This article is an empirical analysis of food waste management and food recycling in Sweden. Currently, across Sweden, attempts are being made to achieve a circular economy whereby food wastes are transformed into resources. Food waste is used to produce biogas and bio fertilizer, and the enactment of food waste as a resource turns the waste into a raw material over which waste management organizations compete. Against this backdrop, the article interferes with research in ‘waste studies’ that highlight transformation of waste into something valuable, and proposes instead to ‘defend’ waste against the CE. The paper contributes to ‘waste studies’ and research on the circular economy by cautioning about the risks involved both in the establishment of a circular economy, and the treatment of waste as valuable. The empirical material used draws on a research project in which interviews were carried out with ‘waste workers’ in Swedish waste management organizations.
As of late, claims have been made in social and political theory that agency is neither a property of subjects nor of objects, but is instead an emergent effect of constellations or assemblages – that agency takes place ‘between’ various things. The question that follows is how to then account for what happens and what to make of the ‘betweenness’ of agency. The answer offered by this article is to trace and situate agency empirically through practices. Exploring the happening and non-happening of a particular object – shit – I show that for things to happen, a lot of work has to be done. By evoking three examples of constipated bodies, I show that while the work that has to be done is different, and that the actors involved are diverse, agency is located in practices.
Emerging from the question of how to live together with our planet, more-than-human approaches to interspecies relations have often presented ‘cozy’ versions of conviviality (Whatmore 2002; Haraway 2008; Hinchliffe 2010). This was usually set against a (supposedly) exclusionary politics of nature, in a move that betrayed a still largely humanist ethics. From the focus on friendly companions, to the attention to practices of care or living-together, the notion of companion species and their entanglements with humans has been polarized towards a pleasant and ‘nice’ version of coexistence. But, dealing with composting, it becomes clear that relations with the environment are never so neat and clean. What are, then, the modes of being together with the ‘dirty’ side of the ‘green’? What practices emerge at the mundane interstices of the ‘big picture’ of a functional ecology? Wasting, eating, rotting, consuming, transforming and becoming-with are brought together in a variety of ways in practices of composting-with earthworms. Reporting on our own and others' attempts to ‘live-together’ with earthworms, this paper tracks the non-relations and asymmetries of the transformations of more-than-human materialities inside (and outside) domestic composting bins. We argue that the example of living-together with dung earthworms sheds light on the interplays between attachment and detachment (Candea 2010), shifting the notion of conviviality from a green and comfortable ‘democratic collective’ (Latour 2004) to a messy, yet constantly productive and on-going coexistence.
This article analyses conflicting versions of speed and temporal work that are involved in engaging with food. The dominant discourses around fast and slow food are challenged and extended by juxtaposing three kinds of food-related activities: cooking, eating, and digesting. Drawing on a wide range of empirical and theoretical examples and dietary advice, I illustrate how modes of engaging with foods also produce and come with specific “goods” and “bads.” Problematizing these normativities, I use the Swedish word ‘lagom’ to denote a temporal and spatial normativity that is always located in a specific situation.
Recent papers by prominent scholars in science and technology studies (notably John Law and Bruno Latour) have crystallized a fundamental disagreement about the scope and purpose of intervention in actor-network theory or what we here choose to bracket as empirical philosophy. While the precept of agnostic description is taken as a given, the desired eff ects of such descriptions are highly debated: Is the goal to interfere with the singularity of the real through the enactment of multiple and possibly confl icting ontologies? Or is it (also) to craft new and comprehensive common worlds supported by notions of due process and parliamentary procedure? In this paper we think about this disagreement as a question of research strategy (a normative discord about the desirable outcome of an intervention) in order to assess its implications for research tactics (a descriptive accord about the practical crafting of an adequate account). A key point here is to challenge the impermeability of such a division and show how the strategic dispute, if to be taken seriously, invariably spills over to swamp the level of tactics. To illustrate this point, we draw upon materials from our recent doctoral research projects and to facilitate the discussion we make two deliberate caricatures: Firstly, we operate with a simplifi ed history of actor-network theory in which a strategy of epistemological critique has been replaced by two contending agendas for ontological intervention. Secondly, we address these two contending agendas as distinct options which map on to the positions of our two main interlocutors. In doing so, it becomes possible to compare their respective tactical implications as we work through two examples of what might constitute an empiricist intervention.
Research into food waste has shown that around one third of the food that is produced for human consumption ends up going to waste. The reasons for this are many but in reports and campaigns the role of the consumer, their careless behavior and anxieties related to food are often raised as two of the main causes for food going to waste. By way of contrast, this article asks what practices of saving, experimenting with, growing and eating food – what is here conceptualized as ‘food repair’ – may tell us in terms of the specific materialities of foods, and the work involved in repairing it. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with dumpster divers, a studio for the experimental arts, and urban gardeners, I suggest firstly that the actual work of food repair is mundane, small-scale and often remains largely invisible. Secondly, food repair is caught in the tension between avoiding waste and assuring safety. This tension, and the work of living with it in practice, is analyzed in terms of caring: caring for the food, for sustainable consumption, for the eater. As such, this text articulates the concept of food repair as a conceptual contrast to the notion of careless consumers and throw-away societies in order to map alternative stories and practices. Rather than offering a critique of known food wasting practices, then, this text is intended both to articulate and strengthen marginal food repair practices.
In a book that explores global transportations and mobilities, food definitely deserves to be included.1 Over the last few decades, the total mileage that food travels across the globe – difficult to imagine, let alone calculate – has not just risen, but also become increasingly contested ( Jackson et al., 2006). Many decry that all in all food travels far too far. But how does it do so? How does it move across the globe? The answer is: in many different ways. It moves out and it moves in. It moves fresh and it moves cooked. It moves as ingredients and as a recipe. The implication is that, more often than not, on any single plate many places come together. Here, we will illustrate the topological complexity of ordinary meals by presenting a mundane but intricate case: that of Pizza Hawaii.
In the early 21st century quite a few social scientists and scholars in the humanities are arguing that we should pay more attention to things material. For, as they say, not only humans act but so, too, do materials. Joining this discussion, in this paper we will use the case of omega-3 fatty acids to address the questions of how materials may act; in which ways this is relevant; and what is linked up with it. Hence, we will come to speak about research in prisons where inmates were badly nourished; fish being caught in the Global South for Scandinavian fish pills; and the urgency of shifting from the verb ‘to act’ to a differentiated list of modes of doing. Learning from the natural sciences, we will argue, requires that their methods and concerns be carefully attended to. Taking matters seriously comes with the obligation of tracing where such matters come from and where they go. And talking about ‘action’, finally, demands that, beyond liberal notions of isolated individual actors, it be creatively retheorised.
Drawing on Judith Butler’s work and a series of studies associated with actor–network theory (ANT), this paper engages with political agency through the concept of performativity. Based on the empirical analysis of a hunger strike that took place in Brussels in 2012 and involved 23 illegal immigrants, we aim to achieve three things. First, we foreground physical bodies as political entities caught up in multiple modes of doing politics. Second, we show how such modes relate to one another, reinforcing citizenship, activism and party politics as specific performances of agency associated with liberal democracy. Finally, we argue that the Brussels hunger strike also challenges these performances by failing to meet certain expectations about what it is to be political/act politically. As the European refugee crisis is generating louder and louder voices, hunger strikes sensitise us to modes of doing that work by becoming passive, silent, weak and vulnerable. Such processes, we suggest, expand the standard repertoire of modes of doing and may refigure our understanding of the interaction between transnational and liberal democratic politics—in International Relations, ANT and beyond.
During the COVID-19 pandemic Sweden stood out globally as a country that persistently refused to take drastic measures like proclaiming a curfew or a lockdown on public and commercial facilities. Instead, a “softer” approach was chosen. The population was only recommended to restrain as much as possible from social contact as well as other cautionary measures. In this chapter this Swedish “exception” is addressed, with a focus on regional differences. Much political and media focus has been on the spread of COVID-19 in the large postindustrial cities. Instead, we focus on the situation in the sparsely populated northern part, Sápmi, once colonized by the Swedish kingdom. Here, the city of Gällivare was severely affected by the virus. In symbiosis with the state-controlled mining industry, the community had a steady national and international inflow of mining-related personnel which resulted in one of the highest infection rates per capita nationally.
Denna studie handlar om hur unga män med utländsk bakgrund bosatta i socioekonomisktutsatta områden upplever massmedia och dess föreställning gentemot området de bor i.
Studien är kvalitativ genom fokusgruppsintervjuer och berör frågor om hur dessa unga mänmed utländsk bakgrund beskrivs, hur massmedia talar om socioekonomiskt utsatta områdensamt hur massmedia spelar en roll i rapporteringen av dessa ovanstående faktorer.
Vi kom fram till att dessa unga män med utländsk bakgrund bosatta i socioekonomiskt utsattaområden upplever att massmedia målar upp och reproducerar en övervägande negativ bild avde och området de bor i. De talar mycket kring sina egna känslor och hur upplevelsernapåverkar dem samt hur de speglar sig i deras liv.
Vi lever i ett samhälle där organisationer under de senaste decennierna har blivit mer vinstfokuserade på grund av avkastningskrav till aktieägare. I och med detta har vi sett ökade kontroll- och mätmekanismer, inte minst av medarbetarnas prestationer mot uppsatta mål. Det traditionella tillvägagångssättet att mäta medarbetarnas välmående har varit via en årlig medarbetarundersökning. Men det vi nu ser är en mer digital trend: att i realtid göra så kallade pulsmätningar vilket innebär kontinuerliga mindre undersökningar av personalens välmående och organisationens arbetsmiljö. Organisationer använder ett digitalt mätverktyg för att genomföra dessa. På så sätt kan organisationer agera mer agilt på både negativa och positiva resultat. Forskning visar att medarbetare som trivs och mår bra på arbetsplatsen också presterar bättre mot uppsatta mål. Att inkludera medarbetare mer frekvent kan få en positiv effekt på engagemanget och motivationen. Vi har därför genomfört en kvalitativ studie i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Respondenter har varit personer som arbetar inom organisationer som använder ett digitalt mätverktyg av personalens välmående i realtid. De har dessutom haft en betydande roll för arbetet av implementeringen av ett sådant verktyg, men också arbetat med resultatet från det. Vår insamlade empiri har analyserats i relation till Finansialiseringsteori samt Isomorfism som är ett fenomen inom Nyinstitutionell teori. Vårt syfte med studien var att ta reda på om pulsmätningar är ett uttryck för ökad finansialiseringen och varför organisationer implementerar ett digitalt mätverktyg av personalens välmående, hur det kan tänkas se ut samt hur resultatet sedan används. Resultatet indikerade på att organisationer använder ett digitalt mätverktyg av personalens välmående på grund av employer branding, att de genuint vill att personalen ska må bra, men inte utan att det ska leda till ekonomiska fördelar som exempelvis färre sjukskrivningar och ökade intäkter. Genom studien har vi också kunnat presentera resultat för hur ett digitalt mätverktyg kan se ut och då främst vad organisationer mäter. Här visar det övergripande resultatet att det är främst ledarskap och arbetsmiljö som står i fokus. Men också att medarbetarengagemanget har gått upp som en effekt av ett digitalt mätverktyg som mäter välmående på arbetsplatsen. Med den här studien hoppas vi kunna bidra med en bredare förståelse för varför organisationer använder pulsmätningar och hur det används som en länk mellan arbetsgivare och arbetstagare.
Encountering racism is burdensome and meeting it in a healthcare setting is no exception. This paper is part of alarger study that focusedonunderstandingandaddressingracismin healthcare in Sweden. In the paper, we draw on interviews with 12 ethnic minority healthcare staff who described how they managed emotional labor in their encounters with racism at their workplace. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The analysis revealed that experienced emotional labor arises from two main reasons. The first is the concern and fear that ethnic minority healthcare staff have of adverse consequences for their employment should they be seen engaged in discussing racism. The second concerns the ethical dilemmas when taking care of racist patients since healthcare staff are bound by a duty of providing equal care for all patients as expressed in healthcare institutional regulations. Strategies to manage emotional labor described by the staff include working harder to prove their competence and faking, blocking or hiding their emotions when they encounter racism. The emotional labor implied by these strategies could be intense or traumatizing as indicated by some staff members, and can therefore have negative effects on health. Given that discussions around racism are silenced, it is paramount to create space where racism can be safely discussed and to develop a safe healthcare environment for the benefit of staff and patients.
This paper describes the difficulties of researching racism in healthcare contexts as part of the wider issue of neoliberal reforms in welfare states in the age of global migration. In trying to understand the contradiction of a phenomenon that is historical and strongly felt by individuals and yet widely denied by both institutions and individuals, we consider the current political and socioeconomic context of healthcare provision. Despite decades of legislation against racism, its presence persists in healthcare settings, but data on these experiences is rarely gathered in Europe. National systems of healthcare provision have been subject to neoliberal reforms, where among others, cheaper forms of labor are sought to reduce the cost of producing healthcare, while the availability of services is rationed to contain demand. The restriction both on provision of and access to welfare, including healthcare, is unpopular among national populations. However, the explanations for restricted access to healthcare are assumed to be located outside the national context with immigrants being blamed. Even as migrants are used as a source of cheap labor in healthcare and other welfare sectors, the arrival of immigrants has been held responsible for restricted access to healthcare and welfare in general. One implication of (im)migration being blamed for healthcare restrictions, while racism is held to be a problem of the past, is the silencing of experiences of racism, which has dire consequences for ethnic minority populations. The implications of racism as a form of inequality within healthcare and the circumstances of researching racism in healthcare and its implication for the sociology of health in Sweden are described.
The purpose of the present project has been to carry out international studies on meaning-making coping among people who have been affected by cancer in a number of societies and, thereby, to try to understand the influence of culture on use of these coping methods. Five countries — Sweden, South Korea, China, Japan, and Turkey — are included in the project. Qualitative semistructured interviews have been conducted with persons with a cancer diagnosis. The research group in each country has used, as a foundation, the interview questions developed for the Swedish study. These questions were, however, modified to better suite the sociocultural context of each participating country. The results presented here concern only Turkey and are restricted to religious coping methods. The study consists of 25 cancer patients (18 females and 7 males) between 20 and 71 years of age. The results of the study in Turkey indicated that the RCOPE (Religious Coping) methods are highly relevant for the interviewees. A sociological analysis of the study made from a cultural perspective showed clearly the importance of the idea of being tolerant ( Sabr ) for patients when coping with the psychological problems brought about by cancer. The study made it clear that culture plays an essential role in the choice of coping methods.
Markets have sometimes been described as vastly different from and even opposite to formal organizations.But markets and organizations share a similarity as well. Both are organized – by the use of decisionson membership, rules, monitoring, sanctions or hierarchy. Market organization creates differencesamong markets, and specific dynamics, which can be explained by the actions and interactions of marketorganizers: profiteers, ‘others’, sellers and buyers. The concept of market organization is an analyticaltool, which can be used for analysing why and how markets are created, why they get their specific formand how they change.
In 2011, Syrian chief in the administration of internal confusion and indicating his own people, violence, persecution and inhumane treatment due to be greater than started an immigration wave from Syria. This immigration wave is the most affected from the Turkey and the number of the country’s 3.5 million Syrian refugees/asylum seekers has exceeded officially. At the beginning of the most important problems in this process, there is no doubt in the age of Syrian children with primary and secondary school’s educational problems and their integration into Turkish society. The main objective of this study, Syria to Turkey from 2011 as the refugee/asylum seekers children education in primary and secondary education level by reviewing the application problems and to propose solutions. Basically a working research, qualitative method including scientific books, articles, dissertations and reports that Syrians with secondary data sources. Research method, content and discourse analysis of oral history interviews and with the methods used. Study; respectively, to briefly reflected on subsequent confusion in Syria, Turkey, who came to Syrian refugee children legal status examined; the corresponding legislation and problem areas identified, various solutions are listed my suggestions.
The purpose of this article is to examine the experiences of two generationsamong the Kurdish diaspora in Sweden: those who migrated as adults andthose who were born and/or raised in Sweden. The focus will be on issuesof identity, home(land) and politics of belonging with regard to generationaland temporal aspects. We will argue that there are significant differencesamong the older and younger generations with regard to their experiences thatdemand different theoretical and analytical conceptualisations.
This study focuses on how a specific type of family invests in and ascribes value to friluftsliv and how the outdoor habits parents create for their children can be understood in relation to their children’s education. Friluftsliv is a Nordic term that involves nature-based activities such as hiking and camping but can be many activities conducted in connection to nature. However, the concept is also closely linked to the meaningful emotional connection while spending time outdoors. With a Bourdieusian view on friluftsliv, five families were interviewed, and two participant observations were conducted on two separate occasions by following an outdoor organization in Sweden, that provides children and young adults with outdoor experiences. The organization also founded its own preschool focused on outdoor pedagogy. A sixth interview followed, interviewing an organization manager of one of the outdoor organization branches in the country. In understanding how the families in this thesis invest in and practice friluftsliv, this study explored the connection between the families interviewed and their active choice of having their children in outdoor preschool. The choice of outdoor preschool was found to be a strategy that the families utilize to set a foundation for their children, a foundation for resilience and autonomy in a long-term perspective. The friluftsliv concept as a practice thus became an asset also in children’s school life, by cultivating a foundation of an active lifestyle and, by extension, managing and coping with staying in school even if it is strenuous and challenging at times. Through outdoor preschool and friluftsliv, the children learn skills and values that are useful throughout their childhood and adulthood.
This full population study of travel-to-preschool patterns ofthe youngest children (< 6 years old) in metropolitanStockholm analyses how school markets, even at an earlystage, reproduce inequalities related to social and geograph-ical distances. Our findings show that families with foreignbackgrounds tend to convert educational capital into socialcapital by sending their children to preschools in moresocio-economically favourable neighbourhoods. Further-more, we detect avoidance behaviour among the majoritypopulation in ethnically mixed neighbourhoods, whichindicate that some native families are inclined to avoidpreschools with high shares of non-native peers.
Preschool segregation has not been the focus of research efforts to the same extent as compulsory school segregation. This is at least in part a consequence of the lack of large-scale, registry-based data sources on where children live and where they attend preschool. This paper presents a full-population account of discrepancies between preschool segregation and neighbourhood segregation covering the Swedish population. Data includes preschool children as well as their parentsâ income, education, ethnic background, and place of residence. Findings indicate that while preschool segregation does not differ from neighbourhood segregation to the same extent as previous research has shown for school segregation, there are systematic differences affecting the level of segregation across Sweden and in various types of municipalities. Studies on school level show segregation by foreign background and income to be most prominent, whilst preschool segregation mostly concerns parentsâ educational attainment. Furthermore, the findings show that the geographical distribution of private and public preschools affects levels of segregation. This conclusion supports the general argument that the free-choice reform in the Swedish school system tends to raise levels of school segregation above the levels of residential segregationâeven in preschools.
Genom en fallstudie av en organisationsförändring har vi studerat de anställdas upplevelse av kommunikation i samband med huvudmannabyte. Organisationsförändringen berör ett omvårdnadsboende för äldre som genom ett anbudsförfarande byter huvudman. Syftet med fallstudien var att beskriva och analysera kvalitativt olika uppfattningar om den förändring som organisationen genomgått. Frågeställningarna rör hur de anställda talar om hur kommunikationen på arbetsplatsen såg ut innan, under och efter byte av huvudman. Tidigare forskning pekar på vikten av att uppmärksamma både horisontell och vertikal kommunikation i en organisation samt hur en arbetsledning på bästa sätt kan få en engagerad och delaktig personal som inte upplever stress och oro. Med utgångspunkt i det har vi valt att utgå från diskursanalys. Vår avsikt var att studera hur en diskurs skapas inom den organisation fallstudien berör. Av den anledningen valde vi att använda oss av gruppintervjuer för att klargöra det som gruppen anser vara viktigt.
Vad vår fallstudie ger för handen är att före den nye huvudmannens tillträde till organisationen förekom ett sätt att kommunicera. Vilket skedde i form av samtal och dialog, i vertikal- både uppifrån och ned samt horisontell form. Det respondenterna beskriver är, att de under den tiden kände sig delaktiga och ansvariga. Under övergången uppstod vad vi vill beskriva som ett diskursivt brott där kommunikationen inte nådde fram, under den tiden kom den horisontella kommunikationen att öka. Efter att den nye huvudmannen tillträtt kom kommunikationen främst att ske via dokument och papper. Det har inneburit en ökad vertikal kommunikation som främst går uppifrån och ned samt att den horisontella kommunikationen mellan de anställda har minskat. Det har för respondenterna inneburit ett bristande engagemang där de dels uttrycker en känsla av att bli idiotförklarad då de blir tilldelade arbetsuppgifter utan en dialog. Men även en avsaknad av bekräftelse, där de upplever sig som osynliga så länge de bara arbetar på.
Att konsumenters beteende förändrats genom den tekniska utvecklingen är inget nytt. Idag ställs höga krav på tillgänglighet och dygnet-runt-service vilket leder till att många branscher i Sverige måste anpassa sig. En av de stora investerarna inom IT är bankerna och ett direkt resultat av denna satsning är att det idag läggs ned allt fler lokalkontor till förmån för centraliserade IT-lösningar, såsom kundcenterenheter. Frågan är hur personalen på befintliga lokalkontor och kundcenter upplever denna utveckling. I denna studie undersöks relationen mellan Nordeas lokalkontor och kundcenter, om det finns motstånd till den pågående förändringen och om makt- och statusförhållanden mellan enheterna förändrats. Då kundcenteryrket är starkt förknippat med låg status torde detta påverka hur man från lokalkontoren ser på dessa centraliserade enheter som främst jobbar genom telefon. Syftet med denna studie var att genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med chefer och medarbetare på kundcenter samt motsvarande chefer och medarbetare på lokalkontor inom Sveriges största bank, Nordea, undersöka upplevelsen av förändringen med bakgrund av den pågående omfördelningen av kunder och hur detta har påverkat de respektive enheterna. Analysen visar att maktbalansen är på väg att ändras till kundcenters fördel, dit alltmer resurser och ansvar fördelas, medan lokalkontorens roll inom organisationen är på väg att förändras. Statusen har förbättrats för kundcenter de senaste åren men är alltjämt fortfarande relativt låg i förhållande till lokalkontoren. Motstånd till denna förändring uppfattades i intervjuerna och nya strategier för att komma åt resursen, kunderna, från lokalkontoren var tydliga.
Social accountability is a concept that has been used much in development studies and democratic theory to study informal ways for civil society to achieve social change and hold governments accountable. Surprisingly, it has been far less used in social movement scholarship and we argue that social accountability, understood as a combination of answerability, legal claim attainment, and sanction, is a useful way to examine social movement outcomes in China. Social accountability directs the focus of research towards the target of protest and not only whether the protest resulted in policy changes or not. Based on field work in 2013–2015, this article examines four cases of social protests in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. In line with previous research we find that when citizen claims accord with government policies and protesters are well-organized, local authorities tend to accommodate the protesters’ claims. However, answerability and sanction do not always follow the same pattern. Answerability can be relatively high also when legal claims are unsuccessful. This means that cases that are commonly seen as unsuccessful protests because the legal demands were not accommodated may still result in partial social accountability. In addition to the presentation of original empirical findings, the study makes a theoretical contribution by linking the two research fields of social movement and social accountability, which will be of interest to a wider scholarly audience.
This volume examines how urban stakeholders in China – particularly city governments and social actors – tackle China’s urban environmental crisis. The volume’s case studies speak to important interdisciplinary themes such as new tools and instruments of urban green governance, climate change and urban carbon consumption, green justice, digital governance, public participation, social media, social movements, and popular protest. It lays out a unique theoretical framework for examining and discussing urban green governance. The case studies are based on extensive fieldwork that examines governance failures, challenges, and innovations from across China, including the largest cities. They show that numerous policies, experiments, and reforms have been put in place in China – mostly on a pragmatic basis, but also as a result of both strategic policy design, civil participation, and protest. The book highlights how China’s urban governments bring together diverse programmatic building blocks and instruments, from China and elsewhere. Written by experts and researchers from different disciplines at leading universities in China and the Nordic countries in Europe, this volume will be of interest to researchers and students who are interested in Chinese politics, especially urban politics, governance issues, and social movements. Both students and teachers will find the theoretical perspectives and case studies useful in their coursework.The unique green governance perspective makes this a work that is empirically and theoretically interesting for those working with urban political and environmental studies and urbanization worldwide.
This study discusses the Christian churches crisis management in one of modern time´s most expansive and deadly pandemics, Covid-19. The main purpose of the study is to find out if the churches were equipped with a crisis management plan to handle an external crisis of this magnitude. The thesis also studies to what extent it affected the parishes and their members. The dissertation as well aims to find out whether other actors or decisions could have led to a milder impact on the Church, but also their parish members. Other aspects investigated were emotional and social impacts of active/paused church activities, and whether digital services would replace the physical Sunday services to a degree.The study employs qualitative methods and social and crisis management theories to explore the topic. Anonymous in-depth interviews with church personnel and parish members allowed deep and honest conversations, providing rich data for analysis. Analysis of the discussions in the interviews demonstrated that the churches were not ready to handle the Covid-19 crisis. The research also presents the importance of faith in hard times and the value of faith in the parish members lives.The results indicate that a great sadness arose among many members in this crisis. Not only because you could not go to God's house to pray, but because many isolated themselves during the pandemic, which led to poor health, specifically among families with children and the elderly.
In a time of sustainability predicaments and ‘grand challenges’, transdisciplinarity has been put forward as an approach through which researchers can engage with societal transformation for a better world. This study examines tensions that arise in the on-the-ground efforts of researchers to establish and manage a transdisciplinary research group within a Norwegian university. Tensions have been of interest in both studies of science and studies of organizations. Scholars have inquired into the ways in which tensions between interrelated, divergent demands influence the work of scientific knowledge production and organizational life. Transdisciplinary research groups, centers and institutes are proliferating, yet studies of the tensions and challenges they face at the micro-level remain nascent. Drawing on intermittent fieldwork over a two-year period, this dissertation analyses a local case in which climate and energy researchers took a transdisciplinary approach in establishing a “societally engaged” research group and research center in a social sciences department. Key questions are: which tensions do they encounter? How do they respond to them?
The study makes use of concepts on tensions and paradox developed in organization and management studies to inform discussions on challenges in inter- and trans-disciplinary research in practice. The case study identifies, illustrates, and analyses several tensions salient for researchers: between the need for both consolidation and interrelation; between the need to grow and formalise the group while also maintaining its closeness and values; between ideas of researchers’ relationship to societal change as both distant and engaged; and between the need to maintain academic autonomy while providing usefulness to non-academic actors. Various responses to these tensions are identified and explored, including defending against, and actively embracing them. The findings allow for rethinking transdiscipclinary research in practice, with implications for research managers, practitioners, and policy makers.
Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka uppluckrade anställningsformer utifrån ett arbetsgivarperspektiv. I Lag (1982:80) om anställningsskydd är tillsvidareanställningen huvudregel och anställningsformen är en stark norm i det svenska samhället. Lagen ger utrymme för olika former av tidsbegränsade anställningar vilka organisationer kan använda sig av för att uppnå flexibilitet och för att kunna anpassa sig efter marknadens krav. Debatten om den tidsbegränsade anställningen är splittrad i två läger och tar främst ett arbetstagarperspektiv. Studiens valda arbetsgivarperspektiv och syfte grundar sig i en vilja att komplettera debatten och ge en vidare förståelse för tidsbegränsade anställningar utifrån ett annat perspektiv än det som vanligen gjorts. För att uppfylla studiens syfte har kvalitativa intervjuer med chefer och HR-ansvariga på fyra svenska företag genomförts. Den svenska arbetslagstiftningen och dess institutionella påverkan skapar tillsammans med relevanta flexibilitetsbegrepp studiens teoretiska ramverk. Resultatet visar att det finns en vilja från arbetsgivarens sida att uppnå flexibilitet. Resultatet visar även att arbetslagstiftningens utformning är en stor påverkansfaktor som dels innebär en utmaning i och med dess reglerande ramverk och dels öppnar upp för möjligheter att anställa under begränsad tid, vilket kan skapa större flexibilitet. En slutsats som dras är att om den tidsbegränsade anställningen används på rätt sätt så kan den gynna alla inblandade intressenter.
This study aims to study how former criminals choose to portray themselves through their life- stories . We intend to study young former criminals, by listening to their lifestory. Through these stories, we want to find out which factors our respondents believe has been essential during their way through the criminal life and which turning points that have existed during this time. We chose the narrative method as a tool to seek answers to our question. The material was collected through interviews with nine former criminal youth, who are active in Unga KRIS. The theory used, has its roots in symbolic interactionism. The result has been that exclusion and attention at a young age, is an important factor as for many of our respondents. In older ages group dynamics and intoxicants are significant factors that led to the continuation of the criminal according to our respondents. Our respondents’ turning points have been found in various forms and lead to large differences in our respondents' lives.