Many of us have grown up hearing or using words meant as insults or negative adjectives that were in fact names for social groups. Most of them have gone unquestioned in the mainstream consciousness, but the term Gay in the generally negative meaning has in the past years been given attention as offensive and homophobic, with debates emerging in response over whether or not this is true, particularly on the internet. It is the articles and forum threads from these debates that make out the empirical material for a qualitative study as I ask what these people?s thoughts are about this term and how it is perceived.After a qualitative coding and analysis of these texts, and interpretation of the results based on Erving Goffman?s theory of Phantom acceptance and stigma terms, Judith Butler?s theory of performativity, Ferdinand de Sassure?s theory of signifier and signified and how it connects to the community and Baudrillards theory of simulacra, this is the principal conclusion that I have drawn:For some of the people in this debate, the term Gay and its use is about homophobia and heterosexism, though mostly it?s not overt but a subconscious part of the continued dehumanization and stigmatization of homo- and bisexual people. This is a position I callThe socially focused skepticism.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the managers? perspective on leadership in relation to the motivation of the employees by an example of a manning and recruitment agencies. This is implemented by framing of two questions; What kind of leadership can be identified by middle managers to motivate their employees? Which motivation factors are relevant to employees based on the perspective of the managers? To answer the question and identify leadership strategies and motivational factors and the relationship in between, we have conducted eight interviews with persons who hold a middle management position. Through a qualitative investigation we have been able to go into depth and had access to these managers reflections, thoughts and experiences.

This essay aims to investigate young people's vision of clothes as a means of communication. Focus lies on what message the clothing we have on sends out and how they are interpreted by our surroundings. Do other people interpret us the way we intend to through our clothes? The theoretical frame of reference that applies is Thomas Ziehe?s theories about Clothing and Identity, Anthony Giddens? Reflexive Identity Processes and the Uses and Gratification?s theory. The researches were carried out with a comprehensive questionnaire survey among high school students, at Lars Kaggskolan in Kalmar, with an associated image, and two personal interviews.

In this essay the author has chosen to analyze the similarities and differences between some of the northern Europe?s late Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures. The research is of a processual standpoint and the information is mainly gathered from secondary sources as well as ethnological studies. The material collected has been analyzed in both a processual and a post-processual manner to most accurately study the foundations of the three primary theories describing the Pitted Ware Culture?s origin.

Deregulation on the market for agricultural products leads to a more globalised market with increasing price fluctuations. This, in turn, places the farmer in positions influenced by new risks but also improved opportunities. The farmers are faced by uncertainty in terms of financial outcome. To be able to utilise these new market conditions it becomes increasingly important for farmers to continuously follow the price trend, and to develop strategies how to manage the risks exposed by a volatile market. Farmers with different conditions perceive risk in different ways. Hence, their risk management behaviour will vary.

Title: Participation and comradeship through artistic creation. This study is about a pedagogical development project carried out in sixth grade classes in order to get peace and order in the classroom and to improve the relationship between pupils. The research question is how the interaction in classroom can be described. The used research methods are observation, diary writing, photographing and questionnaires as well. From a hermeneutical inspired analysis interaction in classroom is in focus.

ABSTRACTBachelor essay in political science by Hanna Richter, spring 2006Supervisor: Mats LindbergTitle: A study of the phenomenon of micronationsThe purpose of this essay is to study the phenomenon of ?micronations?, to describe it to the reader and to discuss why this phenomenon is interesting to study in the field of political science. The questions this essay seeks to answer are:- What are micronations, and which variations are to be found within the phenomenon?- Why are micronations interesting to study in the field of political science?Bary Buzans theory of the nature of the state works as a frame of reference to this investigation of micro ?state-like? units. The phenomenon of micronations has not been investigated by the social sciences in any extent worth mentioning yet.

A new theory for predicting the windprofile over a canopy has been evaluated. The theory was first presented by Harman and Finnigan (2007). The theory relies on the forming of a mixing-layer above the canopy, due to different mean wind in and above the canopy. Characteristics from both mixing-layer and Monin Obukhov similarity theory have been used to develop the governingequations that give the wind profile. The theory has been used to calculate wind profiles for sixdifferent atmospheric stabilities.

The purpose of this study was to examine how young managers (26-32 years old) in municipal old-age care organizations, in Skåne and Blekinge, experience their professional roles as managers in relation to their age. One of the questions asked in this study was whether managers experienced that their age affected their managerial position, and in that case, how? In order to investigate this, a qualitative method was used, including interviews and observations. Seven interviews with young managers were conducted. My approach in the working process was influenced by Grounded theory as defined by Glaser and Strauss (1968).

This study will focus on the role of social services and their experiences regarding why youth become involved in criminal activities, as well as the preventive measures social services offer to address this issue. The paper employs the theories of territorial stigmatization, systems theory, and labeling theory (of deviant behavior). The study is based on a qualitative method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with social workers who have experience working with youth involved in criminal activities or at risk of involvement. The results indicate that a lack of social cohesion can be a contributing factor to youth involvement in crime, and various factors can lead individuals to such situations.

The main purpose of this Master?s thesis is to examine what librarians in seven public libraries experience as major change in their work tasks. We are also interested in exploring how these changes influence librarians? ways of working. In addition to this we want to explore if librarians have experienced change in relation to user?s expectations and demands and if so, how they are met.

AbstractPaper in political science, C-level, by Lars A Roos, spring semester 2007. Tutor: Susan Marton. ?Policy networks and Nord Stream.?The purpose of this paper is to examine how the government and interest groups have been working together to commonly prevent the building of a gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea. To do this, a comprehensive question how does the government and the involved interest groups work together in policy networks? has been broken down to three more specific questions: (1) Can the cooperation between the government and the interest groups be placed within the frame of a issue network or a policy community? (2) Has the cooperation between the government and the interest groups contributed to new tools for the government to prevent the gas pipeline? (3) If the answer is yes to the second question then, which are these new tools?My examination is a case study of the policy network that exists around the Swedish actors in the case of the Baltic Sea gas pipeline.

The purpose of this study was to increase knowledge about what the lives of the unemployed youth of immigrant background looks like, and what the views of the unemployed young people are about work and employment. The study is a qualitative study where the empirical material is based on interviews with seven unemployed immigrant youth between the ages of 19 and 25 years. A study where the central questions was to explore how the informants' living conditions and identity are affected by being unemployed. The other issues aimed at how informants background affected their ability to enter the labour market, and the job expectations the informants had about the future and the Swedish labour market. Empirin have been analyzed with regard to methodology tool based theory, as well as theoretical starting points, such as social capital, formal and informal channels, ethnicity and stigma theory.

The aim of this thesis is to try to make the mathematics content of textile handicraft visible. This is done through an attempt at integrated studies in the two subjects with 6th grade students.The main question is: In what way may integrated studies in mathematics and textile handicraft lead to making the mathematics content of textile handicraft visible to the students? This question has been divided into three sub-questions: 1. What knowledge do students have on the order of the millimeter, centimeter, decimeter and meter units of length?, 2.

Ett gruvbolag har ansökt om tillstånd att få starta en gruva i Jokkmokks kommun. Detta har skapat en stor debatt om vad en gruvetablering kan innebära för Jokkmokks kommun. Frågan om nya gruvetableringar är ett exempel på en policykonflikt. Syftet med uppsatsen är att förstå aktörernas olika synsätt om gruvetableringsprocessen samt hur de olika synsätten i sin tur påverkar deras handlingsstrategier. Aktörerna som utforskas är JIMAB, Socialdemokraterna i Jokkmokk, Urbergsgruppen i Jokkmokk samt samebyarna Jåhkågasska och Sirges.