In the pilot study for a biography, some of the methodological and/or theoretical problems facing the anthropologist and biographer are discussed.The empirical section is based on a number of interviews I made with my grandmother over the period 1995-2001. I have come across inconsistencies in the material when rendering a historical event. Furthermore, the material makes me reflect on how the biographer or anthropologist is able to handle or interpret that she and the subject/informant has a different attitude to metaphors and how the metaphors can change over time, space and interpretation.The essay begins with a summary review of some of the central social and behavioural scientific theories that can be related to the individual and the biography.There then follows an in-depth discussion based on Paul Ricoeur's philosophy that says that your identity is created in relation to how you look at your history and future at the present time. Identities are created in an interaction between the field we are currently in, the Cultural capital that includes gestures, mannerisms, symbols, our language and the area of interpretation the field allows in the culture. Consequently, the biography is also a representation that is created in time and space and between the subject and the person rendering the subject.The biography or ethnography is transient and is of necessity a historiography.Ricoeur talks about the living metaphor.

Gentrifiering pågår idag ständigt i vårt samhälle. Det är en social förändringsprocess som består i att människor med hög socioekonomisk status flyttar till områden som traditionellt sett har dominerats av människor ur lägre sociala klasser och från etniska minoriteter.Den här studien undersöker teorier och bakomliggande faktorer till varför människor väljer att gentrifiera och vilka likheter det finns mellan dem som väljer att gentrifiera. Genom en litteraturstudie visar pekar undersökningen på tidigare forskning och för en diskussion om ämnet.Resultat av den här studien visar att anledningarna till varför människor gentrifierar idag ser väldigt olika ut, man har alltså inte kommit fram till vad den gemensamma nämnaren som får gentrifierarare att gentrifiera är. Vad man har ringat in är vad som sker, vilka det drabbar och vilka som har bra förutsättningar att bli gentrifierare.Studien visar också att man måste sätta in gentrifiering i ett större samhällsperpektiv i vidare forskning för att finna nya svar och att inte bara studera den gentrifierande sidan, de som flyttar in i dessa områden..

This thesis concerns the mesolithic relation towards animals and hunting habits among people in Skateholm, Tågerup and Vedbæk - Bøgebakken. The aim is to look at the societies from a cultural point of view and demonstrate that the people living there identified themselves with animals and adapted their lives, their hunting and their burial customs according to rituals and believes concerning animals in their surroundings. The result is convincing and clearly shows that animals where treated differently in manors which can only be explained with specific cultural relations towards different kinds of animals..

This Masters Thesis is about the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs and the arms length principle. The principle is used to explain the separation of power between two parts with a common interest. The main purpose is to elucidate if, and if so in what way, the arms length principle can be used to explain the relation between the National Council for Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Culture, i.e. the Swedish government, but also to examine the structures of power and relations within the Council. In the thesis we show that in the field of cultural policy the content of the arm lengths principle varies due to the many interpretations of the meaning.

In this essay I examine the causal relationship between confidence in institutions and growth in Sweden 1989-2002. By examining the causal relationship between these two variables, valuable indicators of the causal relationship between trust and growth can be obtained. The institutions which are used in this essay are chosen according to the theory on institutions for public administration building trust and social capital. The chosen institutions are primary schooling, the police and medical service. A Granger causality model is used to measure the causal relation and the results from the tests show that there is no causal relationship between growth and confidence in institutions.

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss how agents create their culture outside of their ?own? fields.What does this way of creating a culture mean for groups already existing on the field? Who ownsthe power to construct their own subject positions? Through a discourse analysis, I analyse thesequestions through articles and interviews treating two cultural fields which I call ?The hip Berlin?and ?Swedish hip hop culture?. I argue that, depending on a persons priviliges, one owns the powernot only to construct subject positions of ones own, but also for persons with less privileges in theexisting hegonomy of society..

The bachelor's thesis is to examine the explanatory factors affecting the choice of capital structure in real estate companies. The analysis is based on data collected from the main financial reporting from 2007; all listed real estate companies listed on Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish stock market. Based on previous research and theories, we have defined five independent variables that are linked to the debt ratio, which are: profitability, growth, firm size, cost of debt and operational risk. The statistical tests have resulted in that we can say with certainty that profitable firms tend to have a lower debt to equity ratio. We can also say with certainty that property companies with high interest costs have a high level of indebtedness..

Questions concerning the Cultural Heritage must be integrated in social planning.Therefore there is a need for adequate methods for cultural environmental analysis, toreceive knowledge that is relevant in an integrated conservation. The thesis is a review ofmethods for cultural environmental analysis and discusses the qualifications necessary fora method in order to receive adequate information as well as it discusses what kind ofinformation to be considered relevant. The thesis also analyzes a specific method forcultural environmental analysis in order to exam if it has got the qualifications concludedas necessary if it is to be used in an integrated conservation. The conclusion is that amethod for cultural environmental analysis should collect information about the entireenvironment (integrated information about nature and culture, in a historical perspectiveand how it is today), about social structures, physical remains (buildings etc) and what thecollected information tell about the history of the studied area, as well as what is importantin the landscape of today. Information about how the environment should be treated in thefuture is also of importance.

In this paper the effect of capital structure on profitability has been investigated among Swedish companies. The essay intends to examine how the relationship between debt and profitability appear among Swedish companies and if the relationship differs between industries. The purpose is to find out how debt affects the profitability of Swedish companies.A quantitative approach has been applied. The selection was made among companies listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, which resulted in a sample of 207 companies. Several regression analyzes has been formed, based on the independent variable debt-ratio and the dependent variables profit margin, pre-tax profit margin, operating margin, return on assets and return on equity.

This degree project is based on my personal relation and engagement to the small-scaled cultural landscape. My viewpoint is the village Torpa in Östergötland. My observations of the changes and development together with the stories of the village people has lead me to the questioning about the future prospects of the small-scaled cultural landscape. The rationalization of the society and our urban culture has lead to big changes in the cultural landscape and the people have reduced to a small crowd. Fewer and fewer hands are managing the small-scaled cultural landscape and fewer and fewer young people have connection to this kind of landscape and its management.

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to explore the organizational culture within the corporation The Body Shop. I have been working with two different question formulations. The first is to answer how the culture can be described. To answer this I have been using Edgar H. Scheins theory of cultural levels.

The purpose of this study is using McDonald?s in China and Sweden as a case to find out how fast food restaurant retailers combine adaptation and standardization with symbolic attributes of store atmospherics under different cultural background, and find out possible reasons. The study used McDonald?s in a case format to study in-store atmospheres. Further, the research has an investigating and explanatory qualitative approach, collecting the empirical data through observation with photos.

Regional European Offices with the purpose to represent regions and municipalities in the EU-system have had a substantial expansion over the last years. One example is the North Sweden European Office for the counties of Norrbotten and Västerbotten, consisting of seven different headmen who are representing both the private sector as well as the public system. This diverse leadership representation makes North Sweden a very good example on a so called Quango, organisations that stand under simultaneous influence from both public and private sectors. These Quangos opens up new possibilities to solve public problems, but they also bring together two different working models which is not always easy to handle for a Quango. According to earlier surveys some characteristic Quango problems within North Sweden exist, for example the ability to prioritize and thereby be as effective as possible.

Politicians attract their voters by promising more jobs and investment in education, health and social care. Against this background, I wonder how the situation of artists will be affected by the followingquestions:? What political views on the artist's position in society appeared in propositions of Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna?? In what way did these propositions influence the conditions of artists?? How have the artists of Värmland been affected by different (Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna) cultural policies? With my investigation I find out more about the artists' conditions on a national level, but I also investigate the situation in Värmland. By examining policy proposals and reports, I learn more about the issues. I also conduct a survey and three in-depth interviews to obtain opinions from various sources.The respondents are the cultural departments of Värmland and representatives from cultural organizations.What is clear from my research is that politicians differ on some issues, especially those relating to commercialism and artist salaries.

This study deals with the road freight sector's capital structure and how leases, loans and equity affect the ratios. The study is based on a ten-year period between 2000-2010 in Sweden. Investments in finance is a complex and interesting subject to study, there are many factors that can affect how the company best choose their investments when they have many great business investment the decisions plays a greater role. The aim is to find an optimal capital structure from a financial investment point of view. The purpose will be answered by the following research question: Are there significant differences between leases, loans and equity financed fleet of factors, profitability, tax, turnover, age, and cyclicality. The study will also examine how debt is related to profit margin, DuPont and the tax, all through a regression analysis. Then were plausible economic theories for the study.