1.
Scarpa, Simone, 1976-
(författare)
The spatial manifestation of inequality : residential segregation in Sweden and its causes
2015
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) 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.
2.
Hiltunen, Linda, 1979-
(författare)
Lagom perfekt : Erfarenheter av ohälsa bland unga tjejer och killar
2017
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The pursuit of restrained perfection: Experiences of ill health among adolescent girls and boysRates of self-reported mental health problems among young people in Sweden are alarmingly high. Despite several contributions to the literature, knowledge about the subjective health of adolescents is still scarce; specifically, little is known about their experiences of subjective ill health. The aim of this thesis is therefore to study how young people themselves understand the root causes of ill health – or the risk of suffering from ill health – and how they perceive their own ability to cope with these challenges. The thesis also aims to increase our understanding of the fact that girls persistently report higher levels of ill health than boys. Theoretically, the thesis is mainly inspired by symbolic interactionism, but it also relates to, and employs concepts from, the fields of social inequalities in health, research on gender and health, educational research on health, and the sociology of emotions. The thesis applies a mixed-methods approach, and so the conclusions are drawn from a combination of quantitative and qualitative data. The statistical analyses are based on a survey of 497 adolescents, and the qualitative studies build on essays written by the same adolescents, describing their experiences of ill health. I also conducted interviews as a complementary source. The empirical findings are presented in five chapters. The statistical analyses described in the first of these chapters show that the level of ill health in my sample corresponds well with previous studies, whereas the regression analyses reveal that variations in ill health depend on adolescents’ experiences of social relations and status. I also find that these measures interact systematically with gender. The qualitative analyses of the essays and interviews in the following chapters provide more detailed insights into the daily lives of adolescents. A significant finding in these chapters is that ill health is rooted in adolescents’ striving for perfection in several spheres in everyday life. Furthermore, the gender analysis shows that girls, to a greater extent than boys, adhere to norms of behaviour concerning social competition, social relations, and schoolwork. I argue that this “gender regime” helps explain why girls report higher levels of ill health than boys. The results described in the final empirical chapter show that most adolescents employ proactive and reactive strategies to cope with ill health. Still, the resources needed to formulate successful strategies are highly unequally distributed. Notably, adolescents who experience social exclusion appear to have very limited prospects of coping with their situation.
3.
Persson, Magnus, 1972-
(författare)
Utbildningskontraktets villkor : Utbildningsförlopp på en förändrad gymnasielärarutbildning
2016
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
For the last decades the social position of the Swedish upper secondary schoolteacher programme has fallen dramatically in the field of higher education. The once social homogeneity among students has transformed into heterogeneity. This study investigates what educational action students take while studying, and making experiences from the programme and how this relates to their individual educational and social resources, and to the overall changes in the higher education sector. A centrepiece in the study is the relation between what students expect of the programme, on the one hand, and what the programme actually delivers on the other. This is understood as an educational contract. This contract is divided into a labour-market contract and a teaching-contract where the former regulates how teaching content connects with the future labour-market expectations held by the students, and the latter how demands from the programme connect to students’ expectations of what it is to be a university student. In this case it produces educational action that can’t be understood without knowledge about the social disposition of the individual student (elaborated as habitus in this study), as well as knowledge about the social position of the educational programme. The study draws on a longitudinal series of in-depth interviews, supplemented by survey data and historical material. Three courses of education were identified. First the completed course, second the drop-out course and finally the changed course where students finished their academic degree but used it to get a higher social position in the labour-market than a position as upper secondary schoolteachers would have given them. The different courses of education exhibit a social pattern that can be understood both in relation to the expanded availability of higher education and to the social dispositions of the students; a key in the understanding of how conditions of the educational contract are formed both socially and historically. Some major findings can be formulated from this. First: Choice of courses of education mainly reproduced already existing internal social differences among the students but were revealed in new arrangements related to the altered field of higher education. Second: Expectations and choice of courses of education can in different ways, be traced to the social genealogy of teacher education. Third: Social pattern contributed to strengthen the on-going falling social position of the upper secondary schoolteacher programme.
4.
Carlsson, Catharina, 1971-
(författare)
Hästunderstött socialt arbete - ett samtalsrum med potentiella möjligheter för ungdomar med självskadebeteenden och deras personal
2017
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The thesis examines, through qualitative methods, the role of the horse in equine-assisted social work (EASW) as well as what facilitates or constrains the role of the horse. Specifically, should interaction be understood in the same manner regardless of which individuals that participate? The thesis is based on empirical data collected throughinterviews with eight staff members and nine female self-harming clients, aged 15–21 years, in a residential treatment facility. In addition, video recordings of the human-horse interaction of three staff members and four clients were analyzed, resulting in the additional issues addressed in a second interview. Critical dialogues between patterns and fragmentations in the narratives and video-recordings, as well as a dialogue with participants, while they were viewing videos of their own EASW sessions, led to the conclusion that adding a horse could qualitatively change therapeutic relationships. The results are presented in four articles that provide an image of the complexity of EASW. The summary chapters focus on a synthesized analysis, based on Goffman’sdramaturgical perspective and Hochschild’s emotional rules in which the concepts were applied: backstage, frontstage, impression management, stigma, emotional management, deep acting and surface acting. The analysis demonstrated that defense mechanisms are reduced when the horse is perceived as non-judgmental and therefore less intimidating. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that it is crucial that the horse is regarded as a subject, a transitional object, which can silence the inner critic and create a ‘moment of silence’ that contradicts stigmas and enablesadolescents to regulate their emotions. This leads to possibilities to be more authentic and the relationship between staff and adolescents to be perceived as more authentic. In summary, the work presented in this thesis contributes to increased knowledge about the role of the horse in opposing impression management and surface acting, depending on the high demands on staff to reach outcomes regarding communication, self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-image. The different triads consist of different liaisons, giving rise to unique combinations and the potential to avoid emotional dissonance. The quality of the relationships seems to depend on staff and clients’ attachment orientations. Keywords: Authentic, Emotional work, Equine-assisted social work, Impression management, Moment of silence, Self-harming adolescents, Stigmatization
5.
Enell, Sofia
(författare)
Transit i samhällsvården : När unga utreds på särskilda ungdomshem
2015
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This thesis is about assessments of young people in secure accommodations. Institutional assessments relate to the paradox in child welfare of combining control and care. The procedure raises questions about their implications for young people, their caseworkers and evolving care trajectories. Although institutional assessments of young people have a historical heritage, research about their implications is lacking. The aim of the thesis is to explore young people’s and their caseworkers’ experiences of assessments in secure accommodations and their implications for young people’s care trajectories. Methods used are primarily repeated interviews with 16 young people during a period of two years and one interview with their caseworkers. Surveys about 85 youths, participatory observations and written assessments are also included. This thesis takes an interactionist approach and the material has been analysed with the main concept of care trajectory along with the concepts of self-presentation, total institution, institutional identity and texts as coordinators.The results are presented in four papers. The concluding analysis shows that assessments in secure accommodations can be divided into three elements: the practice, the text and the placement. These three elements have different implications for the young people and the caseworkers. For the young people the practice and the placement converge into an assessment universe that, with the text, intensifies their shaping of self-identity. The young people’s experiences are characterised by lack of control over their self-presentations, the present and the future. For the caseworkers, the practice has implications for their understanding of the young people’s individual troubles, the text for negotiating with other actors and the placement in their efforts to achieve change in the young people’s troublesome situations. The assessments’ implications for stability and foreseeability in the young people’s further care trajectories are limited. Moreover, the procedure of assessing young people in itself contains instability through involving several professionals in different parts of the assessment and decision-making process. Despite lack of stability, the thesis reveals that some young people experience the assessment as a place for self-development and where the course of the care trajectory changes to the better.
6.
Granbom, Ann-Charlotte
(författare)
The second wave : the Urak Lawoi after the tsunami in Thailand
2017
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Urak Lawoi är en ursprungsbefolkning i Andamansjön som bl.a. bor på kända turistöar som Phuket, Phi Phi, Ko Lanta Yai och Ko Lipe utanför Thailands västkust. Deras språk och kultur skiljer sig från övriga thailändares, inte minst ifråga om kunskap att navigera på havet. Att bo på eller vid havet är centralt för deras identitet; det är där de fiskar, samlar föda på stränder och utför sina ritualer. I århundranden, ja, kanske tusentals år har Urak Lawoi levt vid stranden och av de resurser som havet kan ge. Andra kallar dem ofta efter de västerländska benämningarna; ”Sea Gypsies”, ”havsnomader” eller, på thailändska, ”Chao Ley”.Den 26 december 2004 drabbades Thailand av den mest förödande tsunamin som noterats i modern historia. Mer än 350 000 människor omkom i Sydostasien. Om tsunamin var ”den första våg” som sköljde över Urak Lawoi, blev hjälpinsatser och reformer som följde efter tsunamin ”den andra vågen”, och den kom att generera betydande sociokulturella förändringar.Syftet med den här avhandlingen är att undersöka hur reformer, hjälpinsatser och den ökade uppmärksamhet som Urak Lawoi fick efter tsunamin har påverkat deras liv, särskilt på ön Ko Lanta Yai. Avhandlingen bygger på 36 månaders etnografiska fältstudier som gjorts under olika perioder mellan 2002 och 2013, alltså både före och efter tsunamin. Monografin ger en empirisk förståelse för hur globala ekonomiska intressen och transnationell migration påverkar lokalsamhällen på de stränder där Urak Lawoi varit bosatta, och som exploaterats för turism. Fallstudier från fältarbetet används för att visa hur en ursprungsbefolkning kan berövas sitt territorium och hur detta påverkar deras identitet och livsföring.När jag träffade Urak Lawoi första gången var det en gåta för mig varför landrättigheter hade en så central betydelse för människor som var kända som ett havsfolk. Här försöker jag finna svar på denna gåta och undersöka vad dessa svar egentligen innebär. Undersökningen visar hur konflikter kan uppstå på grund av det omgivande samhällets ekonomiska intressen och en lokalbefolknings traditionella livsstil. Studien visar hur en naturkatastrof används som en förevändning för att exploatera det drabbade området och bygga upp en turistindustri, och därmed påskynda en förändringsprocess som i själva verket var planerad redan före katastrofen. Analysen visar hur en respons på en naturkatastrof kan påskynda integrationen av en lokalbefolkning i den globala ekonomiska arenan. Uppbyggnadsverksamheter, nya regler och sociala integrationsprocesser blev katalysatorer för den lokala regeringen att genomföra förändringar som passade turismens tillväxt, men inte nödvändigtvis Urak Lawois intressen. Utomstående vill skapa en stereotyp bild av detta ”havsfolk” och ge dem "rätt" att behålla sin identitet under förutsättning att deras traditioner passar in i turistindustrins expandering. Studien visar hur denna utveckling har ökat ojämlikheten i människors levnadsförhållanden och gjort dem som saknar landrättigheter mer utsatta och sårbara. Trots sin utsatthet ser de emellertid inte sig själva som offer. De visar tvärtom stark kreativitet att agera inom det omgivande samhällets normer och regler och att göra motstånd. Slutsatsen är att de som har tillgång till mark är bäst på att integrera med det thailändska samhället, men de är också bäst på att bevara sin identitet.
7.
Hjorth, Fredrik, 1972-
(författare)
Complexity and Ambivalence in Ship Safety Inspection : The view of Swedish Port state control officers
2015
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Despite an extensive system of Port state controls (PSC) on ships, inspection loopholes in European control functions have been reported. Furthermore, risk factors associated with fatigue, stress and a poorly developed safety culture on board ships have been identified in earlier research. These combined risk factors may pose a serious threat to maritime safety.With this as a point of departure, this thesis aims to investigate the perceived work situation for Swedish inspectors from an inspector’s point of view concerning professional challenges, status and identity for inspectors and the perceived quality of Paris MoU inspection system and the Swedish inspection organization.In this study, the activities of Swedish PSC inspectors are viewed as a profession and the inspectors are viewed as bureaucrats. One of the principals for bureaucracy is that its servants should exercise their authority according to the common good, be autonomous, rational, reliable and responsible. The results indicate that organizational and management reforms have put the PSC bureaucrat under pressure to become more market oriented. Due to the responsibilities inherent in the profession of inspector within the complex structure of shipping, these organizational and management reforms conflict with the PSC inspector’s autonomy and professional role.Inspectors perceive that their expertise and integrity are vital for the success of their work. They also consider the high degree of control that the Swedish inspection organization exercises on the inspectors’ work as limiting to their autonomy and ability to make professional decisions. Some level of control may fulfil a need of support from the Swedish inspection organization, but too much control hampers the professional self-sufficiency and freedom of action. The inspectors in this study reveal considerable ambivalence towards the quality and complexity of ship safety inspections carried out in Sweden and within the Paris MoU system.
8.
Jonasson, Ingrid, 1952-
(författare)
Hur gick det sen? : Om tidigare bidragsmottagare ur ett livsloppsperspektiv
2015
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The aim of this dissertation is to shed light on how life can turn out for individuals with long term social assistance and afterwards when it has ceased. The primary objective of the dissertation is to study the changes that have occurred during the life course and the impact of those changes on the life course at large. A key question of this dissertation is the development of selfsufficiency and work-life patterns in a longitudinal perspective.The dissertation consists of a longitudinal study based on qualitative interviews with an interval of 20 years. The empirical data is composed of interviews with 11 recipients of social assistance – seven of which have been interviewed again in 2008/2009. A life course perspective is employed in the data analysis as a comprehensive approach and analytical tool. Other analytical approaches are related to the impact of the welfare state on the life course and to the term marginality.The situation of the interviewed group regarding self-sufficiency, employment and social conditions is viewed from a one-year perspective, a 20- year perspective and a life course perspective. The different time perspectives generated widely diverse pictures and nowledge. Not everyone worked at the point of the last interview but all were in a better social and economical position. No one remained on social assistance. One conclusion is that the notion of social problems being reinforced and exacerbated over time is simplistic. Another conclusion is that it appears that social assistance and social services have little importance from a life course perspective. A concluding result is that cross-sectional studies of individuals in a vulnerable situation are of limited value. A brief look at a person’s life does not say much of what the rest of his or her life will look like.Keywords: Life course, long term social assistance, social welfare services, human agency, timing, social integration, notions of social problems, welfare state, marginality.
9.
Nordesjö, Kettil, 1981-
(författare)
Relationen styrning och utvärdering : Hur en europeisk utvärderingsidé översätts i Sverige
2015
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Evaluation is an institutionalized practice in the western public sector with several applications and uses. At the same time, the effectiveness and use of evaluation is seldom demonstrated. This evaluation paradox is due to the fact that evaluation is constrained and shaped in relation to, among others, a political context. In this dissertation, the political context is examined from the assumption that governance shapes evaluation. The aim is to analyze the relationship between governance and evaluation, by studying the translation (i.e. interpretation) of the European Union evaluation approach ongoing evaluation in Sweden, in the context of Cohesion policy 2007-2013, which in Sweden aims at reinforcing competitiveness and employment. The relationship is examined through documents and interviews on a European union and a Swedish level, and in the translation process in between. With key concepts such as steering logics, participatory evaluation and translation through framing, the formation of evaluation in relation to governance has been mapped. This is particularly interesting in Sweden where the approach puts forth ideals of learning and interaction that seem to depart from ongoing evaluation. Results show that governance cannot fully explain the shape of evaluation. Instead, Swedish agencies and other implementing actors have promoted their evaluation norms while at the same time fulfilling the Swedish ministries’ learning frame. It is an actor perspective complementing the relationship between governance and evaluation previously presented. The evaluation approach in Sweden has been translated to a practical participatory evaluation approach within a larger group of collaborative inquiry.In conclusion, evaluation on both levels has functioned as a relatively uncritical supportive resource for decision making within predetermined boundaries, more connected to the object of evaluation than to a larger governance context. Evaluation in Sweden is being separated from questions of accountability, and participation in evaluation is for goal fulfillment rather than for critical examination of basic assumptions underpinning projects and programs. Results made possible through the lens of translation show that the Swedish approach was made possible by the vague borders of the field of evaluation, the rhetorical use of evaluation terminology in translation, skilled institutional entrepreneurs using legitimizing strategies, and the framing by the Commission and state ministries that opens up for national variation.
10.
Vainik, Anne-Lie
(författare)
Polisanmälningar i grundskolan
2017
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This thesis is about police reports concerning school violence in Sweden involving children below the age of criminal responsibility. Police reports about incidents caused by pupils in Swedish compulsory schools have increased since at least the 1980s. In research on violent, threatening and insulting acts among children in schools, incidence and causes are often studied in terms of bullying and degrading treatment. Criminological studies on children's violent acts, in schools, is mainly based on information on children aged 15 and over. Research on why police reports are filed about younger children in compulsory schools is limited. The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse school-related police reports, in relation to children’s unwanted actions in compulsory schools with the goal of understanding the intentionality in every day practice. The empirical material consists of four studies of which three have been conducted using qualitative methods through analysing legal documents, using content analysis of texts in school-related police reports and interviews with Principals. The fourth study has been carried out with statistical analysis of school-related police reports. The results of the studies are presented in four papers. This thesis takes the approach from modern sociology which is used both as perspectives and theory. The perspectives concern modernity, social control and cultural sensitivity. The theoretical framework is based on theory of systems and lifeworld. The concluding analysis shows local differences in the assessments on which action will be reported to the police. It is mainly Principals who make reports to the police but also parents. Principals’ police reports are based on social commitment and early intervention and parents report concern about repeated school bullying of their children. Despite diverse local practices certain patterns appear. Boys in the 13-14 years age group are the ones most often seen as perpetrators in the police reports. Two particularly prominent patterns become visible at the school level. Most police reports are related to schools with low grades and to so-called resource schools. This indicates that the unwanted actions of disadvantaged children are more often reported to the police than the actions of other children. The filing of police reports can be understood as a result of difficulties among adults to reach common understanding on how children’s problems should be handled in school systems everyday practice.
