I april 1974 föll den portugisiska diktaturen. Nejlikerevolutionen fick sitt namn av att folket firade friheten genom att sätta blommor i de revolutionära soldaternas gevärspipor. Kaptensrörelsen, MFA, ledde den fredliga revolutionen, medan de politiska partierna inledningsvis spelade en begränsad roll. Risken för ett bakslag för den sköra demokratin var påtaglig i ett Europa präglat av kalla krigets spänningar. Olof Palme och Socialistinternationalen stöttade det nyligen återupprättade portugisiska socialistpartiet, och den svenska socialdemokratiska arbetarrörelsen initierade ett omfattande stödprojekt, Portugalkampanjen. 

Här redogör Jan Olsson för sina efterforskningar och egna erfarenheter av denna relativt okända episod i den svenska arbetarrörelsens solidaritetsarbete. Texten har redigerats av Carl Marklund som även bidragit med ett förord.  

Jan Olsson (1943) har arbetat på Metall bl.a. som internationell sekreterare. Han har vidare verkat inom kooperationen med EU-frågor samt med flera europeiska uppdrag inom civilsamhälle och idéburen sektor. Hans intresseområden rör framförallt socialt företagande, arbetsmarknad, näringspolitik, regionalpolitik och lokal utveckling samt politiken i södra Europa och Latinamerika. 

Carl Marklund (1974) är verksam som forskare vid Samtidshistoriska institutet vid Södertörns högskola samt Jyväskyläs universitet. Hans forskning behandlar bl.a. samhällsplaneringens idéhistoria, Sverigebilden i utlandet samt småstaternas geopolitik, särskilt i Norden och Östersjöregionen.

This study examines how trust develops between hosts and guests on Airbnb, a leading platform in the digital sharing economy, and the factors that influence consumers' choice of digital sharing platforms. With the rapid development of digital technologies, especially the internet, the sharing economy market has expanded significantly. Despite this growth, there is a lack of legal protections for users of sharing economy platforms, which differs from traditional business and consumer markets. This lack of regulation increases the risk of fraud and creates challenges in building trust on platforms without legal protection.

The study used a qualitative approach with ten semi-structured interviews, consisting of five hosts and five guests, to explore these dynamics. The theoretical framework was based on previous research in the sharing economy, trust and peer-to-peer lending. The results showed that respondents build trust by using Airbnb features, especially the feedback system, authentication of profiles and communication via the chat function. Economic motivations, such as the opportunity to earn extra money or save on accommodation costs, as well as environmental motivations, such as a desire to reduce their environmental impact, are central to users' decisions to participate in the sharing economy despite the potential risks.

Effective communication and personalized assessment are crucial to create a sense of security, even when personal contact is limited. Risk management through assessing profiles and reviews, along with alignment with the platform's security measures, helps to manage uncertainty and establish trust. The balance between the economic and environmental benefits and the perceived risks is crucial for users' continued engagement. This study contributes to our understanding of how trust can be established in a digital sharing economy and highlights the factors that influence consumers' choice of digital sharing platforms, where users' interactions take place on a platform with less legal protection than traditional markets.

In 2009, Lukas Moodysson’s motion picture Mammoth had its opening. The movie is set inthree different locations – New York, Thailand, and the Philippines – and follows severalcharacters and their individual life stories. In Swedish and Anglo-Saxon news media thereceptions varied to a great extent, but most of the critics described the movie in terms ofglobalization. Inspired by the ethnographic concept life-world, I discuss how it is possibleto analyse life-worlds in a fictional film. Using the concept of bohemian bourgeois, I stressthat the life-worlds of the privileged create spaces of opportunities most people do not haveaccess to. In Mammoth, the characters living in New York experience a sense of loss and alack of meaning. The beaches in Thailand and traditional religiosity create a contrast representingnascensy and continuity. The hierarchies and power relations that often are said tocharacterize a globalized world are analysed through the conceptual pair of centre and periphery. In the film, New York epitomises the centre and the Philippines with its poverty,mountains of waste and child sex labour depicts the utmost periphery. In analysing andunderstanding notions about contemporary processes of globalization, I argue that fictionalfilm is a fruitful point of departure.

Although policy advisers have been amply studied, far fewer studies have examined media advisers. And, so far, adviser research has offered few insights into the relationship between these two key groups of political staffers. This article claims that media advisers have been empowered. It offers a rational functionalist explanation, which emphasises concerns about functional efficiency. Media generates functional pressures for the institutional strengthening of media advisers, solidifying their role. This argument is examined empirically through a case study of ministerial media adviser (MMA) empowerment in Sweden, based on interviews conducted among MMAs and political journalists. The data tell us that MMAs are on the rise, that they have become more controlling toward journalists and more assertive within ministerial staff. In the process, MMAs have come to constitute a category of their own as they have converged among themselves but diverged from policy advisers. The interview evidence indicates that MMAs also have a role in government policy, as the media has contributed to more integration of communication and policy, but additional research is needed. Overall, this work has implications for research on political communication, executives, and advisers—especially for debates about political professionals in government.

This study analyzes the impact of the international accounting standard IFRS 16 on key financial metrics for retail companies in Sweden and Poland. The implementation of IFRS 16 has significantly altered the accounting treatment of lease agreements, requiring that previously off balance-sheet operating leases now be recorded as both assets and liabilities. This was expected to affect several financial ratios, including debt ratio, EBITDA, EBIT, ROE, and ROA.

The study employs a quantitative research design, drawing on secondary data from financial reports of publicly listed retail companies in Sweden and Poland, both before and after the implementation of IFRS 16. Data was gathered from Orbis and company reports, covering the fiscal years 2018 and 2019. Statistical analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses regarding changes in the aforementioned financial metrics due to IFRS 16.

The study confirms a significant increase in the debt ratio in both Sweden and Poland, in line with expectations that IFRS 16 would lead to higher reported liabilities. EBITDA increased significantly in Sweden, while the increase in Poland was not statistically significant. EBIT and ROA decreased unexpectedly in both countries, suggesting that factors beyond lease accounting,such as economic conditions or market dynamics, may have influenced these results. ROE saw a slight increase in both Sweden and Poland, but the changes were not statistically significant.

IFRS 16 has led to substantial changes in the financial reporting of retail companies in both Sweden and Poland, primarily through an increase in the debt ratio. However, the effects on profitability measures such as EBITDA, EBIT, and ROA were mixed, highlighting the complexand potentially long-term impact that IFRS 16 may have on financial reporting. Future research should focus on examining the long-term effects of IFRS 16, particularly regarding leasing strategies and capital structure across different countries and sectors.  

Swedes take significant pride in their country’s animal welfare standards, often touting their system as the ‘best in the world’. But what happens when this self-image is challenged and needs to reclaim its legitimacy? This article deals with the media reporting about the Swedish “Pig Scandal” in 2009. The scandal broke out after animal rights activists revealed extensive mistreatment of pigs in the meat industry. Bringing a psychoanalytically informed discourse theory to bear on the ensuing struggle over the meaning of the event, I argue that the restoration of the Swedish animal welfare discourse played out partly in the psychic register of fantasy. By displacing the animal cruelty inherent to the social order itself onto a series of external enemy-obstacles, the utopian promise of harmonious human–animal relations could be salvaged. In addition to this empirical contribution, the article introduces a Lacanian perspective on the role of lack, enjoyment, and fantasy in politics. The aim in this regard is to demonstrate the relevance of these psychoanalytical concepts as crucial resources for critique in the social sciences. 

This study aims to identify and assess AI and blockchain solutions in relation to journalistic authenticity and integrity. Central to our exploration is the role of blockchain technology in verifying content provenance. As a key component of a global Web3 framework, blockchain could offer a foundation for authenticating the origins of content. In this article, we explore how blockchain, with its capacityfor creating immutable and cryptographically signed data records, could be applied by journalists to verify photos, videos and documents. Our analysis identified nine blockchain-based solutions for content verification, with three platforms–Attestiv, OriginStamp, and Fact Protocol–showing particular promise for journalistic workflows. We conclude that while AI and blockchain solutions are currently available to journalists today, they require high-level technical expertise. Many media companies are now venturing into this field as well, thus affecting the professional role of journalists in general. In our study, it is evident that integrating AI and blockchain in journalism is not merely about adopting new tools but also about understanding their broader implications for journalism as a profession and the convergence in society. The focus must remain on enhancing journalistic integrity and public trust to ensure that these technological advances benefit thefield of journalism and, by extension, the democratic processes it supports.

 Abstract  

Introduction: This study examines the methods used by hockey clubs to attract and retain sponsors, addressing the research gap in sports sponsorship from the clubs' perspective. By analysing these methods, the study aims to provide insights that help clubs build long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with sponsors, enhancing their ability to secure and maintain sponsorship agreements.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how hockey clubs attract and retain sponsors. By analysing their methods and approaches, the study aims to provide insights that help clubs build long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with sponsors. The objective is to contribute knowledge that improves the clubs' ability to retain and secure sponsorship agreements.

Theory: The theoretical framework is based on industrial network theory, focusing on actors, activities, and resources. In sports sponsorship, the relationship between sponsors and clubs is a meaningful exchange where clubs offer valuable returns. Key concepts include the Resource-Based View (RBV), eco business systems, corporate networks, exposure, match-day hospitality, and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Method: The study employed a qualitative research approach, collecting primary data through multiple case studies supported by semi-structured interviews. This method enabled an exploration of the complex interactions and dynamics between hockey clubs and their sponsors, providing insights into their methods and behaviours.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that hockey clubs use networking and relationship-building to secure new sponsorship agreements, leveraging current sponsors' networks and engaging potential sponsors through personalised communication. Continuous engagement and tailored offerings are crucial for retaining sponsors. These approaches create long-term and mutually beneficial relationships that strengthen both the clubs and their sponsors.

Abstract

This research aims to fill the existing lack of sociological research concerning small-scale waste enterprises. It focuses on how waste entrepreneurs use their innovative techniques to address the waste challenge as well as maintain economic benefits. A qualitative approach was used to insight into the motivation, challenges, and potential implications of waste-based entrepreneurs in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal. The investigation delves into how waste entrepreneurs leverage social networks and institutional supports on waste-based entrepreneurship. It identified young entrepreneurs who courageously introduced innovative concepts in waste management despite challenges in existing norms and systems. The research reveals that these entrepreneurs perceived the importance and need of this initiation and were motivated to meet those needs. Those motivations are enhanced by external factors like education, institutional platforms, interaction and social networks. To thrive in their waste-based enterprises, these entrepreneurs actively engage with their social networks, emphasizing collaboration and interaction. This is particularly important for young innovative individual seeking to convert their ideas into prosperous enterprises within the waste management sector. These waste entrepreneurs have contribution in areas such as digitalization, circularity of reusable waste, local empowerment and inclusivity, and social influences.

Keywords

Waste-based entrepreneurship, sustainable waste management, social network, institution

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka huruvida användning av sociala medier påverkar konsumtionsbeteende, med särskilt fokus på frekvensen av klädköp online, samt att analysera hur detta eventuella samband medieras av social jämförelse.

Teori och metod: Denna studie använder Social Comparison Theory som teoretiskt ramverk och tillämpar linjär regressionsanalys (OLS) för att analysera datainsamling från 2021 års SOM-undersökning.

Resultat och analys: Resultaten från analysen visar att det finns ett signifikant samband mellan användningen av sociala medier och frekvensen av klädköp online. Hypotes ett stöds av data som visar att ökad social medieanvändning korrelerar med en högre frekvens av klädköp online. Vidare indikerar analysen att social jämförelse, operationaliserad genom variabeln tröstshopping, fungerar som en mediator i detta samband. Ju mer respondenterna använder sociala medier, desto mer benägna är de att engagera sig i tröstshopping, vilket i sin tur ökar frekvensen av klädköp online. Dessutom visar resultaten att individuella faktorer som generationstillhörighet, kön, utbildningsnivå och miljöintresse spelar en betydande roll i att moderera sambandet mellan social medieanvändning och konsumtionsbeteenden. Dessa faktorer minskar den direkta påverkan som sociala medier har på klädköp online, vilket tyder på att konsumtionsbeteenden är komplexa och påverkas av flera variabler. 

This essay analyzes the dehumanization and alienation that is caused by the concept of terrorism, more specifically when the word is utilized to invalidate the narrative of anti-colonial violence in Western political discussions. By shedding light on this topic, this paper seeks to enhance our understanding of contemporary violence, and terrorism, as to why it should not be used to term anti-colonial violence. The analysis is thematically completed mainly by focusing on Frantz Fanon’s work The Wretched of the Earth, in which he theorizes decolonization alongside his ambition to create a legitimizing narrative for liberation and anti-colonial resistance. Thus, certain aspects of morality in colonial situations will be analyzed, specifically, in accordance with the coloniality that cannot be understood from a Western point of view. Consequently, Western perspectives will be declared unable to see colonial reality; they are incused by a nearsightedness; they are the colonial system’s own constructor. In this case, morality will be discussed in terms of the Manichaean dualism between good and evil, which will be shown to be represented by Western theory. As opposed to this moral imprint in Western thinking patterns, the colonized people never experienced any moral treatment, or morality as present in the reality of colonialism. The results will eventually indicate an immediate political bias present when assuming a moral point of view to criticize the colonized population’s use of violence. The analysis will also provide an understanding of anti-colonial violence as imbedded in the narrative of liberation, which, accordingly, is crucial to acknowledge when anti-colonialism is brought up in political discussion. 

This investigation aims to determine the historical and pedagogical foundations of students’ sustainable development formation in Swedish primary schools during their Religious Studies (RS) as a part of social and cultural education from 1900 onwards.

The aim is to deal with important questions about the history of RS – general points of education for sustainable development; RS for implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Sweden (focusing on the history of the issue); educational RS potential in Swedish primary schools for implementation of ESD (focusing on the current stage of development); the ways to improve implementation of ESD during RS in Swedish primary school (authors’ opinions).

Denna kvalitativa studie undersöker risker med dagens kriminalpolitik utifrån visioner om ett rättvist samhällskontrakt. Rapporten fokuserar på två reformer som införts under 2024. Den första är visitationszoner. Den andra är hyresvärdars utökade befogen het att vräka hushåll där en hyresgäst, eller någon denna ansvarar för, begått brott. Undersökningens tredje fokusområde är antimuslimsk retorik från Tidöregeringens företrädare. Rapporten är baserad på intervjuer med Järvabor och understryker vikten av communityperspektiv för att förstå samtidens utmaningar. Empiriskt bygger undersökning på på tio fokusgruppsintervjuer med 51 Järvabor. 

The archipelago is a unique place for both visitors, residents, and entrepreneurs. The Stockholm archipelago is Sweden's largest, comprising 30,000 islands, of which 200 are inhabited and filled with entrepreneurs – including women entrepreneurs. From an entrepreneur's perspective, the archipelago's geographical context contributes both opportunities and limitations. To understand this, we need to grasp entrepreneurship from a broader context, including its historical, temporal, geographical, and social aspects, as context affects and influences whether entrepreneurial actions occur or not. Apart from this, entrepreneurship is a broad and complex phenomenon as its definition varies depending on the perspective used for analysis. Moreover, women's entrepreneurship has been neglected where the definition of entrepreneurship is framed from a male perspective.This thesis explores how female entrepreneurship in the Stockholm archipelago is influenced by a combination of geographical, institutional, and social factors. By conducting ten phenomenological interviews with female entrepreneurs from different islands in the archipelago, the study reveals complex interactions between these factors that both promote and limit business activities. The results show that the archipelago's unique geographical context creates specific economic and social challenges which the entrepreneurs address by developing diversified business strategies, such as varied operations to handle seasonal fluctuations in customer flow. Additionally, a strong sense of community and pragmatism not only counters traditional gender discrimination but also helps shape an entrepreneurial environment where individual skills are emphasized over gender. The study contributes to the research field by highlighting how specific contextual factors can shape entrepreneurial strategies and business development in an isolated and restricted environment. The thesis concludes by discussing how these insights can lead to future research opportunities within the field, especially in terms of understanding how isolated environments uniquely affect female entrepreneurship and what support structures can be optimized to strengthen it.

The article explores embodied dimensions of intercultural learning, through group interviews with seven Swedish upper secondary school students who participated in a dance exchange with a Kenyan cultural school. The concept of ‘embodied learning’ emphasizes that intercultural learning in the dance exchange takes place in the encounter between embodied experiences and discursive framings. The study analyses how the participants together navigate, negotiate and create meaning around coexisting layers of differences and similarities in the narratives of the dance encounter. In their narratives, the importance of a common interest in dance for constructing a common belonging as ‘dancers’ is evident. At the same time, the participants also underline differences in dance styles and attitudes towards choreography as significant. Through the dance encounters, they have also gained a concrete, embodied experience of the different spatial and material conditions of dance. Finally, the analysis shows how the experience of dancing together creates conditions for experiences of affinities, and how young people’s embodied dance encounters move along, across and beyond boundaries of ‘us’ and ‘them’.

This study analyzed discourses on justice and security in SOU 2023:44 regarding alternative custodial sanctions for young offenders, as well as the criminal justice reasoning underlying the report's proposals. Using Foucault's theories on surveillance and discipline, critical Marxist theory, and Becker's labeling theory, a critical discourse analysis was conducted with Fairclough's three-dimensional model. The aim was to identify linguistic strategies and narratives in discussions about juvenile delinquency and the proposals for youth prisons, to understand the perception of young offenders. Three main discourses were identified: the control and security discourse, the rights discourse, and the rehabilitation discourse. These motivated a shift towards stricter criminal policies for the protection of society and the restoration of order and security. The report's proposals positioned Sweden at a midpoint between harsher penalties and preventive measures, with an ambivalent depiction of young offenders as both victims and dangerous individuals, where the discourses contained both restrictive and progressive elements. The conclusions emphasized the need for support and rehabilitation to break the cycle of crime, while simultaneously reflecting a shift from previously rehabilitation focused policies to stricter criminal justice measures.

Denna studie undersöker hur brittiska och svenska medier framställer hundattacker mot människor. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ språklig analys av åtta artiklar från respektive land mellan år 2021 och2024. Forskningsfältet om hur svenska och brittiska medier rapporterat om ämnet är inte specielltutbredd. Den forskning som finns pekar på brister i rapporteringen. Även hundexperter menar att när media rapporterat om hundattacker mot människor så pekas hundraser ut med motstridiga eller otrovärdiga uppgifter. Med hjälp av gestaltningsteorin och komparativ journalistikforskning vill studien analysera hur rapporteringen gestaltas och förklara eventuella skillnader eller likheter mellan länderna. Resultatet visar att en majoritet av artiklarna i respektive land pekar ut hundraser med bristande information eller motstridiga uppgifter. Rapporteringen utgår nästan alltid från offrets perspektiv och hundägaren pekas oftast ut som ansvarig.

This paper aims to offer a practice-inspired contribution to participatory research by describing and analyzing a particular experience lived in Porto – FPCEUP – at the EERA Summer School. Being a group of two tutors and six doctoral students, we depict some of the impacts the week had on all participants while sharing and reflecting on the place of participatory research in both the individual projects and the collective learning experience. The specificity of this group was the mobilization of ABR methodologies to start a reflexive dialogue on the transitioning process from doctoral student to researcher. Inspired by Photovoice (Wang & Burris, 1997) and Image Theatre (Boal, 2002) to attend to the multiplicity of visions, voices, and experiences in the room, we tried to foster a safe and creative space of collaboration where thoughts and feelings could be collectively experienced and reflected on. The use of Arts-Based Research, the rapid growth of trust within the group, and the agency that was felt and taken by the group’s participants are the main themes targeted in our analysis, which were at the heart of the unexpected and surprising way the week unfolded.

This thesis examines the history of ideas about the home in the late 20th and early 21st centuries in Sweden and Estonia, when markets in general, and the financial market in particular, expanded and came to serve as a model for how society could best be organised. By studying claims and statements about the home in mortgage advertising from Swedish banks, the professionalisation and practices of the real estate agent industry, the presentation of new apartments by a public housing company at the housing exhibition H99 in 1999, in Ikea’s marketing at the same exhibition and the expansion of a Swedish bank into new mortgage markets in the Baltic states after the fall of the Soviet Union, the thesis provides a new perspective on the neoliberal system switch in Sweden and Estonia.

Previous research on changes in the housing systems has tended to focus on analyses of price statistics as well as forms of ownership and regulations. Less attention has been paid to understanding how ideas about housing changed as abstract market logics, such as those of the financial market, became increasingly important in determining access to housing. Less attention has also been paid to analysing how actors other than politicians and economists have changed practices and influenced people’s everyday lives and their attachment to markets.

With the purpose of showing how commercial actors have changed political ideas about the home in Sweden and Estonia in the period 1970–2007, the dissertation examines the actors’ description of the political role of the home as both a place of residence and a sense of belonging to that place. While the home as a place of residence has long been available for sale and purchase, I argue that commercial actors have commodified the intimate dimension of the home in new ways during the period under study and produced a financialised ideology of homeownership.