The most recent couple of years the boundaries of the world have been erased and we have come to live in a more global environment. It has been even more evident since the European Union has got a more prominent role in the society. It appears as obvious for most of us that we live in a changeable time and that a new, global perspective has been developed. Companies have to focus on the effect globalization and differences in culture have, to be competitive in the market today. Because of that business managers more often can come to work in other countries than their country of origin, it becomes interesting whether these managers adapt their management style or if they continue to work the same way as they did in their native country.This thesis aims to investigate if business managers with a foreign background bring along their national culture when managing a company in Sweden.

This essay is about the burial rites in the passage graves of Falbygden, Västergötland. My questions were: Can the burial ritual be understood by comparing the material culture inside and outside the tombs? What kind of grave offerings did the dead have? Most peculiar are all these beads of amber, what kind of meaning did they have? Was the position of the body a part of the ritual? The time period is the middle Neolithic.I selected four passage graves to investigate: Hjälmars rör (Falköping 3), Rössberga (Valtorp 2), Näs sn 7:2 Kvättak 5:1 and Frälsegården (Gökhem 94).My conclusion was that there are differences between the material culture inside and outside the tombs. Outside the ritual includes fire, inside the material culture are not burned. The material culture outside is more dominant than the finds inside, although the beads of amber are only represented inside and dominates the findings inside.

The contemporary angel-symbol is deeply rooted in our cultural history, with connotations and implications leading to that inner transitional space where all creative activity takes place. This essay investigates the history of the depiction of angels, visions of angels both ancient and modern, and includes psychological aspects of symbols as such. A closer look at surrounding symbols of angels will hopefully result in a greater understanding of the role of the angel-symbol within the context of visual culture, seen in the light of our own symbolic universe..

This study uses European researcher Tomas Valasek?s hypothesis about factors required for defence cooperation in order to achieve conditions which can be successfully applied to the Nordic defence cooperation NORDEFCO. The study uses only Norway and Sweden on the grounds that they are the original actors and the driving forces behind the defence cooperation. The factors studied are; the countries' strategic culture, solidarity and trust between countries, similarity in military forces, if similar conditions prevail in the defence industry and if the intentions of cooperation have been clarified.Mainly government documents in the form of propositions, orientations and defence documents are studied, together with previous research in this area and, especially, interviews with representatives of NORDEFCO at military level and policy level as well as outside perspectives from the military attachés in each country. With the intention of studying the extent to which the factors Valasek features may prove to be significant in assessing the conditions for enhanced cooperation in NORDEFCO, the study raises the question of how it is possible to find expressions for the factors.

The main purpose of this study is to examine differences and similarities concerning teamwork and interactive skills among preschool children while they interact with an Ipad respective a number of selected traditional artifacts. The traditional artifacts chosen for this study are small Lego blocks, JovoToys (click and construct system) and large puzzles. The study takes its starting point on the basis of both a social- and a learning perspective when different groups of preschool children in the ages from three to five years interact in fellowship groups with respective artifact. Primarily the main focus is to examine differences and similarities that appear from without the social perspective.The overall objective is to identify what eventual differences and similarities can be found purposely on both what is happening in the social interaction between the preschool children themselves but also what is taking place in the interaction between the children and each artifact. This study will also via theoretical frameworks create an understanding why eventual differences and similarities exist.The results are based on both a literature review and a field study.

Background: Today many companies are competing to get space in our minds. Companies spend a tremendous amount of money on building strong brands. It is not just about making us aware of their logo, today it?s more about giving the brand a ?soul? and to load it with different values. Due to today?s globalization there is also interesting to look at it from a cultural perspective.

Problem Discussion: Nissan Diesel became a part of the Volvo Group in the end of March, 2007. A year has passed and the integration process is making progress but it is perceived to lack some momentum. Our sponsor would like to understand if there are any potential barriers to the integration process. (Haspeslagh, et al., 1991) and (Pablo, 1994) presents two different sets of determinants that can be used to decide the level of integration; ?difference in organizational culture? and ?strategic task? (Pablo, 1994) and ?Need for Organizational Autonomy? and ?Need for Strategic Interdependence? (Haspeslagh, et al., 1991).

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the view of funding and sponsorship of culture within Swedish governmental cultural policy. The main issue is to discover changes in attitude towards funding and sponsorship of culture by comparing the discourse of cultural policy in the 1970s with the discourse of cultural policy in the 1990s. The theoretical and methological starting point is Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes discourse theory. Another theoretical starting point is Danish cultural policy reasearcher Dorte Skot-Hansens theories of the development of cultural policy in the Nordic countries, and Norman Faircloughs, of critical discourse analysis, theory of the marketization of discourse. Four governmental cultural policy documents, two from the 1970s and two from the 1990s, are analysed through a model loosely based on Laclaus and Mouffes idea of nodalpoints and elements constituting a discourse.

This essay is a study of how teachers in social studies relate to three central curriculum concepts; cultural diversity, swedish culture and common cultural heritage.Through unstructured interviews, I have taken part of two practicing school teachers interpretations and understandings of the concepts and their practical approach for teaching about identity. An area mentioned in the core content of the courses Social studies 1a1 and Social Studies 1b.The conclusion of my study is that teachers interpret the key concepts in a transparent manner. It is believed that the main task is to problematize the concepts rather than define them. In contrast to this, the practical teaching is largely based on normative values. An open discussion and a normative practice can be said to balance right on the border between the schools values ??and the demands of the curriculum on transposition of the current culture..

This masters thesis concerns the professional knowledge of the librarian. It is a comparative study where two major ma-gazines in library press, Biblioteksbladet and DIK-forum, is compared between the years 1990-2000, in relation to the theories of professionalization and the associations to the union. The study focus on showing the differences and similarities between the two magazines according to how they interact from the subjects education, wages and status. The study is conducted from two questions: - Which are the central differences and similarities in the description of the librarian profession in the two magazines, from the perspectives of wage, status and education? - In what way do the two magazines reflect the theories of professionalization? To give a wider perspective of the librarian profession, there is also a historical chapter with an explanation to the making of the librarian profession..

The purpose with this essay is to compare two classes in an international school during their mathematic lesson. The international school offers education to their pupils in two languages; in Swedish and in English. Through this study I want to find out how teachers are working with language and communication during school hours. I will compare the work of two teachers and two classes to find out the differences and similarities between their work methods concerning language and communication during mathematic lessons.The main questions for the essay:How do the teachers work with language and communication in this school during the mathematic lessons?What similarities and differences are there between the two teachers in matter of methods of working with language and communication during the mathematic lessons?The research is based on interviews with the teachers and also on observations in the classroom during mathematic lessons.

The aim of this study is to describe how nature is portrayed in swedish poet and critic Aase Berg?s two earliest poetry collections, Hos rådjur (1997) and Mörk materia (1999), and how it relates to notions of humanity, culture and civilisation. The concept of ?nature? is problematized in a short survey of how it has been used by and critizised in ecocritical literary theory, which is used as the main theoretical framework for this survey, with an emphasis on selected theoretical concepts by Donna Haraway. As a methodological starting point, ?nature? is tentatively defined as ?that which does not let itself be subsumed under the human, culture or civilisation?, and this definition is contrasted with how the concepts are handled in the texts.The investigation shows that the relationship of nature to the human is a fundamental theme that provides a structure for both poetry collections.

The aim of this study was to understand how social workers deal with honour-related violence, with special focus on the processing from sheltered housing. Our qualitative interviews with social workers that work with this kind of problems show that there are both obstacles and opportunities in the processing from sheltered housing. On the negative side are the loneliness, the shame and the guilt that the girls may experience when they need to leave their families. The social services can both be an obstacles and an opportunity. When the girls need to create a new life in a new city they have a lot of opportunities and in the same time it is hard to get to know new friends when you don´t know the city or have much money.

The purpose of this essay is to study the film culture in South Africa in a national cinema-context, focusing on the relationship between anti-apartheid film from 1974-1994 and the film in South Africa today. By pitching the South Africa-specific works of Lucia Saks and Jacqueline Maingard against the over-arching debate on national cinema as formulated by, amongst others, Stephen Crofts and Andrew Higson, this study aims to find whether or not a specific South African national cinema have existed, and exists today, or not. The study finds that an underground culture of documentaries and short films made by and for the black population has been in place since the apartheid, and the distribution method on video and television is still being used to reach the black population today. By re-examining the concepts of both the national, and of national cinema to also include film on video and television, the study shows that South Africa has indeed a film culture that can be called a national cinema..

Symbols in the hands of politicians can be a powerful tool of manipulation. The usage of symbols in speeches or texts can change a person?s will, without him or her ever knowing it.We have compared the usage of symbols in the articles surrounding the ratification of the constitution in 18th century America with that of today?s European Union, to see if any similarities between these two cases exists, and what implications this could have for the future of the EU. We have divided the symbols in both cases into different categories so as to enable us to compare the cases to each other. With the help of Masters Theory and the writings of Benedict Anderson and Murray Edelman we have concluded that there indeed exist some similarities between 18th century America and the EU.