| 1. |
- Droppe, Adam, 1969-
(författare)
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Konstitueringen av ett vetenskapligt objekt : Exemplet - det manliga klimakteriet
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How are new scientific concepts of illnesses and disorder formed? The last fifty years have seen a dramatic increase in new diagnoses incorporated into medical manuals. The concept of the male menopause, or the andropause diagnosis, is suitable for studying how medical knowledge is produced, since it has alternated between being and not being part of the acknowledged medical knowledge since the beginning of the 19th century, when it was originally launched. After being rather unnoticed during the 20th century, the concept of the male menopause had a renaissance in the 1990s’. The andropause then became a specific research area, articles about the male menopause were widely published in medical journals, specific therapies were developed, and andropause clinics opened around the world. The thesis explores what combination of circumstances lay behind the establishment of the andropause as a scientific object in the 1990s’. The purpose was to find out what the institutionalization of the (concept of the) andropause shows about the production of science, specifically medical knowledge. Methodologically, the study can be described as an analysis of ideas, where the ideas contained in the concept of a male menopause are in focus. Accordingly, the research materials were scientific literature, media, and other documents where the idea of a male menopause was expressed. The analysis was structured in four divisions. First, the andropause theory was studied to find any obvious scientific explanations, such as new knowledge or discoveries. “Pure science” could not explain the breakthrough of the andropause diagnosis, since the andropause theory is laden with uncertainties according to the scientific principles of evaluation that the medical science itself supports. Second, the social organization of the medical knowledge production was inquired with focus on the medical profession, and the andropause theory was found to offer new professional arenas. Third, factors outside profession and science were found, the extra scientific dimensions, primarily cultural conditions and social structures. The emergence of feminist theory was found to change the perception of men in the culture, where the male norm no longer is self-evident. Fourth, in the social structure, pharmaceutical companies were found to engage strongly in the andropause concept. Together these factors constituted the andopause as a scientific object. The thesis demonstrates: the advantage of a multi perspective analysis: the complexity of the development of concepts of disease: the weakness of the epistemology of evidence-based medicine: and the social and cultural foundation of science.
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| 2. |
- Helgesson, Linda, 1973-
(författare)
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Getting Ready for Life : Life Strategies of Town Youth in Mozambique and Tanzania
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this dissertation is to explore how and under what conditions life strategies of young men and women unfold in the towns of Masasi in southern Tanzania and Montepuez in northern Mozambique. These towns are located in regions which in their national contexts are perceived as peripheral and rural. The thesis examines the life strategies of youth, with particular emphasis on livelihood, education and mobility. How the life strategies can be related to the representations of young people in national and local discourses, and how global processes are involved in young people’s daily lives are also examined. The fieldwork was conducted between 2002 and 2004 and the main part of the empirical material consists of structured and semi-structured interviews.Many young people are under substantial pressure to support themselves and their families, but a conflict exists between the expectations on youth to contribute to the household economy and their possibilities to do so. There is also a contradiction between being needed for labour and being trusted with responsibilities. Harsh economic conditions, combined with a weak position in terms of power, increase the vulnerability of young people in these places.Global processes influence young people’s lives, primarily expressed through changed patterns of consumption. However, there is a feeling of exclusion from globalisation in terms of work. Self-employment is promoted as a solution to poverty by the government and by various organisations, but young people contest this discourse and demand ‘real’ employment for themselves and for their children. Young people’s mobility experiences are mainly local due to a local social network and limited resources. Those with larger resources tend to be more mobile and the more privileged youth aspire to move to the larger cities or abroad. Agriculture is a complementary livelihood strategy, which implies that the rural economy still has an important function as a safety net within the urban landscape.
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| 3. |
- Kings, Lisa
(författare)
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Till det lokalas försvar : Civilsamhället i den urbana periferin
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The current global restructuring processes are usually described in terms of increased integration and, concurrently, greater fragmentation among different regions and scales. How these parallel outcomes are reflected in the civic sphere, largely for those mostly affected, i.e. the urban grassroots, is the focus of this study. The theoretical objective is to develop an alternative way of conceptualizing engagement in the civil sphere in marginalized urban neighborhoods; this is presented in the form of a complementary analytical model named: the three pillars of simultaneousness. The empirical objective is to analyze the organization of civil society in two neighborhoods: Rinkeby and Tensta, both categorized as being on the lowest rung of the urban hierarchy in Stockholm, Sweden. The empirical analysis is based on three types of data: interviews, documentation and participant observation. The analysis reveals that these neighborhoods are well-organized and that it is the small, localized self-help organizations, conceptualized as the organizations of everyday life, which engage the urban grassroots. The configuration of the associations and the close face-to-face interactions, combined with traditional membership, imply that this form of activism cannot be understood without taking into account the specific national historic context. In the Swedish urban periphery, the reinvention of the Swedish social mass movement tradition is central when discussing both the constraints to and opportunities for suburban organizing. The strong movement tradition, together with political and financial incentives, has facilitated the development of a vigorous community life. At the same time, these prerequisites have undermined the political and critical potential of the urban grassroots.
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| 4. |
- Andersson, Hans, 1974-
(författare)
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Spelets regler : raggning och flirt på krogen
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis focuses on sexualized behaviour in nightclubs and pubs. It describes the patterns of interaction and the rituals characterizing nightlife “clubbing” and “pubbing” environments, and relates these to gender specific norms and ideals. Special focus is on men’s and women’s experiences of, and strategies in, nightlife clubbing environments, as well as on how they regard such behaviours as picking up potential sexual partners (“going on the pull”) and flirting.The study is based on fieldwork conducted in the nightclubs and pubs of Umeå. The fieldwork consisted of fifty nights out, during which data was collected through observations and participant observation. Ten women and nine men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-two were interviewed individually or in groups.The analysis starts with a description of those behaviours that distinguish the club and pub environment as compared with everyday life. The suspension of everyday norms, allows for the relaxed behaviour associated with “partying”, and not least allowing for strangers to have sexualized encounters.Picking up sexual partners and flirting is analysed at different levels and from different perspectives. The meaning of flirting behaviour is related to discussions of sexual morals. Flirting is seen as a harmless and playful form of behaviour seeped through with notions of love, romance and coupledom. Picking up sexual partners is, on the other hand, behaviour associated with sexual urges, and is thus talked of as a sordid, low-life form of action.The study includes descriptions of mutually appreciated situations of picking-up and flirting behaviour and also its opposite - rejection behaviours, that seek to deflect and break off attempts at sexualized contact. The observations indicate that men and women use different strategies when participating in such events. Women’s behavioural strategies are premised on a rejecting attitude vis-à-vis men, which reflect ideals of respectability and a more restrictive sexual morale for women. Women’s ability to exert discretion and care in her choice of a man, and to reject unsuitable men, is interpreted as an indication of self-control and self-respect.Amongst men, “going on the pull” appears to be associated with notions of “conquering”, which in turn is seen as a form of manly performance. “Going on the pull” gives men an opportunity to prove themselves, but is also a source of a feeling of powerlessness and lack of control – as “pulling” needs to be conducted on women’s terms and conditions.Observations from pubs and clubs in the field, suggest that pretending to reject (token resistance) is a normalized part of women’s strategies. The existence of token resistance reinforces the notion of “a woman’s no means yes” and contributes to the unclear boundaries between rejection and consent. This is evident in situations where women experience unwished-for attentions from men and have difficulty rejecting them.
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| 5. |
- Krifors, Karin, 1982-
(författare)
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Managing Migrant Workers : moral economies of temporary labour in the Swedish IT and wild berry industries
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Temporary migrant workers and circular migration constitute a growing global phenomenon as the management of migration becomes increasingly important to policymakers. This thesis takes academic discussions on citizenship and migration as its starting point, and examines the role of employers in terms of defining temporary migrant workers and their role in the Swedish labour market. The concept of moral economy is applied in particular to analyse the justifications and negotiations through which working conditions of migrant workers, and their role in local and transnational economies, are established and contested.The role of capital in migration management is studied through ethnographic fieldwork and through interviews with managers in the Swedish wild berry and IT industries; two very different industries that are, however, both shaped by particular structures of seasonal labour and international outsourcing and that increasingly rely on temporary foreign workers from Thailand and India respectively. The conceptualisation of supply chains in these industries offers a particular framework through which relations, as well as management discourses, can be analysed.The study explores how notions of circularity, nation, cultural difference, and transnational economic difference, are managed by private sector actors. It also explores how managers relate to public discourse and emotions in the face of global economic restructuring and changing citizenship, which situates temporary migrants as part of, yet different from, Swedish labour.
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| 6. |
- Lundström, Ragnar, 1975-
(författare)
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Den kalkylerande medborgaren : Bidragsfusk i svensk välfärdsdebatt 1990-2010
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation analyses discourse on benefit fraud in Sweden between 1990 and 2010. First, it maps general trends in public discourse about benefit fraud. This is done through a content analysis of news reporting about benefit fraud in four Swedish newspapers. This part of the dissertation shows that the number of published news articles about benefit fraud have increased significantly since 1990. Particularly large numbers of articles were published during the middle of the 1990s, and between 2002 and 2006. Second, a qualitative discourse analysis of talk about benefit fraud in news texts, political debates and government reports is conducted. During periods of intense news coverage about fraud, reporting is often clearly marked by traits generally associated with moral panics; constructing the phenomenon as seemingly more common than it in reality is, constructing cheaters as a threat to the moral fiber of society, and also claiming the need for counter-measures. The qualitative analysis furthermore focuses on how the relation-ships between different subject positions are constructed in the collected material. This part of the analysis shows that fraud discourse in Sweden during the past twenty years have shifted from a dominant focus on alleged cheating among immigrants in the early 1990s, to claims of abuse within the sickness insurance program after 2002. The analysis also shows that benefit fraud is constructed as a political problem using neoliberal discursive strategies that [1] reduce welfare policies to financial costs, [2] constitute benefit claimants as individually responsible for their inability to support themselves through regular work, and [3] articulate the welfare state as an instrument for the moral regulation of citizens.
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| 7. |
- Ngeh, Jonathan, 1979-
(författare)
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Conflict, marginalisation and transformation : African migrants in Sweden
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Migrants from the Global South, coming to Sweden predominantly since the 1980s, have become a major focus of public discussions about immigration. The fears of and resentments toward the migrant ‘other’ appear to have shifted from European migrants to migrants of the Global South. Numerous studies (and official reports) showing the marginalisation of these migrants confirm their spotlight position. The aim of this thesis is to describe and explain the kind of challenges which African migrants face in their local Swedish context and to find out if they undergo any significant transformations affecting their identities and/or ways of life. This objective was pursued through a field study of African migrants from Cameroon and Somalia living in the city of Malmö. The empirical material consisted of semi-structured interviews with individuals and groups and participant observations at migrant cultural associations. The analysis utilised two main theoretical frameworks: theory of conflict transformation and theories of discrimination (racism). The choice of the former was made to illuminate the agency of migrants by highlighting their capacity to act in their own interests within the host society. A major strength of this approach is that it draws attention to the (re)actions of both ‘natives’ and migrants towards each other. Theories of discrimination address the important issue of unequal power relations working against migrants, which tend to be neglected in conflict theory. The advantage of using these different theoretical approaches is that they complement each other and thus strengthen the theoretical discussion in the thesis. Analysis of the empirical material indicated that established practices in major institutions, as well as individual actions at the micro level of society, contribute to the marginalisation of migrants. A major finding was that both migrants and ‘natives’ are involved in practices that produce experiences of marginalisation and discrimination for the former. Actions that produced conflicts, material deprivation and exclusion were identified with both migrants and ‘natives’. However, actions by ‘natives’ had a more negative impact than those by migrants. This was seen as the result of the fact that ‘natives’ have greater influence in society because of their relative position of power. Finally, the thesis showed that migrants perceive the challenges confronting them in Sweden in different ways, due to the specific experiences they face in Sweden but also by reason of their experiences in their countries of origins and their different migration histories. Some of them saw the practices that produced their marginalisation as infringements on their basic rights and responded by actively fighting back. Others were less critical of similar practices and did little or nothing about them. Important differences between migrants were also noted in relation to their transformations in Sweden affecting important aspects of their lives: their identities, power relations among them and between them and the host society, gender relations, and their ways of dealing with the challenges with which they were confronted. These differences were seen as a result of the heterogeneity of the migrants under study, who nevertheless are often homogenised as the African ‘other’. This heterogeneity consisted of hierarchical gender relations, varying access to material resources, and membership in exclusive networks of belonging based on particularistic national and regional identities.
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| 8. |
- Schmauch, Ulrika
(författare)
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Den osynliga vardagsrasismens realitet
- 2006
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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.
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