AbstractA European identityA study of Manuel Castells criteria?s to create a European identityC-Essay in Political Science, by Helena Saagpakk, August 2007Supervisor: Björn ÅkerbergPhilosophers and visionaries dreamt early on the idea about a united Europe. This dream was destroyed by the two world wars during the first half of the 20th century. The first community was established in 1950 after the Second World War. This was the beginning of a peaceful cooperation between the member states, and the community later developed into the European Union.

Self-destructive behaviour is a more and more occurring phenomenon in today?s society and there are mostly young girls who are affected by this behaviour. There are different explanations to why the phenomenon appears. The purpose of this research essay is to give a literature overview of the phenomenon of self-harming behaviour of young girls. Two research questions have been used to study this phenomenon; How can groups of friends contribute to reinforce an identity with the self-destructive behaviour among young girls? How can Internet contributes to reinforce an identity with the self- estructive behaviour among young girls? For the analysis this research essay uses the social constructive theoretical perspective.

Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate whether Vara municipality has a continuous picture of their identity, profile and image. Globalization has contributed to the increasingly growing of place marketing. Therefore, the study goes on to using the concepts of identity, profile and image to find out if Vara Municipality communicates similar throughout the whole organization and find out their all through core values. Globalisation will be an interpretive framework for the work that describes why the place marketing is becoming more pressing. The sense of place will be a central part of this study as it is the feelings and images of different places that will be described by the municipality together with the identity, profile and image.

On December 20, 2001, the Swedish citizen Mehdi Ghezali was captured on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ghezali spent the following 930 days in U.S. captivity, without being charged with any crime. My aim in this essay is to analyze how Ghezali was portrayed in three Swedish newspapers under and after his captivity, two nationwide and one local newspaper based in Ghezali's hometown. My purpose is to see whether Ghezali's identity is constructed differently in the three newspapers, as regards The Other, Stereotypization, etc.

The key purpose of this research has been trying to understand, and study how assyrian/syriac youth create their identity under the influence of two or several different cultures. We have also looked upon how different factors such as history, religion, language, family and school play a role in the youths Identity development.We have used a qualitative method in our study where we have interviewed six assyrian/syriac youth. Because of their Christian faith the assyrian/syriac group has been forced to migrate from their countries to different parts around the world. In the new countries the group has been forced to create and live in a diasporaculture. The city Södertälje in Sweden has developed to become a metropole for this ethnic group where they have founded a substantial diasporaculture.

The aim of this master thesis is to examine the identity of librarians. We have done this by conducting a text analysis where we have analysed texts produced by DIK, the major union of librarians, and by Library and Information Science departments in Sweden. The material we have analysed is texts produced in the aim of introducing and marketing the librarian occupation and education. The aim of this study is to find out how the identity of the librarian is expressed in this material. We have conducted the text analysis by adopting the critical discourse analyst Norman Fairclough´s theories.

The main purpose of this thesis is to examine how the European Union through the Directorate- General (DG) of Education and Culture, are calling forth a constructed sense of European identity amongst the citizens of the Union.It is a discourse analysis, which can be described in twofold. Firstly, it is a mapping of the European discourse; i.e. how the European Union defines the identity it seeks to mobilise. Secondly, it examines whether or not there are similarities in the European discourse of identity and the traditional nation-building discourse of national identity.According to this thesis a European identity is articulated in cultural terms, whereby its members are said to share the same values and a common cultural heritage.To bring the people of Europe closer together and to deepen awareness of their "common" history, the European Union encourages all manner of meetings and exchange schemes between Europeans. Although its goal is to develop a feeling of belonging to a shared culture, the EU is also keen to preserve the specific aspects of Europe's many cultures.

AbstractAim: The purpose of this thesis is to research how women think about fashion in relation to their self and to others. Can clothes be an expression of who we are who we want to be and how we look at others? What are the main characteristics in this type of communication and what kind of information can be distributed using this tool?Method/Material: InterviewsMain results: Clothes can work as a tool to show who we are and what we are, mainly on short term. We use clothes for different purposes, sometimes we what to be seen and really show who we are and what we stand for and sometimes we just what to go with the flow and not be seen at all. We will always have a physical need for clothes but it is also a natural and important part of our individual expression and our identity.Keywords: Fashion, Clothes, Identity, Lifestyle.

In this study I try to answer the question what to consider when teaching about identity andreligious identity in Religious Studies at Upper Secondary Schools in Sweden. This inquiry isbased on the fact that the latest Program manuals for upper secondary school, GY11, instructsthe teachers to talk about identity and religion, while in the Curriculum for upper secondaryscool, Lpf 94, as well as the latest curriculum, SKOLFS 2011, the idea of identity seemslinked with ethnicity.With this in mind I want to clarify what might be meant with the concept of identity. Byreferring to several different identity theories I propose to illustrate the complexity of theconcept. I study gender, queer and postcolonial theory as well as different aspects of classstructure and commodification of identity, all through the perspective of intersectionality.Intersectionality is not a theory as such but a method of studying various perspectives of anissue. It is an analytical praxis of using several angles of investigation and explanationtogether, all phrased with the background of the question of power.

The rise of the Swedish Democrats, as a political party in Sweden, has been surroundedby controversy both within and outside of the media. As such a polarizingtopic, the party has been the focus of negative and positive attention. On onehand it has been considered a racist and xenophobic party due to its policies onimmigrants. On the other, it has also been seen as a solution to what has been consideredby some to be a constant problem in Sweden, for those same policies.These policies are motivated by what the party perceives as a threat to Swedishsociety. That is to say, immigrants are a threat to Sweden because of thechanges they impose on the Swedish identity.

Ever since the nation-state has existed identity has been a big deal, it is told that identity is a tool needed to be able to receive consensus from the people concerned on a certain matter. As the European Union is continuously shaped and reshaped due to changing geographical borders, as a consequence of new member-states the aim to integrate the Union equally across its surface has not been an easy task to solve. A lack of trust from the inhabitants in the European Union is a fact, and therefore the main duty of the Union has become to rebuild the trust from beginning to end, creating a Union which easily can be identified with. Since the process of national identity relies upon an excluding-including process and the use of the Other, the identification process on an European level has indeed had fierce effects on the inhabitants within and outside the Union.One of many things that this essay aims at showing is how mythmaking has become a way used by the elite in the Union to integrate a European identity, the myths refer back to a Golden Age when Europe was prosperous and in bloom. Among other tools used to integrate and create a European identity we find such as; unity in diversity, a cultural inheritance based on common denominators such as Christianity and Latin traditions, symbols and a European citizenship.

This paper describes what some 9th grade students think of their sex education in school, especially when it comes to gender, sexual identity, norms and deviation. I have been using group interviews in two different schools, two groups per school. The result of the students' answers have been analysed on the basis of queer theory focusing on gender and sexual identity. The result of the study shows that the students consider their sexual education to be lacking, especially when it comes to gender, sexual identity, norms and deviation. Another conclusion of the analysis is that a sex education grounded in queer theory would be more inclusive..

As social interactions migrate to the ubiquitous Internet we are facing a change in theway we relate to each other, which presents interesting new opportunities foranonymity to create identities. An aspect of this radically evolving technology thatexhibits strong possibilities for altering or producing identities is the rapidly growingonline game genre MMOG (Massive Multiplayer Online Game) which isentertainment that millions of people all over the globe engage in daily. Thisrelatively new platform for socialising has become of cultural and social significance,which is why it calls for examination and research. Thus, the main research questionsasked in this thesis are as following: How does players of MMOGs utilise the nighcomplete anonymity to present or modify their identities online? In which ways areMMOGs used as a platform for socialising and development of social groupdynamics? After observing a large group of players in a popular MMOG, as well asconducting several interviews with key identities within the group, I discovered three fundamental parts of identity creation, and created a model for use and applicationin different social situations and constellations..

The purpose of this thesis is to study to what extent the UN millennium development goals have influenced Sweden?s development policy. The research method that I have used is a qualitative text analysis and I have studied the ideas in governmental texts and millennium development goals reports from 1995-2008.My hypothesis is that the basic ideas that has symbolized Sweden?s development policy has not changed much since the adoption of the millennium development goals in year 2000. This hypothesis is based on different ideas that the basic perspectives in international development policy are rather constant.My conclusion is that many of the areas that are affected by the millennium development goals already are prioritized areas within Swedish development policy, for example poverty reduction and gender equality.

Organizations today face big challenges as a result of increased exposure. A distinct and recognizable identity is required to differentiate. Consistent and coherent communication about what the organization stands for and where it is going is crucial if you want to succeed. This is a case study of how organizational members from two real estate companies that have merged into one, perceive their merged organization. The method is depth interviews with management representatives and focus group interviews with members from different levels of the company.