1.
Sjöstrand, Glenn, 1966-
(författare)
Gåvan i Gnosjö – Företagares relationer i ett industriellt distrikt
2008
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
In the growing body of research on industrial districts, focus is usually on trying to explain the economic outcomes of the configuration of formal and informal economic and social organisations specific to these districts. A general way to explain the outcomes is by referring to the “culture” in which economic and social exchanges take place without specifying what culture means and what it is in culture that affects the economic outcomes. This dissertation analyzes a gift-economy where goods and services are offered, accepted and returned among business entrepreneurs in the industrial district of Gnosjö, Sweden. Especially the institutional and social embeddedness of exchanges between small business owners and the norms in the culture that regulates the relationships are focused. The three aims of the study are to explain the local preconditions for a gift-economy to be established, explain how the gift-economy is affecting the outcomes of the formal economy and to explain how the social changes with globalization and integration of markets change the conditions for the gift-economy to reproduce. The empirical data is drawn mainly from 94 interviews with business owners or CEO:s in the district. The dissertation shows that the gift-economy is affecting the economic outcomes, such as high flexibility, low transactional costs, high profits, coordination of production, prices and knowledge dispersion of the industrial district, but also that it creates (social) costs of social control and other social drawbacks such as exclusion from networks and conformity.
2.
3.
Folkesson, Per, 1946-
(författare)
Katastrofer och män : Explorativa undersökningar av ett komplext förhållande
2005
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The present work is a doctoral dissertation in the field of social work with a gender perspective. Three case studies with an explorative approach were conducted, with the following research questions as the point of departure: a) is there a catastrophe-related gender segregation regarding men, and b) if so, what does this segregation look like in terms of related forms and phenomena? The work has its methodological basis in grounded theory, which is designed to generate theory that is firmly grounded in empirical data. Through theoretical sampling, information regarding three catastrophes was collected – the ethnic cleansing in Srebrenica in 1995, the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, and the discothèque fire in Gothenburg 1998. The central finding of the empirical studies suggests that there was a catastrophe-related gender segregation regarding men in all three cases. This was primarily evident in the fact that men collectively organized to defeat the causes and consequences of the catastrophic events that had taken place. Women were evacuated from the scene while men were left behind, or ordered there to help combat the catastrophe. Other phenomena that proved to be related to the main phenomenon, i.e. catastrophe-related gender segregation, were, for example, polarized normative patterns regarding men that pointed toward correctness, loyalty, and maximal performance on the one hand, or incorrectness, cowardice, and treachery on the other, and also altered psychological states as part of a process of mental mobilization in preparation of catastrophe-controlling tasks. The catastrophes conditioned a redefinition of the relationship between men and women where the consistent structural priority given to men was temporarily suspended.To a great extent, men were collectively exposed to deadly risks, and in two of the three cases the actual mortality of men was very high. The findings have led to the conclusion that men are relatively expendable in the event of a catastrophe. This conclusion, which is part of a grounded theory of the relationship between catastrophes and men, is discussed in the final chapter of the dissertation in relation to existing theory regarding sex, gender, and patriarchy, and phenomena like dissociation, civilization, and safety.
4.
Wikström, Hanna, 1970
(författare)
(O)möjliga positioner. Familjer från Iran & postkoloniala reflektioner.
2007
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The thesis is based on narratives by families originating from Iran, now residing in Sweden, Göteborg. The focus is the accounts of family, gender, relations, belongings (and class).Point of departure is a representation of “immigrant families” as problematic in the media and public debate. The overall aim is to deconstruct this image through the narratives of the families, and to suggest and present other and more complex accounts of families from Iran in Sweden. To reach the objectives of the study postcolonial theory, feminist post structuralism, deconstruction and discourse analysis are used as theoretical and methodological tools. Analytical focus are on doing family, gender, belongings and place. The empirical material consists of 31 interviews with 19 parents and young adults in seven families. The parents all have grown up in Iran before migrating to Sweden. The narratives are looked upon as accounts of discursive experience. The use of discourse in the narratives, in order to do oneself, family, gender, belongings and place, is presented as positions of the subjects. To inhabit a position is to “do identity”. Each family member uses a number of positions depending on theme, and how the narrative is situated. This is related to the theoretical notion of multiple subjects. The findings show that possibilities of differentiated positions and complex expressions, accounted for as an immigrant family, are severely restrained. However the narratives also show a large amount of creative, opposing, and radical expressions. The latter are considered as counter histories and becomes subversive manifestations. The positions occupied by the family members arrived at in accordance with a hegemonic discursive formation containing, on the one hand, “Swedishness”, modernity and democracy, and, on the other, “Iranianess”, tradition and oppression. This suggests that the family members position themselves and their families in relation to a notion of the Swedish, heterosexual, nuclear family as considered normal – and/or a notion of the Iranian, troubled family as subordinated. In a first position the family members do themselves and their families as “Swedish”, modern and democratic, while “Iranianess” is considered undesirable. This suggests being forced to choose either “Swedishness” or “Iranianess”. A second position implies that the family members position themselves and their families as both “Swedish”, democratic and modern and Iranian. The third position suggests rejecting the hegemonic discourse and placing oneself and ones family, as well as generalized notions of family, as neither “Swedish” nor “Iranian” and thus joining the struggle of defining discursive reality. The findings distorts the conception of “immigrant families” as victims of “cultural conflicts”. And thus, refutes the representation of families from Iran as “different” in comparison to “Swedish families” on the basis of national and “cultural” origins. In this discussion the perception of Iran is crucial. That is, if the concept of modernity is restricted to Western societies/practices, the notion of families from Iran in Sweden (or in Iran) will continue to be excluding and exclusive. This in turn implies being able to comprehend Iranian society, and families from Iran, as complex, and as a ground of differentiated expressions.
5.
Bengtsson, Mattias, 1978
(författare)
Individen stämplar in. Arbetet, facket och lönen i sociologisk belysning : The individual is clocking in: A sociological illumination of work, the trade union and pay
2008
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This dissertation comprises a sociological analysis of processes of individualisation in Swedish working life during the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. It also deals with the distribution of individualised conditions and individualistic attitudes among various categories of employees. The point of departure is various theories of individualisation and not least their lack of empirical validation. As society is depicted as individualised, the structural conditionings of peoples’ lives tend to be made invisible. Individualisation is seen as a process whereby traditional collective solutions and identities lose their impact upon people, leaving greater freedom of action and scope for decision-making, in which the situation of the individual is linked to his/her characteristics, capacities and achievements. The primary empirical material is survey data of employees 16-64 years of age. The survey was conducted in 2003 with 3286 respondents and a response rate of 72 percent. Also other types of surveys and statistical material are referred to. The degree of individualisation, as well as individualised conditions and individualistic attitudes, are analysed in relation to three main areas of investigation: work, the trade union and pay. The structural transformation of the labour market during the last decades of the 20th century gave an increased proportion of the employed freedom of action. On the other hand, it is not empirically supported that the content of peoples’ jobs has been individualised. Regarding attitudes towards the trade union, individualisation is opposed by the fact that the Swedish level of union membership is very high in an international perspective and many employees agree that the union is needed in negotiations with their employer. On the other hand, many are positive towards individual nego-tiations, and union membership has fallen since the middle of the 1990s. There is empirical support for an individualisation of wage determination, although wages are still collectively agreed upon on a national level. There is strong support for a structural conditioning of individualised conditions and individualistic attitudes, and the two are in some ways related. They are clearly class-based; the service class being more individualised and individualistically directed than the working class. The degree of self-directedness in work, an indicator of individualised conditions, is important not least for explaining class differences. Finally, age, sex, sector of employment and size of establishment are other factors that clearly have an impact on the distribution of individualised conditions and individualistic attitudes.
6.
7.
Berntsson, Paula, 1956
(författare)
Lärarförbundet, förskollärare och statushöjande strategier - Ett könsperspektiv på professionalisering : The Teachers’ Union, pre-school teachers and status-raising strategies. A gender perspective on professionalisation
2006
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This dissertation concerns the strategies of professionalisation that the Teachers’ Union pursues in order to upgrade pre-school teachers’ work and professional knowledge. Both union actions in general and customary strategies of professionalisation have been criticised for presupposing men as the norm. This is considered to have contributed to obscuring and devaluing work and professional knowledge which are more specific to female-dominated professional groups. Therefore the strategies of the Teachers’ Union are studied in the dissertation from a gender perspective. The Union’s perceptions of status-raising strategies are compared with those of the strongly female-dominated pre-school teacher corps, and an analysis is made of whether the Union’s strategies contribute to maintaining or to changing the value-discrimination that female-dominated professional groups’ work and knowledge risk suffering. The dissertation also examines common professionalisation strategies from a gender perspective. The analyses are based upon union documents, interviews with union representatives, a questionnaire investigation among 265 pre-school teachers, the views expressed by such teachers in newspaper letters and articles, research on professions, feminist research, and work-evaluation projects. The results show that a majority of the pre-school teachers in the questionnaire study think that most of the strategies pursued by the Teachers’ Union contribute to upgrading their status. At the same time they believe that other factors not emphasised by the Union in its strategies are also important for the profession’s status. This has to do with their task of giving children more egalitarian conditions of upbringing, their work with development and care, and their emotional and social competences. These work-tasks and competences are more usual in female-dominated professional groups and have often been subjected to value-discrimination. When the Teachers’ Union refrains from emphasising them, it can contribute to maintaining this value-discrimination. Nonetheless, the strategies which the Union chooses to pursue can support the upgrading of pre-school teachers’ work and professional knowledge It may, however, be that the union strategies primarily benefit those pre-school teachers who work in a pre-school class and that they thereby enhance differences in status within the pre-school teacher corps.
8.
9.
Bjarnason, Tómas, 1962
(författare)
Social Recognition and Employees' Organizational Support
2009
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The focal point of this study is to explore the support service employees give to their organization. Its main objective is to define the concept of organizational support and to examine its causes, in particular to investigate the effects of social recognition on employees’ organizational support. Three separate questions are examined: the definition of employees’ organizational support; the effects of social recognition on employees’ organizational support; and whether the causes of organizational support are the same in different service settings. In defining organizational support from service employees, a four dimensional view is proposed, comprising organizational commitment, intent to stay, service effort, and service improvements. The choice of these four dimensions is motivated by the importance of employee commitment, retention, and service performances for the competitive edge of service organizations. In examining the origins of employees’ organizational support, main emphasis is placed on “social recognition.” Social recognition is argued to be of fundamental importance for employees, as it contributes to perceptions of self-worth and identity. Social recognition is proposed to comprise “influence,” “skill-utilization,” and “approval.” The process in which social recognition elicits employees’ support is explained through reciprocity mechanisms; that employees reciprocate social recognition with their supportive attitudes and behaviors. Diverse management strategies are applied within the service sector, affecting employees’ opportunities for receiving recognition at work and allegedly their organizational support. It is proposed that levels of social recognition and employees’ organizational support will vary according to the type of services provided. It is also proposed that social recognition is a general reward that elicits employees’ organizational support in similar ways in different service settings. Confirmatory factor analysis using data from two service organizations (N=929 and N=227) confirms a four-factor structure of employees’ organizational support and three-factor structure of social recognition, as proposed. Results from four structural equation models specifying the relations between demographic variables, social recognition, and employees’ organizational support using data from one service organization (N=929) indicate that social recognition is of importance in explaining levels of employees’ support. Skill-utilization and influence have positive effects on organizational commitment, and approval has an indirect positive effect on organizational commitment through skill-utilization and influence. Organizational commitment and skill-utilization have positive effects on intent to stay and service effort. Influence is found to have positive effects on service improvements. Examination of mean differences between three service divisions; a retail division (N=307), a support division (N=146) and a manual-maintenance division (N=383), indicate that retail employees have less influence and utilize their skills to a lesser degree than employees in the other divisions, as expected. Levels of employees’ organizational support are, however, not found to vary in similar ways between the three divisions, contrary to what was expected. Using structural equation models, the applicability of the four models across the three service divisions was supported, indicating the importance of social recognition for eliciting organizational support from employees in different service settings. The main contribution of this thesis is to show that social recognition elicits organizational support from service employees in different service settings.
10.
