This essay is about democracy and how a democracy index can be used as a tool to illustratethe gap between reality and ideal. The purpose of this study can be expressed by two researchquestions: Does the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) democracy index illustrate thedistance between reality and the ideal of democracy presented by Dahl? and Can the EIU'sdemocracy index be modified by a) internal adjustments and b) using the variables includedin World Economic Forum?s (WEF) equality index?By using a combination of theories (Dahl?s theory of democracy, Rawls theory of justice andchosen theories critical to liberal democracy) as an analytical framework the following twoquestions have been answered:1) Which of the variables included in the EIU's democracy index have the potential to capturethe level of political equality?2) Which of the variables included in the WEF?s equality index have the potential to capturethe degree of political equality?By using a quantitative method the study?s third and last question has been answered:3) How strong is the rank correlation between the EIU?s democracy index and the WEF?sequality index, that is; how strong is the rank correlation coefficient (rho)?The data presented by the WEF?s equality index indicate that women are systematicallydiscriminated against as a group. From a democratic perspective the EIU may need tomeasure inequalities at a group level in order to capture the lack of political equality betweenindividuals. By reformulating some of the EIU?s variables, by revising the EIU?s point systemand by using the variables included in the WEF's equality index to extend EIU?s democracyindex, the chances of capturing the gap between reality and the ideal of democracy presentedby Dahl would likely increase..

Introduction: Basic Body Awereness Therapy (BBAT) is a treatment developed to treat different kinds of psychiatric diagnoses, but also to prevent the emergence of any other unhealthy conditions. The treatment is aimed to increase the body control and conscious breathing but also requires mental awareness.Aim: The aim of this study is to, based on social cognitive theory, describe patients' experiences of BBAT performed as group therapy.Method: The study design was qualitative with an inductive approach. Five people were interviewed after a BBAT group treatment in primary care. The data was collected by individual interviews with semi-structured questions and the interviews were analysed by qualitative content analysis.Result/Conclusion: The participants experienced increased body awareness and implemented BBAT strategies even though the treatment frequency was insufficient. BBAT was described as helpful used to regulate intensity level, stress management and facilitate breathing.

The purpose of this study was to find possible explanations to why the studied herd had an increased incidence of abomasal displacements. The incidence of abomasal displacement in the herd was three times higher than the incidence of an average Swedish herd. The cows in this study were fed a total mixed ration. The different parameters studied were: energy content in food, nutritional content in food, body condition scoring, concomitant other diseases, and blood parameters of glucose, fructosamine, cholesterol, insulin, betahydroxybutyrat and free fatty acids. The author?s suggestions to decrease the problems are to decrease the energy content in the TMR to lower the cows? body condition scores in the dry period and changing the content in the TMR to increase the amount of NDF and adding structure in the form of chopped straw.

The aim of this study has been to examine, describe and analyze how masculinities can be represented and understood among boys in a Swedish primary school context. The study was conducted within a school located in a small community on the country side. Through the use of a qualitative research design we interviewed 13 boys from the fifth grade of this school, who all got to express and reason their perspectives of what it meant to them to be a boy in primary school and how that could impact their social life. For a wider understanding of the different dimensions of masculinity we used R.W. Connell's (2008) theoretical framework, hegemonic masculinity, which implies that there are multiple definitions of masculinities that are constructed in relation to each other in a hierarchical order.

Denna studie över likpredikningar från 1700-talets Stockholm har som mål att undersöka seklets ideal, dödssyn samt samhällssyn hos överklassen. Vilka är de manliga och kvinnliga idealen och skiljer de sig åt? Detta genomförs med en kvalitativ textanalys av källmaterialet. Under 1700-talet var dygden framstående hos både män och kvinnor, med den skillnaden att dygden hos kvinnorna sammankopplas med gudfruktighet. Ytterligare centrala ideal är äkthet i sitt varande och plikttrogenhet.

This thesis strives to demonstrate my increasingly phenomenological approach to musical composition in relation to the extensive body of musical works connected in different ways to the poetry collection ORDER by the Swedish author and play-wright Lars Norén. The hand, the touch, the voice, the space (environment) and its philosophical implications are scrutinised from a poetic perspective (my poetics). The question of language (the word), the sign (text), sound/noise/music and its immanent bodily qualities are focused and questioned in my own work as well as in primarily two case studies of the music of Pierluigi Billone (1960-) and Morton Feldman (1926-1987).The text reflects the emancipatory process my music has undergone the last 4- 5 years: moving away from language and text (representation) to body and sound, although preserving and nurturing the extended idea of the sign (as signification of sound and body) as a possible embodied vehicle in my composing and artistic thinking.The reader is invited through the extensive use of sketches and work methods to witness and follow this process as a manifestation of the ?doing? rather than the presentation or construction of an analysis in an academic sense.The thesis offers no solution and it fails to encapsulate all of the so-called ORDER-MUSIC (the music that is connected with Norén's collection of poetry) Instead it proposes a possible way of ?opening? the process to a basically phenomenological methodology inside the musical field of score based chamber music..

AimThe aim with this study was to acquire knowledge of mental training and if you can use it in the elementary school to increase in a short period of time the performance in a coordination test. Furthermore we wanted to investigate teachers understanding of the possibilities to perform this kind of training in the elementary school, and if there is support for this in the school regulation.MethodAs method we have used a combination of a literature pre-study, interview and at the end an experiment. Before the experiment and interviews could take place we studied literature about mental training to get a basic knowledge of the subject. The facts we learned from our pre-study and interviews gave us the base for our experiment. The experiment group included 23 pupils in a third class at school situated in Stockholm.

The aim of this essay is to answer the question of how ? in what ways ? Jeanette Wintersons Written on the Body and Sarah Waters? Tipping the Velvet are queer texts. My method is that of a thematic analysis, focusing on words and phenomenon related to definitions of the multi facetted term ?queer?. The analysis covers themes of lesbian focus, performativity, performance, speech-acts, and heteronormative and queer relationships.

Dagligen exponeras vi av information om hur vi bör träna, äta och leva för att må bra. Rådgivning står att finna överallt, via TV, Internet och veckotidningar där olika hälso- och skönhetsexperter ger tips och råd om hur vi bäst kan hålla kroppen i form. Antologin Skönhetens dimensioner behandlar ämnen som rör kroppen, utseendet och identitetsskapandet. Vårt syfte med denna studie är att belysa relationen mellan identitet och utseende i samhället utifrån olika perspektiv. Vi diskuterar positiva och negativa effekter utifrån tankar om hälso-, utseende- och kroppsideal samt vilken påverkan massmedia har på individen.

The aim of the essay was to describe what some young Swedish and Spanish people had to say about alcohol cultures. Some of the questions asked were: How are the alcohol cultures in Sweden and Spain described? What are the differences, and where do they come from? What would an ideal alcohol culture look like? The investigation also had a comparing angle, as I was interested in what the people valued in their own culture and in the others´. The result was that there hardly exist a perfect alcohol culture, but that the stricter Sweden as well as the liberal Spain both have positive and negative aspects. Differences in politics and culture seem to create variations in a society´s drinking customs.

The purpose with this master´s thesis is to examine how helth and unhelthy in the Swedish magazines Topphälsa, Fitnez Magazine, hälsa and I Form. The study is made from a discourse analytical approach and text and pictures are analysed together. The governmentality-perspective is also used as a theoretical frame. Power and govern are two inportant conceptions for this paper. Some of the main characteristics of the material are the double messages, the division in the categories "we" and "them" and the personal address to the reader.

Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka hur en grupp unga, svenska kvinnor mellan 20-30 år upplever de kvinnliga skönhetsidealen, samt att granska vad målgruppen anser om Doves Campaign for Real Beauty. Syftet är att studera om informanterna upplever kampanjen som ett steg i rätt riktning för att öka diskussionen och vidga begreppet skönhet. Med detta hoppas vi uppnå en större förståelse för hur unga svenska kvinnor ser på skönhetsidealen idag och om kampanjer likt Doves, är rätt tillvägagångssätt för att nå ett förändrat ideal.Teori: Delar av feministisk teori, receptionsstudier samt Stuart Halls teori om inkodning och avkodning.Metod: Två kvalitativt semistrukturerade fokusgruppsintervjuer med totalt sju kvinnor.Slutsatser: Informanterna skiljer på skönhet och skönhetsideal. De anser att Doves kampanj, Campaign for Real Beauty är ett steg i rätt riktning för ett förändrat ideal. Däremot ifrågasätter de Doves uttalade budskap med kampanjen och menar att det huvudsakliga målet skulle vara att öka försäljningen och stärka varumärket, snarare än att öka kvinnors självförtroende..

For centuries, the human body has been used as a mean to project the norms, moral values and aesthetic preferences that exist throughout society. It has been controlled through constrictive fashion, family and social virtues and through how we perceive gender and sexuality. This essay strives to show, not only how the body and the aesthetic values coexist, but also how they work together and influence each other, with the body as the aesthetic medium. To do this, Michel Foucault?s writings of sexuality and his theories on morality and discipline, as well as Judith Butler?s works on normativity and performativity are being used.

Nordström är J, Waldesten, S. En studie om äldre kvinnor och hur de påverkas av samhällets ideal skönhet. Examensarbete i socialt arbete 15 poäng. Malmö högskola. Hälsa och samhälle 2011. ABSTRAKT Syftet med denna uppsats är att utforska och fördjupa förståelsen av äldre kvinnors relationer till kroppsliga utseende.

Jag vill med min uppsats undersöka bilden av kvinnan i samtida iransk konst och besvara frågor om-        vilken kvinnobild som lyfts fram-        vilket kvinnoideal-        huruvida kvinnorna i bilderna är bundna till dessa ideal eller om de är fria att bestämma själva-        om kvinnorna bryter mot sin egen kulturs ideal, och i sådant fall, fastnar de då i någon annan kulturs kvinnoideal?För att kunna besvara frågorna har jag valt ut tre samtida kvinnliga iranska konstnärer och analyserar två verk var av dem. Konstnärerna är Shadi Ghadirian, Shirin Aliabadi och Sagher Daeeri, alla tre verksamma i Iran.Jag har i mina analyser använt mig av en semiotisk analysmetod och jag har en feministisk och kulturell infallsvinkel i mitt resonemang och använder mig av feministiska konstteorier..