1.
Goldschmidt, Tina, 1988-
(author)
Immigration, Social Cohesion, and the Welfare State : Studies on Ethnic Diversity in Germany and Sweden
2017
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
Can social cohesion and solidarity persist in the face of large-scale migration? One particularly contentious hypothesis states that native majorities will be unwilling to support the provision of government-funded welfare to those whom they do not consider to be part of their own sociocultural ingroup, especially when sociocultural or ethnic otherness and socioeconomic disadvantage overlap. Consequently, majorities’ willingness to accept disadvantaged immigrant groups as legitimate and trusted members of the welfare community is central to the social cohesion of societies diversifying through migration.The dissertation consists of a comprehensive summary, followed by four original studies addressing the interplay between migration-induced diversity and social cohesion through the lens of majority attitudes and the micro and macro contexts within which they are embedded. The studies focus on Sweden and Germany, two European societies that host strong welfare states and large immigrant populations. Together, they seek to answer two central questions:First, does social distance between native-born citizens and immigrants lead the former to withdraw support from all redistributive policies, or are some types of welfare more affected than others? Second, how does the migration-induced diversification of societies come to matter for majority attitudes toward the welfare state and, as they are closely related, for majority attitudes toward the trustworthiness of others?Looking at the case of Germany, Study 1 shows that the conflict between diversity and welfare solidarity is not expressed in a general majority opposition to welfare, but rather in an opposition to government assistance benefiting immigrants – a phenomenon sometimes referred to as welfare chauvinism.Study 2 turns to the case of Sweden and investigates three pathways into welfare chauvinism: via the first-hand experience of immigrant unemployment and putative welfare receipt in the neighborhood context; via exposure to immigrant competition at the workplace; and via negative prejudice against immigrants. We find that the direct observation of immigrant unemployment in the neighborhood increases natives’ preference for spending on other Swedes over spending on immigrants, while competition with immigrants at the workplace does not.Using the same Swedish data, Study 3 hypothesizes that ethnically diverse workplaces imply trust-fostering inter-group contact. Yet, like in Study 2, we find a negative relationship between majority Swedes’ exposure to certain immigrant groups in the neighborhood and their trust in neighbors, while diverse workplaces neither seem to increase trust nor to affect the negative neighborhood-level association.Both Studies 2 and 3 show that negative attitudes toward immigrants increase welfare chauvinism and lower trust, even disregarding majority Swedes’ actual experience of immigrant presence or unemployment. Study 4 thus turns to a social force outside the realm of first-hand experience and explores German online news media debates on the welfare deservingness of various sociodemographic groups – among them, immigrants (as refugees in particular). However, rather than observing the persistent and particular stigmatization of immigrants as undeserving recipients or untrustworthy abusers of welfare, we find much more nuanced descriptions in our vast corpus of news stories.
2.
Fjellfeldt, Maria, 1976-
(author)
Choice as governance in community mental health services
2017
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
In 2009, the Act on Freedom of Choice Systems (SFS 2008:962) wasestablished in Sweden, and this enabled municipalities to organise services aschoice models. This thesis describes and analyses the implementation of afreedom of choice system within community mental health services. Daycentre services were in focus, and a case study was conducted of a majormunicipality that sought to be a “world-class city” in regard to citizens’ choice.The experiences of policy makers, managers, professionals, and participantswere explored in interviews, and documents on a national, municipal, and citydistrict level, as well as homepages of providers of community mental healthservices, were all part of the study and were analysed using content-analysismethods.The results showed that the freedom of choice system aimed for two objectives– improvements at the individual level and financial efficiency. In practice,financial efficiency was experienced as the main objective. Increased varietyof services was aimed for by the competitive model, but such variety was notobserved. Instead, services tended to be more similar than specialised.Concerning new providers, they were characterised as committedprofessionals running companies with strained economies. Participantsaffected by the reform expressed anxiety and worries due to theunpredictability and uncertainty embedded in the competitive choice model.Choice within the system concerned where to go, whereas participantsemphasised a wish to be able to influence the choice aspects of who carriedout the service and how much time to attend the services.The conclusion was that the freedom of choice system was implemented as atechnology of governance to increase financial efficiency of services.Individual choice was not experienced as increased in any aspect except forthe choice of where to go. Instead, freedom of choice actually appeared todecrease due to standardisation and hierarchical structures. Aspects that werefound to be relevant when designing freedom of choice systems aiming toincrease individual freedom of choice were to address predictability andcontinuity, to address sustainable financial premises, to analyse the predictedimpact of administrative systems that are to be used, and to avoid the use of“hidden goals” in the policy-making process.
3.
Scarpa, Simone, 1976-
(author)
The spatial manifestation of inequality : residential segregation in Sweden and its causes
2015
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
The thesis examines the relationship between income inequality and residential segregation in Swedish cities. In recent years, in Sweden, much attention has been given to the direction of causality from residential segregation to income inequality. Residential segregation is considered to lead to a differentiation of opportunities between neighbourhoods and, therefore, to be a contributing factor to or even a major cause of income inequality in cities. The thesis focuses on the opposite direction of causality, from income inequality to residential segregation. In fact, residential segregation can also be seen as the spatial manifestation of existing disparities in income distribution, since residential location choices are always (although not exclusively) made within a predetermined framework of economic constraints.Specifically, two research questions are addressed in this thesis. What institutional factors, in the Swedish context, favour the transformation of the social divide between specific population subgroups into a spatial divide between those groups? To what extent and in what ways does income inequality contribute to the development of residential segregation in Swedish cities?The first part of the thesis explains why Swedish cities are characterized by higher levels of residential segregation than cities of other countries characterized by higher levels of income inequality. The historical and comparative analyses developed in the first two studies indicate that it is not so much the magnitude of immigration that accounts for this difference between Swedish cities and their more unequal counterparts in other countries but, rather, the institutional factors influencing the modes of incorporation of immigrants into cities.The second part of the thesis analyses how, in recent decades, the increase in income inequality has influenced residential segregation patterns in Malmö and in the three major Swedish metropolitan areas. The third and the fourth study show that, during the studied period, the widening of income disparities between neighbourhoods mirrored the general upward trend in income inequality in the population. The growth of the immigrant population contributed only slightly to this trend and income inequality was primarily driven by changes in the distribution of market incomes. During the late study period, however, income sorting processes have played a steadily more important role in contributing to economic residential segregation. Therefore, neighbourhood-based urban policies have not succeeded to reverse, or even just impede, the trend towards an increased spatial clustering of poverty and wealth in Swedish cities.
4.
Kalucza, Sara, 1987-
(author)
Who becomes a teenage parent? : life course perspectives on selection into teenage motherhood and fatherhood trajectories in Sweden
2017
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
Background. The aim of the research described in thesis is to study processes of selection leading to teenage parenthood in contemporary Sweden. I ask how factors related to socio-economic position, mental health issues in youth, and family formation behaviour of previous generations directs young individuals into teenage parent trajectories. Having children as a teenager is often seen as a burden and a failure, and framed as a public health concern. This is true, even as mounting evidence points to the fact that the connections between teenage parenthood and future adverse outcomes are muddled by selection effects. This research makes a contribution to the body of knowledge by looking at how several factors influence selection processes, namely socio-economic background factors, mental health issues in adolescence and family formation patterns of the teenage parent’s own parents. Both teenage mothers and teenage fathers are considered from a life course perspective. The theoretical framework also draws on the literature relating to opportunity costs and competing alternatives.Method. Two longitudinal data sources are utilized: register population data accessed through the Umeå SIMSAM lab and the Northern Swedish Cohort survey. In order to answer questions about both selection leading into events and trajectories, random intercept models for longitudinal data as well as sequence analysis are applied.Results. The results show that, apart from confirming the continued importance of socio-economic factors selecting young men and women to become teenage parents and embark on teenage parenthood trajectories, mental health issues in youth are also important. Through this route, both teenage girls and boys enter into teenage parenthood in a way that does not happen with on-time parenthood. Furthermore, the results show that selection not only affects the chances of becoming a teenage parent, but also which type of teenage parent trajectory the individual follows. Moreover, the results reveal that these trajectories, and not only the event of becoming a teenage parent, are repeated over generations. The results illustrate that teenage parents are a heterogeneous group with diverse backgrounds and selection processes, and hence policy measures aimed at teenage parents should not try to offer blanket solutions.
5.
Bergmark, Magnus, 1975-
(author)
Integrerade psykosociala insatser : Policy, implementering och praktik i ett komplext verksamhetsfält
2017
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
InledningAlltsedan psykiatrins avinstitutionalisering tog fart under 1980- och 1990-talen har en utveckling av samhällsbaserade psykosociala insatser förespråkats för att erbjuda vård och stöd till personer med psykisk funktionsnedsättning. Insatserna förväntas bidra till att brukarna får tillgång till effektiv vård och stöd, samtidigt som de inkluderas i samhället. Vidare förutsätts insatserna baseras på kunskap och evidens, samt bygga på brukarens delaktighet och stödja dennes återhämtning. En annan målsättning är att vissa insatser ges i form av integrerade modeller, så att personer ur målgruppen får tillgång till sammanhållet stöd från inblandade myndigheter. Även om Sverige räknas som ett resursstarkt land som har kommit långt på området, så förekommer kritik mot utvecklingen. Kritiken har berört både planering och styrning på politisk nivå, men även utförandet av de insatser som erbjuds till brukarna. Kritiken har bland annat handlat om bristande samverkan mellan landsting och kommuner, och om stora lokala variationer i den erbjudna servicens kvalitet. I den här avhandlingen studeras dels utformningen av policy på området, dels implementering av specifika insatser. Syftet med avhandlingen är att undersöka hur svenska policymakare på nationell nivå har hanterat utvecklingen av psykosociala insatser för personer med psykisk funktionsnedsättning, samt att analysera möjligheter och svårigheter för organisationer och personal när det gäller att implementera de insatser som förespråkas av beslutsfattare. De frågeställningar som avhandlingen söker besvara är följande:Hur formuleras policy som syftar till att införa samhällsbaserade psykosociala insatser, och vad kan policyns egenskaper innebära för genomförandet av den?Vilka styrstrategier uttrycks i statliga policydokument?Vad hämmar respektive underlättar implementeringen av föreslagna integrerade psykosociala insatser?Hur kan vi förstå vad som påverkar möjligheten att erbjuda integrerade psykosociala insatser, i termer av lokala förutsättningar och strategier för implementering?MetodPolicy på området studerades genom en studie av tre av de övergripande dokument som beslutats på regeringsnivå de senaste 20 åren. Riktade kvalitativa innehållsanalyser baserade på relevant litteratur genomfördes. Implementering av insatser studerades genom att 15 program följdes under 3 års tid. 14 av dessa arbetade med att implementera arbetsrehabiliteringsprogram utifrån modellen Individual Placement and Support (IPS). Under samma tidsperiod följdes ett team som implementerade den intensiva samordnings-, vård- och stödmodellen Assertive Community Treatment (ACT). För att bedöma verksamheternas följsamhet till modellerna genomfördes programtrohetsskattningar av samtliga program. Data avseende programmens målgrupp samlades också in. Tre IPS-program deltog i en fördjupningsstudie där kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med ledare, personal och samverkanspartners. Implementeringen av dessa program analyserades utifrån implementeringsramverket the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Implementeringen av samtliga 14 IPS-program studerades med hjälp av skattningsskalan the Sustainable Implementation Scale (SIS). När det gäller ACT-teamet genomfördes dels kvalitativa innehållsanalyser av djupintervjuer, och dels skattningar av implementeringskomponenter med hjälp av SIS.ResultatPolicy på området har innehållit stora mått av otydlighet och konflikt, både gällande de mål och medel som har formulerats. Regeringen har främst förespråkat så kallade mjuka styrstrategier, vanligen i form av statliga stimulansbidrag. Vissa förtydliganden och konkretioner har skett under tid, vilka ibland går i linje med de internationella rörelserna New Public Management och evidensbaserad praktik. Exempel på försök att strama upp styrningen är målformuleringar som förespråkar riktade och prestationsbaserade stimulansbidrag, samt nationella riktlinjer för att styra utvecklingen mot utvalda specificerade insatser. Trots detta är det fortfarande de berörda myndigheterna som är ansvariga för att välja ut, utforma och implementera psykosociala insatser. På verksamhetsnivå leder detta till att många otydligheter består, vilka ibland är relaterade till svårigheter att avgränsa ansvarsområden och att förändra hindrande regelverk och traditioner. Dessutom förekommer konflikter, exempelvis i form av konkurrerande målsättningar och ojämn resurstilldelning.Studierna av de integrerade modellerna IPS och ACT visar att implementering av dessa är möjlig, även i en sektoriserad välfärdskontext som den svenska. Det finns dock en rad faktorer på såväl organisationsnivå som teamnivå, som försvårar implementeringen. Exempel på dessa är de involverade organisationernas varierande målsättningar och traditioner, regelverkens utformning, samt svårigheter att erhålla långsiktig finansiering. I en del fall beskrivs de arbetssätt som modellerna förespråkar som försvårande, då de upplevs som annorlunda och utmanande för existerande rutiner och uppfattningar om stöd till målgruppen. Ett stort hinder för effektiv implementering är svårigheter att samverka, främst mellan, men även inom inblandade organisationer. De flesta program som lyckades genomföra en hållbar implementering hade personal som var duktiga på att navigera förbi de hinder som orsakades av ogynnsamma regler, och de lyckades även hitta vägar för att etablera samverkan, både horisontellt (med samarbetspartners på samma hierarkiska nivå) och vertikalt (mellan ledning och personal). En verksamhetsledare som har möjlighet att påverka samverkansrelationer i både horisontell och vertikal riktning är gynnande för implementeringen. Andra betydelsefulla komponenter som underlättar implementering är en noggrann planering innan ett program startas, medveten rekrytering av personal, formering av ändamålsenliga styrgrupper, samt att tidigt i processen arbeta strategiskt för att lösa finansieringsfrågan. Även programtrohetsskattningar var betydelsefulla, då de både fungerade som instrument för att identifiera förbättringsområden för programmen, men också hade en legitimerande funktion vid återkoppling till ledningen.SlutsatserDet råder en samstämmighet i övergripande målsättningar som syftar till att utveckla området integrerade psykosociala insatser. På en mer konkret nivå är läget betydligt oklarare, både gällande målsättningar i policy och av vem och hur insatserna ska implementeras. Även om vissa förändringar skett, står regeringen fortsatt för en mjuk styrning vilken lämnar ett stort ansvar till de myndigheter som ska implementera valda insatser. Detta innebär en rad svårigheter för frontlinjepersonalen, vilket leder till att de ofta behöver lägga mycket tid och energi på att hitta vägar för att överkomma dessa svårigheter.I många fall har ledare och personal goda möjligheter att uppnå en hög programtrohet på teamnivå, men för en hållbar implementering krävs det att ett program är väl förankrat både vertikalt och horisontellt. Därför finns ett behov av att forskare och beslutsfattare tar ett tydligare helhetsgrepp, både på området policy och implementering av specifika insatser. Skattningar av programtrohet och implementering kan vara ett stöd i att identifiera vad som fungerar samt vad som behöver förändras i och mellan organisationer. Men för att programmen ska lyckas med en effektiv implementering på organisationsnivå behöver deras legitimitet stärkas vertikalt, och planering för långsiktig lokal finansiering behöver göras i ett tidigt skede.
6.
Dahlberg-Grundberg, Michael, 1983-
(author)
Digital media and the transnationalization of protests
2016
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
Recent developments in communications technology have transformed how social movements might mobilize, and how they can organize their activities. This thesis explores some of the geographical consequences of the use of digital media for political activism. It does this by focusing on the transnationalization of protests. The aim is to analyse how movements with different organizational structures and political scopes are affected by their use of digital media. This is done with a specific focus on how digital media use influences or enables transnational modes of organization and activism. The thesis comprises four different case studies where each study examines a social movement with a specific organizational structure. There are, however, also important similarities between the movements. In each study, somewhat different perspectives and methodological approaches are used. Some of the methods used are semi-structured interviews, content analysis of written data (retrieved from Facebook as well as Twitter), and social network analysis.The analysis indicates that digital media do have a role in the transnationalization of protest. This role, however, differs depending on what type of social movement one studies. The organizational structure of social movements, together with their specific forms of digital media use, influences how the transnationalization of protests and movements is articulated and formed. In cases where a social movement has a hierarchical organizational structure, there is less transnationalization, whereas in social movements with a more non-hierarchical organizational structure one sees more transnationalization. The thesis concludes that the transnationalization of protests is affected by social movements’ organizational structure. The more decentralized the social movement, the more vibrant the transnational public. In order to explain how transnational social movements, using digital media, can emerge in cases where geographical distances might make such coalitions unlikely, the thesis introduces the notion of affectual proximity. This concept helps us understand how transnational social movements, connecting actors from all over the world, can emerge through digital media.
7.
Grahn, Robert, 1972-
(author)
Treatment repeaters : re-entry in care for clients with substance use disorder within the Swedish addiction treatment system
2017
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
According to the regulations contained in the Social Services Act (SFS 2001:453), Swedish social services have a legal responsibility to provide support, care, and treatment for individuals with substance use problems. This law mandate those who are responsible to provide treatment to motivate drug users to actively seek treatment on a voluntary basis, ensuring an end to their dependence on drugs. Studies have shown that although the treatment system largely focuses on promoting abstinence, about two-thirds of client’s relapse into substance use within one year after completing treatment. This dissertation focuses broadly on clients who repeatedly enter and use treatment for substance use disorders in the Swedish addiction treatment system. The aim of this thesis is to examine and identify the population groups who are repeated treatment users of the Swedish treatment system for substance use disorder, including both the voluntary treatment and compulsory care. This thesis was based on three national level databases. The results showed that clients with a higher degree of problems and problems in different areas of life also had an increased risk of having treatment for substance use disorder repeatedly. Clients who were older, men, reported more years of polydrug and alcohol use to intoxication, reported more compulsory care episodes for substance use, had ever been charged with crime, had ever been in inpatient mental health treatment, and had a higher ASI mental health symptom composite score, were significantly more likely to report more voluntary addiction treatment episodes. The strongest significant association with the number of treatment episodes was the number of compulsory treatment episodes for alcohol and drugs. Individuals who experienced prior compulsory care including mandatory treatment through LVU (law (1990:52)), been in prison, and had children mandated to out-of-home care, were more likely to have two or more entries in the compulsory care system for substance use disorder. In addition, this analysis showed that 59% of clients mandated to compulsory care dropped-out during their compulsory care episode, and that younger clients were significantly more likely to drop-out. Those who drop-out were significantly more likely to experience negative outcomes, i.e. additional sentence to compulsory care and higher risk of mortality. A hierarchal logistic regression model also identified that individuals with riskier childhood conditions were more likely to have had repeated entries to compulsory care for substance use disorder. The indirect effects showed that a family history of substance use disorder and psychiatric problems are both associated with higher probability of institutional care as a child i.e. LVU, and that in turn, mandated childhood institutional care is related to repeated compulsory care intakes as an adult. Individuals who use treatment for substance use disorder repeatedly have a higher degree of problems i.e. an exposed and problematic group of individuals characterized by problem in several different areas of life. Growing up in a home environment with unfavorable conditions, mandated care before the age of 18 (LVU), compulsory care for substance use disorder as an adult, children taken into out-of-home care, and crime are the factors that are primarily associated with repeated treatment for substance use. A change in the view of treatment for clients in need of repeated use of treatment seems important, and access to adapted continuous care efforts are crucial to counteract the risk of relapse after a treatment episode of voluntary or compulsory care. Further, it seems important to motivate the client to complete the compulsory care without any deviation, since this seems to have positive effects on their substance use disorder.
8.
Grell, Pär, 1966-
(author)
Komplexa behov eller komplexa organisationer? : konsekvenser av specialiserad individ- och familjeomsorg ur ett klientperspektiv
2016
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
Even though recent decades have seen a clear trend towards organizational specialization within Swedish personal social services (PSS), there is a lack of knowledge about the consequences of this, particularly from a client perspective. The aim of this compilation thesis is to describe and analyse the consequences of organizational specialization for clients with complex needs. The empirical material consists of a survey and an interview study, both addressing clients whose needs can be considered complex since they entail several parallel contacts with different specialized PSS units. Article one is a research review aimed at summarizing and discussing the research on organizational structures in the social services, and these structures' impact on work with clients. The review suggests that, to function adequately, social service organizations need to combine and balance aspects of both specialization and integration. Article two aims to describe and analyse how clients with complex needs perceive and value the service conditions of the organizationally specialized PSS. The main findings are that clients primarily perceive and value their encounters with the specialized PSS negatively, and that they experience several elements of service fragmentation. The aim of article three is to describe and analyse how clients with complex needs account for their handling of service conditions within specialized PSS. A key finding is that clients combine different approaches (categorized as consensus, resignation, fight, and escape) in a balancing act intended to promote their own best interests. Article four aims to describe and analyse how clients with complex needs perceive the conditions for helping relations in a PSS setting marked by organizational specialization. A lack of system trust, the people-processing dimensions of work, and an organizational and professional emphasis on formal organizational structures and boundaries were found to constitute unfavourable conditions. Conversely, the occurrence of individual trust, the people-sustaining and people-changing dimensions of client work, and the boundary-spanning efforts of both informal organizations and individual social workers constituted favourable conditions. The thesis concludes that there seems to be a substantial lack of fit between the logics and features of organizational specialization on one hand, and the complex and interwoven nature of clients’ actual needs and everyday lives on the other. It is also argued that organizational specialization means that the complexity involved in encounters between clients and the PSS is overlooked or obscured. Further research on the structural arrangements and service conditions that surround encounters between clients and the social services is suggested, especially research that adopts a client perspective.
9.
Isaksson, Cristine, 1957-
(author)
Den kritiska gästen : en professionsstudie om skolkuratorer
2016
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
The aim of this thesis is to examine the professional role of school social workers in Sweden from the perspective of profession theory, with particular focus on legitimacy, jurisdiction and discretion. The aim has been divided into four research questions, which are examined in four separate studies:How has the school social work profession emerged and developed?How do school social workers experience boundaries to their professional discretion?How are theories of social work practice applied in school social work?How do school social workers and teachers perceive their cooperation with regard to the wellbeing of pupils?The general area of interest concerns professionals operating in organizations where they are the sole representatives of their profession. In addition, these professionals typically have a peripheral position in relation to the core professions in the organization.The four different studies build on empirical material from qualitative interviews with school social workers and teachers, and also from policy and regulatory documents. The theoretical framework guiding the analysis draws on theories from the sociology of professions (Abbott, 1988) and about human service organizations (Hasenfeld, 1983, 2010).A key finding is that school social worker has a specific technology based on well-established practice theories in social work, where a systems approach appears as the most prominent. Although, it was possible to discern such practice theories from the interviews, the school social workers did not explicitly give reference to them and generally struggled to describe their practice in a professional language.A second key finding result is the lack of clarity with regards to the school social worker’s role. This is evidenced in regulatory documents, as well as among social workers themselves and teachers. In theory, this provides school social workers with a high degree of discretion. However, due to legitimacy problems they feel limited in performing their work unless they can rely on support from other sources such strong support from headmasters.A third key finding is that the cooperation with teachers is all-important to school social workers. They spend a considerable proportion of their time working with teachers rather than pupils, not the least by providing informal consultations to teachers. On a rhetoric level, teachers agree with social workers about the value and need of school social work. However, they tend to disagree about the role of school social work when they talk about concrete practice.As an overall conclusion the school social worker appears as a critical guest, drawing on a professional foundation in social work theory that contributes uniquely to pupil health care. This distinguishes the school social workers’ role from other professionals in the school setting.The findings in this thesis indicate the need for both education and research in the discipline of social work to start paying attention to social work in schools and other settings where social workers represents a minority occupation peripheral to the host organisation.
10.
Paju, Martin, 1956-
(author)
Hälsingegården i omvandling : en studie av världsarvsprocessen i Hälsingland
2016
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
Under våren 2012 väntade ett stort antal människor runt om i landet på ett besked som bekräftade att ett antal jordbruksfastigheter och kulturmiljöer, i Gävleborgs län skulle kunde klassas som världsunika och föras upp på listan över världsarv. En lista vars innehåll styrs av konventionen om skydd av världens kultur- och naturarv, världsarvskonventionen, som är ett av FN-organet Unescos normativa instrument på natur- och kulturområdet.I avhandlingen beskrivs och diskuteras processer och förhandlingar som uppstod i samband med att nomineringen av dessa fastigheter genomfördes. Ett samlande begrepp för denna agrara byggnadstradition är hälsingegårdarna. Med stöd från olika projektaktiviteter skapade enskilda personer, ideella organisationer och myndigheter uppmärksamhet kring gårdarnas kulturvärden. Studien visar på att arbetet med nomineringen till världsarvslistan blir grund för förhandlingar om definitionsrättigheter och positioner i ett socialt fält och att bruk och förvaltning av ett kulturkapital som hälsingegårdarna sker inom ramen för särskilda sociala ordningar.Världsarvsarbetet i Gävleborgs län visar på två olika styrkepositioner. En utvecklingsorienterad där besöksnäringens aktörer, med världsarv som en del av en regionalpolitisk agenda antas kunna driva en ekonomisk utveckling. Här fanns också en position orienterad kring bevarande, där kulturvärden anses utgöra ett symboliskt kapital som inte kan underkastas instrumentella krav. De sociala fält inom vilket aktörerna söker positionera sig är i många stycken formade av formella regelverk som hävdas av en nationell och internationell kulturmiljövård.Diskussioner kring landsbygdens förändringspotential är ofta inriktade på näringslivets utveckling och när världsarvsfrågan i Gävleborg initierades såg många aktörer detta som en möjlighet att artikulera sina ståndpunkter för hälsingegårdarnas och världsarvets roll för regionens ekonomiska framtid.Exemplet hälsingegårdarna visar hur lokal mobilisering kan utvecklas i samband med en världsarvsnominering, där enskilda och organiserade aktörer på lokal och regional nivå möter en förvaltningskultur som för fram och bevakar byråkratiska och formella aspekter på världsarvet.Hälsingegårdarna kom att utvecklas till ett viktigt verktyg för att organisera regionens utvecklingsintressen och blev en konfliktfylld symbol i samspelet mellan deltagande aktörer där varje enskild gård har en egen, unik karriär, som privatbostad, som produktionsenhet eller som en del av besöksindustrin.
