The main purpose of this C-essay is to answer the question: What have been the consequences and effects of the merit point system on language studies and the parties concerned (teachers, students and principals) during the school year of 2010/11?The merit point system is the result of a political decision and was implicated for the first time in the Swedish upper secondary school during the school year 2010/2011. Being a completely new phenomenon it is of great interest and importance to study its effects.The study in this essay also aims to verify, falsify or nullify two hypotheses very often referred to in the political discussions regarding the merit point system:The merit point system will replace affection and interest as main reasons for language studies in upper secondary school and cause a rectification amongst the students choices of additional courses.The merit point system will have a segregating effect upon society and make it harder for people to rise in society through education in the future.A verification of these hypotheses would imply the appearance of an increased rectification amongst students as well as an orientation towards an in the future more segregated society.The empiric material has been collected and examined with qualitative as well as quantitative methods (questionnaires and interviews) and belongs epistemologically to the phenomenological and hermeneutical traditions..

The Swedish school reflects the society that we have today, a society with many different ethnical and cultural backgrounds. The purpose of this investigation is to study how the school is working with children that recently immigrated to Sweden. What kind of methods are they using at school, to get the best development as possible? Do the teachers manage to be concerned of the students in the school? What kind of reception do these children get in the school? What methods are the teachers using? And are these methods really the best to use to enhance the language and cognitive development of these students?The methods I have been using to examine these questions have been qualitative. I have interviewed three teachers about their everyday work in a multiethnic school south of Stockholm.

The purpose of this masters thesis is to find out whether the library can be a way to support integration. To fulfil this purpose we have, by qualitative interviews, obtained information about eight immigrant womens views on and experiences of the Swedish public library. Through the literature and earlier research we have presented a background of immigrants and integration in Sweden along with factors that may influence the integration process. We have tried to give an insight into what is said about the immigrant woman in research and media, which we think affects her life and we also have given a short introduction to immigrant womens life in Sweden today. Of great interest for our essay have also been the public librarys objectives and social role in society.

The effects of the climate changes are expected to generate several substantial direct and indirect consequences on both ecosystems and societies. It is the extent of the negative consequences that determents the vulnerability of the things or the ones exposed. The knowledge of the effects and consequences by a changing climate provides an opportunity to take measures to reduce the vulnerability.Our society?s vulnerability depends on how we choose to act out of the existing knowledge and what measures we choose to take. Karlstad municipality has good knowledge and perception of the increased flood risks the climate changes will generate and the probable consequences that most likely will follow. How the municipality decides to manage the flooding issue is not just affected by the will to mitigate the vulnerability but also by the vision to increase the number of citizens.

The aim of this study was to examine young adult cannabis users? attitudes towards cannabis and their perception of the normalization of cannabis. The purpose was also to explore how their views of cannabis correspond with norms regarding cannabis. This study is based on interviews with five young adult cannabis users. The theoretical framework is based on Parker?s normalization thesis, Goffman?s notion of stigma, Becker?s definition of outsiders and the definition of social identity developed by Stone.

This paper investigates the presentation of Islam in textbooks used in the study of religion in high schools. The papers focus on two main questions concerning the ways in which Islam is presented in the analysed textbooks, and how the new curriculum has influenced the portrayal of Islam in the materials. Here, the paper utilizes a method of critical discourse analysis with Faircloughs three-dimensional analysis. The paper then concludes that the presentation of Islam is negative in nature, with the content and view of Islam having been simplified and stereotyped. Often the textbooks studied frame Islam as being an aggressive and oppressive religion, especially in matters con-cerning women.

This thesis explore women?s needs when reentering society after having served a sentence at the female prison Färingsö, outside Stockholm and whether those needs are being met in the reentry strategies that are being provided. Parallel to this the thesis also examines if there, based on nonconformity and gender theories, is a socially constructed representation of women maintained in the rehabilitation work.The method of this thesis applied semi-structured interviews and used snowball sampling to expand the network of informants to obtain the data necessary. Totally five interviews were carried out. Previous research has shown that women in prison have much more complex problems than men and that there is a need for reentry strategies that take gender in account.The results showed that in terms of being able to reenter back in society, women needed help to structure a previously chaotic life.

AbstractThe aim of the thesis was to examine some older people's experiences of everyday life and how it is to grow old in Namibia today. Because everyday life is a broad concept, we chose to focus on some specific parts of everyday life. These are chores, family, work/education, elderly past and present and the government/society. Furthermore we chose to look at the similarities and differences between the experiences on the basis of gender, race/ethnic groups and class.We chose to use a qualitative research method and to be inspired by life stories. We used a semi-structured interview guide and interviewed six people between 70 and 89 years.

The purpose of this study was to look at the common opinion about children in Cambodia. By interviewing the professionals in different help organizations we studied the common opinion about children in general and the common opinion about children who are exposed to sexual trafficking. The ambition of the study was also to see if the common opinion about children in Cambodia affects the help that is available for the children who are exposed to sexual trafficking.This is a qualitative study including semi structured interviews with seven professionals who work with vulnerable children. The interview guide focused on the themes: children?s needs, sexual trafficking, children?s rights, childhood, children?s sexuality and gender.

With increased globalization more companies are sending their employees abroad in order for the company?s survival on the market. Many studies in the field of International Business describe unsuccessful foreign assignments and the importance of intercultural support regarding expatriation. Due to the fact that company X is an international organization we found an interest in studying how the company handles their expatriation process in Sweden. This became the purpose of our study.

The aim of this paper is to study how multiculturalism is expressed in the Swedish labour market policy. The method used for the investigation is a discourse analysis which study social and political processes in the society as created through language. The perspective of the discourse analysis is a social construction that considers that language is a social production created in a discursive way. It produces and reflects social process in the language.By using theories of national identity and multiculturalism we aim to investigate how multiculturalism is expressed in the labour market policy. With this method we aim to analyze the discourse of a political report made 2008 by the current government about integration strategies in Sweden.

The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate how societal mechanisms can impact on asylum seekers and influence their individual identity. The information for this case study was collected through comprehensive interviews with a group of asylum seekers from Söderhamn whereby the individuals expressed their perception of their current situation. From the gathered material we could see a pattern emerge which gave us the framework and the foundation for our theoretical approach. The similarity we discovered when analyzing the material was the powerlessness the individuals experienced e.g. the individuals had no possibility to influence their current situation and worse, it was impossible for the individuals to enter society even when they had the willpower to do so.

Are different ways of life possible in a world that increasingly becomes "Westernized" or globalized? This study examines and analyzes the diverse and complex way of life that includes socioeconomical nomadism as the Irish Traveller community are availing themselves of on the island of Ireland. In a broader perspective the study of the Travellers is put in context to how modern society emerged, and what characterizes the contemporary western societies. This is to understand the way Travellers nomadic lifestyle has been constrained and how the interrelationship between the dominant society and the extended family group constituting Travellers social composition has affected their livelihoods. Their social role is considered from two identification points ? home and work.Nomadism as a phenomenon, its history, expression and possible motives are being described in this work.

Modern societies are generally becoming increasingly capitalist in nature and economies of these societies are thus likely to become more focused on consumer consumption. Advertising plays a vital role in contemporary society where we, as consumers and citizens, are surrounded by it everywhere we look and everywhere we go. This puts pressure on advertisers to become more creative and to explore new ways of marketing their products and services in an already saturated environment. We believe that the added pressure and the already established role of marketing in society make advertisements an interesting and telling object for analysis. This is particularly the case with regards to the concept of selling and marketing products that have qualities that are known to be less than beneficial for our health.This paper analyzes four commercial advertisements marketing beer; a product that we argue has qualities that can be seen as potentially bad for the health of individuals and for societies.

The aim of this essay is to study five teachers' perceptions and experiences of a multicultural class. I want to find out how they relate to intercultural education and how they experience that they may apply it.Sweden is a multicultural society. This fact is even reflected in the school and this imposes on teachers finding new ways to educate and prepare their students for the multicultural society.I chose to carry out a qualitative survey and interviewed five teachers having contact with a multicultural class. The study also offers suggestions to future teachers who can benefit from it in terms of adopting convenient attitudes in multicultural classes with better understanding.The outcome reached shows that the interviewed teachers try to make use of intercultural pedagogy by addressing differences between students, adapting teaching to supply for the needs of students, and also by having good contact with parents. But teachers also experience difficulties.