This paper discusses and aims to give the reader a greater understanding of how police cadets experiencing stress in relation to their employment status and a gender perspective on male and female cadets experience different demands and expectations. As scientists, we will also study how aspirants handle stress and how they experience the benefit of the work. This is because the one who is rejected by the aspirant will lose all possibilities of becoming a police officer. The essay will primarily highlight the impact of employment status have on stress according to police cadets and how gender can affect the stress.

During the research process, the researcher will have worked through qualitative semi-structured interviews with six respondents who work as police cadets. We have analyzed our material by Karasek and Theorell of requirements, control and support model that is about the extent of demand and control individuals have the work-related aspects. We also give examples of how the requirements and control support model works for police cadets in the field with the help of research addressing the topic. The other theoretical starting point is an occupational stress research of Kelloway, Hurrel & Days (2008). Data collection shows, and supported by our theory that the form of employment is creating concerns over future work, and that perceived stress is equal for both men and women.

This paper concerns the subject of temporary employments and how the employment status affects the personal life of the employee. The aspects of the personal life which are being investigated is the employees possibilities to plan their long term future as well as their short term future. Furthermore, the employees social relations and spare time are being investigated. The paper is qualitative and is based on semi-structured interviews with four people between the age of 25 and 35 who are experienced with temporary employment. The results of the interviews are analyzed in light of Richard Sennetts theory about ”The corrosion of character”, which shows upon a contradiction between the character-building and today's job market. The conclusions are that the employees possibilities concerning long term planning, as well as short term planning, is aggravated by their temporary employment status. Their spare time seems to become less extensive and the time devoted to the social relationships decreases. However, we can not draw any conclusions on the social relations patterns affected at a deeper level. 

This study examines the configurations of power positions in the perspective of social networks in the context of Sweden and Swedish actors around the initiation of privatization in Russia 1991-1994. The study aims to increase the knowledge on the subject of power and social networks through the use of a combination of theoretical concept, taking off in Janine Wedel’s flex net. Using the concept of power positions, derived from C. Wright Mills’s command post and Janine Wedel’s flexian-type actor, the study asks questions concerning the occupants of these power positions, the configuration of these power positions as well as the formation, reproduction and implications thereof. The study uses a qualitative mixed method approach inspired by Nick Crossley to gather data by primary, secondary and archival research means, while storing and structuring the data in a social network analysis manner which allows for a more easily grasped visualisation and overview of the relational ties among the actors. The data consists of published sources in the form of books authored by actors, news articles, interviews previously done by journalists, records etc. The study finds indications of possible flex net-like social networks where actors across the Swedish political, business and military intelligence domains collaborate to achieve both ideological and material goals. There is especially a gravitation towards a background in or a close connection to the Swedish Military Intelligence, in particular its collaboration with Swedish business representatives. The study does however not argue corruption or nepotism in the traditional sense, but rather suggest that the reproduction of power positions may be the result of a rationale along the lines of Robert Michels’s concept of the iron law of oligarchy - a power law function - in other words, previous power positions qualify actors for future power positions. The study acknowledges its methodological limitations, and also emphasises that the actors and the social network examined here is unlikely to be unique in any sense of the word, however it is also worth noting that this study is part of a larger study project which includes other methodological approaches, such as interviews.

This study aims to examine and observe the discourse around freedom within academia, morespecifically within research pertaining to the choice overload phenomenon. The study isqualitative in nature and would be best described as a discourse,- and ideology analysis. Thestudy observes the current discourse around choice overload and how the phenomenon ispresented and problematized. Furthermore the study aims to examine if there are anyideological influences in this area of research. The studies being analyzed are publishedbetween 2016 to the middle of 2018 and based around the keyword choice overload,. Theresults of this study show that recent research regarding choice overload is in overwhelmingmajority conducted by marketing and hence presented in a market-minded perspective. Thestudy also finds that there seems to exist an indication of two “perspectives” when it comes tothe researchers views on choice overload. In these study these perspectives are categorized byone having a more pragmatic, solution-oriented view in relation to the phenomenon and theother one being more sceptical to its existence at all. The conclusion brings mixed results,whereas while the study shows that there are prevalent tendencies to problematize and presentchoice overload from a profit seeking perspective as opposed to a general societal healthperspective, the controlled nature of the language used in research makes it hard to draw anyconcrete conclusions. The study ends on an encouraging note, leaving suggestions for furthermore in-depth research to contribute to this field of knowledge.

The chapter integrates the conceptual ideas presented in this volume and the outcomes of the empirical research on mobile Europeans’ access to and the portability of social security rights that focused on four pairs of countries (Hungary-Austria, Bulgaria-Germany, Estonia-Sweden, Poland-UK) in four areas of social security (unemployment, family benefits, health, and pensions). In the first step, the chapter identifies country-pair spanning patterns in respect to (1) cross-border social security regulations, (2) discourses of belonging, and (3) mobile (East-)Europeans’ experiences of (unequal) welfare opportunities. At the same time, it puts emphasis on the country-pair specific differences and similarities of the above-mentioned dimensions of European social citizenship.

Empowerment is a process or a mechanism of individuals, organizations and communitiesacquiring control over their lives (Rappaport (1987), and there is a sustained effort by nationsand the international communities across the globe in search of pragmatic agendas and policyframework in achieving women’s empowerment. The purpose of this study was to understandthe experiences of immigrant women who participate in multicultural festivals, and how suchexperiences impact their empowerment. Guided by the ladder of empowerment theory byElizabeth Rocha in 1997, a phenomenological qualitative study was conducted with fifteenimmigrant women residents in Uppsala, and with heterogeneous description, the women weremainly from west African, South American and the European sub-regions.Drawing on the interviews, exposure to different cultures, making friends and interactingwith people from different cultural origins, opportunity to have fun, happiness and socialnetworking were the sailing experiences revealed by the study. While the women are able toachieve the first three levels – atomistic, embedded and mediated empowerments – ofindividual empowerments as espoused by Rocha (1997), the study further showsSocio-political and Political empowerment were not felt by the women, though theirgroupings into groups and organizations could influence decisions, legislations andprogrammes underlying the celebration of multicultural festivals in the Uppsala municipality.

Sweden is considered as one of the European Union's most equal countries where women and men should have equal opportunities at the labor market. The Gender Equality Act and the Discrimination Act have been enacted to promote equal rights for women and men and to prevent gender segregation at the labor market and in workplaces. Despite these laws, there are still differences in career development between women and men. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how women at different workplaces experience their opportunities for advancement, women's assumptions of strategies for dealing with inequality and how women's self-image has been affected as a result of their experiences. The empirical material is based on seven semi-structured interviews analyzed through Chodorow's theory the reproduction of mothering to analyze the reproduction of gender norms and Bergman's description of vertical and internal segregation. The results of the study show that women experience barriers to advancement and career development at their workplaces based on their gender, which has further contributed to the adoption of strategies to gain legitimacy. These experiences have contributed to a negative impact on women's self-image which has manifested in constant questioning of women's competence and capability at work based on traditional norms.

”Vad gör en politisk utsaga framgångsrik? Den användardrivna kommunikationens villkor” är ett ettårigt forskningsprojekt delfinansierat av Internetfonden, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, Retriever AB, M-Brain AB samt Forsman & Bodenfors AB. Projektledare har varit Jonas Andersson Schwarz, som tillsammans med Johan Hammarlund, Stefan di Grado och Magnus Kjellberg har analyserat data från Twitter och rikspress i syfte att skapa ny kunskap om villkoren för politisk kommunikation i de sociala mediernas tidevarv. Huvudfokus har varit att undersöka vilka specifika faktorer som spelar in för delning av politiska tweets samt vilken typ av material från sociala medier som fångas upp av traditionella nyhetsmedier och vice versa. Samspelet mellan sociala medier och massmedier formar de bilder som görs av sociala medier i samhället, och omvänt: det formar de bilder som görs av massmedia likväl.

På vilket sätt framställs Rinkeby – Kista som en otrygg plats av politiker och tjänstemän jämfört med de boendes? Och hur ser de boende på politikerna och tjänstemännens trygghetsplanering? Dessa är frågeställningarna som vår studie undersöker. Metoden har bestått av två delar: text- och videoanalys samt kvalitativa intervjuer av både beslutsfattare och medborgare i stadsdelen. Teorierna som har legat till grund för vår analys är Foucaults diskursteorier, Ristilamis forskning om förortsdiskursen samt Stigendals teorier om sociala levnadsförhållanden.

Text- och videoanalyserna och de kvalitativa intervjuerna har visat oss att politikernas och tjänstemännens bild av trygghetssituationen i stadsdelen har varit annorlunda gentemot medborgarnas perspektiv. Denna skillnad ligger till stor del i deras olika tolkningar av begreppet trygghet som kortfattat kan uttryckas som att beslutsfattarna har en snävare, säkerhetsbaserad syn på trygghet medan medborgarna generellt inkluderar fler aspekter såsom den socio-ekonomiska situationen. Våra slutsatser av det framkomna materialet, kopplat till de valda teorierna, kan sammanfattas som att de två intervjuade parterna generellt har olika perspektiv på trygghetssituationen och trygghetsarbetet i Rinkeby-Kista, samt skilda upplevelser av vem av dessa aktörer som idag tar störst ansvar för att främja en önskad lokal utveckling.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the ‘equalising effect of schools’ in general and two concrete interventions that have been carried out recently in Sweden in particular. The first of these interventions is the closing down of schools in deprived neighbourhoods and moving pupils to other schools. The second is ‘empowerment’–i.e., creating an inclusive and supportive pedagogical school environment for students with working-class and immigrant backgrounds. As findings from previous Swedish studies regarding the first intervention show, an equalising effect will not be achieved without considering the ‘school climate’ of mixed schools. The findings from this case study of a school located in a deprived suburb of Stockholm County indicate that even schools in these areas are able to equalise educational opportunities through building an alliance between students, parents and community activists on the one hand and bi-class and bi-cultural brokers like teachers and social workers on the other. 

Given the increased segregation of students (based on their class and migration backgrounds) in the Swedish educational system during recent decades, this chapter tells two different school stories. More than 98% of pupils in both schools are descendants of lower-class immigrant families. The first school (South school) is among those Swedish schools identified as ‘failing’, a typical school in a socioeconomically marginalised and segregated immigrant neighborhood with poor educational results. The second school (East school) is also located in a high-poverty district with the same school composition, which has succeeded in improving pupils’ educational achievements. It has been done through the ‘empowerment’ of pupils – that is creating an inclusive and supportive pedagogical school environment for students with working-class and immigrant backgrounds. This chapter aims to explore how different types of ‘school culture’ may affect initial inequalities, academic achievement and well-being of students with migrant background in marginalized communities. The case of East school indicates that even schools in such areas are able to equalise educational opportunities through building an alliance between students, parents and community activists on the one hand and bi-class and bi-cultural brokers like teachers and social workers on the other. © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Paul Downes, Jim Anderson, Alireza Behtoui and Lore Van Praag; individual chapters, the contributors.

Förevarande studie tar sin utgångspunkt i ett Stockholm satt i förändring. Som allt mer inbäddat i en global och post-industriell ordning skapas nya konfigurationer i gruppers sociala och kulturella mönster – i studien begreppsliggjort och analyserat genom livsstilar - och hur dessa sammanbinds med specifika platser. Särskilt intressant är det att få insikt i hur de i Stockholms socioekonomiskt svaga ytterstadsområden upplever, deltar i och tillägnar sig innerstaden, som en plats där processer av gentrifikation och stegrande kulturkonsumtion gradvis omförhandlar villkoren för vad ett besök kan och bör bestå i. För studiens räkning har en rad livsvärldsintervjuer skett med unga vuxna boende eller med härkomst i miljonprogramsområdena i Järva (Kista, Akalla, Rinkeby, Tensta och Rissne) i västra Stockholm, där deras berättelser ger uttryck för deras unika förhållanden till kvaliteterna i stadens socialt skiktade rum. Redan under ungdomsåren kommer innerstaden att representera något sublimt i en stadsmiljö diametralt annorlunda Järva, och genom betingelserna av den blå tunnelbanelinjen beskriver flera informanter hur ett utforskande tog vid av den nyupptäckta platsen. I vuxen ålder tonar innerstaden till stora delar upp som tydligt kopplat till selektiva nyttjanden i form av konsumtionen av varor och nöjen – där i synnerhet krog- och klubbscenen visar sig vara föremål för besök - men inbjuder för merparten av informanterna sällan till ett mer villkorslöst, icke-konsumerande fördröjande i de offentliga rummens gator, torg och parker. I själva erfarenheten av Stockholm är dikotomin förort - innerstad tydlig och genererar en diskursiv schematik mina informanter på olika sätt förhåller sig till.

The purpose of this study is to investigate if and how job titles come with status for individuals. It is also of interest to study whether job titles can be linked to the identity of the individual. To reach an answer to these questions, we have conducted eight semi-structured interviews with nine respondents who work within eight organizations with offices in the Stockholm region. All respondents belong to their respective organizations’ Human Resource department. The study is based on theories including Goffman (2009), Hinton (2003), Jenkins (2014) and as well as Ulfsdotter Eriksson and Flisbäck (2011) that touches upon identity, categorizing and status. Results show that job titles have a considerable impact on the individual’s identity and status. However we see tendencies of attempts to distance oneself which might cause the work title to become less significant in the identity and status process. All interviews clearly show that social structures are strongly connected with the individual’s identity and status.

Drawing on an analysis of the media debate on two Swedish rape cases involving alcohol, the present article argues that social norms and power structures are made visible both when debaters ascribe explanatory power to alcohol and when they do not. Using feminist intersectional theory, we argue that when debaters employ the concepts of “foreign culture” and “jet-set drinking culture,” respectively, to explain the rapes, they simultaneously (re)produce stereotypical discourses on gender, sexuality, class and ethnicity/nationality. The troublesome positions of the Immigrant, the Drink Slut and the Brat symbolize how these discourses intersect in the specific cases. To understand why alcohol is central in explaining rape in a fashionable area, but not in a socially disadvantaged area, we suggest that the official image of Sweden as a gender-equal, sexually liberal and multicultural society with small class differences blocks discussion of existing inequalities within the country. When rape happens in a place constructed as a “Swedish middle- and upper-class area,” alcohol and intoxication are used to symbolize the “uncivilized,” unpleasant and malicious among Swedish men. When rape happens in “socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods” populated by “immigrants,” the unpleasant instead resides in the “foreign culture.”

Denna studie har en kvalitativ utgångspunkt med syfte att undersöka HR-anställdas användning av och syn på socialt nätverk i rekryteringsprocesser på bemanningsföretag. Studiens bakgrund utgörs av semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra HR-anställda som arbetar på olika bemanningsföretag i Stockholm. I resultatet framkommer det att HR-anställda använt sig av nätverksrekrytering där sociala relationer som personer från yrkeslivet och bekanta är det vanligaste. Det redogörs även för deras reflektioner kring positiva respektive negativa konsekvenser av nätverkrekrytering. De nämner att det positiva är att man når ut till flera människor och att det är tidseffektivt medan de negativa är att vissa grupper tenderar att exkluderas. Vidare visar resultatet att externa kanaler som arbetsförmedling och webbplatser som bland annat Monster och Facebook används för att publicera annonser. Tidigare forskning som presenteras i studien berör användning av socialt nätverk i rekryteringsprocesser och dess konsekvenser. Studien anammar ett sociologiskt tänk då sociologiska teorier som Lins teori om social kapital och Granovetters teori om svaga och starka länkar tillämpats.

A relatively common theoretical notion within the research field concerning trust and norms of citizenship in the social sciences is that both of these concepts are positively related through what is most often called social capital. This particular communitarian perspective encourages the idea that trust is both needed for, and built through networks as well as social- and political participation which should be reflected through a shared sense of obligations and expectations upon one another; a set of citizen norms. The very foundation of such and theoretical basis makes it difficult to use this perspective to explain an absent correlation between trust and norms of citizenship, and even less a negative such correlation. Nonetheless, findings in social scientific research on this matter have sometimes shown an absent or even negative correlation between trust and norms of citizenship. The purpose of this particular study is to evaluate the relationship between generalized trust, institutional trust and norms of citizenship within the swedish population. Furthermore, the aim is to explain how a negative correlation between generalized trust and norms of citizenship is possible to be understood as a compensation of trust through the means of substitutes. In this discussion, the relevance of institutional trust comes in to light as a means of legitimizing the accountability within the norms of citizenship as expectations on "good citizens". Conclusively, the empirical findings show results similar to what has been presented in some earlier research articles, namely the existence of a negative correlation between generalized trust and norms of citizenship, a positive correlation between institutional trust and norms of citizenship and finally a negative relationship between generalized and institutional trust.

This study uses the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey to explore the relationship between mortality of men age 65 or younger and intragenerational mobility, measured objectively through household income and subjectively through social ranking. This relationship is considered in light of the social selection and social causation mechanisms developed in the literature as well as a proposed mechanism in which mobility itself is a consequential life event. The analysis spans the years 1994-2010, which covers the transitional period in Russia characterized by labor market restructuring and economic crisis as well as a later period of economic growth and recovery. Using Cox proportional hazard models, immediate and longer-term associations between mobility and mortality are estimated. Both subjective and objective downward mobility had an immediate positive association with mortality risk (increased by 44% and 24%, respectively). In contrast, upward mobility had a more pronounced effect over a longer-term horizon and lowered mortality risk by 17%. Controlling for destination status attenuated some associations, but findings were robust to the adjustment of selection-related factors such as alcohol consumption and health status in the year preceding mobility. Findings suggest that the negative relationship between upward mobility and mortality may be driven by social causation, whereas downward mobility may have an independent effect beyond selection or causation.

This paper introduces a model that explains psychosocial development by embedding the developmental concept of rough-and-tumble play (RTP) into the contextual settings of martial arts (MA). Current sport-for-change literature relies on theories that address contextual factors surrounding sport but agrees that sport in itself does not facilitate developmental outcomes. In contemporary times where western societies invest substantial resources in sport programs for their psychosocial contribution, this becomes problematic. If the contextual factors surrounding sport are exclusively what produce developmental outcomes, what is the rationale for investing resources in sport specifically? We challenge this idea and argue that although contextual factors are important to any social phenomena, the developmental outcomes from sport can also be traced to the corporeal domain in sport. To date, we have lacked the theoretical lenses to articulate this. The developmental concept of RTP emphasizes how "play fighting" between consenting parties stimulates psychosocial growth through its demand for self-regulation and control when "play fighting" with peers. In short, RTP demands that individuals maintain a self-regulated mode of fighting and is contingent on a give-and-take relationship to maintain enjoyment. RTP can thus foster empathy and prosocial behavior and has strong social bonding implications. However, such play can also escalate. A fitting setting to be considered as moderated RTP is MA because of its resemblance to RTP, and its inherent philosophical features, which emphasizes self-regulation, empathy, and prosocial behavior. This paper outlines what constitutes high-quality RTP in a MA context and how this relates to developmental outcomes. By doing so, we present a practitioner's framework in which practitioners, social workers, and physical educators can explain how MA, and not merely contextual factors, contributes toward developmental outcomes. In a time where sport is becoming increasingly politicized and used as a social intervention, it too becomes imperative to account for why sport, and in this case, MA, is suitable to such ends.

The media has a central role in communicating and constructing health knowledge, including commu-nicating research findings related to alcohol consumption. However, research on news reporting aboutalcohol is still a relatively small field; in particular, there are few studies of the reporting of biomedicalalcohol and drug research, despite the assumed increasing popularity of biomedical perspectives inpublic discourse in general. The present article addresses the representational‘devices’used in Swedishpress reporting about biomedical alcohol research, drawing on qualitative thematic analysis of thetopics, metaphors, and optimist versus critical frames used in presenting biomedical research findings.In general, the press discourse focuses on genetic factors related to alcohol problems, on the role ofthe brain and the reward system in addiction, and on medication for treating alcohol problems.Metaphors of‘reconstruction’and‘reprograming’of the reward system are used to describe howthe brain’s function is altered in addiction, whereas metaphors of‘undeserved reward’and‘shortcuts’to pleasure are used to describe alcohol’s effects on the brain. The study indicates that aspects ofthe Swedish press discourse of biomedical alcohol research invite reductionism, but that thisresult could be understood from the point of view of both the social organization of reporting and theintersection of reporting, science, and everyday understandings rather than from the point of viewof the news articles only. Moreover, some characteristics of the media portrayals leave room for inter-pretation, calling for research on the meanings ascribed to metaphors of addiction in everydayinteraction.

Drawing on a qualitative analysis of Swedish newspaper debates in 1979 and 1995, this article examines how Swedish newspapers refer to biological sex difference as central to drinking practices. The study shows that women are a special category of concern in debate about gender and drinking in both 1979 and 1995. Further, it shows that Swedish newspapers draw upon biology in different ways in the two years. In 1979, debate about drinking during pregnancy and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is central and newspapers link biomedical research on FAS to the moral idea that mothers do anything to avoid harm to children. In 1995, debate about girls' drinking habits is central and newspapers link sex hormones and neurotransmitters to the moral idea that girls shouldn't “drink like men.” These differences are discussed in the context of Swedish media interest in evolutionary psychology and biomedical solutions to alcohol problems during the 1990s.

The dominant approach to gender in alcohol research still conceives of gender in terms of binary roles and looks for explanations for gender differences in drinking. This paper challenges the binary approach, and instead analyzes the categorization of gender as created in Swedish newspaper stories about alcohol, published between 2000 and 2008. Specific categories examined include 'responsible mothers', 'responsible parents', 'party girls', 'career women with drinking problems', 'violent men who drink' and 'beer-drinking, sexist male athletes'. Based on this examination, the paper discusses how the media stories do and/or undo gender and how they encourage readers to act by the categories of drinkers that they describe. The study shows that the Swedish media stories produce multiple ways of interpreting drinking. Some of the stories undo gender through linking 'male' behavior (drinking heavily) to female bodies, while others undo gender by treating parenthood as more important than gender. Importantly, however, other stories reproduce the discourse of heteronormativity and gender binarism. The study suggests that analyses of media texts need to take the complexity of 'undoing gender' into account, for example by avoiding the assumption that gender is either undone or reproduced.

De senaste 20-30 åren kännetecknas av samhällsomvandlingar som framväxten av ett konsumtionssamhälle, den tredje vågens feminism och ett hälsopolitiskt intresse för riskgrupper. Här diskuteras några av dessa i relation till svensk alkoholkultur, med särskilt fokus på forskning om ungdomar, genus och sexualitet. Sammanfattningsvis visar forskningen att normer och meningsskapande kring alkohol varierar bland olika grupper kvinnor och män (t.ex. utifrån ålder och sexualitet). Samtidigt existerar föreställningen att det är mer problematiskt för kvinnor att dricka sida vid sida med föreställningen att kvinnor idag ”dricker som män” och föreställningen om alkoholkonsumtion som ett kvinnligt frigörelse- och valfrihetsprojekt. Även maskulinitetsskapande tycks äga rum i spänningsfältet mellan ett ”grabbigt” ideal där alkohol associeras med ”tuffhet” och ideal som betonar faderskap, kreativitet och svaghet.

Texts are language excerpts produced from specific points of view; they communicate specific worldviews and values. This implies that social science research on power in texts can benefit from an analysis of the perspective from which a story is presented. Nevertheless, discussion of concrete tools for doing this at the level of practical analysis is less common. This article describes a set of tools for analyzing positioning at two different levels: the level of enunciation - which focuses on narrator and audience positions - and the level of utterance - which focuses on positions in stories. Moreover, addressing readers less familiar with discourse analysis and students new to discourse analysis, the article argues that combining tools for analyzing positioning with more general tools for analyzing meaning is advantageous because this allows for more detailed analysis of social power in texts and for more detailed description of the analytical process.