1.
Ahlgren, Thorbjörn, 1959-
(författare)
Institutionalisering på hemmaplan : En idés resa i den sociala barnavården
2014
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This thesis describes and analyses in three substudies how home-based measures for children are expanding and why an open care idea are established as part of the Swedish child welfare. The first substudy describes the national increment of what today can be considered as a treatment policy – non-institutional care in child welfare. The results are analysed with Kingdon's agenda setting theory and shows that the factors of what Kingdon describes as problems-, politics- and policyflow influenced the national increment. Significant mechanisms have primarily been, the profession, the society's concerns for socially disadvantaged children, negative experiences of institutionalisation and a political position to deinstitutionalise all care. The second substudy focuses on how knowledge and research contributes to ideological, professional, and organizational change in child welfare by analysis of Research & Developments reports and articles from the professional journal Socionomen. Based on the neo-institutional concepts of organisational fields and isoformism the study's results shows that a consequence of adaptation strategies and "rationalized myths" are a number of similarities in how home-based measures are organized and which measures that are used. The third substudy, a case study, analyses how we can understand a local development of ideas in social services for children with concepts from neo institutional theory. Interviews and municipal documents are analysed and shows that the local translation of an open care idea is characterized by discretion, personal preferences and action and affects the choice of method and organization. The study also shows a political mistrust of institutional care while there is at the same time political confidence in the individual social worker's ability to find solutions that allow non-institutional measures to be an alternative to institutional care.An overall conclusion of the thesis is that there is now a treatment policy in social services for the children, which involves extensive efforts at home and it has led to that more children receive support from social services. One result of non-institutional care increment is that it led to increased costs for municipalities for intervention for children and young people when out-of-home care has not decreased. Another general conclusion is that translation and adaptation of ideas to local contexts is something that generally fits street-level bureaucrats need for discretion.
2.
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.
3.
Pietilä, Sirpa
(författare)
Tvillingskap genom livet : individualitet och relation i äldre tvillingars livsberättelser
2012
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Det övergripande syftet med avhandlingen var att utforska, beskriva och förstå upplevelser av tvillingskap utifrån äldre tvillingars livsberättelser. De 35 tvillingarna som ingår i denna avhandling var ett urval av deltagarna i två longitudinella studier av äldre tvillingar, SATSA (Swedish Adoption Twin Study of Aging) och Gender. Studiedesignen är kvalitativ och vid intervjuerna användes narrativ metod och berättelsematerialet analyserades med narrativ analys (studie I och II) och med kvalitativ, latent innehållsanalys (studie III och IV). Enligt tvillingarna i denna avhandling beskrevs tvillingskapet utifrån relationen med tvillingpartnern (I, III, IV) och ur ett identitetsperspektiv (II). Tvillingrelationer är unika men representerar också variationer. Tre slags relationsmönster identifierades, benämnda den närande, tärande och den ytliga relationen som baseras på kvalitativa aspekter (I). De olika typerna av relationer blev särskilt tydliga under viktiga skeden i livet, såsom vid ingående av äktenskap (III) och vid förlusten av tvillingpartnern (IV), vilket innebar att tvillingarna fick anpassa sig till ett mer individualiserat liv. I den närande och den ytliga tvillingrelationen upplevdes inte dessa livsförändringar som särskilt dramatiska, medan de för tvillingarna i den tärande relationen upplevdes som mer dramatiska. Från ett anknytningsteoriskt perspektiv förblev de äldre tvillingarna ankytningspersoner med oförändrade anknytningsmönster genom livet (I). Sammanbundet med den nära tvillingrelationen är hur tvillingar definerar sig själva, då tvillingskapet innebär att hantera både sin individuella identitet och tvillingidentiteten. Självbeskrivningarna med betoning av olikheter, ses mot bakgrund av hur tvillingarna upplevde att omgivningen uppfattade dem som en social enhet och tolkades som en vilja att betona sin individualitet i förhållande till tvillingpartnern och som ett budskap till omgivningen att vilja bli sedd som en egen individ (II). Sammanfattningsvis beskrevs tvillingskap av de flesta som en nära, berikande relation genom livet och för vissa mindre berikande beroende på vilken slags relation de hade till sin tvillingpartner. Parallellt pågick ett identitetsarbete att ta plats som en egen individ i tvillingrelationen och att hävda sin individualitet gentemot den övriga omgivningen i budskapet: ”Vi är inte så lika som ni tror”!
