My thesis is an attempt to clarify the purpose and workings of art in relation to the artist, his/her fellows and society. Can art be considered as a uniting force? If so, where does its unifying quality lie? How does art connect with the individual, the community and society? My interpretation of the political climate regarding the arts has resulted in an exploration of the question: What role does art have in society today?The artistic ego as an altruism ? within the title of this thesis lies an absolute paradox ? a paradox that through this paper is tested, reviewed and demonstrated as a way of describing art and its workings. The thesis is problematized and studied from several angles: Through the inner artistic process, both reflective and empirical, and through philosophical studies..

This essay is focused on the questions of and responsibility for where, when, how and why communication and meetings through archaeology should take place. I have critically studied Swedish public archaeology through three diverse archaeological excava­tions, one took place in the end of the 1980s, and two others in 2012.I have asked for under what circum­stances and with which goals the public efforts become possible. I have inter­viewed leaders for the archaeological excavations and/or the public efforts and questi­o­ned how and why they reached out to the public. I also searched for results and effects in order to problematize and value the public activities.Through interpretation of the resear­ched material it becomes clear that economic issues as well as archaeo­logists interests and engagements are of vital importance for public archaeology. Co-operation in the local community and archaeological documentation is crucial for the deve­lopment of archaeology and its role in society.Keywords: Public archaeology, Community archaeology, Heritage, Communication, Manage­ment, Historic environment education, Time Travel, Living history.

This paper analyzes the content of eight Islamic Friday-sermons, held at Chalmers Technical University in Gothenburg in spring 2010, organized by Chalmers Islamiska Förening (CIF) (Chalmers Islamic community).The forces of globalization, the accessibility of information and the Internet have given rise to discourses and movements that know no national boundaries. The accessibility of these global movements and discourses through media, Internet, etc., affect the way Muslims in Sweden interpret and practice their religion. Thus, this paper includes discussions and descriptions of global Islamic revivalist-movements, and relates the contents of the sermons at Chalmers to these movements. In the sermons, the imams often discuss the concept of a global Muslim community, the umma, and their perceptions of the prescribed ethics linked to this community. They often relate this discussion of ethics to frequently discussed issues in the West such as equality, justice and ethical standards in war.

The aim of this study is to explore how sports journalism can include and/or exclude athletics from a national community. This study put emphasis on finding patterns from articles by Swedish sport media on non-ethnic Swedish athletics. The theories central to this study are ethnicity and nationalism, as these concepts contain reflections on why certain groups of people are excluded and/or included. Norman Faircloghs critical discourse analytical model has been selected for the study method that analyzes texts in three levels: the text level, discursive practice and social practice. Four non-ethnic Swedish athletes have been chosen to explore how they were portrayed in the media.

The purpose of this study was to examine the process of developing an identity as a skateboarder during adolescence. Our aim was to, from the actors? point of view explore what impact their values, experiences and thoughts have on their identity as individuals as well as a collectivity. We also investigated which symbols that are significant for this group. For this essay a qualitative method was used; we conducted nine individual interviews and one group interview with young skaters from the ages of 15-17.

This essay examines the epideictic genre by using qualitative method to analyze acceptance speeches from the Swedish Grammy awards. These speeches and their speakers are often described as rhetorically mediocre and there seems to be a notion within the music community that an acceptance speech is personal and without deeper meaning. From a functionalistic perspective on genre, these speeches can be seen as working together with other genres that carry information about the winners. Why would skilled performers who know how to entertain an audience choose to repeat rhetorical mistakes? This essay uses different perspectives on rhetorical situation and genre as well as multimodal analysis of verbal- and nonverbal communication, to argue that these particular speeches in this particular situation come with their own set of expectations and values that the speakers have to acknowledge if they are to meet the epideictic purpose: To unite the audience around common values and create an enjoyable collective memory.

In this essay a social perspective on the mind is explored and argued for. The essay moves from a discussion of a social collective foundation for the individual mind to a discussion ofthe main alternative ways of describing the shared social world, namely an action-centred perspective and a power-centred perspective. It is shown that these two perspectives are combinable. A combination of the two perspectives is therefore recommended for a more balanced way of describing the shared social world. In this essay it is argued for that the individuals? mind and her identity is dependent on the surrounding community.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is an unconventional model of agriculture expected to contribute to a more sustainable food supply and a sustainable landscape; the development of rural areas; a stronger relationship between producer and consumer and a healthier diet. This study, with a focus on food production and the link between the producer and consumer, describes the origin and current development of CSA in Sweden, including the prerequisites for CSA in a Swedish context. Organizations and entrepreneurs working with CSA and related projects are identified and interviewed. The notion of CSA in Sweden is still in its infancy, but a rapidly growing interest currently can be detected. The fact that the identified CSAs are found in different Swedish regions with variations in degree of urbanization and intensity of agriculture indicates that the prerequisites are there for the concept to grow, both in rural as well as urban areas.

Bakgrund: Relationsmarknadsföring har under de senaste 20 åren blivit ett populärt begrepp inom marknadsföring. Facebooks betydelse diskuteras även flitigt bland marknadsförare som ett verktyg för relationsmarknadsföring. En ökning har skett i antalet sidor och grupper på Facebook kopplade till företag. För att företag ska lyckas med att skapa attraktiva grupper och sidor på Facebook måste de förstå facebookanvändarnas preferenser.Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att utifrån ett användarperspektiv beskriva och undersöka vilka fördelar facebookanvändare upplever som viktiga med att vara medlem i grupper och sidor på Facebook. Dels kommer dessa fördelar att beskrivas och undersökas ur ett relationsperspektiv och dels som olika fördelar med att tillhöra ett nätverk.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to find out in which ways a group of first generation immigrants use Swedish papers and magazines in a public library and which information needs this group has about Swedish society. One important aspect in this essay is integration of immigrants in the Swedish society as a possible effect of newspaper reading. The method used in this study is qualitative. Data is generated through semi-structured interviews.

The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze youth community service in the Kalmar municipality. Our focus was on juvenile offenders and predecessor of public authorities. The juvenile offenders in our study have completed youth community service. A qualitative study was undertaken which include seven interviews. Our empirical data were compared and analyzed with previous research data.

In this essay, I interview six users from the website darkside.se, which is an internet community for BDSM practitioners. I?m using Judith Butlers theorys about performativity and heteronormativity, Gayle Rubins model the charmed circle; of which sexualities is regarded as approved and which is not, and Fanny Ambjörnssons explenation of queer theory. With the interviews as my material, I investigate how sex and gender is produced and used in BDSM and at Darkside. I discuss trans, heteronormativity, sexism and hierarchies of power related to sex and gender, in BDSM and at Darkside.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka grupp- och kommunikationsprocesser i en online community där den gemensamma nämnaren mellan medlemmarna var intresset för spelet World of Warcraft. Undersökningen utfördes med hjälp av en egenkonstruerad enkät samt observationer vars syfte var att undersöka deltagarnas grupptillhörighet, vänskap, konflikthantering och kommunikation online, samt deras beteenden gentemot varandra. Syftet var även att undersöka om sociala anpassningsstrategier, standardroller och in-och utomgruppsfavoritism var applicerbara på en virtuell grupp. Undersökningsresultaten pekar på att många av de teorier gällande grupptillhörighet och vänskap även är applicerbara på grupper formade online samt att kommunikationshjälpmedel såsom smileys underlättar konversationer i skriven form. Resultaten pekar även på att de sociala anpassningsstrategierna och standardrollerna är applicerbara på en virtuell grupp, dock anses urvalet för litet och observationstiden för kort för att med säkerhet säga att dessa återfinns.

Our study illustrates health communication in order to find out how widespread the knowledge is about osteoporosis and how to reach out with health information to the public. Our essay was conducted through quantitative surveys, which included 402 respondents. This in order to highlight the prevailing uncertainty about the public disorder osteoporosis, which is common in Sweden. We wish to examine trough which channels our respondents choose to collect their health information. The thesis framework includes theories such as McGuire?s ProcessingTheory, Agenda setting, Two-step hypothesis and Diffusion of innovation. Through these theories, we analyzed our empirical data that emerged. The results showed that our respondents had very low knowledge of osteoporosis, although theyshowed interest for health information. The results also showed that respondents were consistent intheir actions regarding which channels they came to turn to. They prefered their health informationfrom news papers and family, friends and work colleagues. When asked where they got their information from, the respondents answered mostly from family, friends and work colleagues, followed closely by newspapers. This shows that respondents are more receptive to informationfrom the channels of their own choice. The results also showed that the propensity to change behavior increases with the age of the respondents..

During the 20th century Sweden faced an increased proportion of workers registered as part-time unemployed, especially in the care sector. However, due to many valuable efforts, aimed at solving the problem of part time unemployment and political decisions, the number of people who are part-time unemployed has declined since the late 20th century. We have investigated part-time workers preferential right to extending their working hours. According to Section 25 a of the Employment Protection Act, part-time employees who have submitted an interest in increasing their working hours has a preferential right to increased working hours, with the assumptions that full-time employment with the employer will meet a labor need that the employee has sufficient qualifications for.Qualitative interviews have given us information about how Karlstad Community and a private care company deal with part-time unemployment and their workers preferential right to extending their working hours. We have found that people who work for Karlstad Community have an opportunity to choose their number of workings hours, thanks to a political decision made in Karlstad Community, aimed at solving the part time unemployment in the care sector.