon participated in public debate pursuing temperance and women’s suffrage, and was a lobbyist proposing motions and demanding legislative reforms. The White Ribbon’s ideological approach, as well as their philanthropic activities emanated from a bourgeois ideal of conscientiousness and cultivation, and from an interest in social politics. This was in contrast to the bourgeois view of what the ideal woman should do. From the White Ribboners’ point of view, society could only prosper when women had the same rights as men, and could participate the public sphere and become involved in politics.The study shows that the organization worked hard for equality and democracy, pursuing a feminist and liberal ideology. The White Ribboners regarded themselves, and also acted, as political agents. They introduced and increased women’s possibilities for adult education. They initiated and provided social protection for alcohol addicted women, and for poor and fallen women and girls. These activities must be seen as forms of enterprises and the White Ribboners as entrepreneurs, since these institutions were, in fact, innovations and models for solving problems in order to build a welfare system and to create a temperate and prosperous society. The thesis put forward arguments that the White Ribbon’s social and political work are political innovations and important elements in the process of democratization and, therefore, played an important part in this process.
10.
