1.
Sandberg, Carl, 1979-
(författare)
On Board the Global Workplace : Coordination and Uncertainty on Merchant Ships
2014
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how work and social life are coordinated on board merchant ships. The merchant ship is a global workplace where people from different nationalities come together to work and live for an extended period of time.The study is based on ethnographic field work on board merchant ships. The core of the study is field work on two Swedish-flagged RoRo-ships with ethnically mixed crews coming from Sweden, the Philippines and Eastern Europe. Participant observation and interviews are the two methods that have been used to generate the material.The empirical material shows that although the ships have a formal organization, the ships with mixed ethnic crews are in a disorderly state, a state of dissonance. The dissonance is due to a conflict between two evaluative principles. One principle refers to the Swedes’ way of doing things, which involves a flattened hierarchy and autonomous workers. The other principle refers to the Filipinos’ way of doing things, a formalized relationship between officers and crew and respect for the chain of command. These two principles sometimes come into conflict in the coordination of work tasks. The analysis also shows that social life on board is coordinated by ethnic networks, i.e. the seafarers spend their free time segregated by ethnicity. Furthermore, the results show that these two evaluative principles are in a hierarchical relationship. They form a hierarchy of worth where the Swedes’ way of doing things is seen as superior.
2.
Svanevie, Kajsa, 1976-
(författare)
Evidensbaserat socialt arbete : Från idé till praktik
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
As an innovation Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is designed as a tool for clinical problem solving. According to its theory of use EBP will bring a difference for policy makers, for professionals, for researchers and for service users. One question to be asked is whether EBP actually leads to the radical social change it is designed to accomplish. The aim of the study is to describe and analyse the outcome of the effort to establish EBP, with a focus on the case of social work in Sweden. The research questions are: What is EBP? Why are efforts made to establish EBP? What is the outcome of the EBP project? How can the outcome of the EBP project be explained?The case study was conducted on a critical realistic meta-theoretical ground with a focus on explanation of social change with an explicit actor-structure perspective. Methodologically, a narrative synthesis of studies was made. As a complement primary data were collected to fill empirical gaps. The state of things was described before and after the EBP-initiatives. Several helping theories – Kuhn’s theory of paradigm, program theory, neo-institutional theory and theory of diffusion – were used to analyse the empirically mapped outcome of the EBP project.The results show that the import of the original model of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) to social work is a part of a wider social movement in the helping and educational professions. The new model has influenced social work as a discipline, as a field of practice and as a field of policy. There are examples of full-scale implementations of EBP, although EBP has not reached a general status as daily practice. Some obstacles remain.The gradual adaption of EBP corresponds to criteria hold by Kuhn for a paradigm shift. Acceptance of the model has contributed to change the structure and function of social systems. At an organizational level, this change means on-going institutionalization. The innovation is influencing the way institutional actors conduct their work. Although the structural conditions have been optimal, the EBP-model has been debated with heat. The EBP-debate and policy-driven infrastructural efforts have brought a more in-depth examination of the model. So-called coercive, normative, and regulative isomorphisms were used to change organizations. The degree of institutionalization depended on the individuals and the organizations willingness and preparedness to change, to understand, and to put the model into practice. When actors used a less strict version of the original EBP model, the pace of cultural and institutional change slowed down.
3.
Wahlgren, Paula, 1976-
(författare)
De laglydiga : Om skolans brottsförebyggande fostran
2014
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Politicians and scholars often frame schooling as one of society’s most important crime preventive measures. The object of the study is to examine and problematize the hopes and ambitions that have evolved around what the study conceptualizes as the crime preventive educational task of public schooling and its historical trajectory as articulated in government publications. Drawing on governmentality theory, the study focuses on the liberal conception of the autonomous and self-regulating subject, and how the liberal mode of government works through the governing of freedom. The study identifies three discourses on crime preventive education: The emancipatory (1970s onwards), the deterrence (late 1980s onwards) and the safety/security discourse (21st century). The discursive shifts identified are further analysed in respect to how i) the explanation of crime, and the relationship between the deviant and the law-abiding subject, ii) control and iii) freedom and responsibility, are conceptualized over time. The conceptualization of criminal behaviour goes from being caused by social deprivation, becoming instead a calculated rational act. Subsequently, the deviant is altered from a person in need of reintegration to a deterrent example and a risk. The problematization of control has a trajectory from being a matter of social control and integration, ending instead as a matter of risk control and prudentialism. The conceptualization of the kind of freedom and responsibility the crime preventive education should foster is also reframed, from a strategy to counter a lack of democracy and influence, to a way of making prudent citizens. In this, the notion of a collective responsibility has been superseded by a belief in individual responsibility. The key problematization vindicating the process has gone from how to integrate youths into a society in constant flux, to how to restore control if lost and how to protect a pre-given social order.
4.
Basic, Goran, 1972-
(författare)
Samverkan blir kamp : En sociologisk analys av ett projekt i ungdomsvården
2012
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
In this dissertation a collaboration project in Swedish youth care is analysed. The aim of the project was to enhance coordination between the Social Services and the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care in order to make the efforts more efficient. The project also employed a number of coordinators. The overall purpose of this dissertation is to analyse conflicts, alliances and comparisons identifiable in interviews and observations. The analytic findings are put into an overall “collaboration context” represented by earlier research on the social phenomenon of “collaboration”. In this way the dissertation tries to contribute to a sociological understanding of a contemporary widespread phenomenon. The empirical materials of the study consist of recorded conversational interviews with 147 project participants (youngsters, parents and various professional categories) as well as observations of meetings, informal get-togethers and visits to institutions, Social Services offices, the head office of the National Board of Institutional Care and coordinators. The material was analysed using the analytic perspectives of Georg Simmel (1950/1964), Theodore Caplow (1968) and Erving Goffman (1959/2004). The analysis shows that the project manifested and led to struggles between organizations involving representatives from the Social Services, the National Board of Institutional Care and the project, as well as to several interpersonal conflicts between representatives from various categories of involved professionals, and the youngsters and their parents. The study also shows that the client, in such human service organizations, faces a significant risk of being marginalized. Professionals who appreciated the collaboration often drew their conclusions based on their interaction with other professionals, but the collaboration did not guarantee a successful treatment of the client. Conflicts concerning the roles of the coordinators and their written documents (“the agreements”) emerged and were actualized through the creation of the project. The coordinators and their “agreements” can be seen as the project’s most visible representatives and symbols, which during the project become both themes for conflict and actualize already established conflict patterns. The youngsters and their parents appreciated the projects’ coordinators who appeared as personally involved and able to make concrete changes. However, many of youngsters and their parents criticized the coordinators and even portrayed a victim identity in relation to the project. The coordinator’s relationship with the youngsters and their parents was mostly characterized by passivity. This is clearly apparent in the analysis of the administrative and/or passive coordinator. Different alliance constellations became visible in these presentations. When the coordinator roles were altered in the description, the alliance constellations change. It is a common strategy for clients in human service organizations to try to enter into alliances with professionals involved in their cases and, in so doing, try to alter the situation to their own advantage. The fact that these alliances are often sought by the client indicates, among other things, the client’s will to fight against the situation in which he/she finds him/herself. I believe that this can be seen as something productive rather than problematic.
5.
Bergman, Ann-Sofie, 1963-
(författare)
Lämpliga eller olämpliga hem? : Fosterbarnsvård och fosterhemskontroll under 1900-talet
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This thesis is about foster family care in Sweden during the 20th century. In the beginning of the century many children lived in foster homes. Because of the law regulating state child care passed in 1926, children’s welfare boards were established in the municipalities. These boards were responsible for placing children with foster parents and for supervising foster homes. It was required of foster parents and foster homes to be suitable in order to be allowed to take care of a foster child. What was then meant by the term suitability? This was not clearly expressed; in the assessment of suitability there was room for discretion. The overall aim of this study is to describe and analyse dominant conceptions of what has been characterized as suitable foster homes and foster parents, through the examination of the child welfare practice. The study also deals with power as an essential aspect of how suitability is determined, as well as with the supervision of foster homes. Via a long-term analysis of foster care it is possible to describe patterns and trends, continuity and change over time. The study focused mainly on the children’s welfare board in the municipality of Växjö, and was also put into a broader context of foster care inspections in the county of Kronoberg and the debate on foster care in Swedish journals. Key concepts for this analysis have been discourse, professionalization, power relations, the clinical gaze, class, gender, normality and control.The discourse around the suitability of foster homes and foster parents changed during the 20th century. The greatest change took place in the early 1970s, when foster care began to be described in terms of treatment. This shift can mainly be understood in the context of: changes in what problems led to placement; deinstitutionalization; professionalization; along with the influences of psychology and psychiatry on social work. Focus shifted over time from material needs and physical health to social and mental health. However, the discourse also includes elements of continuity. The focus on foster mothers in the inspectors’ examinations and assessments has been persistent and strong, despite great social changes. The norm that foster children should grow up in a nuclear family has prevailed, and it grew even stronger over time. Sometimes conflicts arose between various actors in the foster care practice, due to differing opinions on what was suitable or unsuitable. When deciding upon this issue there could be negotiations or disputes between the involved children, their parents, foster parents and inspectors. Problems in the foster homes which captured the attention of the board, could lead to increased control or to the children’s relocation. Throughout the previous century there has been criticism regarding insufficient control. The idea that supervision should not only serve as control, but also as support has also been advanced. The focus on the inspector’s supporting role was strengthened over time during the century.
6.
Eliassi, Barzoo, 1978-
(författare)
A stranger in my homeland : The politics of belonging among young people with Kurdish backgrounds in Sweden
2010
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This dissertation examines how young people with Kurdish backgrounds form their identity in Sweden with regards to processes of inclusion and exclusion. It also sheds light on the ways these young people deal with ethnic discrimination and racism. Further, the study outlines the importance of these social processes for the discipline of social work and the ways social workers can work with disadvantaged and marginalized groups and endorse their struggle for social justice and full equal citizenship beyond racist and discriminatory practices. The empirical analysis is built on interviews with 28 young men and women with Kurdish backgrounds in Sweden. Postcolonial theory, belonging and identity formation constitute the central conceptual framework of this study. The young people referred to different sites in which they experienced ethnic discrimination and stigmatization. These experiences involved the labor market, mass media, housing segregation, legal system and school system. The interviewees also referred to the roles of ‘ordinary’ Swedes in obstructing their participation in the Swedish society through exclusionary discourses relating to Swedish identity. The interviewees’ life situation in Sweden, sense of ethnic discrimination as well as disputes over identity making with other young people with Middle-Eastern background are among the most important reasons for fostering strong Kurdish nationalist sentiments, issues that are related to the ways they can exercise their citizenship rights in Sweden and how they deal with exclusionary practices in their everyday life. The study shows that the interviewees respond to and resist ethnic discrimination in a variety of ways including interpersonal debates and discussions, changing their names to Swedish names, strengthening differences between the self and the other, violence, silence and deliberately ignoring racism. They also challenged and spoke out against the gendered racism that they were subjected to in their daily lives due to the paternalist discourse of ”honor-killing”. The research participants had been denied an equal place within the boundary of Swedishness partly due to a racist postcolonial discourse that valued whiteness highly. Paradoxically, some interviewees reproduced the same discourse through choosing to use it against black people, Africans, newly-arrived Kurdish immigrants (”imports”), ”Gypsies” and Islam in order to claim a modern Kurdish identity as near to whiteness as possible. This indicates the multiple dimensions of racism. Those who are subjected to racism and ethnic discrimination can be discriminatory and reproduce the racist discourse. Despite unequal power relations, both dominant and minoritized subjects are all marked by the postcolonial condition in structuring subjectivities, belonging and identification.
7.
Hultgren, Peter, 1970-
(författare)
Det dubbla statushandikappet och sjukförsäkringens moraliska praktiker : en aktstudie om sjukpenningärenden som får negativa beslut på Försäkringskassan
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
In recent years an increasing number of sickness allowance cases have been closed with a negative decision despite the fact that a certifying doctor has recommended sick leave. At Social Insurance Offices, a case file is established for each sickness allowance case. The case files for 538 rejected cases form the basis for this study.The assessment of the entitlement to sickness allowance is a key instrument of control in the health insurance system and the sharpened borderline between the obligation to work and the entitlement to sickness allowance can be interpreted as the result of a political aim to promote work through the health insurance system. This thesis explores these demarcation practices, highlighting the ways in which this policy of work promotion is translated into and made manifest in real world cases.Three aspects of these practices were highlighted in the study described in the thesis. The first aspect concerns the identification of those who are denied sickness allowance; their diagnoses and work situations. The second aspect relates to the interaction between the certifying doctor, the medical officer and the case officer and their respective roles in the process leading to negative decisions. The third aspect examines how the actors interpret and apply the concepts of sickness and ability to work in cases with negative decisions. In addition to these themes, in the final chapter of the thesis, I draw on theories of institutionalised organisations and moral practices to analyse the outcomes of the decision-making process.The thesis shows that a negative decision is most likely to be applied to insured persons who are either unemployed or who are manual workers without educational qualifications, and who have received diagnoses of mental illhealth or of diagnoses of pain and ache problems in the locomotive organs. It is argued that this is a moral category formed through the interaction of government policy dictates promoting work with actors, who in their official roles must apply an extremely vague criterion for entitlement to social insurance, namely disablement caused by illness. In this way, the dual handicap – undervalued labour (market) position plus undervalued gravity of illness – has become a borderline marker when the right to sickness allowance is being investigated and contested.
8.
Hultman, Henrik, 1979-
(författare)
Liv och arbete i pizzabranschen
2013
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This thesis unravels the pizza trade through a sociological inquiry into its history, its businesses, and its people. In Sweden, the typical pizza place is a small independent business, owned and operated by one or a few people with immigrant backgrounds. Hence, the trade is an immigrant small business niche. The analysis is concerned with how the trade ‘works’; how its structural properties are established, maintained and challenged.Two questions serve as point of departure: how is the trade populated, and what does everyday life in the pizzeria look like? These ‘simple questions’ serve to uncover the diachronic and synchronic life nexus of the restaurant keeper, and how this is embedded in and shaped by the trade as a ‘social world’.Thirty-four life stories form the basis of the analysis of life courses as they lead up to, and continue in, the trade. The resulting life-course pattern is visible as three types of insertion sequences, distributing people to the trade in different ways. They differ in the extent to which they are smooth or fraught with friction. Some insertion sequences make life as a restaurant keeper appear acceptable, if not desirable, while others make it into a forced and awkward choice for the individual. The analysis of the life stories accounts for how people are installed in the social world, which is the precondition for its existence. Equally important is the way in which the social world is maintained on a day-to-day basis, thus directing attention to the workings of the pizzeria and the synchronic life nexus of the restaurant keeper. The inquiry details the everyday challenges which the restaurant keeper in the pizza trade must deal with. Operating a pizzeria entails working in an industry with sharp competition and low status. At the same time, it means working independently, being part of a life mode that both presupposes and enables a life pattern within the bounds of what some people regard as a ‘normal’ or ‘good life’.
9.
Sarstrand Marekovic, Anna-Maria, 1976-
(författare)
Från invandrarbyrå till flyktingmottagning : Fyrtio års arbete med invandrare och flyktingar på kommunal nivå
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The dissertation investigates what happened when a new field – the incorporation of immigrants and refugees – was to be organized at the local level in Sweden. The result shows that the public authorities during the 40 year period that the study covers struggled with several questions, such as: how they should organize this, who should carry out the work, what should be done in practice, and towards which groups should it be directed? It is around these questions that the municipal work with immigrants and refugees revolved, without finding any clear and permanent answers. I analyze this in terms of four themes: responsibility, personnel and competence structure, direction of the work, and target group, which together constitute what I call the organizations’ ‘practices of incorporation’. The main aim with the dissertation is to illuminate and analyze how these practices have developed and changed from the mid 1960’s and approximately 40 years on. To accomplish this I have conducted a historical and comparative study of eight municipalities. The material comprises several different sources, from interviews with civil servants and participant observation, to archive material and secondary literature. My theoretical perspective is mainly drawn from the sociology of organizations, with a focus on the history of organizations.The analysis defines two roughly defined periods, the period of immigrant service bureaus (1965-1985) and the period of refugee reception centers (1985-2008). My study of the history of the organizations shows both the change of practice that has occurred and the stability that remains at the same time. It also shows that the transition to refugee reception centers made it necessary to redefine and renegotiate the practices of incorporation. During the first 20 years covered in this dissertation, the immigrant service bureaus developed into independent administrative agencies; they became institutionalized as organizations. The break occurred as soon as the new system for refugee reception was initiated in the mid-1980s, when the role of the social welfare offices increased considerably. In recent years there are signs that labor market units in the municipalities are strengthening their role in relation to the reception centers, but also that the social welfare offices ‘working under cover’ continue to have the main responsibility for reception centers. Criticism against the role of the social welfare offices is mostly based on the accusation that they tend to make immigrants and refugees into clients, dependent on subsidies and remaining outside the labour market. In sum, the introduction of municipal refugee reception centers ultimately led to the closing of practically all immigrant service bureaus during the 1990s. In some individual cases they have lived on, or had some of their functions included in the praxis of the refugee reception centers, but on the whole they became increasingly marginalized, and finally disappeared.
10.
Selberg, Rebecca, 1982-
(författare)
Femininity at Work : Gender, Labour, and Changing Relations of Power in a Swedish Hospital
2012
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Gender scholarship has identified how paid care work reproduces male dominance and reinforces women’s subordination, but also how labour and workplaces provide a critical space for women through the development of new forms of identity and struggle. In this ethnographic study of Swedish nurses’ work, the concept of normative femininity is used in order to explore gender, labour, and changing relations of power in the context of the neoliberal transformation of the Swedish welfare state.The study shows how nursing has undergone dramatic changes in terms of work intensification and new forms of subordination and class boundaries. At the same time, the nursing profession has embraced nurses’ new role as adjunct managers in running clinics and taking on new responsibilities offered by New Public Management.Gendered subjectivities are at the level of the work place produced and reproduced through notions of femininities that shape and are shaped by the labour process. The study is located within the emerging field of ethnographies of neoliberalism and offers an empirical analysis of change and continuity in the relationship between femininity and care work among nurses employed in a Swedish hospital.
