Municipalities with a higher amount of female representatives has been shown to be more gender equal. Earlier reasearch has also shown that female politicians are more likely than male politicans to represent Immigrants and refugees interests. However, the effect of female representation has not been tested on other subordinated groups than women. Swedish municipalities have full autonomy regarding refugee reception and local politicians are responsible for the decision on the amount of refugees that the municipality accept. The variations of female and male politicians in the local assemblies are expected to have different outcomes on the refugee reception, according to females social backgrounds and experiences.

The purpose of this masters thesis is to find out whether the library can be a way to support integration. To fulfil this purpose we have, by qualitative interviews, obtained information about eight immigrant womens views on and experiences of the Swedish public library. Through the literature and earlier research we have presented a background of Immigrants and integration in Sweden along with factors that may influence the integration process. We have tried to give an insight into what is said about the immigrant woman in research and media, which we think affects her life and we also have given a short introduction to immigrant womens life in Sweden today. Of great interest for our essay have also been the public librarys objectives and social role in society.

The need for second language learning is increasing in today?s multicultural and globalized society, and adult studies are becoming more common. Teachers must encourage all students, and all schools need to promote equality. Motivation is one of the most important factors for positive learning and progress, and it can be helpful for second language teachers to know more about this subject. The aim of this study was to examine which motivational factors that influence adult Immigrants to learn Swedish through SFI education in Sweden.

Till svenska sjukhus, vårdcentraler och äldreboende kommer patienter med en annan kulturell bakgrund. På grund av detta krävs att en sjuksköterska har en bra förståelse, en bred och djup insikt i olika kulturer och levnadssätt för att ge patienten ett gott bemötande. Syftet med studien var att beskriva kunskap om de olika faktorer som kan påverka sjuksköterskans bemötande av patienter med muslimsk bakgrund. En litteraturstudie har genomförts, som baseras på vetenskapliga artiklar och fokuserar på bemötande av patienter med muslimsk bakgrund. Materialet har bearbetats genom innehållsanalys.

According to our apprehension, work of integration is commonly considered managed in the main best through the labour market. Since this path is not available to everybody we wanted to find out how work of integration also can be practised in other areas. The purpose of this paper is to, with focus on children and youth, find out and analyze in what way the people working locally in residential areas and in associations, reflects around integration in general and within their own business, plus in what way they pursue local work of integration practically. The method we have used is qualitative, with unstructured, individual interviews. Our seven respondents within local authority, church and sport clubs, have told us about their work from a perspective of integration.

Background: Sweden is one of many countries which have a long history of immigration during the past decades. Each yearSweden receives numerous Immigrants from different parts of the world, which has madeSweden to a multi-culture country.Aim: The aim was to describe nurses? experiences of encounters with patients from different cultures.Method: A literature-based study based on qualitative research, nine scientific articles were performed.Result: The analysis of the data resulted in four themes such as; insufficient communication, family members as a link to the patient, unfamiliar situation, and attentive to the patients? vulnerability with seven subthemes.Conclusion: For a well functioning encounter between nurse and patient from different cultures, a prerequisite is that the nurses establish a relationship based on good communication with the patient and relatives. This can prevent inequality, suffering based on lack of nursing, violation and misunderstandings..

The purpose of this Masters thesis is to examine the discourses of concepts related to diversity and ethnicity in Swedish cultural policy. It focuses on how the society is presented in different contexts and how people with a different ethnic origin than the majority, are represented in the cultural policy of the Swedish State. The study is restricted to concern Immigrants. Six governmental cultural policy documents, reaching over a time period of eight years 1995-2003 are examined as follows: Which key terms are used in the presentations? Which contexts and discourses can be distinguished? Have the discourses changed over the time period examined, and if so, how? The theoretical starting point in the thesis is the discourse perspective of Laclau and Mouffe.

It is widely recognized that the town of Södertälje, a small Swedish town of 85 000 inhabitants, has alone received more war refugees from Iraq than the US and Canada have put together. Whilst writing this thesis had nearly 6000 Iraqi refugees sought their way to Södertälje since the US invasion in Iraq 2003.Nevertheless, life is not what the media and the government retail. Six of these Iraqi refugees who resided in Södertälje share their life stories in the following thesis. They discuss their escape from Iraq and the difficulties of living in the segregated parts of Södertälje where they solely speak Arabic and Assyrian, whilst learning Swedish at sfi (Svenska för invandrare, Swedish for Immigrants). Another distress is related to the unsecure future in Sweden waiting ahead.      The aim of this thesis is to engage in, and highlight the studies of six sfi-students in their endeavor to learn Swedish, whilst struggling through Swedish bureaucracy and experiencing despair due to their situation and uncertain future.       .

In contemporary Sweden political participation among foreign-born Swedes is viewed as low and it is well known that foreign-born individuals do not use their voting rights to the same extent as the general population. At the same time there are numerous ethnic associations around the country who work with various activities involving political, democratic and integration issues. This study aims to study how four members of a Somali association regard, relate to and work with politics, democracy and integration. The study is based on these four people, but also on their relationship with authorities and other agencies in the community. The conclusion of this study shows in brief that the desire to participate politically is great, but that democracy and politics is accessible to all, depending on the level of language skills and what political knowledge the individual has.

This essay is a case-study of an ethnically homogeneous association, situated in an ethnically heterogeneous neighbourhood. The purpose is to examine the social capital of the members in this particular association. The theory of social capital claims that this form of association constitutes an example of bonding social capital, and is running the risk of becoming excluding towards non-group members. However, several scientists suggest that the ethnically homogeneous associations can assist Immigrants in their new home countries to become a part of society, hence promote a more bridging form of social capital. This would be extra valuable in an ethnically heterogeneous context where the phenomenon of social capital often has a hard time.

This essay is about the integration work in Helsingborg. It's main focus bases on the collaboration concerning the integration work, between the immigrant's organisations in Helsingborg and the municipality. It's also focusing on the results of the survey, Integrationsbarometer 2003, which was carried out in Helsingborg.We wanted to know if the results altered the integration work in the community. The results of the Integrationsbaometer 2003, proved, among other things, that the inhibitants of Helsingborg, regarded dwelling areas whith a large number of Immigrants, as negatively, when they choose where to live. Finally, we wanted the politicians perspective of the integration work as well.We interviewed 6 informants in Helsingborg.

Finnish-born writer Susanna Alakoski?s novel Svinalängorna became a big success after being published in Sweden in April 2006. Though the novel has many themes in common with earlier literature written by and about Finnish Immigrants in Sweden, little attention has been brought to this fact by reviewers and journalists. This essay examines connections between Alakoski?s novel and Finnish migrant literature in Sweden, mainly from the 1970s, and how these connections have been recognised by reviewers in Sweden and Finland.

Finnish-born writer Susanna Alakoski?s novel Svinalängorna became a big success after being published in Sweden in April 2006. Though the novel has many themes in common with earlier literature written by and about Finnish Immigrants in Sweden, little attention has been brought to this fact by reviewers and journalists. This essay examines connections between Alakoski?s novel and Finnish migrant literature in Sweden, mainly from the 1970s, and how these connections have been recognised by reviewers in Sweden and Finland.

The survey aims to investigate and analyze how the image of Sweden and "Swedish character? is produced in the correspondence between Swedish Immigrants and family at home, compared to how the image of America and the U.S. is produced. The starting point is the concept of identity, which is shaped by the social group a person belongs, which can lead to stereotypes are formed. How does the Emigrant describe his new life in letters home to Sweden? What comparisons are made? What memories are passed from the time at home? How does the picture changes over time? How does the stereotypes change over time? The material used are remnants and secondary sources in the form of correspondence between emigrants and their relatives back home.

Abstract The purpose of this essay is to compare the integration policy between Socialdemokraterna, Moderaterna and Sverigedemokraterna with focus on labor-market integration, housing segregation and language knowledge. The international immigration has in recent years increased significantly and this has also enriched the receiving countries and still the numbers of extreme right parties have increased. In Sweden a racist populist party, Sverigedemokraterna, are only a few steps away from entering the parliament. The question in focus is: What differences or similarities are there between the integration politics between Moderaterna, Socialdemokraterna and Sverigedemokraterna with focus on the areas housing, work and language?  By applying the theoretical framework to the data, I have been able to present answers and build up an analysis. The study concludes that there are more similarities than differences in the integration policy between Moderaterna and Socialdemokraterna.