Drawing from the theoretical foundations of the ?critical theory? of the Frankfurt School and the media ethnographic ?cultural studies? approach of the british Birmingham School, this study attempts to sketch out a media theoretical overview of the contemporary state of media culture. Using the term convergence culture as the foundation, this study offers a theoretical background to the two contemporary streams that are the significant and distinct tendencies of convergence culture: intermedial convergence, its contemporary state and historical tendencies that can be traced back using the past media theoretical approach of the Frankfurt School, and cultural convergence, its contemporary state and historical tendencies, which lineage in a media theoretical context can be traced back to the british ethographic ?cultural studies? field. Using contemporary drama serials to identify and pinpoint these two stream, this study shows how intermedial convergence expresses itself today through media conglomeration in terms of branding, product placement and marketing as the result of the ?completed? convergence between screen culture and popular music as the current defining state of commodity culture.

This essay investigates the relation between ?usage? and ?hearing? of dialectal words and expressions in the Ryukyu islands, Japan, in this case words and expressions from a mix of Ryukyuan and standard Japanese, so called uchinaa-yamatoguchi. A survey was conducted and in the questionnaires the respondents were asked to fill in the degree of usage and hearing of each word and expression, consisting of three alternatives each; use often, use seldom and never used - hear often, hear seldom and never heard.My findings show a stable pattern in the relation between usage and hearing, where the usage is relatively low compared to hearing in almost every case. Among the most frequently used ones, one could find words and expressions connected to food, festivals, type of person, adjectives, adverb and animals etc..

The Swedish Armed Force is one of the largest authorities in Sweden and has as its primary mission to be responsible for Sweden's military defence. Their unique activity - to participate in armed combat ? requires leaders who can make quick and rational decisions in uncertain and conflicted environments. This study aims to gain an understanding of how individuals with leadership roles in the Swedish Armed Forces are experiencing their leadership in relation to the organization's structure and culture. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, the following research question was created: How do individuals with leadership roles experience the influences of the organization's structure and culture on their formal leadership? The theoretical starting point is Weber's organization theory, Schein's organizational culture theory, and different definitions of leadership.

The Swedish Armed Force is one of the largest authorities in Sweden and has as its primary mission to be responsible for Sweden's military defence. Their unique activity - to participate in armed combat ? requires leaders who can make quick and rational decisions in uncertain and conflicted environments. This study aims to gain an understanding of how individuals with leadership roles in the Swedish Armed Forces are experiencing their leadership in relation to the organization's structure and culture. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, the following research question was created: How do individuals with leadership roles experience the influences of the organization's structure and culture on their formal leadership? The theoretical starting point is Weber's organization theory, Schein's organizational culture theory, and different definitions of leadership.

The purpose of this thesis was to study how preschool teachers interpret the values of the preschool curriculum that relates to culture and how the teachers describe how they work with these values in their professional practice. The study is based on social constructive and discourse analytic perspectives. I have studied how preschool teachers construct the concept of culture and the values of the preschool curriculum through a specific way to describe this. A specific way to talk about something is called a discourse. In other words I have studied preschool teachers expressed discourses about culture and their professional practice with the values of the preschool curriculum.To study this, I've done interviews with four preschool teachers.

This project had the aim to produce an exhibition catalogue for the ValandSchool of fine Arts (BA level). The purpose was to give the student a professionalfrontage and to visualize there exhibition concept through the catalogue.What elements, typography and shapes should be used for this purpose?How important is the physical format that the catalogue has?Through a massive sketch phase I came to see the difficulties in creating anexhibition catalogue. What type of images, shapes and expressions that couldrepresent the concept behind this specific art exhibition was hard to find.What shape should the catalogue have?The work became more than just making an exhibition catalogue, the cataloguehad to communicate the specific concept in a clear way.

The aim of this essay is to study how the Sami are presented in four textbooks about religion and history that are used in the schools of the majority culture of Sweden today and one book of ideas asto how a textbook could look like from a Sami's perspective. Its aim is not only to study how the Sami are presented but also to discuss how students who read these books could interpret what it means to be a Sami and what their culture is about. It is also meant to discuss how the Sami identitycould be formed. In order to be able to discuss this the essay uses three different kinds of theories about identity and culture. The analysis showed that there is little information about Sami culture, identity, religion and historypresented in the four textbooks used in schools of the majority culture and that these books seem to want students to think that the Sami are troublemakers but are and should be assimilated into the majority culture..

This research addresses the issues of identity and culture in Latvia in the context of the upcoming European Union enlargement in 2004. Political self- determination of Latvia was historically indebted to culture. The phenomenon of cultural identity, so important 12 years ago when Latvian independence was regained, is largely ignored by politicians in the upcoming enlargement process. This is especially worth attention since the 8-th parliamentary elections took place in October 2002. The obvious lack of interest in cultural issues on the part of politicians is compensated by the apprehensions in the society (reflected in mass media) to loose Latvian specific culture and identity when joining the big European family.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the ways in which the constructions of heterosexuality and gender in three Disney movies about princesses affect the power relations between men and women in the movies, and how discourses on gender and heterosexuality have changed over time. Research questions were:How do characters in the movies talk about gender and heterosexuality?How does the interplay between gender and heterosexuality affect the power relations between men and women in the movies?What are the likenesses and differences between movies from different time periods?Discourses were mapped out using a model based on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe?s political theories. These discourses were then analyzed with a theoretical framework consisting of Yvonne Hirdman?s concept of gender system and gender contracts, Judith Butler?s view on the heterosexual matrix and an understanding of power relations based on Michel Foucault.

To contribute to understanding of how Thai cultural context affects the leadership of expatriates in management positions. Instead of modifying the leadership styles to fit the local (Thai) context, the expatriates tried to push and influence their culture and leadership styles to Thai employees..

As a result of globalization, multinational teams are being more frequently used in today´s businesses. This specific type of team can be described as heterogeneous when it comes to nationality and linguistics. The aim of this study was to explore the concept of multinational teams. This was made using culture as a main concept, and nationality, linguistics, and organizational culture in order to describe it. We intended to say something about how this type of team´s efficiency; when it comes to satisfaction and performance; was affected by national and linguistic heterogeneity within the team.

The aim of this bachelor-thesis is to study how postgraduates approach open access during times of change within scholarly communication. Our theoretical framework is based upon Knorr Cetinas epistemic cultures and Cullen & Chawners theory that there is a paradigmatic conflict within scholarly communication due to the fact that open access has failed to reach the same level of prominence among researchers as it has within research libraries. We interviewed six postgraduates at Malmö högskola in order to find answers to our research questions. We identified a shared epistemic culture among the postgraduates, which can be explained by the fact that being postgraduates, they all share similar experiences and values. We chose to call this epistemic culture the horizontal epistemic culture.

The purpose of this essay is to illuminate in what aspects IKEA?s organizational culture in Ümraniye in Turkey differs alternatively resembles with IKEA?s organizational culture in Örebro in Sweden. The aim with organizational culture is to analyze the relationships between the leaders and co-workers and the relationships between the co-workers.The study is based on a combination of interviews and questionnaires. We have interviewed people in leading positions and made surveys among IKEA co-workers in two different stores located in two different countries. This combination of the methods gave us a better understanding for how the organizational culture is experienced from two different perspectives.

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.

This paper examines how pupils with a non-Swedish background, in a secondary school in Stockholm?s suburban, Sweden, interpret and absorb the contents of school-room classes. It also examines whether the interpretations are influenced by a power-relation between teacher and pupils. The pupil?s interpretations, including their values and perceptions as regards to the content, are central to our study.Firstly, classes on world conflicts and corporal punishment for children were observed and these observations were the foundation to this study.