Protracted social conflicts, as those in Cyprus and Northern Ireland, are based on deep rooted perceptions of identity and definitions of "the other". According to the theory of discursive conflict transformation, war is primarily a social phenomenon, which is legitimated by a discourse of identity defined in terms of exclusionist boundaries and structural ideas of the social relations in society. In order to develop positive peace, the discourse of violence has to be challenged and the discursive structures that enable war have to transform into a counterdiscourse of inclusion and individuality. For the purpose of making a critical peace analysis, I have, with the assistance of established conflict theories, analysed the basic ideas behind the the Annan Plan and the Belfast Agreement and thus been able to interpret to what extent they may foster positive peace. I argue, that in order to provide basic needs on a group basis, power sharing arrangement, based on ethnicity or religion, exacerbates division rather than ameliorating it.

The purpose of this essay is to examine how gender equality can be used in the workplace, its possible effects, and what collaboration can contribute to the subject of gender equality. A combination of legal sociological and legal dogmatic methodology has been used to examine the EU and Swedish law, how equality should be approached and what previous studies have concluded. An interview has been conducted to provide a clearer picture of how gender equality appears in practice, in the modern workplace. An equality plan should be conducted every three years and applies to employers who are responsible for more than 25 employees. The manual should include a description of the measures considered necessary in the workplace in order to promote gender equality. How an equality plan should be developed is not specifically outlined in the current law, and thus this is left up to the employer to determine.

The aim of this study has been to investigate Swedish youth?s conceptions about pornography and sexuality through a gender and power perspective. The questions of issue were the following: 1. Does youth reflect about gender and sexuality concerning pornography? a) Does any norms appear concerning consumption of pornography and sexuality?b) Is any kind of power structure related to gender recognized concerning pornography? c) Does youth think that pornography effects the conception of gender and sexuality? If so, how?2. Are there any differences between how girls and boys reflect about the questions of issue above?The used research method has been qualitative individual semi-structured interviews with eight students totally, four girls and four boys, all in the ages of 16-18. The study has a hermeneutical and abductive approach.The result shows that the respondents recognize both positive and negative influences from pornography.

Abstrakt: Sedan en tid tillbaka pågår en intensiv debatt i Sverige kring könsneutrala ordet Hen och om man överhuvudtaget ska använda sig av ett könsneutralt ord och undvika att benämna kön i en del sammanhang. Syftet med denna undersökning var att undersöka hur könsneutrala pronomen ? Hen påverkar människors attityder. Det är en kvantitativ studie i experimentell design, utförd genom enkätundersökningar där frågor om känslor, beteende och uppfattningar om ordet Hen efterfrågas. Antas det generellt att en text handlar om män även om det inte är definierat? Blir samhället mer förutsättningslöst med användning av könsneutrala ordet hen? Attityder är inte lätta att förutspå, människor vet vad som är rätt och fel men agerar inte alltid utifrån sin vetskap, samt med tillräckligt stor påverkan kan en person ändra sin attityd.

During the past 10 years Sweden has updated its penal code for sexual crimes twice. Despite this few are convicted for the crime of rape in Sweden. As the majority of perpetrators being male, this is a problem concerning women?s rights to respect for their bodies and personal integrity. A possible explanation, and this study?s point of departure is a potential discrepancy between the intention of the law and the interpretation of the same as the Swedish legal system rests on a foundation of legal positivism.

In this essay I analyze Karin Boye?s first novel, Astarte, focusing on her views concerning norms,ideals and female liberation. The novel is written in a tone of irony, allowing for many of thecharacters to be viewed as caricatures. The theories and methods I use are drawn from genderstudies and queer theory. Queer theorist Judith Butler, and the concepts of performativity, interpellation, genealogy and the heterosexual matrix, are of central importance for my analysis.

Folkhälsovetenskapligt program.

With inspiration from Bitzers situational analysis a phenomenografic method has been used, influenced by Brown & Levinsons´s theory of politeness, to find perceptions concerning constraints (in Bitzer´s sense in his model of the rhetorical situation) in Internet-based communication. Based on three qualitative interviews, this essay has found that the perceptions are closely linked to views of what constitutes formal and informal contexts, varying due to the gender or age of the informant. Netspeak is not considered appropriate, with some exceptions, in any formal situation. However, the perceptions regarding decorum in informal situations differ in nature, based mainly on what kinds of associations and connotations are produced by elements found in netspeak. Since perceptions regarding informal situations vary, there is a large risk of misunderstanding, which this essay aims to survey..

The purpose of the study is to explore how social workers work with youths that seek financial assistance and what importance gender plays in this process. The participants were six female social workers that work with financial assistance. They were interviewed and had to reflect over a case, where the client where either male or female. The results was analyzed and compared in relation to social constructive theory and gender theory. The study shows that social workers work in two parallel processes, when they decide about financial assistance and other help benefits, the formal and the intuitive.

This thesis aims to spread some light over the phenomena of gender construction in the upper secondary school. The background of this thesis is the gender gap in education. Girls are more successful in school and receive better grades than boys. The explanation that is given for this is that pupils are limited by far to rigid gender roles (DEJA 2010). The question is how these gender roles ? and specifically masculinity ? are constructed.

The health care organisation is built upon a hierarchical and gender segregated structure. The purpose of this study is to investigate and describe interprofessional relations between nurses and doctors within this context and to examine which factors may affect this relationship. The theoretical framework for the study is Yvonne Hirdman's feminist discussion on gender issues. The method consists of a literature review and includes eight scientific articles and one PhD thesis. The results show that the relationship between nurses and doctors is affected by several factors, among them power, gender and communication.

"Race" is often used as a marker to exclude people from a society. What is interesting is not so much what terms that are used to describe people, but by what meaning they are associated with. For this thesis articles published in daily magazines have been the material used. An argument driven in the essay is that identity and oppression is not constituted from one subject position, but from several, such as class, sexuality and gender. The first question posed is how "race" is constituted through discourses throughout the subject positions class, sexuality and gender.

Introduction:Violence towards women is an extensive and important problem in the society. Confronting women who are assulted by their male partner is a demanding task for the nurses.The aim of the study:The aim of this empirical study was to illustrate the experiences of nurses in the meeting with women exposed to violence by their male partner.Method:This is a qualitative interview study including nine female nurses. The material recieved from the interviews was analysed with help of content analysis. Categories were formed named Comunication, feelings, Ability to recognize the women, Lack of time, Need of support and further education. An application to the ethical council at the University of Kristianstad were remitted and approved.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the relationship between visual communication and female homosexuality within the field of magazine design. As the creative part of the project I have chosen to make a redesign of Lotus magazine, the very first Swedish magazine with lesbian and bisexual girls as the target audience. The questions of which the project is based on are: Which stereotypes, differences and similarities can be found in visual communication addressed to a heterosexual versus a homosexual target audience? What kind of design attracts non-heterosexual girls and how can I create a design for Lotus magazine that is appealing to lesbian and bisexual girls and yet still makes it possible to compete with traditional girls? magazines? In order to examine my research questions I have done literature studies within the field of gender and sexual identity in relation to visual communication. Additionally, I have analysed the design of competing magazines on the market and conducted a survey among representatives of the target audience of Lotus magazine..

This study examines how the media reports on the Pride Festival in Stockholm and what news topics and themes it prioritizes. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the media coverage of Pride highlights political questions related to social and societal problems. One of the main focuses of the study is on how the media covers male and female homosexuality. The newspapers examined are the tabloids Aftonbladet and Expressen and the respected dailies Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet. The study extends over three periods: 19-07-2010 to 07-08-2010, 25-07-2011 to 14-08-2011, and 24-07-2012 to 11-08-2012.Several key theories and themes frame the study.