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The essay is about pensioners who are working out at a gym. My starting point is the research program "Culture of ageing” and the theory that pensioners in the post- and late modern society conquer new potential areas. I am studying the meeting between pensioners and the gym. How the pensioners conquer the gym, relate to their training and what makes them stay after the first introduction. The essay also touches on how the gym profiles themselves in their marketing and adapt at the equipment and training environment to meet pensioners' needs.

The essay also touches on how previous research, social norms and pensioner organizations, have influence on decisions and choices about the gym work out of pensioners. Individual discretion against creation of norms and perceptions of a good old age.

Aging actively is a standard but this standard is in an ongoing negotiation of an ever faster-accelerating process.

My essay explores the public view on smoking in Sweden over the last few decades. I've studied how changes in social structures through media, laws, studies and education has brought about a change in the opinions about smoking. I found that even though there have always been different opinions on smoking it seems to have become less accepted in the Swedish society, particularly in the past twenty years. I discuss the different reason as to why (and how) the view on smoking might have changed the last decades amongst the Swedish people. To be able to do this I have done interviews on which I have applied narrative analysis.

In this Bachelor paper, I have studied the field of citizen wage, a revolutionary concept that challenges the current system of welfare, our view of society today, which can have implications on our perception of different spaces and patterns of movement between different rooms. The subject has on an academic level been discussed and accepted however not on a political level.

Citizen wage is a concept of a broader meaning of a social security system that entails providing the states citizens with economic subsidy without any form of requirements around it. The subsidy should cover all basic costs of living and be collected through taxation.

The idea is based on principles of human justice, that everyone has the right to a decent living, and the state is therefore obliged to distribute sufficient economic means for living without any conditions, as a right not as a solution.

The main focus of this study has been to investigate the opinions of citizen wage in Sweden, what the main arguments for or against an implementation of citizen wage is perceived to be. This study is based on a literature study concerning subjects relevant when discussing citizen wage, as well as a quantitative study of a number of articles derived from Swedish press concerning the theme.

The study resulted in findings that reflect a mostly negative outlook on citizen wage, however the large amount of positive articles indicate that there is an interest of implementing citizen wage in Sweden. Therefore one can ask if it is representative or not, that citizen wage is no longer found on any parties political agenda in Sweden.

The bicycle is an individual means of transport. Many people prefer to cycle over short distances and in congested areas rather than take travel by car or public transport. This is a study of the use of bicycle as an option for commuting to work. It is a comparison between three cities: Stockholm, Copenhagen and London. The comparison is focused on solutions that benefit commuter cyclist and performed by studying cycle policies and other related documents. Results of this study shows that bicycle commuters are a targeted group in cycle policies in all three cities, for commuter traffic to increase booth an enhanced sense of security and the opportunity to travel at a high speed by bicycle is important.. In Stockholm and London efforts to increase the number of cyclists begin by improving the quality of transport for those who already cycle. The cycle network in Copenhagen is more comprehensive and the level of bicycle use and commuting is at significant higher level in comparison to Stockholm and London. The possibility to combine cycling and public transport is a target for all three cities, one important measure is to increase bicycle parking facilities at terminals and other public places.

Although there are differences in the three cities regarding bicycle commuting today, targets and measures for the futures they do correspond in quite a few places; parallels that could serve as examples of the ways in which a high degree of bicycle commuting can be attained.

George Gregory wrote in his book ‘The Colonial Presents’ in defining the Post colonialism; since the last decades of the 20th century, Andreas Huyssen suggested that the ‘present future to present pasts’ became the post-colonialism, which is a whole commitment to a future that is free from colonial power, and the growth in the disposition is part of the criticism of continuity between the colonial past and present colonial rule. But they almost denied the capacities that belong to the colonial past are confirmed and activated again in the colonial present. And this is appearing in many histories of the colonialism, but post-colonialism came to distinguish from these projects or histories by the tight relation between culture and power.

Building up Apartheid walls is a result to the colonial and Post colonial projects. As wall entered the political concept, we can see many built Apartheid walls through history.

The Essay’s main aim is to study two selective walls; the Israeli wall in Palestine and Berlin wall, from human rights perspective, which can let readers to have fair information about those two walls, and their effects on people’s lives that live or lived beside those walls.

A discussion will follow the illustrated information which I took them from many references which include direct information about those two walls.

My results are that these two Apartheid walls affect and undermine people’s rights who are living beside and around those walls.

Power, Criminality and the gamble about bordering normality. From theperspective of Foucault. This study is about how criminality becomes a strategy of power used by the individual to overcome difficulties and gain advantages. This strategy of power sets loose a process of identity formation within the individual that gives shape to his own norms which are opposite to the one of the society. The individual norms and the normative society cooperate with one another in a cultural teamwork. The individual get to use the original strategies of power when being sentenced to prison as the prison is experienced as a miniature, criminal society where the hierarchy is based on the level of criminality. The individual is then taught that the original tactics and strategies are the one that works.

This essay discusses the impact of neoliberalism on the US American foreign politics. It addresses the possible strategy of America on a global scale, always focusing on neoliberal forces in America that are behind the official political decisions that are made in Washington. The essay also discusses the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Here, there is more than what the eye can see, or rather what the public is meant to see. Strong economic powers influence the war in the Middle East and try to bring a new world order upon the region, by implanting democracy, neoliberalism and absolute market openness. This discussion is done through a comparison of various sources, including books and scientific articles, dealing with geography, economy and politics. The outcome of this essay includes worrying facts about the future of globalism, neoliberalism and democracy, as power more and more shifts towards private corporations and banks, away from democratic state apparatus.

Som alla andra i-länder möts även Sverige av enorma demografiska förändringar. Vilever allt längre, får allt mindre barn och koncentrerar oss mer och mer till någracentra, medan stora delar av landet drabbas av avfolkning. Dessa processer har iVästeuropa liknande skepnader. Men i motsats till länder som Italien, Tjeckien ellerTyskland föll TFR först for några år sen under reproduktionsnivån, så att nedgångenav födelsetalet är i dagens Sverige inte än så dramatiskt som t.ex. i Tyskland, därantalet födelser under den sista 40 årena halverades. Å andra sidan drabbas Sverigehårdare av befolkningskoncentrationen än mindre och/eller tätbefolkade länder,eftersom den redan dyra infrastrukturen (kostnader per person) blir nu ännu dyrare,när redan glesbefolkade kommuner förlorar en stor del av sin befolkning genomavflyttning och minskade födelser medan storstadsområden nästan kollaberar i följdav bostadsbrist och andra infrastrukturella problem. Men de glesbefolkadeavflyttningskommunerna som ligger långt från storstadsområden får allt störreproblem av upprätthålla (dvs. finansiera) den offentliga servicen inom helakommunen.Å andra sidan lever vi inta bara allt längre, utan bibehåller allt längre vår hälsa.Dessutom är pensionerna i Sverige liksom arbetande människor för kommunernaskattebetalare, då pensionerna beskattas liksom lön med kommunalt skatt. Även ompensionerna är mindre än arbetsinkomsterna, så är friska pensionerar urskatteperspektiv en tillgång för kommunerna på liknande sätt som arbetstagare. Förstnär vårdbehovet kräver resurser ändras ekvationen. Om avflyttningskommunernaalltså lyckas med att deras ”gamla” invånare återvänder efter ett arbetsliv i storstan,kan konsekvenserna av minskade befolkningstal och överåldring minskas reellt.

Europas befolkning blir allt äldre och bosättningen koncentreras i ökande omfång till ett begränsat antal tillväxtregioner. Den här koncentrationsprocessen drabbar Norrlands inlandskommuner särskild hårt, eftersom glesbygdens unga flyttar av utbildningsskäl till större regioner, utan att återvända efter utbildningen, då det fattas ett yrkesmässigt perspektiv. Om några decennier kommer mer än halva Sveriges befolkning att leva i ett av de tre storstadsområdena. Även de mindre storstäderna och andra tillväxtområden emotser en befolkningsökning. Befolkningen i hela Sverige och så även i alla tillväxtområden blir i genomsnitt litet äldre, men beroendekvoten förblir där nästan konstant, eftersom dessa regioner attraherar unga människor som tillbringar sitt yrkesliv där. De bildar dessutom familjer och deras barn är morgondagens befolkning i arbetsför ålder. Däremot drabbas de glesbygdskommuner, som pga. av sitt läge inte kan ingå i större lokala arbetsmarknader, av överåldring och en jämnt minskande andel befolkning i arbetsför ålder. Utvecklingen kan bli så drastiskt att befolkningen i arbetsför ålder inte ens räcker för att göra jobben i vård och omsorg, inte att tala om andra arbeten.

Krafterna bakom koncentrationen är mycket starka och har en utpräglad egendynamik. En tillväxtregion attraherar kompetens och köpkraft, dessa faktorer attraherar allt mer företag som i sin tur producerar kompetens och köpkraft osv. Tvärtom är det i avfolkningsregioner, där minskande köpkraft och en minskade arbetskraftpotential leder till minskande företags-etableringar och så till ytterligare förminskade köpkraft och kompetens, osv. Utvecklingen kan för några kommuner betyda, att de om några decennier inte längre kan bestå, eftersom det fattas personal och finansiella medel för att upprätthålla det offentliga livet. Samtidigt lider tillväxtregioner under många problem som t.ex. bostadsbrist och trafikinfarkter.

För att kunna bromsa utvecklingen i avfolkningsregioner behöver kommunerna där att gå nya vägar. I och med att klimatförändringarna drabbas länderna i klassiska turistområden och i och med att energi blir allt dyrare, finns nya chanser för Norrlands glesbygder. Om de lyckas att överta marknadsandelar inom turism och att utveckla kluster inom området förnyelsebara energier, kan det kanske vara möjligt att neutraliserar avflyttningen bland unga och bilda en ny, stabil befolkningsstruktur, om än  med en mindre befolkningsstorlek än på 1960-talet. Utvecklingen bör ackompanjeras av stöd till småskalig och diversifierat jordbruk samt koordinering av turism och skogsbruk. Det är möjligtvis en väg för att mildra koncentrationens negativa konsekvenser i tillväxtregioner och för att förhindra uppståendet av ”ödekommuner”.

Gentrification is something that is constantly going on in our society. It is a social change that consists of people with high socioeconomic status that are moving to areas which traditionally have been dominated by people from lower social classes and ethnic minorities.

This is a study which examines theories and underlying factors of why people choose to gentrify and what similarities exist between them. Through a literature study I examine previous research and I undertake a discussion of the topic.

The results of this study show that the reasons why people gentrify today are very different, they have not figured out what the common denominator is which make gentrifiers gentrify. What it has identified is what happens, what it affects and which individuals has good potential to become gentrifiers.

The study also shows the need to deploy gentrification in a broader societal point of view in further research to find new answers and to think not only of the gentrifiers, those who move into these areas.

This article discusses the «B1åkulla» march in Visby, Gotland, Sweden. The event is arranged yearly on Maundy Thursday. Children and parents defy the winds, rain and snow of April to gather in the center of the small medieval town and march up and down the formerly busy street, hoping to get some of the coloured, candyfilled paper eggs distributed by the local merchants' association. The march is headed by a brass band, and most of the children, and some of their parents, are dressed up as påskkäringar, wearing old and outsized skirts and blouses, big scarves around their heads, their faces made up with red lipstick and black paint.

The children are the heirs of the påskkäringar of the forties, fifties and sixties. Youngsters then dressed up as old women, begging for Easter eggs, bread and candies, walking around individually or in small groups. Although formerly widespread, the custom faded in the sixties and almost disappeared.

The march was initiated by merchants in Visby in 1973 and became an immediate success. About one thousand children, one-fourth of all the children on the island, participated together with their parents, making the march one of the major events of the year.

To find the factors that contributed to the success of the event, I turn to the perspectives of the merchants, the children and the parents. The merchants have obvious commercial interests; the children disguise themselves and get free candy; the parents remember the old days when the busy street was the natural meeting place and they walked around as påskkäringar themselves.

From the researcher's perspective, I discuss the event in terms of effectivization, rationalization and institutionalization of an old custom, then turning to Hobsbawm's notion of «traditionalization». These concepts illuminate the historical and social background against which the actions of the performers may be analyzed. The last part of the paper discusses the concepts of «revitalization» and «folklorism». I maintain that these theoretical concepts must be rejected on the grounds that they are heavily biased by objectivist notions of «authenticity» and «false consciousness.» I find that, however simple and obvious the objectives of the actors may seem, only they can explain why so many children and parents in Visby find it worthwhile to walk the streets of Visby together on a Thursday afternoon in April.

The didjeridu, a musical instrument once used only by Australian aboriginies in north Arnhem Land, has within little more than ten years become spread worldwide. Not only has it become a symbol of black aboriginality in Australia, but it has also taken place among koalas and bumerangs as a symbol of Australianess. It has also become widely used as a symbol of indigeniety among indigenous peoples and their spokesmen all over the world. Another large group of didjeridu-fans are ’alternative lifestylers’ and ’New-Age’ devotees, for which the didjeridu represents, among other things, a immideate connection to Mother Earth and the spiritual world. In this articel the fast transition from North Arnhem Land to Internet and back is examined, from three perspectives: the tourist’s, the musicologist’s and the cultural analyst’s. It is argued that an important reason behind the fast spread of the instrument is a major shift in the control of the knowledge of the instrument from ”knowers” to ”doers”, and that the global visibility reflects and sthrengthens rather than challenges the basic assymetrical power relations between blacks and whites, rulers and the ruled.

This paper proposes the notion that words mirror ideas, perspectives and worldviews. Etymologies and meanings of general words for ‘islands’ in a number of languagesin North and West Europe are then discussed. Here, islands are shown to be etymologicallyconstituted by the interplay between land and water, and which of these two is emphasizedvaries. In the third section, a number of Swedish island words are surveyed, in an attemptto illuminate the principle of linguistic relativity. Finally, the implications of these findingsfor island studies are discussed.