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A common discussion in the late modern era is the role that tradition plays concerning individual

identity. This forms a background to our article that focuses on consumer culture and

one of its characteristics – fashion. To what extent does consumer culture and fashion contribute

to the undermining of traditions, and how does this affect individual identity? We

discuss two interpretations of consumption in shaping individual identity: the first interpretation

maintains that by consumption individuals obtain an increasing freedom of choicemaking

them free from the power of tradition, and thereby responsible for their lifestyle

choices. According to the second interpretation, the free choice is illusory. This choiceis

strongly influenced by factors such as social class and producers’ manipulative skills. Contrasting

classical social theorists with contemporary fashion theory we argue that late modern

fashion is characterized by quick changes and pluralism that often stand in contrast to

tradition. We further discuss the increased importance of taste and new diffusion patterns

as signs of a more individualized fashion, and discuss neo-tribalism as a post-traditional kind

of community.

Partly human, partly organization

In this article the phenomenon of organization is discussed and its consequences for the understanding of human actions and human choices are examined. Affiliation to organizations are found to be both restrictions on and preconditions for most human action. In this connection families are regarded as organizations as well as enterprises, voluntary associations and states. Human action is primarily action on behalf of organizations where individuals are partly human, partly organization. To understand the meaning of action on behalf of organization it is important to realize that people rarely choose their organizational affiliation. People are selected. This means that actions on behalf of organizations cannot be regarded as expressions of individual choices. Actions on behalf of organizations are generally characterized by a dual involvement.

This article explores how the category of 'transnational adoptees' in Sweden is constructed in two Official Government Reports (SOU). The article is inspired by poststructuralist perspectives on welfare and social categorization, and draws from a postcolonial and feminist theoretical framework. 'Transnational adoptees' as a category is understood as constituted through discourse, and given meaning in different contexts. In the reports, a fundamental importance is attached to the fact that individuals with a background as transnationally adopted have been separated from their birth family and Country of birth. It is argued that mental problems and a split identity are consequences to be expected from the separation. (Re)connection to the origin is therefore considered to be crucial for the well-being of the group. The article concludes that this line of reasoning is based on a specific logic of blood and roots, in which 'transnational adoptees' are understood as belonging to their countries of birth, rather than Sweden. The logic of blood and roots can be read as a form of racialized othering, but also as a discursive exclusion of 'transnational adoptees' from Sweden as an imagined, national community.

One of the central questions in recent discussions about Swedish schools is which factors that influence school performance. Socio-economic background, gender, ethnicity, country of birth are some aspects that are mentioned in many international and national studies. Sweden is one of the participants in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the results of PISA since 2000 show deteriorated results for Sweden in reading performance, mathematics and science among 15-year-old students. In order to set school performance in a broader context we analyzed data for the Swedish part of PISA 2006, in which 57 countries participated (of which 30 OECD-countries), with multivariate methods from an intersectional perspective. Our analysis of PISA 2006 shows a complexity of different social, economic and cultural factors behind students' school performance. This intersectional result is also strengthened by the results from PISA 2009, not analysed here. Further, our results show that students' school performance vary with immigration status but that this variation increases by the factor of social inequality in the Swedish society.

The article focuses on the three key concepts of modern social science, state, market, and society, and the three paradigmatic disciplines that these concepts have generated: political science, economics, and sociology. By relating to some recent discussions it is argued that there is a distinct logic to each one of these paradigmatic concepts. But in the course of its actual development, not the least in the Scandinavian welfare states, society is prone to merge with the state, and sociology, accordingly, tends to develop as social administration. Such a disciplinary melange leads to a distinct empiricist methodology and to a fatal break with the classical concern of sociology with the development of social theory. Modern social administration — disguised as sociology — has cut the link with normative (state theory) discourse, and prides itself on being naturalistic and realistic in its study of social facts. Oblivious of the power sources that render neutrality to its discourse, administrative sociology risks developing into unreflected morality. The article turns, finally, to the recent 'communitarian' trend in social and moral philosophy and suggests that communitarianism, in one form or the other, will affect the purportedly neutral discourse of social administration. 

Six theatre actors of both sexes differing in education and length of experience were interviewed individually on their professional competence. Phenomenological reduction generated six fundamental constituents of the actors' professional competence interpreted in terms of a ”wheel model”: mastery of technical skills such as being able to control one’s voice and one's body; daring to approach each new role with an open mind; being able to work effectively with co-actors in an ensemble; having a capacity for a high degree of empathy; being able to keep one’s professional and private life separate; doing one’s best at each performance. Each constituent was seen as contributing to the essence of an actor’s skill - the ability to make a role figure come alive. Similarities and differences compared with other professions are pointed out. The significance of daring to have an open mind, that is of encountering personal emotions, such as early experiences of emotional significance, in the "front region", when studying a new role together with the director and with co-actors, is emphasized.

Drawing upon an explorative study of family law proceedings from a school perspective, the aim of this paper is to examine the school staffs strategies for solving or coping with problematic situations in this context. Gendered conflicts between adults and violence are extreme cases for pedagogues in school and preschool. How do the staff cope with their own and the children's vulnerability? Based upon interviews with 22 informants, the staff's strategies are outlined and discussed in relation to organizational and professional circumstances and intersecting social relations of power. An analytical construction of six types of proactive and reactive strategies, ranging from distance keeping to normalization of own exposure, is utilized in the analysis. Findings suggest that the staff's strategies to handle challenging events in this context vary with the parent's gender, class position and ethnicity. Further, it is argued that creating a sense of safety and promoting learning among the children may be obstructed by lack of support from the school's organization, demands on staff to perform customer oriented attitudes towards parents and lack of clarity concerning the limits of the social task. Conflicts between the organization and profession on the one hand and the educational and the social task on the other hand, are thus illuminated. In conclusion, a further aim of this article is to contribute to broader discussions on men's violence against women and children - in families as well as in workplaces and in the intersection between these two areas.

Drawing upon an explorative study of family law proceedings from a school perspective, the aim of this paper is to examine the school staff's strategies for solving or coping with problematic situations in this context. Gendered conflicts between adults and violence are extreme cases for pedagogues in school and preschool. How do staff cope with their own and the children's vulnerability? Based upopn interviews with 22 informants, the staff strategies are outlined and discussed in relation to organizational and professional circumstances and intersecting social relations of power.  An analytical construction of six types of strategies, ranging from distance keeping to normalization of own exposure, is utilized in the analysis. Findings suggests that the staff's strategies to handle challenging events in this context vary with the parent's gender, class position and ethnicity. Further, it is argued that creating a sense of safety and promoting learning among the children may be obstructed by lack of support from the school's organization, demands on staff to perform customer oriented attitudes towards parents and lack of clarity concerning the limits of the social task. In conclusion, a further aim of this article is to contribute to broader discussions on men's violence against women and children - in families as well as in workplaces and in the intersection between these two areas.

The Sustainability revolution: A Societal Paradigm Shift - Ethos, Innovation, Governance Transformation This paper identifies several key mechanisms that underlie major paradigm shifts. After identifying four such mechanisms, the article focuses on one type of transformation which has a prominent place in the sustainability revolution that the article argues is now taking place. The transformation is piecemeal, incremental, diffuse in earlier writings referred to as "organic". This is a more encompassing notion than grassroots, since the innovation and transformation processes may be launched and developed at multiple levels through diverse mechanisms of discovery and development. Major features of the sustainability revolution are identified and comparisons made to the industrial revolution.

Housing policy documents have traditionally been studied by political scientists, resulting in a lack of interest in the private aspects of housing policy. Hence, this paper uses the example of crowding standards to examine how a previously private matter, the size of our dwelling, became a concern of the state. Official governmental documents are analyzed with the help of discourse theory, working on the supposition that the need of the population and the framing of a problem changes over time. The first official standard of crowding, formulated in 1946 argue for larger dwelling size in order to increase the size and quality of the Swedish population. The second standard, formulated in 1965, is based on the assumption that the population, defined as consumers, demands larger sized homes. The final standard, formulated in 1975, claims that larger sized homes is a social right.

There are no bodies on the internet and yet, there are bodies on the internet. This article deals with representations of the ‘virtually physical’ in personal weblogs. To examine the data drawn from 14 weblogs, a qualitative content analysis is made. The results show that the virtual body is widely present in these particular internet settings and that it is most commonly described as female. Moreover, the virtual body is to a large extent a fragmented body that one either takes control over or is controlled by.

The Virtual Body. The Self and the Body in Swedish Diary Blogs There are no bodies on the internet and yet, there are bodies on the internet. This article deals with representations of the 'virtually physical' in personal weblogs. To examine the data drawn from 14 weblogs, a qualitative content analysis is made. The results show that the virtual body is widely present in these particular internet settings and that it is most commonly described as female. Moreover, the virtual body is to a large extent a fragmented body that one either takes control over or is controlled by.

The aim of this article is to discuss how children and adolescents experience everyday life in economic hardship and how a negotiation of the family positions can be linked to these experiences. The article takes its theoretical starting point in childhood sociology, and is based on an interview study involving 17 children between the ages of 6-18 in families living on or below the limit for receiving welfare benefits. The purpose of these interviews is to explore how these children experience economic hardship at home and among friends, focusing their own strategies and agency. I argue that the financial situation in these families do indeed challenge the way that the child position is traditionally understood, which also has implications for the children's identity work. Including children as participants in research therefore becomes crucial in order to fully understand the ramifications of child poverty.

This article explores how young peoples 'strategies when choosing upper secondary education are marked by the segregation and marketization of education. Research is limited to five municipalities in southern Stockholm that are characterized by ethnically and socioeconomically heterogeneous residential areas. It is argued that the school choice of all pupils at upper secondary level in this region constitutes a socio-geographical space in which the school market is embedded and operates. This space is explored by means of specific multiple correspondence analyses (specific MCA). Using individual census data on all students in the designated municipalities from 2008, the differences between 4 421 pupils are investigated as regards their parents' education, income, occupation, services, and national origin, as well as the pupils' academic merits from comprehensive school. The analysis reveals that, despite a 'free' school choice and substantial geographical mobility, pupils' choices are heavily restricted by local social and demographic conditions, not the least those connected to their acquired and inherited assets.

School Choice in Ethnically and Socioeconomically Heterogeneous Residential Areas

This article explores how young peoples' strategies when choosing upper secondary education are marked by the segregation and marketization of education. Research is limited to five municipalities in southern Stockholm that are characterized by ethnically and socioeconomically heterogeneous residential areas. It is argued that the school choice of all pupils at upper secondary level in this region constitutes a socio-geographical space in which the school market is embedded and operates. This space is explored by means of specific multiple correspondence analyses (specific MCA). Using individual census data on all students in the designated municipalities from 2008, the differences between 4 421 pupils are investigated as regards their parents' education, income, occupation, services, and national origin, as well as the pupils' academic merits from comprehensive school. The analysis reveals that, despite a "free" school choice and substantial geographical mobility, pupils' choices are heavily restricted by local social and demographic conditions, not the least those connected to their acquired and inherited assets.