1.
Jonsson, Gun
(författare)
Tanter och representanter : en fråga om oligarki eller demokrati?
2006
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The aim of this thesis emanated from a discussion whether voluntary associations have a choice or not regarding their democratic development. Robert Michels (1911/1983), one of the classic sociological thinkers, says no. The path towards oligarchy is inevitable. Nevertheless, maybe there are certain points, where the organizations face a certain democratic “dilemma” (Merton, 1966), forcing them more or less easily towards the oligarchic path? Seven counterarguments deriving from modern perspectives on participatory democracy (Pateman 1985; 1989) where used to find a way to avoid the oligarchic path and by that develop democracy in organizations. Since democracy also requires equality, the dissertation explored the question of power and influence in democratic organisations by studying the use of (spoken) language. Inspired by sociolinguistic theory (Milles, 2004) the aim was to identify dominance of the conversation: Who are taking part of the conversation? Are there differences between women and men in democratic organisations?The main part of the study consists of group interviews. Members of the boards of six relatively small voluntary associations where chosen as units of analysis. Information around founding an association gathered from 75 homepages on Internet served as background data. The language as each one of the 27 board members where studied both separately and as conversation.The conclusion is that formal structures build in hierarchal levels already when voluntary organisations take form. The dilemmas seem to revolve around the two fundamental criteria of democratic government, namely effectiveness and responsiveness are more or less explicitly stated. Awareness of dilemmas seems to be a possible way to avoid the determinism of oligarchy. The need for reinterpretation of the goals now and then could make it easier to find alternative actions. The associations have to strike a balance between effectiveness in relation to their goals and effectiveness in a democratic sense, a balance not always held. By clarifying the work and development processes of the voluntary organisations it is possible to identify (the lack of) democratic work within the organisations – a useful instrument in practice. The elite that runs the organisations is almost exclusively male and is preventing the members, especially women, from voicing their opinion. Democracy obstructs by structures demanded by society, socialised gender structures and the need of efficiency. The representatives are not always carrying out their task as elected representatives; self-interest puts before the common good.
2.
Schmauch, Ulrika
(författare)
Den osynliga vardagsrasismens realitet
2006
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The main objective of the thesis is to study how people of African decent experience and deal with everyday discrimination and racism in a context where such racism is to a large degree concealed and/or denied. Everyday racism affecting people with an African background in Sweden is expressed in a number of different, often subtle and obscure, ways. It is experienced in a context of structural inequality between those who are racialized and those who are seen as the norm in society. The mystification that takes place in the public debate highly restricts the opportunities for resistance in an open and articulated manner. This is partly because silence leads to an insecurity about how to understand the racism experienced, for example, should it be defined as “racism” or as a “misunderstanding”? In addition, people who openly resist and protest tend to be discredited as exaggerating or being too sensitive. Consequently, resistance against structural discrimination in Sweden today is difficult. The findings demonstrate that interviewees deal with everyday racism in a variety of ways that can be categorized in to three broad strategies: mystifying the experiences of racism in one’s everyday life, longing for a place or context far away from Swedish racism and finally, keeping racism at a distance, including resisting and protesting within the existing limitations.
3.
Alexanderson, Karin, 1952-
(författare)
Vilja, kunna, förstå : om implementering av systematisk dokumentation för verksamhetsutveckling i socialtjänsten
2006
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The aim of this study is to analyse conditions that either promote or hamper the implementation of methods for systematic documentation, follow-up and evaluation in social-work services with individuals and families. The theoretical framework consists of organization theories. Human Service Organizations (HSO) theory is complemented with concepts from the new institutionalism, domain theory, implementation theory, and theory about interventions.A concrete case, a project has been studied. The purpose of project was to implement methods for systematic documentation in public social services. With the notation “integrated” is meant that the methods should be built in and adjusted to the social-work practice. The methods were ASI (Addiction Severity Index) and IUS (a locally based model for integrated evaluation by inspiration from Göran Sandell).Data has been captured in a pretest/ posttest design (Marlow 2000). This means that “state of things” has been described before the intervention and after. The methods used were surveys and interviews (individual and group). The process has been documented through research notes proceeding records, protocols and some diaries written by social workers. Four municipalities from the middle of Sweden took part with five working groups. Two groups contained social workers acting with children and families and three groups were working with drug abusers. The population consisted of the social workers, the managers responsible for the individual and family entities, the politicians and the clients who were affected during the time of the project.The implementation of ASI and IUS has not occurred in the extent that was stated in the intervention theory. This means that ASI and IUS were not used in all new cases that occurred during the time of the project. The interviews supposed to be done in the beginning of the clients contact with the agency tended to be done more often than the follow-up interviews. After the project ended, three of five working groups decided to continue to use ASI (one group) and IUS (two groups). The overall impression is that the respondents comprehend, they have the willingness but they do not have the capability of using ASI and IUS. The organization does not seem to have the capacity of imposing requirements and giving resources. The outcomes do not seem to be the most important issue for the social services. These conditions are discussed in the study by means of the theoretical concepts. In the end, there is an effort to adjust the implementation theory to human service organizations.
4.
Dag, Munir, 1968-
(författare)
Unga människor med rörelsehinder : förankring, marginalisering och social exkludering
2006
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The aim of the thesis was to describe the specific barriers young people with disabilities experience in their ambition to get a job. The aim was also to investigate how these young people’s social and economic situation has been affected by their disability. The results are based on two reports: one qualitative, consisting of interviews with 12 individuals with physical disabilities, and one quantitative in the form of a questionnaire answered by 706 persons. In the case of the questionnaire, the response rate was 48 per cent. Both reports are based on the same criteria, namely, that the respondents should have a physical disability, be 20–35 years of age and be participating in some form of employment policy program. The results from both studies show that individuals with physical disabilities encounter different types of barriers on the labour market, which can be categorised as being either at the individual level or at the social level. The barriers at the individual level are low education, long-term unemployment, grave physical disability and lack of work experience. The barriers identified at the social level are primarily poorly adapted workplaces, a too high working pace, employers’ negative attitudes, insufficient knowledge of the competence of disabled persons and an overly generous social welfare system. All these factors constitute a direct obstacle to employing persons with a physical disability. The results from the interview study show that the respondents have few social relations. The majority of the respondents have social intercourse solely with family members or parents. Most of the respondents in the questionnaire study state that they have frequent social relations with friends and acquaintances. Both the interview study and the questionnaire study reveal that the respondents’ financial position has worsened as a result if their physical disability. Conclusions that can be drawn from this thesis are that young people with physical disabilities encounter different barriers in their attempts to get a job and to maintain social relations. Based on the results, some of the respondents can be regarded as being socio-economically marginalised.
5.
Jacobsson, Maritha, 1960-
(författare)
Terapeutens rätt : rättslig och terapeutisk logik i domstolsförhandlingar
2006
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
In this dissertation, I explore a quite unique legal situation, namely administrative court hearings relating to coercive interventions: the Care of Young Persons Act (LVU), Care of Abusers (Special Provisions) Act (LVM), and the Compulsory Psychiatric Care Act (LPT). There are three central participatory roles in the court hearings: The official party is the authority who files the application for coercive intervention – either a chief psychiatrist or a social welfare board (typically represented by a social worker or sometimes a lawyer assisted by a social worker), whereas the citizen party is the person about whom the application is brought. The citizen party is represented by a legal representative. The professionals represent two different logics: therapeutic and judicial.The purpose of this dissertation has been to study the tension between therapeutic and judicial logic in court hearings relating to compulsory care. With theoretical concepts from Scott (1995) and Wetherell & Potter (1998), it is possible to say that the therapeutic and judicial logics are built up by institutional elements that are communicated through interpretative repertoires. Three questions are central:1. How do professional participators handle the different role expectations embedded in therapeutic and judicial logic? In this case, I am particularly interested in role conflicts faced by social workers and psychiatrists.2. How do different institutional elements (regulative, normative/cognitive) play out in the court hearings?3. To what extent can these court hearings be considered a scrutinizing order of discourse, where the arguments of official party are subjected to critical examination?In my analysis I am inspired by both critical discourse analysis and organizational theory, more precisely, new institutionalism. These two perspectives provide useful insights and make it possible to combine the micro- and macro levels in the analysis. Data for the analysis consist of 43 court hearings and 31 interviews, gathered from two different county administrative courts in Sweden. All written documents used and produced by the courts are also part of our data.The dissertation consists of five studies that indicate that the court hearings hardly can be described as a scrutinising order of discourse. In spite of this, the court constantly finds that the legal criteria for coercive intervention are satisfied. Neither the official party nor the legal representative argue according to a judicial logic. Instead, therapeutic logic dominates the order of discourse. When the arguments for compulsory care are therapeutic, they are not explicitly related to the criteria in the law. In my interpretation, the reason why the conflict between therapeutic and judicial logic is not realised can be found in the existence of a logic of normalisation. This ideological logic of normalisation can be found in most of the institutions in the Swedish society and are built on the idea of traditional welfare norms.
6.
Karlsson-G, Sofie
(författare)
Tillsammans men var för sig : Om särboenderelationer mellan äldre kvinnor och män i Sverige
2006
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Contemporary family life and intimate relationships today are characterised by increasing heterogeneity. In the growing body of research on this differentiation, the role of the elderly people has largely been ignored. But to an increasing extent the "young old" (65-74 years of age), in particular, are active participants in the process of the differentiation of intimate relationships. One of the least researched contributions of the elderly to the restructuring of contemporary intimate relationships is the establishment of lastint intimate relationships that do not include a mutual home, i.e. an alternative to marriage or other forms of cohabition. This type of relationship is referred to as Living Apart Together (henceforth LAT-relationships. In Swedish: särboende). The aim of this thesis is to examine LAT-relationships among elderly heterosexual individuals in Sweden, focusing in particular on the influence of this type of relationship on commitments, intimacy and autonomy. A major dilemma is the question of who should provide the care and service that ageing often demands. A pluralistic methodological approach has been adopted in the four differnt papers in this thesis, whick includes the use of a qualitative pilot study, a broad quantitative questionnaire study, a qualitative interview study and finally a qualitative study with a lifestory perspective.
7.
Strandberg, Thomas, 1965-
(författare)
Vuxna med förvärvad traumatisk hjärnskada - omställningsprocesser och konsekvenser i vardagslivet : en studie av femton personers upplevelser och erfarenheter av att leva med förvärvad traumatisk hjärnskada
2006
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The overall purpose of this study is to illuminate the changeover process experienced by individuals who as adults acquired a traumatic brain injury (TBI), to increase the knowledge and the understanding of this process, and describe the meaning of support in every day life.Persons who acquired a TBI as adults were administered a semi-structured interview covering six areas: consequences of TBI, family and social networks, working life and occupation, life-changes, support from society and everyday life. The interviews were qualitative and in-depth. A total of 15 informants participated, aged between 19-53 years when injured. Data were structured and underwent two phases of analysis. In the first phase, data underwent latent content analysis, underpinned by a hermeneutic approach, and in the subsequent phase, reanalysed within a framework derived from the theory of social recognition.Findings from the first phase of inductive analysis elicited key themes: (i) the meaning of care, a question of formal and/or informal support; (ii) the meaning of action, a question of activity versus inactivity; (iii) autonomy, a question of dependence versus independence; (iv) social interaction, a question of encounter and/or treatment; (v) the theme of changes, a question of process versus stagnation; and (vi) emotions, an oscillation between hope versus hopelessness. After the construction of the six themes each of them were, through a discursive analysis, connected with theories, earlier studies in the field of brain injuries and important interview quotations from the empirical material. During this phase, an interest developed to study the material from a new theoretical point of view. The second phase of analysis therefore involved the development of a framework derived from Honneth’s (1995) theory of social recognition. The central construct of ‘recognition’ was analysed from three different dimensions proposed by Honneth: the individual dimension, the legal dimension, the value dimension. Using this framework, the data were reanalysed. The scientific term for this process of re-contextualisation and re-description of data is abduction inference.Reported consequences were negative as well as positive. Significant others (e.g. next of kin) had an important function as a driving force for training and preparation for life-situation after injury. A majority of the informants were satisfied with support from society, such as hospital-care, rehabilitation and community support. Such support, initially, proceeded without problems but as time passed, the responsibility shifted to the person with TBI to take the initiative in arranging longer-term services. Long-term support which addresses physical, cognitive as well as psychosocial consequences of the TBI is important for outcomes. The majority of the informants had difficulties in returning to working life after the injury. The outcomes and recovery seemed to be a prolonged process, probably never ending, but which gradually over time becomes integrated as a part of life. The informants gave varying accounts of the extent to which they experienced social recognition.
8.
9.
Stickley, Andrew
(författare)
On Interpersonal Violence in Russia in the Present and the Past : A Sociological Study
2006
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
For much of the twentieth century researchers in the West knew little about the phenomenon of interpersonal violence in Russia as the Soviet authorities kept the vital and criminal justice statistics of violence secret. It was not until the Soviet Union was in its final death throes that these statistics were officially released for the first time in over fifty years. They showed that at least in terms of its level of lethal violence, Russia was one of the most violent countries in the industrialized world. Since that time, the sharp rise in violent mortality that has occurred in post-Soviet Russia during the transition period has attracted the attention of many researchers in both the East and West. The studies that have resulted have done much to enhance our understanding of violence in contemporary Russia. However, there are still many questions to be answered. For example, was Russia a violent country in much earlier periods of its history and are there particular social and/or cultural processes that have been important in explaining the occurrence of violence in Russia across time?To address these and other questions I have made use of the vital statistics data of homicide from tsarist and Soviet Russia, as well as individual-level survey data on violence from the contemporary period. By doing this it has been possible to show that there was a high level of lethal interpersonal violence in Russia throughout those periods of the twentieth century for which data exist and that Soviet Russia became comparatively more violent between the end of the tsarist and Soviet periods. Moreover, alcohol seems to have played an extremely important role in the occurrence of both lethal and non-lethal violence across time. In relation to this, I have focused on the particular drinking culture in Russia as a possible explanatory mechanism for the occurrence of violence, in conjunction with the Russian state’s dependence on the taxable revenue alcohol generated – which in both tsarist and Soviet Russia prevented any prolonged attempts to act against the deleterious effects of alcohol. The high level of violence in Russian society also highlights the problems that the Russian authorities had when trying to impose order on a geographically vast and ethnically diverse country. This might explain why even by the end of the Soviet period, rates of lethal violence were highest in those places (i.e. Siberia and rural Russia more generally) where the state’s presence is likely to have been at its weakest.The consequences of interpersonal violence have become a serious public health issue in contemporary Russia. The lesson that ‘might makes right’ seems to be learnt at an early age by some men who may subsequently model their behaviour on what they have witnessed in their childhood homes, with alcohol acting to facilitate the occurrence of violence in some instances. Any attempt to address the issue of violence in Russia must therefore focus on the specifics of the Russian drinking culture, as it is likely that if this can be changed, a reduction in levels of serious interpersonal injury can also be achieved. However, it may be the case, that it is not only changes in the drinking culture which are necessary, but also perhaps, the way in which violence is seen in Russian society traditionally, both by the state and its citizens – as a means of resolving both relatively minor and more intractable problems.
10.
