This essay discusses immigrants? prospects of constructing an identity in a multicultural society like Sweden. The discussion is primarily theoretical but offers a few empirical examples to demonstrate its relevance. Furthermore, the ontological standpoint of this essay draws on an understanding of the world and our knowledge as constructed which implies that Identities are also constructed. The process of identity making is further understood as a relational process in which others recognition is central to the individuals own understanding of his or hers identity.

In this master thesis a category of men otherwise often taken for granted is examined: noncriminal,non-violent men. With the help of in-depth interviews with young men who havepreviously lived a life with drugs and criminal behaviour, I examine the young men's identityand masculinity projects. To do this, I use theories by researchers R.W. Connell and MichaelS. Kimmel, among others.

This study investigates the internet habits of students in the Swedish gymnasium. The part that internet plays in their lives and their attitude towards the educational system is reflected upon the philosophical background that stretches from Kant to postmodern philosophers such as Baudrillard. The aim is to create knowledge about how the social aspects of the internet affects their concepts of reality and their own and others Identities. The method used for the collection of empirical data has been semi-structured interviews, preformed with students in a Swedish gymnasium. The data is then interpreted against the theoretical and philosophical background.

Today several things point to the fact that many young women are being abused and sexual harassed. Despite that there is no knowledge about how the girls handle the violence or how the battering affects them. For that reason the purpose of this study is to describe and give a picture of some girl?s experiences of being battered of men they have or have had a relationship with. In focus is also how these girls Identities are affected of the battering.

This qualitative study examines if an interest in soccer can give the same meaningfulexperiences in a person's life as a religion would. Five soccer fans were interviewedregarding the meanings and impact of soccer in their lives. Two theories in the fields ofsport and religion were used to analyze the data: Antonovsky's sense of coherence (SOC)with its components meaningfulness, manageability and comprehensibility and Heelasand Woodheads "life-as" and "the subjective-life? derived from the concept "thesubjective turn". It was concluded that the interest in soccer affected the respondents?views of life.The respondents? personal Identities were strongly associated with groupmembership, meaning that their interest in common with others was perceived to makeeveryday life meaningful and manageable.

This study investigates the internet habits of students in the Swedish gymnasium. The part that internet plays in their lives and their attitude towards the educational system is reflected upon the philosophical background that stretches from Kant to postmodern philosophers such as Baudrillard. The aim is to create knowledge about how the social aspects of the internet affects their concepts of reality and their own and others Identities. The method used for the collection of empirical data has been semi-structured interviews, preformed with students in a Swedish gymnasium. The data is then interpreted against the theoretical and philosophical background.

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study has been to analyse and understand the effects of heteronormative structures in the Swedish asylum process. Homosexual refugees, seeking asylum in Sweden, is in focus when proceeding an analysis about these social structures and normative phenomena. The main discourse, being handled in this study, is between homosexuality and heterosexuality. However, central findings in this study consists of how different approaches, such as gender based Identities as well as sexual preferences and ethnic background, combined is influencing the asylum process and the treatment of the asylum seekers.The analysis is based upon legal material, as well as the guidelines and work ethics of the Migrationsverket, which is being compared with theoretical approaches on heteronormativity and structural hierarchy. To achieve a wider understanding of the area and to gain more information, we have also performed interviews with relevant sources.Key-words: Heteronormativity, asylum seekers, homosexuality, power structuresSara Haugbak & Jenny Thomsen, Sociology C, University of Växjö, Sweden.

This study aims to investigate how value is constructed in horse business, in order to increase knowledge and contribute to development of theory in this field. This is important since the horse plays a significant role in the rural development in Sweden. The study assumes that value is something created through relationships in the social network. Therefore theories of sensemaking are combined with a discourse analytic method. By interviewing customers to two companies, one with orientation on trotting horses and one with orientation on showjumping horses, it was found that value is constructed through retrospective stories.

This essay aims to analyse the social and physical interaction through the body inpublic space, based on the performances Twilight Walk by The New Beauty Council,and Crawl, by William Pope.L. As part of the performance-programme CityExcavations from Gothenburg International Biennial of Contemporary Art 2011,artists occupied the streets of Gothenburg for a few days in June 2011. Through aninterpretation on performativity and feminism architecture-theory this essay looks intohow bodies integrate with public space; on how space potentially includes or excludesrepresentations of different bodies and the construction of (gender) Identities. I wantto discuss how bodily performances such as movements, gestures, visual andemotional expressions interact with architecture and social contexts..

Den här uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka vilken iransk identitet som skapas av landets ledning och på så sätt bidra till förståelsen av den iranska politiken. Frågeställningen är: "Hur ser den identitet ut som konstrueras av det iranska ledarskapet genom deras offentliga tal gällande kärnkraftsfrågan?". Frågan besvaras utifrån ett konstruktivistiskt perspektiv och med Laclaus och Mouffes diskursteori som metod. Analysen består av en kartläggning av ekvivalenskedjorna för Vi, "Den iranska nationen", och De Andra, "Irans Fiender".

ABSTRACTBjelkenbrant, Pernilla, 2006: ANC-galan i Göteborg 1985: en analys av sången Soweto som politisk mobilisering (The ANC gala in Gothenburg in 1985: an analysis of the song Soweto as a means of political mobilisation)The political scientists Abdul Karim Bangura, Ove Nordenmark and Tor Sellström, all believe that there, during the 1980s, existed a strong and unified ?Swedish? attitude against the South African apartheid system, and Sellström points out that this position had a strong anchorage in the ANC gala in Gothenburg in 1985. Over the past few years, singing has been identified as playing a crucial role in the struggle against apartheid. The aim of this study is twofold: firstly it presents a comprehensive discussion on how song is generally considered a tool of political mobilisation, secondly it discusses how that process can be applied to the ANC-gala. Consequently, the theoretical discussion constitutes the initial part of the study.

This essay examines the debate that arose in connection to the sale of Carl Larsson?s monumental painting Midvinterblot in 1987. My main purpose is to examine which meanings the debaters ascribed Midvinterblot and in which way the debate influenced the paintings significance as cultural heritage. I will therefore argue that the debate initiated a renegotitation of the paintings meaning as cultural heritage. In the debate the debaters emphasized the National Museum?s responsibility over cultural heritage, Midvinterblots aestethic, the paintings economic value and its national implications.

This is a life story about a man, Victor, and his life. He was born into a family of travellers, this has been a very important part of his upbringing, socializing and how society has viewed him.The purpose of this essay is to discuss how a society's values, and the changes in these values, are manifested in a life story. A person?s identity is created in the situations one is in and in the relationships with ones social contacts. A person has not just one, but several different Identities that coexist and are highlighted depending on the situations in which we find ourselves.

The portrayals of women in lifestyle magazines has been a continuous subject in genderresearch, but have mainly been focused on research about heterosexual women. However, how women are being portrayed through editorial content in an LGBT magazines have shown to be a gap in gender research.The purpose of this study was to find out how female Identities were portrayed in theeditorial content in the LGBT magazine QX ? Sweden?s largest magazine aimed atmembers of the LGBT community in Sweden.The analysis of the material was conducted through a semiotic and a narrative analysis. Patterns and reoccurring themes were selected, and furthermore were analysed againstfeminist theories and views such as queer theory, radical feminism and post-modernfeminism.Four different gender archetypes derived from the result of the study: The strongfemale, The passive female, The stereotypical female, and The intimate female. Thestudy did show that women featured in QX magazine were portrayed throughheteronormative patterns, although the magazine represents a larger alternative group..

The aim of this study is to describe ideas put forward by Sweden Democrats (Swedish: Sverigedemokraterna) about Christianity in Sweden and the Church of Sweden as a Folk Church, a church for a whole people, and how the political party uses Christianity as a part of constructing a Swedish identity. The investigation is based on official documents, newspaper articles, statements and political motions which are analysed using a form of text analysis called idea analysis. The theoretical frame of the investigation is founded on Claire Mitchell?s theory about religious content in ethnic Identities and Einar Billing?s and Johan Alfred Eklund?s thoughts about what makes the Church of Sweden a Folk Church.The investigation shows, among other things, that the Sweden Democrats? view of the Church of Sweden is similar to the thoughts of Eklund but they differ in their lack of references to theology. The investigation also shows that Christianity serves as an important marker for the Sweden Democrats in creating a Swedish identity. .