1.
Boström, Magnus, 1972-
(author)
Miljörörelsens mångfald
2001
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
In the thesis, the conditions, possibilities, and limitations for Swedish environmental organisations to influence other actors — state agencies, political organisations, enterprises and the Swedish public — are analysed. The focus is on their practice in the nineties, implying a context in which different actors, to a greater extent, have accepted the significance of environmental issues, demand knowledge of and solutions to environmental problems, and with new conflicts continously arising. Against this background, four main interrelated themes are developed. Firstly, focus is set on the diversity and internal relations of the movement itself. Heterogeneity, variation and internal relations are analysed through the use of concepts such as social movement, collective identity, and niche. The diversity of the movement is regarded as a source of strength even though it also produces limitations. Secondly, how environmental organisations act politically and in what political scenes they appear, are analysed through the use of concepts such as political opportunity structure, subpolitics, lifepolitics, risk definition struggle, and intermediary link. The use of combined strategies, as well as the relation between diversity and political action, are highlighted. Thirdly, the cognitive practice of environmental organisations is analysed. This entails analysing how they try to persuade other actors with the help of frames. The extensive use of frame bridgings as well as tendencies towards the use of more cooperative strategies — captured by the concept ecological modernization — provide opportunities but also imply threats against autonomy and critical distance. However, the study shows that the organisations have the capacity to preserve their cognitive autonomy. Fourthly, the importance of organisation for cognitive practice, autonomy, and resource mobilization is stressed, and variations in form are analysed. Certain organisational tendencies such as growth, routinization, and professionalization are highlighted. The study is based on intensive comparative case studies of five Swedish environmental organisations: Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, World Wide Fund for Nature, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the Natural Step. Different kinds of data are used: interviews with keypersons in the organisations, analyses of different kinds of documents produced by the organisations, and different kinds of secondary litterature.
2.
3.
Livholts, Mona
(author)
"Women", welfare, textual politics and critique : different categories of "women", the making of welfare states and emancipation in a Nordic welfare state context
2001
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
The overall purpose of this thesis is to analyse and interpret 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. Furthermore, the aim is to develop a methodology for critical self-reflection in the process Of producing academic knowledge. The intention is to invite the reader to engage in critical reconsideration on these issues.This thesis is based on Four Articles and consists of Four Parts. The First Part (I) introduces the reader to the process of producing academic knowledge from the perspective of an 'outsider within' and describes the backgrounds from which this research interest has developed. Methodological approaches and methods in the form of social constructionism, discourse analysis and memory work are presented and the research process as well as the conditions under which academic writing takes place are discussed.The Second Part (II) consists of the Four Articles in the thesis. Article One (I) is an invitation to critically reflect upon the construction of and the relationship between academic social work and marginalisation/the marginalised. It is argued that academic social work, to a large extent, builds on the construction of Othering and that this must be analysed in a critical way. Article Two (II) analyses and interprets how solo mothers are constructed as a social category in a selection of textual political documents (research documents and government surveys) in a Swedish welfare state context during the 1980s and the 1990s. As a result of these interpretations, welfare takes its particular form through two images - the welfare dilemma and risk motherhood. The effects of using solo mothers as a subcategory of women are conceptualised in accordance with two principles - the principle of problem orientation and the principle of division. Article Three (III) analyses the category of 'women' in academic writings on the Nordic "women-friendly" welfare states. By using discourse analysis in the form of interpretative repertoires, this study reconstruct 'women' into different 'clusters' and also makes some references to 'men'. The article discusses overlaps, contradictions and conflicts related to women and emancipatory social change. Article Four (IV) examine and interpret the foundations of Nordic "women-friendlyness" by a feminist genealogical discursive analysis designed as a set of interrelated and overlapping stories, with two possible suggested endings: Nordic "women-friendlyness" as invention and as vision.The Third Part (III) focus on the production of academic knowledge and academic writing as a process by using memory work as a form for critical self-reflection and relates this back to specific sub-themes in each article. Examples of sub-themes are fears, social problems and female strangers.In Part Four (IV) the concept of untimeliness is used as a way of discussing the relationship between human relationships and the process of social change. By focusing on form and the construction of Othering as a way of creating Self, three possible endings are presented: enter the theatre, negotiating the problem of Othering and an untimely letter.
4.
Åkerström, Bengt
(author)
Adults with Autism and Mental Retardation. A Life-Span Perspective
2001
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
A review of the literature with a life-span perspective on autism gave rise to the formulation of a general research problem: Can demographic factors, individual factors, and social factors (i.e., education, residential facilities, treatment and other services) explain some of the variance in autistic behaviour and social adaptation in adult life? Historic influences, such as the Acts on services for people with mental retardation, reflected in social factors were emphasised. In a retrospective design two groups of adults with autism (DSM-III-R criteria) and mental retardation were studied, the RFA group, sampled through Riksföreningen Autism (n = 48, mean age 35 years) and the County group, a treated population group (n =39, mean age 37 years). The results showed that the RFA group functioned on a higher intellectual level and had better adult social adaptation (measured by the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales) than the County group. There were no differences in autistic behaviour (measured by the Childhood Autism Rating Scale) either in childhood or in adulthood. Concerning social factors, the Acts for mentally retarded had had major practical consequences. From the common situation with confinement in large institutions, better opportunities for education, more normal residence (group homes), and for occupation (day-centres) had emerged. Regarding treatment, the most persistent trend was the high use of psychoactive medication. After merging the two groups, analyses showed that the major predictive factors of adult autistic behaviour and social adaptation were intellectual level, speech ability and, with regard to social adaptation, epilepsy. The main conclusion is that intellectual level and speech ability are relatively more important than other factors for functioning of adults with autism and mental retardation. The results are discussed with reference to the adequacy of the measures used to capture effects of the social factors and the importance of also investigating samples with higher intellectual levels.
5.
Kindblad, Christopher
(author)
Gift and Exchange in the Reciprocal Regime of the Miskito on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, 20th Century
2001
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
This dissertation is a historical-comparative analysis of a conflict that has developed in the economic system of the Miskito in the 20th century, concerning the use of common property resources. The study is based on empirical material collected in a Miskito/Creole village on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua in the 1990s. During the enclave period (1860-1960) Miskito men earned money as wage labourers at foreign companies (lumber, mining and banana plantations), and sent home money and purchased goods to women, who worked in subsistence agriculture. At this time the communal resources were reserved mainly for subsistence and food gifts. This permitted a symbolic transformation of money and purchased goods, which were distributed in a wider network of kin-related women. There was a relatively stable coexistence of short-term exchange and long-term gift, which is referred to as a reciprocal regime. However, the transition to the commercial period (1960-) resulted in a commercial exploitation of communal resources, which seriously started to compete with subsistence and the custom of food gifts in the 1970s. A contradiction developed between short-term exchange and long-term gift, which stems from a double and contradictory coding of communal resources. This development was interrupted during the 1980s - the decade of the Sandinist revolution - but continued in the 1990s, although new aspects were added due to increasing population pressure, external exploitation and few opportunities for wage labour. In spite of instabilities in the reciprocal regime, the analysis suggests that there could be a conflictual coexistence of gift and exchange, which is potentially creative for the future.
6.
Berglund, Tomas, 1967
(author)
Attityder till arbete i Västeuropa och USA. Teoretiska perspektiv och analyser av data från sex länder : Attitudes toward Work in Western Europe and the United States - theoretical perspectives and empirical analyses of data from six countries
2001
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
This thesis studies attitudes toward work, the structural and culturai factors which are important for how individuals regard work, and the psychological processes that can generate different attitudes toward work. The empirical material analysed consists of two questionnaire surveys (Work orientatio n 1997 and 1989) under the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). The countries studied are Sweden, Norway, Germany, France, Great Britain and the USA. By factor analysis, four attitude patterns are identified. The first, called an altruistic attitude, emphasizes the social value of work. The second is called a materialistic attitude and values career opportunities and high salary. In the third, an instrumental attitude, work is seen primarilyas ameans of sustenance. The fourth attitude pattern is called an individualistic attitude and values independence in work. These attitude patterns are established with varying strength in different countries. An explanatory model is tested that combines two social dimensions: hierarchy and social integration. The model forms four situations in which the different attitudes are assumed to be common. The model is tested empirically and has greatest relevance in Sweden, Germany and Norway. The altruistic attitude is most common in a situation of subordination and high loyalty toward the organization. The instrumental attitude is commonest in a subordinate position where the employee feels low loyalty toward the organization. The individualistic attitude is most widespread among professionals with low loyalty toward the organization. The materialistic attitude is commonest among managers with high loyalty toward the organization. In the other three countries, the expected patterns occur only for the instrumental attitude toward work. The thesis investigates whether three psychological processes are active in the mode!. The first process emphasizes learning: an individual draws lessons from his/her working situation and expresses perceptions that are realistic in it. The general empirical result is that the attitudes are expressed in working situations which have the characteristics that are valued by those attitudes. The instrumental attitude deviates in exhibiting a negative connection with favourable working conditions. The second process concerns the importance of identifYing with the organization's values and norms for the attitudes expressed by the individual. This is studied empirically by analysing the connections between loyalty and the different attitudes. Public employees in several countries show a strong link between loyalty to the organization and an altruistic attitude toward work. For the instrumental attitude, there is a dear negative connection with loyalty. The third process involves the significance of contradictory working situations for the individual's attitudes. These situations are defined by conflict between the individual's lhner values and his/her knowledge of externai conditions. In Sweden and Germany, the altruistic attitude is of ten expressed by private employees who are anxious about losing their jobs and, at the same time, feel highly loyal toward the organization. The individualistic attitude is expressed by individuals who have career ambitions and simultaneously feel dissatisfied about their present work. The results indicate that the altruistic and individualistic attitudes may be expressed in order to cope with contradictory working situations.
7.
8.
Bunar, Nihad
(author)
Skolan mitt i förorten : - fyra studier om skola, segregation, integration och multikulturalism
2001
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
The aim of this dissertation is first to bring into focus and analyze how relations between schools and the local community are affected when negative economic developments in combination with stigmatizing public representations or portrayals segregate the area. The second aim is to lift up and analyze what role schools are expected to, and actually do, play when an area with a large proportion of immigrants and socially marginalized residents is to be integrated via a set of political-ideological proclamations and concrete efforts. The empirical material that I analyze in the dissertation has been collected in the following districts of Stockholm: Jordbro, Rinkeby, Tensta, and Husby. The heart of the dissertation comprises of four independent studies (chapters 5-8), as well as an introductory section (chapters 1-4), in which the dissertation's background factors, theoretical and methodological framework, and central concepts (segregation and integration) are delineated. Chapter 9 comprises of a concluding discussion of the central findings of the dissertation. My primary theoretical source of inspiration is the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's way of looking at the relations between individuals and structures. Against the background of his work I contend that it is first when positions, lived experiences, and representations are placed in relation to each other in a specific context - a field - that we can see the complexity that makes an explanation possible of why and how segregation of areas with high proportions of immigrants and their schools can be carried out and maintained. This is the framework that I operationalize in my dissertation. The role in integration that schools are officially expected to play in the local community, and that is accepted as legitimate and worth pursuing by the leadership in schools has, for the most part been unsuccessful. In some respects it never really started. The reason for this is the way that the negative socio-economic conditions and representations have impacted the relations between various actors in the schools and local communities. I have also been able to show that when these relations work relatively well, there can be positive benefits for both the school and its socio-economically deprived, predominantly immigrant catchment area. The positive effects for the schools are marked, with regard to reputation, status, an improved economic situation, pedagogic development, and higher grades among the students. The positive benefits for the local community come primarily in the form of higher status and reputation.
9.
10.
Edman, Johan
(author)
Stadsplanering som professionellt verksamhetsfält : En studie av yrkesgrupper och deras arbete
2001
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
The aim of this dissertation is to study how the relation between professions and their work is created, developed and reproduced at the interprofessional level. With reference to Andrew Abbott's theory of the system of professions, the relation is analyzed using a conceptual framework that entails three main concepts: professional structure, task area, and jurisdiction. The conceptual framework is articulated in a model, then applied to the historic development of urban planning in Sweden. The empirical analysis goes back to the seventeenth century. The results show that professional groups establish and maintain control of their work through jurisdictions, which are regarded as distributive channels of public acceptance, required by every profession. In other words, the interconnections between a profession and its work should not be recognized as direct and unconditioned. Furthermore, the study shows that professional action is dependent on the structure of the professional system of which it is a part. For instance, a multiprofessional structure is likely to first develop into a segmented structure before it turns into a uniprofessional one. This fact will sometimes restrict the freedom of action for professionals. The analytical model developed promotes a focus on interprofessional, rather than intraprofessional, social relations. Consequently, the professionalization processes of individual professions appear to be of less importance on the explanatory level. The dissertation also shows how contrafactual methods can be used in order to clarify factual outcomes in relation to analytically possible ones.
