1.
Bergman, Jonny, 1973-
(författare)
Seeking empowerment : asylum-seeking refugees from Afghanistan in Sweden
2010
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of how asylum-seeking refugees manage their lives in the situation they are in, a situation in which they are dependent and have to wait for decisions on whether or not they will get to stay in the country in which they have made their application for asylum. The elaboration upon these questions and the purpose of the study is approached through a field study of asylum-seeking refugees from Afghanistan in Sweden. The thesis presents a background of international migration, refugee migration, refugee migration from Afghanistan and the reception of asylum seekers and refugees in the EU and Sweden, which tells us both that asylum seekers and refugees are not welcome in the countries of the ‘North’, where policies of containment and repatriation are the most common features of treating the refugee ‘problem’ and that the long period of waiting and uncertainty creates a situation of passivity and ill-health among the asylum seekers. Employing grounded theory methodology in different forms based in data from fieldwork, including participant observations and informal conversations, the study applies a constructionist grounded theory approach in the analyses of the situation and the management thereof. Steered by this constructionist grounded theory approach, strengthened by a situational analysis, the thesis presents a situational frame pointing to the situation for the asylum-seeking refugees as temporal and dependent on Swedish national discourse, racism and paternalism. With this background and frame and generated by data from the field study, the thesis goes on to present the situation as disempowering. The disempowering processes are illustrated through looking at dependence and inhospitality, and are characterised by the asylum-seeking refugees’ oscillation between feelings of hope and despair. It becomes, however, also evident that the asylum-seeking refugees take action and that they are supported by latent empowering processes. The actions taken are categorised as actions of empowering in opposition to the processes presented as disempowering. The actions of empowering are connected to keeping oneself occupied, searching for and maintaining social contacts and in the asylum-seeking refugees’ representations of themselves. From the presentation of the situation as disempowering and the actions taken by the asylum-seeking refugees in response to this situation as actions of empowering, a process characterised as seeking empowerment is presented. In this process empowerment is discussed as the establishment of power to resist. During the discussion of the concept of seeking empowerment it is shown how the asylum-seeking refugees in this study, through their actions of empowering, try to resist the disempowering situation. By seeking to establish power to resist, they are seeking empowerment.
2.
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.
3.
Jönsson, Jessica H., 1981-
(författare)
Localised Globalities and Social Work : Contemporary Challenges
2014
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Recent global and structural transformations, a West-centric development agenda and the triumph of neoliberal politics have led to destructive consequences for many local communities and individual life chances. The global dominance of the West-centric development agenda, with its roots in the colonial past, has created uneven developments and an unjust world in which Western countries continue to gain advantages and increase their prosperity. Although a minority elite in many non-Western countries share the same interests as Western countries and their global organs, the majority of people in these countries are suffering from increasing socioeconomic inequalities. As a result of the dogmatic belief in a singular and West-centric modernity and its practices, many problems are considered to be the result of non-Western countries’ inabilities to complete the project of modernity in accordance with Western blueprints. This has also influenced social work as a global and modern profession. Social problems are often individualised and the reasons behind many inequalities are increasingly related to non-Western people’s individual shortcomings and traditional cultural backgrounds. In Western and non-Western countries equally are the neoliberal structural and institutional transformations ignored and social problems of individuals and families defined as a matter of wrong and deviant actions and choices.The main objective of the dissertation, which is constituted of four articles and an overall introduction and summary, is to examine the consequences of recent neoliberal globalisation based on the belief in a single and West-centric modernity and development agenda and their consequences for social work facing increasing global inequalities. The following research questions have guided the work: ‘How can social work play an effective role in combating social problems and otherisation, marginalisation and increasing inequalities in a globalised world?’, ‘How does the global development agenda function within the local arenas of social work?’, ‘Are development projects improving people’s life chances in local communities in non-Western countries?’, ‘How informed and responsive are social workers towards the global context of local problems?’The work is based on a qualitative design using qualitative content analysis for analysing data collected through interviews, participant observations and official documents. The results show that irrespective of where and in which context social problems are appearing, since local problems often have global roots, a global perspective to local problems should be included in every practices of social work in order to develop new methods of practices in an increasingly globalised field of work. Destruction of local communities, forced migration from non-Western countries, and marginalisation of people with immigrant background in Western countries should not be considered only as local problems, but also as problems with their roots in global structural inequalities which reproduces global social problems with local consequences.It is argued that social work should consider the dilemmas and problems connected to the taken for granted West-centric theories, understandings and practices of social work in order to develop new methods of practices for combating social problems, marginalisation and increasing inequalities in a globalised world. Such a position includes practicing multilevel social work, social work in global alliances beyond the division of East and West, and mobilisation against neoliberalism and the retreat of the welfare state. This requires critical standpoints against the relationship between the global context of the neoliberal ideology and practices in a Western-dominated and postcolonial world and the daily practices of social work.
4.
Sjölund, Maria, 1978-
(författare)
Levd erfarenhet av ålder : Föreställningar om och erfarenheter av att vara och bli äldre
2012
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Starting from the perspective that the ageing human body always is a situation and in a situation, the present thesis explores situations in which the meaning of age and ageing is negotiated. The analytical focus is on situations, and more specifically on experiences of age and ageing. The aim of the thesis is to describe and analyse the lived experience of age and ageing. A hermeneutic understanding of experience and lived experience is fundamental to the thesis. Three studies are included.The first study is based on descriptions of situations in which older people felt “especially young” and "especially old". The analysis revealed that the same kinds of situations gave rise to experiences both of feeling “especially young” and of feeling “especially old”, but they differed in focus regarding social inclusion/exclusion.The second study is based on interviews with amateur dancers regarding their experiences of a dance project in which the artistic focus is on the aged body. Two themes emerged in the analysis: the dance project as a situation in which the meaning of age and ageing was both given new meanings and restated in stereotypical terms; and the aged and ageing person him-/herself as a situation for negotiating the meaning of age and ageing. The meaning of age was negotiated, as there were tensions between referring to age and ageing as resources and referring to them as a problem associated with restrictions. The situated experiences involved changes in the body, pointed out by other people or felt oneself. The dissociation from being old appeared as an internalized social norm, and one strategy for avoiding old age was to keep active, but not too active.The third study is based on a vignette dialogue with amateur dancers. Text excerpts from Simone de Beauvoir's book The Coming of Age (1970/1972) were used as vignettes to grasp notions about the aged in society as they appeared to the informants. Among the informants, notions of being and becoming old in a society are filled with fears of being dependent, becoming a social burden on society and being reduced to an aged person with standardized needs who is unable to live a worthy life. In sum, the lived experience of ageing is always situated as a complex interplay between the body, social norms, the available language and our notions about these phenomena. The present thesis shows that age and ageing can be filled with various inconsistent meanings that embrace social inclusion as well as social exclusion.
5.
Andersson, Ewa, 1980-
(författare)
Oberoendets praktik
2013
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The Independent PracticeDuring the last hundred years, the music industry has evolved with the record labels playing a central role. However, many argue that this situation is about to change as record sales have decreased during the last ten years. This imminent change in the music industry will not only affect the multinational record labels, but also the independent record labels. As record sales have decreased during the last ten years, the number of members in the Swedish Independent Music Producers Association (SOM) has increased and the association now includes 300 independent record labels which are responsible for around 30 percent of the music being produced in Sweden. However, they can be considered a dominated group within the music industry, since they only have around 10 percent of the total market shares when it comes to selling figures. Considering the changes in record sales, the domination of the major record labels and the somewhat fascinating growth of independent actors during turbulent times, this thesis will study how the Swedish independent actors relate to the practices and ideals relevant in the daily work of running an independent record label. The practices studied in this thesis are the practice of work, the practice of recognition and the practice of content production.The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how independence is constructed among the members of SOM. The thesis is based on material collected in a web survey as well as seven interviews with representatives of indie labels. The web survey was distributed to all members of SOM, and the interviewed informants were selected by snowball sampling, using a locator to find informants. The survey material was analysed with cluster and variance analysis, while the interview material was analysed using content analysis – searching for themes connected to the practices. All material is understood through the theoretical frame of the field theory.The main results of the study are that there are different ways of relating to practices among the Swedish independent actors, and that these ways of relating are closely connected to their position within the field. There are common ways of relating to practices such as always promoting DIY, the importance of music and the need to resist the dominance of the major labels. However, the independent actors are not consistent in how these commonalities work in practice. For example, DIY is not applied if it is not economically necessary, and the need to resist the major labels is only apparent when the independent actor has a weaker position within the field. The more established an independent actor is within the field, the lesser resistant he is against the dominating structures of the music industry. As a result of a weakening resistance against the major labels, the independent actors turn to struggle each other.
6.
Sparf, Jörgen, 1970-
(författare)
Tillit i samhällsskyddets organisation : Om det sociala gränssnittet i risk- och krishantering mellan kommunen och funktionshindrade
2014
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Systemet för samhällsskydd och beredskap i Sverige har sedan 1990-talet genomgått en rad förändringar gällande juridik, organisering och ansvar. Framför allt har kommunernas ansvar inom området ökat och systemet har kommit att bli mer beroende av aktörer i lokalsamhället. Dessutom har den enskilde individen fått ett ökat ansvar och är idag en självklar aktör i systemet. De i området styrande principerna om ansvar, likhet och närhet föreskriver att störningar i kommunal verksamhet ska hanteras av de roller som bedriver verksamheten i normala fall. Det innebär att störningar eller kriser i en verksamhet som exempelvis den kommunala omsorgen ska hanteras och lösas av den ordinarie personalen. Systemets ordning i kombination med principerna gör därför att frågor om säkerhet och trygghet för den enskilda omsorgstagaren hamnar i gränssnittet mellan individen och organisationen. Avhandlingens syfte är att fördjupa kunskapen om relationen mellan funktionshindrade personer och kommunens organisation för samhällsskydd och beredskap gällande trygghet och säkerhet. Fyra separata empiriska delstudier från Sverige inkluderas. Den första undersöker kvantitativt vilka riskuppfattningar personer med funktionshinder har och om kan de förklaras av funktionshindret. Övriga tre delstudier är kvalitativa och studerar i tur och ordning: hur risk- och sårbarhetsfrågor manifesteras, erfars och hanteras av funktionshindrade; hur kommuner organiserar för samhällsskydd och beredskap på lokal nivå och vilken roll kommunen har på det lokala verksamhetsfältet för detta; hur en faktisk krisartad situation hanterades på olika nivåer av den kommunala vård- och omsorgen. De två studierna om funktionshindrade visade att tillit är central för hur riskuppfattningen formas och att den vardagsnära säkerheten är viktig. Personerna utvecklar strategier för att hantera sårbarhet genom att undvika vissa situationer, att visa eller dölja sina behov och att lära sig stå ut med att saker och ting tar lång tid. Detta formar ett interpretationsramverk för trygghet och säkerhet där kroppen speglas som objekt och social representation. Därmed kan kroppen likställas med andra sociala representationer och försvaras, riskförebyggas och skademinimeras. Den första kommunstudien visar att den lokala organiseringen av samhällsskydd och beredskap sker på liknande sätt över landet. Däremot har den kommunala funktionen för skydd och säkerhet att hantera olika organisatoriska relationer med distinkt skilda karaktärer. Relationen till den kommunala organisationen i stort är labyrintartad till följd av rationalitetsproblem inom ändamålsenlighet, mål, ansvarsförläggande och uppföljning är oklara eller helt enkelt saknas; relationen till de kommunala förvaltningarna präglas hierarkiproblem genom brist på auktoritet, legitimitet och exekutiv makt; relationen till externa aktörer uppvisar problem med identitet till följd av brist på resurser och tydlig organisation. Den andra kommunstudien visar att den tid-rumsliga inramningen av en störning i det kommunala dricksvattnet skilde sig åt mellan olika organisatoriska nivåer och att störningen hanterades genom en aktiv agens där tillit och handlingsutrymme var avgörande. Avhandlingens övergripande analys utifrån tillitsteori landar i att medan det tidigare systemet för samhällsskydd och beredskap präglades av en instrumentell tillit med vertikalt riktad makt och en problemlösningsförväntan, är dagens system mer beroende av en humanitär tillit med horisontell maktfördelning och med förväntan på att hantera sårbarhet. De tre teoretiska sårbarhetsformerna beroende, oförutsägbarhet och oåterkallelighet föreslås på den lokala samhällsnivån kunna reduceras med de tre tillitsmekanismerna autenticitet, legitimitet respektive transparens. Det är en typ av tillit som är bättre anpassad för det gränssnitt mellan den enskilda individen och organisationen där vi hittar mycket av ansvaret för trygghets- och säkerhetsfrågor idag.
7.
Wall, Erika, 1978-
(författare)
Riskförståelse : Teoretiska och empiriska perspektiv
2010
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The thesis introduces the concept of ‘sense-making of risk’ (riskförståelse) for the purpose of the theoretical and empirical study of the individual’s sense-making of risk. Particular weight is attached to an examination of the term’s various components, its compass, and the relationship between sense-making of risk and behaviour. The premise is that risk is created and defined by the common conceptions that exist within the framework of a specific social context; the effect is to focus attention on the significance of social and cultural contexts. To provide a full picture of sense-making of risk, and risk behaviour, and to study these phenomena using a variety of methodological perspectives, the data was gathered from both polls and focus-group interviews. It is in the first article, based on a focus-group interview study, that the concept of sense-making of risk is introduced: the empirical results demonstrate that it can be used to chart how young people with similar risk perceptions differ in their understanding of a variety of risks. A theoretical model is proposed that establishes that there are two dimensions to the individual’s sense-making of risk. The second article considers young people’s risk behaviour in traffic milieus. The principal conclusion drawn in this study is that the individual’s sense-making of risk is insufficient to explain behaviour in relation to risk: the spatial context must also be taken into account. The third article focuses on the relationship between place attachment and sense-making of risk, and demonstrates that various aspects of place attachment have implications for the individual’s sense-making of risk. The fourth and final article offers a cluster analysis. The article’s most important result is its refinement of the theoretical concepts. Structure of meaning is singled out as the basis for the individual’s sense-making of risk. In its empirical application the concept was shown to be useful in studying the behavioural differences between various social groups, since grouping by structure of meaning furnishes an explanation for variations in risk and risk-reducing behaviour. The introductory and concluding chapters assemble the studies’ findings and offer a full account of the concept of sense-making of risk. The thesis’ most important conceptual contribution is to the question of how the individual arrives at a personal sense-making of risk. However, it will fall to future studies to establish the concept’s general applicability by considering its theoretical ramifications and empirical implementation. In this way, sense-making of risk can take its place in a specifically sociological conceptual apparatus that focuses on how the individual relates to risk.
8.
Öljarstrand, Anneli, 1967-
(författare)
Den mångtydiga församlingen : Organisering, roller och relationer i spänningen mellan sekularisering och desekularisering
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Parishes of the Church of Sweden work under the influence of a religious and cultural tradition as well as a societal, individual and internal secularization (Chaves 1994). The organization therefore has to react to the requirements of change alongside the need to preserve its distinctive character. The aim of this thesis is to analyze experiences of how a secularized context and internal organizational requirements influence the parishes' organization of structure and activities, the role of the actors and the relations between them. The data consists of two empirical studies. The first study (carried out in 2007) is based on semi-structured interviews with 26 diocese employees at twelve of Church of Sweden's diocese secretariats. The second study (carried out in 2009) is based on semi-structured interviews with vicars and focus group-interviews with members of the faith ministry, employees and volunteers in four different parishes, in total 77 informants. Three different analyses of the material have been carried out.The first analysis, guided by new institutional theory, focuses on the parish’s organization in relation to a secularized context. Results show that the majority of the parishes have accepted a “market adapted organization model” in order to compete on the religious market, or perhaps most importantly, to retain their current members. The study concludes that the major challenge for the Church of Sweden’s parishes today is to find a balance between preserving traditions and adapting the organization to the ambient society's requirements of market adaptation and rationalization, which can result in internal secularization. The second analysis is guided by role theory and focuses on the actor´s (vicars, members of the faith ministry, employees and volunteers) different roles in the parishes, in the light of organizational change. Results show how the different roles are affected by the organizational structure as well as by the societal context. The study concludes that a role is not static; instead it is affected by ideas from society, the organization, and other actor’s expectations as well as the actor him/her self. The four investigated roles tend to be more and more complex and, despite role, intra- and inter- role conflicts seems to be common in the parishes.The third and last analysis is guided by network analysis and focuses on the relations between the four actor groups. The results show that the actors sometimes have difficulty in separating between formal and informal relations. The relations seem to overlap each other, be multiplex and have more than one content. This can be related to the parish ambiguity as well as the actor´s many different roles within the organization. The thesis concludes with a theoretical discussion there a modifying of the concept internal secularization is proposed.
9.
Israelsson, Magnus
(författare)
Internationella komparativa studier av lagar om tvångsvård vid missbruk : -omfattning, trender och mänskliga rättigheter
2013
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights state that everyone has the right to good health. According to the conventions, the states have obligations to prevent and combat disease, and if necessary, ensure that the conditions for treatment of the disease are appropriate (UDHR 1948, UNCESCR 1966). The broad wording in the conventions on the right to good health includes the right to care of substance use disorders. In the 1960ies the World Health Organization recommended, that people with such disorders should be seen as sick and that the legislation governing such care should be in accordance with special administrative legislations and not criminal legislation. The recommendation indicates WHO:s clear position that persons with substance use disorders primarily should be treated as persons suffering from disease and in need of care, and not primarily as disruptive individuals or criminals who should be disciplined or punished. This applies also to situations when treatment and care cannot be provided on a voluntary basis, but compulsorily. In Swedish context, the most commonly mentioned law in these cases is the social special legislation Law (1988: 870) on care of misusers, special provisions (LVM). Ever since the implementation of LVM in 1982, its legal position as well as application in institutional care has been subject of critical discussions within social work as well as in social science research. Such debate in the Nordic countries has until now mostly been marked by two important limitations. First, most comparisons are restricted to very few countries, e.g. four of the Nordic countries; secondly the notion of involuntary care is often limited to social legislation on compulsory care without taking criminal justice legislation or mental health legislation into account. The present dissertation studies legislations on compulsory commitment to care of persons with substance use problems (CCC), and compares these legislations from a larger number of countries, on global or European levels. This approach makes it possible to explore the great variation in CCC legislation between countries, i.e. type of law (criminal justice, mental health care and social or special legislation), time limits (maximum duration) as well as levels of ambition, ethical grounds, criteria for admission, and adaption to human and civil rights. In addition, the comparisons between many countries are used to investigate factors related to different national choices in legislations from country characteristics, e.g. historical and cultural background as well as economic and social conditions, including level and type of welfare distribution. Available datasets from different times permits trend analyses to investigate whether CCC or specific types of such are increasing or decreasing internationally. Empirical materials: Article I is based on three reports from the WHO on existence of CCC legislation, before the millennium shift, in 90 countries and territories in all populated continents. Articles II and IV are based on own data collection from a survey in 38 European countries. Article III uses a combination of those data and additional information from country reports in scientific and institutional publications in three times of observation during more than 25 years, and including a total of 104 countries. Additional data for Articles I and II are information on various countries' characteristics obtained from different international databases. Findings based on data from WHO reports at the eve of the millennium show that CCC legislation was very common in the world, since 82 per cent of the 90 countries and territories had such law. Special administrative (“civil”) legislation (mental health or social) was somewhat more prevalent (56 %), but CCC in criminal justice legislation was also frequent and present in half of the countries. The study shows that economically stronger countries in the western world and many of the former communist countries in Eastern Europe, the so-called "first and second worlds" in cold war rhetoric, more often had adapted to the recommendations made by WHO in the 1960ies, with CCC more often regulated in civil legislation. In the so-called "third world" countries, CCC in criminal justice legislation dominated. The new data collection from 38 European countries ten years later confirmed that legislation on CCC is very common, since 74 per cent of the explored countries have some type of legislation. The most common type was now CCC in criminal legislation (45%), although special administrative legislation (mental health or social) was almost equally common (37%). Special administrative legislation on CCC (both acute and rehabilitative), was more common in countries with historic experience of a strong influential temperance movement, and in countries with distribution of health and welfare more directed through the state, while countries with less direct government involvement in distribution of health and welfare and lacking former influence of a strong temperance movement more often had CCC in criminal justice legislation. During all the 25 years period from early 80ies up to 2009, it was more common for countries to have some type of law on CCC than not, although some reduction of CCC legislation is shown, especially during the last decade. But within countries having CCC, more cases are compulsorily committed and for longer time duration. This is related to a global shift from civil CCC to CCC in criminal justice legislation, directly in the opposite direction from what WHO recommended in the 60ies. Changes in CCC legislation are often preceded with national political debate on ethical considerations, and criticisms questioning the efficiency and content of the care provided. Such national debates are frequent with all types of CCC legislation, but ethical considerations seem to be far more common related to special administrative (civil) legislation. National legislations on CCC within Europe should conform to the human and civil rights stipulated in ECHR (1950). There seems, to be some limitations in the procedural rules that should protect persons with misuse or dependence problems from unlawful detentions, regardless type of law. The three types of law differ significantly in terms of criteria for CCC, i.e. the situations in which care may be ensured regardless of consent. Conclusions: It is more common that societies have legislation on CCC, than not. This applies internationally – in all parts of the world as well as over time, for a period of 25 years, at least. Sweden’s legislative position is not internationally unique; on the contrary, it is quite common. Law on CCC tend to be introduced in times of drug epidemics or when drug-related problems are increasing in a society. Changes in CCC legislation are often preceded by national debates on ethics, content and benefits of such care. These findings here discussed may reflect different concurrent processes. A shift from welfare logic to a moral logic may be understood as more moralization, perhaps due to relative awaking of traditionalism related to religious movements in various parts of the world (Christian, Hindu, Muslim or other). But it may also be understood from more libertarianism that stresses both individual responsibility for one’s welfare and the state´s responsibility to discipline behaviours that inflict negatively on the lives of others. Possibly do these two tendencies work in conjunction to one another. At the same time, however, there is a stronger emphasis on care content within criminal justice CCC, especially in the Anglo-Saxon drug court system. Some shift within Civil CCC is also noticed, i.e. from social to mental health legislation. Thus drug abuse and dependence is increasingly more recognized and managed in the same way as other diseases, i.e. an increased normalization. Since social CCC has been more in focus of research and debates, this may also result in CCC turning into a more hidden praxis, which from ethical perspectives is problematic. The thesis shows that there are examples of focus on humanity and care in all three of the law types, but there are also examples of passive care, sometimes even inhumane and repressive, in all types. Thus, type of law cannot be said to in general correspond to a specific content of care. Although CCC can be delivered in accordance with human and civil rights, there is still a dissatisfying situation concerning the procedural rights that should ensure the misuser his/her rights to freedom from unlawful detention. The possibility to appeal to a higher instance is missing in about 20 percent of European CCC laws, although not differentiating one type of legislation from the others. A clear difference between the three law types concerns criteria that form the basis for who will be provided care according to the laws. This is of major importance for which persons of the needy who will receive care: addicted offenders, out-acting persons or the most vulnerable. The criteria for selecting these relate to the implicit ambitions of CCC – correction, protection, or for support to those in greatest need for care. The question is what ambition a society should have concerning care without consent in case of substance abuse and addiction problems. The trend that CCC according to special administrative legislation is declining and criminal legislation increases in the world should therefore be noticed. Keywords: Alcohol, drugs, substance misuse, coercive care, compulsory commitment to care, involuntary care, mandatory care, legislation, human and civil rights, comparative analysis, prediction models, and trend analysis
10.
Livholts, Mona, 1961-
(författare)
'Women', Welfare, Textual Politics and Critique : An Invitation to a ThinkingWriting Methodology in the Study of Welfare (Republished dissertation originally published 2001)
2011
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
What is the relationship between the social construction of different categories of ’women’ and the making of welfare states in specific moments of textual politics in a Nordic welfare state context? How is it possible to develop a methodology for critical (self)reflective thinking in the process of producing academic knowledge? In this dissertation the themes of ’women’ and welfare are analysed and interpreted within a textual context of Nordic welfare state thinking. How the meaning of welfare takes shape through the category of ’women’ is discussed and critiqued with attention to epistemological and methodological issues. Individual memory work is used as a way of developing crtical self-reflection on the way academisation operates through a female individual. Additionally, creative and reflective writing methodologies such as theatre, dialogue and letter writing is used to explore complex relationships of power in the process of producing knowledge. Livholts original, intellectually stimulating and accessible dissertation is an invitation to readers in social work, sociology, and gender studies, and more broadly of methodological interest for the critical study of welfare.
