1.
Daoud, Adel, 1981
(författare)
Scarcity, Abundance and Sufficiency: Contributions to Social and Economic Theory
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Economic sociology has established itself as a strong and vibrant field in the social sciences. A number of significant studies have been conducted on the relation between the economy and society: on firms, markets, networks, money, and general action theory. But little has been done on the issues of scarcity, abundance, and sufficiency (SAS). Both economical and sociological approaches seem to assume scarcity as an important premise. But none seems to question the deeper nature of it. The SAS theme seems to be analytically underdeveloped in both disciplines. This thesis aims to explore an alternative ground for critical economic sociology or more generally for social and economic theory. Instead of focusing on the problems of rational choice, which a number of sociological studies have done, the thesis starts even earlier in the set of assumptions that condition human agency, it focuses on the premise of scarcity. The central question posed is: ’What is the nature of SAS in social and economic theory?’ Five studies have been carried out in order to answer this question. These studies focus on quite divergent empirical fields – famine, voluntary simplicity, and educational choice – in order to explore the varying importance of the sociocultural mechanisms underlying SAS. Paper I deals with absolute SAS and the assumption of universal scarcity in neoclassical economics. A critical examination of this assumption is conducted by studying the empirical phenomenon of global hunger in relation to a theoretical elaboration of SAS. It also proposes a framework for explaining and understanding absolute SAS. Paper II further tests the framework developed in Paper I. The food entitlement decline and the food availability decline are commonly seen as conflicting approaches to explaining famine. The paper analyses the relation between these two approaches and argues that these approaches can in fact be reconciled under one framework by outlining their causal sources. This analysis also shows that there is a third causal source that needs to be incorporated with the other two approaches. The whole analysis is exemplified by the Bengal Famine of 1943. Paper III focuses on relative SAS. It studies how voluntary material simplicity countervails the causal effect of relative scarcity generated by the environment of a consumer society. Analyses of both interviews and texts were carried out. It is shown that voluntary material simplifiers manage, though with difficulty, to neutralize the causal effect of the consumer society. This is achieved by mediating the cultural properties of the economic ethic of material simplicity, which promotes the deflation of human wants. They actualize what has been called the modus vivendi of material simplicity, a practical state of relative abundance. The aim of Paper IV is to study the formation of wants based on interviews with upper secondary school pupils. The paper shows that an organic view of decision-making is in better accordance with observations than is a hierarchical view and thus supports previous research claiming that pragmatic rationality (based on habitus and reflexivity) plays a more important role in students’ decision-making processes than does instrumental rationally. Paper V compares two classical economists and their views on scarcity, namely Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) and Lionel Robbins (1898-1984). However, both scholars’ views tend to naturalize and universalize scarcity, and thus to overlook abundance and sufficiency, which are important states in the social provisioning process. It is argued that this is due to neglect of the sociocultural causal underpinnings of SAS. Hence, the thesis offers three main contributions to social and economic theory in general: (1) a tentative typology of SAS; (2) a holistic (multi-casual) explanatory approach to SAS; and (3) an alternative foundation for social and economic theory, based on what has been called the SAS theme. It is shown that this theme contains various socioeconomic phenomena that are intimately linked to SAS (famine, want, property, market, justice, poverty, action, conflict, etc.), which then set the stage for new kinds of socioeconomic inquiries as well as new relationships between existing ones. Hopefully, this will enable an even deeper understanding of how SAS conditions social and economic life.
2.
Ericson, Mathias, 1976
(författare)
Nära inpå: Maskulinitet, intimitet och gemenskap i brandmäns arbetslag
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This study explores the profession of firefighter, in which the progression of gender equality has been particularly slow compared to many other professions in Sweden. The aim of the study is to explore constructions of masculinity in the firefighter profession and how they are related to specific forms of community among men in this profession. The starting point of the thesis is that one of the central mechanisms of gender segregation is male homosociality, which is men’s search for community with other men. Based on field notes and recorded interviews the study explores how affectionate and intimate relations between men are supported and upheld in this occupation. The analysis is presented in three parts that explore different aspects of firefighters’ life in the work teams. The first section explores that firefighters’ put value on spatial and temporal settings that demanded that they lived family life at work. They thought that if women were included in the work teams it would become more difficult to share that kind of intimacy. The second section focuses on the joking manner and jargon among firefighters. Being able to respond to brutal jokes and raw jargon confirmed their sense of being close, which was not thought to be able to uphold if women were included in the work teams. The third section focuses on how firefighters relate to the fact that their work is associated with notions of masculinity. It is argued that their ability to both support and criticise their profession’s association with masculine stereotypes enforced these men’s commitment to each other in the teams. The main contribution of the thesis to a deeper understanding of how men’s hegemony is maintained within this profession is exploring how the notion of homosociality and intimacy between men relates to the concept of masculinity. The thesis concludes that the concept of homosociality makes it possible to highlight other forms of inclusion and exclusion mechanisms than does the concept of hegemonic masculinity. The concept of masculinity emphasises the conflicts and hierarchies between men. The concept of homosociality however emphasises belonging and loyalty among men. It can be used to explore how gender is constructed, through the expectation that homosocial relationships would make possible an exclusive intimacy. That homosociality is valued as a guarantee for exclusive intimacy seems especially important in this profession, where this exclusive intimacy provides men with a sense of belonging and confirmation of having what it takes to be a real firefighter.
3.
Hedenus, Anna, 1979
(författare)
At the End of the Rainbow - Post-winning life among Swedish lottery winners
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This thesis is based upon empirical data from a quantitative survey among 420 Swedish lottery winners and from qualitative interviews with fourteen individual lottery winners. By examining how winners of large lottery prizes manage and experience their situation after winning, this thesis illustrates how sudden wealth affects people‟s behaviours and sense of self. The choices that lottery winners make in this situation can be understood as a reflection of how people prioritize and value different aspects of life: work, leisure, consumption, economic security etc. A special focus has been on the lottery winners‟ work commitment after the windfall, contributing to the previous knowledge on work attitudes and of people‟s appreciation of internal versus external rewards from work. The thesis consists of five papers that employ different research questions and thus illuminate the main issue of post-winning life from various theoretical vantage points. Paper I presents a basic account of how people relate to paid work after a lottery win. It also gives some indication of which groups of workers are more inclined than others to reduce the time they spend on work. Paper II explores this issue further, exploring the hypothesis that respondents who perceive difficulties in balancing their work and family life would be especially apt to devote less time to work. In paper III, finally, I investigate the relationship between lottery winners‟ socio-economic status and working conditions, on the one hand, and their commitment to work, on the other hand. Results from these three studies establish that only a minority of the lottery winners have spent less time at work since the windfall. Compared with winners of relatively lower prizes, however, winners of larger lottery prizes showed significantly higher incidence of having shortened their working hours or having taken periods of unpaid leave after the windfall. In addition to this finding, the different analyses showed that women, winners without children still living at home, blue-collar workers and workers who do not perceive that they have “good” colleagues, were more inclined to work shorter hours than winners of the respective reference groups. Considering the option to take periods of leave, it was instead the winners living without a partner and winners who perceived that their work place did not offer much opportunity for further training that were especially singled out. Older lottery winners, winners who felt that their jobs were physically strenuous, and winners who did not perceive that they could control their working hours, were, finally, more likely to cease work entirely. Papers IV and V, finally, illustrate how lottery winners conceive of the money that they have won as a “special” kind of money. Both papers address issues of how the prize money should be managed, notions governed by norms about consumption and saving. By managing the money properly, the lottery winners avoid the many risks associated with the win and can instead enjoy the feelings of freedom and security it also brings.
4.
Holgersson, Helena, 1978
(författare)
Icke-medborgarskapets urbana geografi
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The object of investigation in this dissertation is the living conditions of refused asylum seekers in Sweden. More specifically, it is an ethnographic study of how a group of people organize their lives in Gothenburg under the threat of deportation. In Sweden these people are often referred to as “hidden refugees”, “without papers” or “illegal immigrants”, but since this study analyzes these terms the informants are described as deportables. The research questions evolve around both what constitutes the Swedish non-citizenship and what characterizes the urban environment. As many other post-industrial cities, Gothenburg is today working within the logic of what David Harvey refers to as entrepreneurialism, which means competing with other cities to “get on the map” and attract capital, tourists and events. This study discusses how deportables can make room for themselves in “the city of events” and “the city of knowledge”. Today we see a distinct conflict of interest in Gothenburg. At the same time as many non-citizens come here, the local authorities work hard to reduce this “inflow”. Consequently, this study focuses on how matters concerning how the welfare state ought to deal with the presence of non-citizens come to a head in cities. It argues that one consequence of what Gøsta Esping-Andersen characterizes as the social democratic welfare regime is that deportables are more obviously excluded in Sweden than in other European countries. Creating parallel systems where these people are given some welfare goes against the fundamental principle of providing a high degree of welfare to everyone. Such politics are hard to live by on the local level though. For instance, Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg has created routines for registering people without a Swedish personal number. In Sweden the most common way of naming rejected asylum seekers is “hidden refugees”, an expression that envisions these people living “underground” and “outside of society”. However, the informants’ everyday life turned out to revolve around learning to navigate in the urban geography and to create a life in the intersection between national regulations and the opportunities that the city, after all, has to offer. Drawing on Les Back’s notion of sociological listening this study aims at formulating a place-sensitive sociology, by, firstly, supplementing traditional methods such as participant observations and interviews with walk-alongs and “mental” maps, and, secondly, combining discourse analytical and symbolic interactionist perspectives.
5.
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.
6.
Uhnoo, Sara, 1976
(författare)
Våldets regler-ungdomars tal om våld och bråk
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Rather than adults’ indignation about today’s youth, the object of investigation in this dissertation is young people’s moral rules. Rules are flexible and formable, often unclear and ambiguous, which means that they need to be interpreted in order to be usable in concrete situations. The thesis analyses young people’s moral work when they talk about violence and fighting between youths. It proceeds by distinguishing which rules they create, recreate and negotiate, which repertoires of interpretation they use, and which societal discourses they refer and relate to. The dissertation’s empirical material consists of fifteen tape-recorded and verbatim-transcribed interviews (individual, in pairs or focus-groups), with 41 young people aged 15–21, about violence and fighting. In order to place the interviewed youths’ locally anchored moral work in a broader context and obtain a basis to contrast it with, the youth’s talk is related to more general adult-dominated and public societal discourses. A limited discourse analysis of documents such as daily newspaper articles has thus been carried out. The analysis of the interviewees’ moral work is summarized in the form of a typology of young people’s fighting and violence. It shows that youths’ talk about what one may or must not do to another young person is complex, ambivalent and equivocal, and that the rules of violence are negotiable and varies with the situation and the relationship (the relative power relationship, degree of social distance and whether it is a positive or negative relationship). It also makes clear that rules are actively referred to, produced, reproduced, and negotiated in the interviews. What is made morally relevant varies between different forms of fighting and violence. In a youth fight, the beginning is important, but also how the opponent reacts and when, whether, and how one may strike the first blow or return a blow. In the moral work on play fights and sibling fights, the relationship and the purpose are given greater weight. In talk about boys’ blows, kicks and sexual offences against girls, great importance is attributed to physical strength, but also to the character of the violence—whether it is constructed as sexual or as solely physical. The interviewees set limits on what is allowed or not allowed for a young person – stranger, peer, sibling and partner – to do. Their moral work shows that social control is exercised even in the absence of adults, and that young people control themselves and each other through a host of subtle, informal social rules for violence and fighting between young people.
7.
Wahlström, Mattias, 1978
(författare)
The Making of Protest and Protest Policing: Negotiation, Knowledge, Space, and Narrative
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The overall aim of this thesis is to advance our knowledge of the preconditions, processes, and consequences of the interaction between police and political protesters in contemporary Western democracies. Using qualitative analysis of interviews with police officers and political activists, activist Internet forum discussions, and documents produced by police and activists, along with direct observation of protest events and police training in policing tactics, the study seeks to capture the interplay between police and protesters as a continuous process, as opposed to a series of isolated incidents. A better understanding of the dynamics of this process is vital for facilitating vibrant, plural public spaces for deliberation and political representation in a democratic society. The four studies comprising this dissertation look at events and processes in Denmark and Sweden in 2001 through 2008 – a time period seeing a reform of policing tactics and an upsurge in protest activism in the two countries. Paper I analyses the communication between the police and activists, including explicit negotiations, both before and during the European Union summits in Gothenburg 2001 and Copenhagen 2002, examining in especial the protesters’ initial attitudes towards and subsequent evaluations of this communication. The analysis reveals that the possibilities for achieving sustainable agreements between the two parties were frequently constrained by a mutual lack of trust that made any commitments by the other party seem less than credible. Activists’ trust in the police was found to be heavily dependent on the recent history of police behaviour and something not easily influenced by the individual efforts of the negotiating officers. In addition, the different protest performances that various activist groups wanted to stage were found to be crucial in explaining their attitudes towards communication with the police. Paper II explores the way in which the Swedish police force works to improve its protest policing practices by trying to reform police knowledge through training and police officers’ individual interviews with activists and other counterparts. The discussion centres on the meanings that police officers confer on two organizing concepts framing the reform work – provocation and dialogue – and on the way in which police officers use “reality maintaining” strategies to comprehend activist perspectives without allowing these to fundamentally challenge their own points of view. It is suggested that the current policing style in Sweden, as used also in Denmark, is best conceptualized as proactive management of protests, which captures both the softer and harder aspects of this approach. Paper III draws upon Henri Lefebvre’s theory of production of space to explore how space is pro-duced through protests and protest policing, using a series of annual racist marches and counterdemonstrations as a case study. Conversely, the paper also considers certain key spatial aspects as explan-ations for how interactions between protesters and police unfolded in the cases concerned. It is argued that territorialization and deterritorialization affecting the boundaries of both physical spaces and the social order constituted the central spatial dimensions of this interaction. The case study, furthermore, illustrates how specific sites for protests can be used as ‘truth-spots‘ for movement claims. Paper IV explores how police provocation and subsequent violence by demonstrators are retroactively constructed in activist milieus in the aftermath of protests. Through an analysis of narratives about protest events as gleaned from interviews and Internet discussion forum discussions, the role of ‘provocation narratives’ in collective evaluation of protest tactics within activist milieus is examined. The analysis reveals how violence is accounted for by using distinct types of plot and particular characters to present the demonstrators as both victims and agents. Accounts of specific episodes of violence during demonstrations were found to theoretically bridge situational and cultural explanations of collective violence.
8.
Amberntsson, Pelle, 1973-
(författare)
The Past of Present Livelihoods : Historical perspectives on modernisation, rural policy regimes and smallholder poverty - a case from Eastern Zambia
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This study is an enquiry into the processes shaping rural livelihoods in peripheral areas. The study is situated in the field of livelihood research and departs in the persistent crisis within African smallholder agriculture and in rural policy debates during the postindependence era. The research takes a critical stance to the way that people-centred and actor-oriented approaches have dominated livelihood research, thereby over-shadowing structural and macro-oriented features.The aim of this study is to, through a historical perspective on rural livelihoods and policy regimes, uncover the political and economic processes, with their discursive foundations, that shape contemporary rural livelihoods in peripheral areas. The analytical framework emphasises four key factors: ideas of development and modernity; the terms of incorporation into the global economy; rural policy regimes; smallholders’ ways of making a living. Inspiration is gained from critical political geography, world-systems analysis and different perspectives on rural livelihoods and development.The empirical study is based on fieldwork in Chipata District in Eastern Zambia, investigations at the National Archives of Zambia, the British National Archives and library research. The findings are presented in three parts. The first part looks into contemporary policies and the situation among smallholders in Chipata District. The second part examines the history of the area up to independence in 1964. The third part examines the post-independence period which links colonial experience to the contemporary situation.The findings suggest that smallholders’ livelihoods are shaped by long-term politicaleconomic- discursive processes, rooted in the terms of the study area’s integration into the world-economy in the colonial period. Colonial policies peripheralised the area through tax, labour, and market policies and the creation of native reserves, all of which have led to contemporary problems of food insecurity, soil depletion and a marginal role in agricultural markets. Since the inception of colonial rule, semi-proletarianisation has been a dominant process in the area. Current diversified livelihoods are more a contemporary expression of this semi-proletarianisation than a consequence of postcolonial policies. The households in the study area show preference for a farming way of life. However, the development goal of modernity has since long led to an ‘othering’ of smallholders, labelling them backwards and resistant to change. In the early twenty-first century this ‘othering’ has been played out through a development programme aimed at changing attitudes and mindsets among the farmers in line with individualistic and entrepreneurial behaviour. The ‘othering’ discourses of contemporary and colonial policymakers display striking similarities in this case.
9.
Bolin, Anette
(författare)
Shifting Subordination : Co-located interprofessional collaboration betweenteachers and social workers
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyse the practice processes involved in colocated interprofessional collaboration. The study took place in a resource school where social workers and teachers collaborate on an everyday basis around children who are both in receiptof special educational support and interventions from social services. The research questioncentres on the division of labour and the explicit notions and implicit assumptions thatunderpin it. Further, the organisational conditions that influence the division of labour, theprocess involved in the selection of pupils, and the processes of maintenance anddevelopment of professional identities in a close collaborative context are all examined.The study is a qualitative case study of interprofessional collaboration. Through interviews with the teachers and social workers, and via participatory observation of their professionalpractice, empirical data has been generated. This has been used to examine processes ofcollaborative collaboration in accordance with a thematic analytical scheme. A theoretical framework based on theories of the sociology of professions (Abbot, 1988; Evetts, 2006b) and drawing also on the work of Hasenfeld (2010a) on human serviceorganisations and Lipsky (1980) on street level bureaucrats, in conjunction with Strauss’ (1978) theory of negotiations, has been used in analysing the empirical data.The results indicate that the intake process functions primarily to legitimise collaborationfrom an organisational and professional perspective. Further, the teachers and social workerscreate what are termed common and separate grounds for practice. The concept of common grounds describes the processes in which common collaborative relationships are created, such as, forexample, the construction of interchangeability and a common practice ideology. Separate grounds, on the other hand, involves situations in which social workers and teachers are engaged in defining and specifying their profession-specific roles in the context of their everyday work. Another means of maintaining and reinforcing a profession-specific professional identity in co-located collaborative contexts is the use of the spatial design. The results also point to three particular characteristics in the construction of co-located interprofessional collaboration. First, professionals are engaged in what can be termed a form of shifting subordination as a means of both legitimising and developing their professional identities. Shifting subordination is a strategy used to reduce and avoid professional conflict around roles and working tasks. Secondly, they are engaged in constructing a shared professional identity as a means to meet the organization’s imperative of ‘getting the job done’. Thirdly, there is the characteristic of interdependence which shapes the negotiation processes involved in the division of labour.
10.
Iarskaia-Smirnova, Elena
(författare)
Class and gender in Russian welfare policies : Soviet legacies and contemporary challenges
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The general aim of this thesis is to explore the gendered and classed nature of social work and social welfare in Russia to show how social policy can be a part of and reinforce marginalisation. The overall research question is in what ways class and gender are constructed in Russian social work practice and welfare rhetoric through Soviet legacies and contemporary challenges? In addition, which actors contribute to the constitution of social work values and how this value system affects the agency of the clients? This study focuses on contradictory ideologies that are shaped in discursive formations of social policy, social work training and practice. It is a qualitative study, containing fi ve papers looking at this issue from three different perspectives: policy and institutions, culture and discourse, actors and identity. The data collection was arranged as a purposive–iterative process. The empirical material consists of qualitative interviews with social work practitioners, administrators and clients, participant observations in social services and analysis of documents of various kinds. The results show that modernisation of social life under socialism was concerned with the internalisation of new forms of discipline, standards of everyday life, collectivist values and beliefs in equality which impacted on public and private domains, including social services provision (Paper I), which was of a classed and gendered nature. The post-Soviet welfare policy is characterised by the legacies of conservative thinking and lack of discretion in social work as a profession, excessive institutionalising of children and suppression of the voices of vulnerable people. Low income parents become the objects of governmental control, and existing forms of social policy act towards fastening them in vulnerable position. Additional pressure is on those families who raise children with disabilities and on parents who have disability themselves. Stigma affects a parent on a deep emotional level and has social implications for her and the child. Thus, the politics of exclusion at the institutional level fl ows to the level of personal experience and everyday practice (Paper II). Parenting is a cultural and classed experience by liberal welfare policy, which can reinforce marginalisation through institutional structures and discourses. The discursive and narrative practices are important cultural resources used by the parents to understand their personal lives and by service providers who create their own understandings of social problems (Paper V). The structural context of social work is constituted by inequality in the social order, which is mirrored in the conditions of the labour market. The problems of a client might be an outcome of beliefs in traditional gender roles and traditional family defi nitions, which supposes inequality and subordination of women. In addition, models of social work practice often admit such a defi nition and, therefore, worsen the condition of women (Paper IV). The contemporary situation in social work in Russia is featured by under-professionalisation and thereby a low degree of autonomy, absence of critical refl ection of social work practice, and rigidity of governance (Paper III). This is the background where initiatives to change the existing social order can hardly be seen. However, social workers are gradually acquiring new knowledge and skills to effect social change in a democratic egalitarian mode rather than following the paternalist scheme of thought and action.
