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.
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.
4.
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.
5.
Andersson, Hans, 1974-
(författare)
Spelets regler : raggning och flirt på krogen
2008
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.
6.
Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Hanna, 1976-
(författare)
Lagom lika, lagom olika : en diskussion om makt, retorik och bi-teoretiska/sexuella subjektiviteter
2007
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The aim of the dissertation is to discuss the use of various notions of bisexuality – focusing on notions of male bisexuality and openness – in a material from interviews and media. The discussion is set in the perspective rhetoric discursive psychology in relation to bi research as a rhetorical context. The dissertation is intended to be a contribution to both a scientific and a social discussion of bisexuality and bi research, as well as of ideals of openness, moderation and subjectivity. The interview material consists of interviews with men aged between 21 and 31 years who identify as bisexual or have bisexual experiences. The media material consist of articles from Swedish daily newspapers from 1995–2005 where talk of bisexuality is used. I use two different materials in order to demonstrate the rhetorical context’s importance for constructions of subjectivity. Constructions of bisexual subjectivity and the use of talk about bisexuality look different, depending on the rhetorical context in which an individual rhetorician speaks. Definitions play a part in the possibility of talking about oneself as bisexual. In both the media and the interview material, the use of different definitions creates distinctions between different subjects. In the interview material, the creation of distinctions occurs both as regards differences between bisexual subjects and various types of monosexual Other and as regards different sorts of bisexual subject. The use of different definitions serves to bi-normalise certain types of bisexual subject positions and bi-alienate others. In a number of instances, different definitions are used side by side, as they are in the media material. The instances show how a definition or a type of bisexual subjectivity that is bi-alienated in relation to one rhetorical context can equally well be bi-normalised in relation to another. In both the media and the interview material an ideal of moderation is repeatedly used to construct an ideal and an anti-ideal, where the latter is characterised by too little or too much. Moderation serves to express authentic subjectivity, while too little and too much express inauthentic subjectivity. The importance of this lies in its implications for the legitimacy of talk, by which I mean the possibility of claiming to talk from the position of a particular subjectivity and the power to define this subjectivity. Briefly, it is a matter of interpretative privilege – the right to interpret and define experience and to be recognised as a legitimate subject. Subject positions that are constructed as authentic constitute legitimate subjects, while those that are constructed as inauthentic become illegitimate subjects.
7.
Karlsson, Lena, 1973-
(författare)
Klasstillhörighetens subjektiva dimension : klassidentitet, sociala attityder och fritidsvanor
2005
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The main objective of this dissertation is to study the subjective class identification and the importance of this identification for social attitudes and leisure habits. Class identification is a significant, yet often neglected, area of research in the study of social class and stratification. The aim of this thesis has been to explore in what way the Swedish citizens perceive their own place in the structure of stratification. This thesis is based on three Swedish surveys, collected between 1993 and 2000. The results show that a vast majority of the citizens think that Sweden is still a class society and can place themselves in this structure. The most important sources for this identification are the objective class position and the class position of the father during childhood and adolescence. Identification with the working class is to a higher extent connected with a view that the differences in living conditions are too high, that the differences in the possibility to advance in the Swedish society are unequal and that the gap in income should decrease. This standpoint is nearly as common for people who identify with the working class irrespective of a socialistic or non- socialistic position. The results also show that class identification is related to the level of participation in different leisure activities. Identification with the middle class is connected with a higher degree of participation in a variety of activities, especially in highbrow culture such as theatre and opera. In the conclusion it is discussed that the relevance of class identification in the future is highly dependent on how class in the political and ideological sphere is formulated and attached with different attitudes, and if class is expressed as a positive source in the construction of the social identity.
8.
Keisu, Britt-Inger, 1968-
(författare)
Att peka med hela handen : Om arbetsvillkor och kön bland första linjens chefer
2009
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Historically, leadership research has focused on managers’ characteristics and behavior, their leadership style and its implications for a business’s success. In contrast, this dissertation examines how working conditions in the workplace affect first-level managers’ everyday work, their possibilities to practice leadership, and consequently their leadership style. The theoretical framework guiding the dissertation is a gender analysis with a doing gender perspective and the methodology is a case study. Two workplace organizations in a Swedish municipality are studied: a male-dominated manufacturing industry and a female-dominated elderly care service. The empirical materials consist of twenty-six semi-structured interviews, primarily with male and female first-level managers, but also with their immediate supervisors. In addition, the materials include a questionnaire and organizational documents. The results show that organizational structure and culture have implications for managers’ working conditions and consequently the leadership style they are willing and able to implement. The sex ratio among employees did not have any implications for which type of leadership informants described in their everyday practices. The ideal leadership and the everyday leadership practices portrayed by informants entail being explicit, controlling and rational managers who are able to make decisions and carry forth extensive structural changes. Their narratives reveal an authoritarian and task-oriented leadership style that has its roots in early industrialism. Leadership is strongly marked by masculinity, and even though women and men describe practicing the same type of leadership in their everyday work, their ideas about gender depict two complete opposites in which women and femininity is subordinated to men and masculinity. This indicates a divergence between the gender we think and the gender we do. Nonetheless, sex ratio among employees has implications for the level of sexism. While informants in both workplace organizations described gender discrimination, only those in the manufacturing industry described experiencing sexual harassment.
9.
Kvist, Elin, 1972-
(författare)
Stormarknadens nya maktordningar : Från kassörskor och butikschefer till (o)demokratiska arbetslag
2006
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The empirical basis of this thesis is made up of interviews with men and women working at a supermarket, both with and without managerial responsibilities. The supermarket is an example of a working place where they use modern information technologies, and where there have been reorganisations pointing towards more flexibility, lesser hierarchies and higher autonomy for the workers. Such a working place is therefore a good example of an organisation on the new labour market.The aim of this thesis is to study how everyday work is affected by the new labour market’s working conditions and to relate these findings to established theories on society’s transformations. Four concepts are in focus; technology,flexibility, hierarchy and control. These are often emphasised as important in the debate on changed work organisations. According to the post industrial and information society perspective, knowledge and technology will play an important role on today’s labour market.The development of technology and knowledge at the supermarket points in many different directions at the same time. They use technology on a daily basis. The work rotation has raised the qualification levels for some of the employees, but at the same time others feel that the more qualified parts of their work are moved away from them, into computer systems or to a national level. The development of work rotation and partly self-governing work teams has given the employees more control over their everyday work but at the same time their resources are limited. They can decide when to do a task, but are often understaffed and have too many jobs to do. The work tasks are often heavy; the tempo is high, often with high noise.The work situation appears in many ways more industrial than service oriented. Workers are controlled through hierarchy but also by group norms, information technology, customers and by service-mindedness. The control mechanism has become more diverse, diffuse and harder to recognise. The changed work situation can be seen as two-fold. On the one hand there has been a humanisation of work, more autonomy, more opportunities to develop and many more interesting work tasks but on the other hand work density has risen while personnel resources have stayed the same in spite of increased opening hours and lager turnovers. The supermarket employees identify with their work tasks and take great responsibility for the work, even if their work conditions are hard. The work conditions that are now emphasised as flexible have long been the everyday reality for many employees, above all for many women in retail. Now these flexible work conditions have come to include both men and women in the working classes.
10.
Nilsson Ranta, Daniel, 1968-
(författare)
Nödhjälp på villovägar : implementering av en filantropisk välfärdsidé, Norrbottens arbetsstugor 1903-1954
2008
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This thesis examines the implementation of a philanthropically project called Norrbottens arbetsstugor which were launched during the famine of 1903. The project initially aimed to hinder starvation among children to poor families and was arranged in a similar way as boarding-out schools. Children to poor families were offered this temporary solution and during their stay they received board and lodging as well as schooling and work practice. However, the project continues until 1954 although the threat of famine is hindered fairly promptly which indicates that new policies were introduced. Therefore, the inquiry focuses on how actors on different levels in the implementation structure adapt and transform the philanthropically policy to suit their respective needs and goals. The study is divided into two phases, a so called initial phase and an expansion phase. The implementation is investigated via archive material from the philanthropically organisation itself, Stiftelsen Norrbottens Läns arbetsstugor, as well as from local governments (kommunala skolråd) and representatives of the Swedish government (folkskoleinspektörer). The study shows how policies of childcare becomes blurry or difficult to fulfil due to insufficient means, lack of control or because of absence of recognized tools to evaluate the activity. Commonly, implementation studies sought to show how well or misused the policy has been obeyed after its introduction. This study shows rather how a policy can work fruitfully even though, or thanks to, its intentions are reformulated by different actors. This of course, awakes questions of moral characters. The study also highlights the importance to investigate, in this case a philanthropically case, not only as such, but as a project that is ongoing on several levels. This gives us the opportunity to see what, for example, the conception of ‘good childcare’ means and how it is defined depending on the level studied. To put it short: when studied in different levels, we may unveil the different meanings of a concept. Keywords: Norrbotten, early 20th century, childcare, boarding-school, philanthropy, assimilation, implementation.
