| 1. |
- Holmberg, Tora, 1967-, et al.
(author)
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Cultural Sociology in Scandinavia
- 2016
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In: Handbuch Kultursoziologie. - Wiesbaden : Springer. - 9783658080006 ; , s. 1-22
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this chapter, we emphasize the diversity and complexity of cultural sociology in Scandinavia. We begin with brief ‘entries’ that narrate our own encounters with cultural sociology and illustrate the multiplicity of theories, methods, and areas of research. We then briefly sketch accounts of cultural sociology in Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway and Denmark), highlighting the main debates and issues. Institutional contexts and cultural politics influence the conditions for, and emergence of, cultural sociologists. Our accounts of the three countries are not comprehensive and do not do full justice to their particular national research traditions. Our aim is to highlight bits and pieces that appear to be characteristic of each country. Together, these aspects construct a mosaic of traditions and new trends that we find represented in all three countries. In the conclusion, we sum up and broaden the scope to place Scandinavian cultural sociology in an international context.
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| 2. |
- Wiksell, Kristin, 1989-
(author)
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Organizing for Social Change : Worker Cooperatives as Resistance to Capitalism
- 2021
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- When people around the globe are increasingly confronted with the challenges of rising economic inequalities and declining democratization, often associated with the spread of globalized capitalism, it becomes difficult to defend a position of business as usual. Worker co-ops are economic associations equally owned and democratically governed by workers with the potential to contribute to economic democracy and social change. This dissertation explores how worker cooperatives, primarily in Sweden, are constructed and organized by co-operators in ways that can resist capitalism, while at the same time having to relate to capitalism as the context in which they operate. The analyzed empirical material includes an international marketing campaign promoting co-ops; qualitative material, mainly interviews, from five Swedish worker co-ops; and second-hand material on timebanks, network-based exchange services. Overall, the results show that co-operators construct worker co-ops as better for individuals and societies than capitalist-oriented organizing, which is associated with economic ideals for profit and growth and hierarchical control. In contrast, the worker co-ops organize themselves as a form of constructive resistance to capitalism by enacting social ideals such as freedom to self-govern, equal work relations through friendship and the valuing of work time, perceived to benefit society without generating profit. The co-ops’ very existence demonstrates and spreads awareness that this alternative form of organizing is viable in the here and now. However, the analysis also shows that co-ops’ resistance within capitalist market economic contexts involves risks of the reproduction of power and the compromise of ideals in order to survive. Thereby, this dissertation contributes to knowledge on the possibilities and pitfalls of organizing for social change within contexts dominated by the very power resistance is directed against.
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| 3. |
- Bergman Blix, Stina, 1971-, et al.
(author)
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A Sociological Perspective on Emotions in the Judiciary
- 2016
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In: Emotion Review. - : SAGE Publications. - 1754-0739 .- 1754-0747. ; 8:1, s. 32-37
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introducing a sociological perspective on judicial emotions, we argue that previous studies underemphasize structural and interactional dimensions. Through key concepts in the sociology of emotions we relate professional court actors’ emotion management to the emotional regime of the judiciary. Examples from the Swedish judiciary illustrate three main arguments: (a) The idea of rational justice as nonemotional must be investigated as a joint accomplishment including collective emotion management; (b) Judicial objectivity requires situated emotion management and empathy, orientated by emotions of pride/shame; (c) The structural dimensions of power/status mitigate feeling and display rules. The situated power of the judge is upheld by ritual deference from other court professionals. Concluding, we suggest topics to develop structural and interactional perspectives on judicial emotion
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| 4. |
- Bergman Blix, Stina, 1971-, et al.
(author)
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Humour in the Swedish Court: managing emotions, status and power
- 2018
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In: Judges, Judging and Humour. - London : Palgrave Macmillan. - 9783319767376 - 9783319767383 ; , s. 179-209
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This chapter analyses humour from an emotion sociological perspective, linking humour to power, status, and group solidarity. It draws from about 300 observed trials and interviews with 43 judges and 41 prosecutors from four Swedish district courts. Humour is sometimes skilfully used as a strategy to ease tension, relieve boredom or to reprimand. It is initiated/allowed by the judge, but high-status lawyers or prosecutors may take the initiative. Judges may use humour to uphold an effective and smooth procedure, attenuating their own power. It is generally unacceptable to laugh at the expense of lay- (low-power) people present in court. Inter-professional humour takes place in intermissions during the hearings, while trials running over several days may include the defendants in the semi-backstage inter-professional joking. Most in-court humorous incidents are unintended, where laughter is suppressed or released depending on the judge. Humour has different functions and expressions frontstage (in court) and backstage (office, lunch room). Observation of both arenas reveal its shame-management function in inter-professional relations. While the judges’ backstage area teems with jokes about embarrassing procedural mistakes, prosecutors’ backstage humour more often deals with the foulness and tragedy of criminals and crimes.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Bergman Blix, Stina, 1971-, et al.
(author)
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The Emotional Interaction of Judicial Objectivity
- 2019
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In: Oñati Socio-Legal Series. - : Onati International Institute for the Sociology of Law. - 2079-5971. ; 9:5, s. 726-746
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Like other Western legal systems, the Swedish legal system constructs objectivity as an unemotional state of being. We argue that the enactment of objectivity in situ relies on objectivity work including emotion management and empathy. Building on qualitative interviews and observations in Swedish district courts, we analyse courtroom interaction through a dramaturgical lens, highlighting tacit signals and interprofessional emotional communication aimed to secure objective procedures, while sustaining the ideal of unemotional objectivity. By analytically separating objectivity from impartiality, we show that judges’ objective performances balance empathic attunement and restrained expressions to uphold an impartial presentation. Prosecutors take pride in maintaining objectivity in spite of being partial, fostering the ability to switch between engagement and disengagement depending on the strength of the case. The requirement for legal professionals to be autonomous demands skillful inter-professional emotional attuning. Thereby, collaborative professional emotion management achieves the ideal of justice as being objective.
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| 7. |
- Bergman Blix, Stina, 1971-, et al.
(author)
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The emotional labour of gaining and maintaining access to the field
- 2015
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In: Qualitative Research. - : SAGE Publications. - 1468-7941 .- 1741-3109. ; 15:6, s. 688-704
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The role of emotions in qualitative research receives increasing attention. We argue for an active rather than a reactive approach towards emotions to improve the quality of research; emotions are a vital source of information and researchers use emotions strategically. Analysing the emotion work of researchers in the process of gaining, securing and maintaining access to the Swedish judiciary, we propose that the emotion work involved is a type of emotional labour, required by the researcher in order to successfully collect data. The particular case of researching elites is highlighted. Emotional labour is analysed along three dimensions: 1. Strategic emotion work – building trust outwards and self-confidence inwards; 2. Emotional reflexivity – attentiveness to emotional signals monitoring one’s position and actions in the field; and 3. Emotion work to cope with emotive dissonance – inward-directed emotion work to deal with the potentially alienating effects of strategic emotion work.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Bladini, Moa, 1979, et al.
(author)
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Empathy and Certainty - epistemic tools and emotions in rape trials.
- 2021
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In: Sociological Knowledges for Alternative Futures. 15th ESA Conference. - 9782958158606
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In this paper we discuss some challenges in the process of evaluating evidence in cases of rape. In cases of rape, a core question, under the new criminal rape legislation, is whether the act was voluntary or not. This often leads to an evidentiary situation where the judge is left to decide upon matters of trust and credibility. This, in turn, puts the two epistemic concepts empathy and certainty at the center of the trial. the theoretical foundation is three-folded: legal, sociology of emotions and an everyday life perspective.
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| 10. |
- Bladini, Moa, 1979, et al.
(author)
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‘It sounds like lived experience’ - On empathy in rape trials
- 2023
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In: International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice. - : Elsevier BV. - 1756-0616. ; 72
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this article the intrinsic relation between the formal and the informal aspects of rape trials in Sweden will be scrutinized and discussed, for two main reasons (that are intertwined). Firstly, rape cases are characterized by a word-against-word situation, with few other forms of evidence, and with a rate of convictions much lower than for other criminal cases. The fact that the parties’ statements are placed at the core of the presentation and assessment of the evidence leaves much scope for argumentation about normality, rationality, logic and common sense. Secondly, rape trials have been subject to a significant amount of critique, in public as well as in legal debate due to gendered stereotypes, assumptions about autonomy, objectivity, ideal victims, real rape etc. The article aims to explore and shed some light on parts of the continuum of formality and informality in criminal trials in Sweden. By deconstructing rape trials through the lens of the emotion-sociological concept of empathy, the article contributes to deepened knowledge of the work performed by the legal actors in court in general and their work as empathic translators, in particular. We will focus on a specific part of the empathic process, namely emotion management to stage credible testimonies, in the sense that the stories told by the parties and/or witnesses are framed and presented by legal professionals in court as if they have been acting and reacting normal, natural, reasonable and rational. We present the analysis of the intrinsic relationship between the formal framework and the informal work performed by the legal actors, by exploring how the legal concepts are embodied in stories from everyday life in the trial, framed by the legal actors. The analysis includes a description of the stage at which these trials take place (the objectivity ideals and self-images) and the most important formal aspects and parts of the criminal and procedural regulation of rape trials. The article ends with final conclusions and reflections on the continuum of formality and informality in rape trials. The material in the study from which this article derives consists of observations of 18 rape cases, including written judgments and interviews with legal professionals in these cases.
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