| 1. |
- Öjehag-Pettersson, Andreas, 1979-
(författare)
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Space Craft : Globalization and Governmentality in Regional Development
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores two related purposes. First, it theoretically investigates how the broad literature on globalization is nested in debates concerning the nature of concepts such as space and territory. When doing so, it suggests that studies of globalization can be advanced by escaping territorialist understandings where the nation state is reproduced as a natural arena appropriate for studying all aspects of ‘the social’.The theoretical part of the thesis is used as a basis for articulating a framework for empirical studies that rest upon a conceptual grammar fashioned through a combination of so called assemblage thinking and governmentality analysis. This framework is then put to work as the second, empirical, purpose of the thesis is pursued. More precisely this means that the governance of Swedish regional development is analyzed as an assemblage of discourses, practices and subjects where (re)production of globalization occurs.The (re)production of globalization is studied in three interrelated case studies, all based on a corpus of 81 documents pertaining to the governance of Swedish regional development. By paying attention to how power operates in terms of political rationalities, governmental technologies and the production of social actors, the thesis shows how notions of a perpetual and omnipresent global competition marks the assemblage with particularly salient modes of rationale. Specifically, entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity are represented as the primary means for becoming competitive in the age of globalization, and it is shown here how this have inclusionary and exclusionary effects in terms of desired social actors throughout Swedish regions. The thesis then ends with a concluding chapter where the current regimes of regional development are identified as complex forms of neoliberal rule with far reaching effects for democratic principles and practices.
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| 2. |
- Broman, Anders, 1963-
(författare)
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Att göra en demokrat? : Demokratisk socialisation i den svenska gymnasieskolan
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study focuses upon the extent that teaching about democracy affects pupil comprehension and opinions about democracy. Its point of departure is the question, “to what extent is school an agent of democratic socialization?” The overall aim of this study is to contribute to understanding the democratic socialization process and especially to understand the role that school can play in that process. The study is comprised of a survey about democratic values, democratic institutions and democratic authorities completed by 318 upper secondary pupils upon two occasions. The first was just prior to the start of the course, “Samhällskunskap A” and the second was at the end of that course. The survey also included a number of background questions related to each individual participant; 28 pupils in one of the schools who had not yet studied “Samhällskunskap A” were used as a control group. Twelve teachers involved in actual teaching at that time were interviewed regarding their attitudes toward the official documents about democratic socialization and whether or not they saw the goals as articulated in those documents as possible to achieve. Based upon theories about democratic socialization and socialization agents, a number of conditions and problems were formulated and operationalized in order to analyse the outcome of the study. Three main concepts were used as analytical tools: democratic orientations, democratic socialization and socialization agent. The results do not support the assumption that school can be seen as a general democratic socialization agent through teaching about politics and democracy. But certain situations and aspects of democratic orientations demonstrate that the school has a tendency to affect socialization; therefore school is seen as a specific democratic socialization agent. The main conclusion of this study is that teaching about politics and democracy is expected to have limited influence on pupils in upper secondary school. Also important is the finding that the pupil’s average change on the aggregate level is low, but on individual level, many pupils made significant changes regarding their democratic orientations during the course. The results support a view that the process of democratic socialization is a complex process and is difficult to predict.
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| 3. |
- Forsberg, Åsa, 1957-
(författare)
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”Folk tror ju på en om man kan prata” : Deliberativt arrangerad undervisning på gymnasieskolans yrkesprogram
- 2011
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Young male vocational students are in academia described as being less interested by politics and social issues and having less knowledge regarding democracy than other students. A culture of resistance is the appellation of the specific culture that emphasise the relations between young male vocational students. Deliberately arranged teaching with deliberate qualities has shown a positive impact on students’ learning as well as being a way of working with moral issues in school. The purpose of this study is to make researches into whether deliberately arranged teaching has an impact on the political and social interest amongst young male vocational students. A questionnaire was conducted before and after the Civics A (social studies) course. Individual interviews, where the students’ ways of expressing themselves in regards to politics and social issues were in focus, were carried out. The deliberately arranged teaching was conducted once a week during one academic year. The students were then responsible for the content as well as ensuring that they abided by the set rules for the conversation. Limited alterations regarding the students’ interest for politics and social issues were identified in the questionnaire. However, the interviews revealed that some of the students have changed their way of looking at politics and their interest has increased. The culture of resistance that usually distinguishes the behaviour of vocational students in regards to core subjects was not found as a dominating factor. The students taking part in focus groups expressed a positive response to the deliberately arranged teaching stating it was the part of the course they enjoyed the most. To be able to express their views and listen to others was highly appreciated by the students who described themselves as serious and ambitious during classes. The teachers felt that this teaching style meant that there was a focus on relations and that the didactic question about content in the course were more complicated to execute.
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| 4. |
- Karlefjärd, Anna, 1976-
(författare)
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ATT RYMMAS INOM SITT FRIUTRYMME : Om samhällskunskapslärares tolkning, anpassning och undervisning
- 2011
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to explore and analyze experienced teachers understanding, as well as transformation, of the school subject civics. The study has focused on the content, methods, and evaluation of the education taking place in the class room as described by the teachers themselves. Teachers’ autonomy, within the education setting, and their knowledge base is the point of departure when assessing teachers understanding and transformation of the subject. A further aim of the study has also been to make visible, where possible, the role of a personal knowledge base in this transformation process. The findings of this study are based on interviews with teachers teaching civics at upper secondary level in various parts of Sweden. These findings show that it is possible to discern that teachers’ general dictum about content, methods, and evaluation are very much alike. The findings further show that when teachers describe their daily transformation of civics the most visible knowledge is their pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of learner and their characteristics and knowledge of educational context. One conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that when autonomy and knowledge base is combined, then it is here one find that teachers’ general comprehension about the school subject civics seems to be very similar. However, when it comes to daily transformation within the classroom, then the subject transformation is modified to fit the learners, the school context, and sometimes to the teachers’ well-being. From this one can draw the conclusion that comprehension and transformation need not always go hand-in-hand.
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| 5. |
- Wall, Peter, 1973-
(författare)
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EU-undervisning : En jämförelse av undervisning om politik på nationell och europeisk nivå
- 2011
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study focuses on, and explores the curriculum content and resources used when teaching on the European Union (EU) and EU-questions within civics education at lower secondary level in Sweden. The research findings have been examined from a ‘best practice’ perspective in relation to subject matter which is seen as positive in the context of political participation. The content, which includes polity, policy and politics, has together with an approach to treat the content as domestic politics, been viewed as a successful model leading to political participation. In order to assess to what extent the taught content facilitates pupils political participation, the EU content taught at lower secondary education is compared to national politics. In addition, as it can be expected to have an impact on what is taught, the context and actual content what is taught about EU and national politics is also compared.The results, based on information and findings collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with teachers from six different municipalities show that EU education does not compare well when contrasted against the educational content taught in relation to national level polity, policy and politics.The curriculum content taught on the EU illustrates primarily that it is the polity dimension which is dominating whereas all EU education is framed more as foreign policy politics rather than as part of domestic politics. Swedish national politics on the other hand, to a larger extent, show signs of the three dimensions and has clear characteristics of domestic politics.The citizen’s ability to influence politics is at the core of education in relation to national politics. However, this does not seem to be the case when it comes to education in relation to the EU. The politics of Swedish political parties advocated at a national level is, for example, explored in detail; however, none or very little of their politics at EU level is addressed. The dominant question, in relation to EU studies, is if Sweden should be a full member of the EU or not. The educational design in relation to national politics comes across as better planned when compared to EU studies. What is brought into the educational content in relation to EU studies depends to a large extent on the context and subject area in which it is being raised.
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