The focus of our dissertation is masculinity which is often a topic of debate in today?s society concerning areas such as violence, sport and paternal leave. Male studies are a relatively new field which means there is a lot remaining to be explored. We have chosen to explore how social class reflects on male identity. The reason we have chosen social class as a variable is due to a focus in the general debate of identity amongst the social sciences towards identities formed through consumption in the world of global mass-media.

The aim of the study was to illustrate how care managers reflect and act in regards to self-determination and integrity when caring for residents over 65 years old who have a dementia diagnosis. Our main questions dealt with how care managers handle the right to self-determination and integrity when a person has dementia, to which extent the care managers listen to the person with dementia and how the care managers look upon the residents with dementia?s ability of self-determination. To find the answers to our questions, we interviewed ten care managers within the elderly care in Gothenburg, Sweden. We used qualitative interviews based on a semi-structured interview guide.

This is a qualitative study which purpose is to examine the experiences of the recovery process after a treatment for eating disorders.                                                         The questions we have decided to examine are; how did the women adapt to a healthier life after treatment, what are the women's perceived experiences of the aspects related to identity and identity work, and what external social influence was seen as important for their adjustment process to a healthier life?Methods: We have used computer-supported and semi-structured interviews. There were a total of nine women who took part in the study.                                                                                                                    Results: Majority of these women have been recovered from their eating disorders, but some still have major or minor problems. They found it rather difficult to adjust their life's without an eating disorder.Conclusions: Increased self-awarness led to greater control over the eating disorder. The women could begin to confer the new features that they identified with.

Abstract: This study is focused on blogging from the perspective of the individual. Weinvestigate why one uses the weblog format, functions on the blog that are seen to work asdriving forces, attitudes towards self-disclosure and anonymity on the weblog and how therelation between an online- and offline-identity is interpreted by the bloggers themselves, forexample to what extent it is possible to get to know the blogger by reading the weblog.Finally, we investigate the weblog-readers meaning to the blogger, as well as their possibleimpact on both his or her personal blog-content and the everyday-life.The empirical material consists of half-structured interviews via MSN Messengerwith nine informants, being bloggers found on the Swedish website bloggportalen.se. Thetheoretical framework behind the interview guide focuses on the identity concept, containingidentity theories in psychological and sociological perspectives, symbolic interactionismconcerning the concept of roles, as well as Bauman?s liquid theory on postmodern societytendencies. This material is further included in related previous research articles, derived fromboth international and Swedish databases.

In today?s business environment, cost-cutting practices such as downsizing and layoffs remains a widespread phenomenon. Although, the understanding of the effects that these practices has on the remaining individuals, defined as the survivors, is poor. The focus in this paper is therefore to examine how survivors of layoffs can be affected on an individual level, and by what causes.The study was conducted using open-ended, qualitative interviews with three individuals with different experiences of layoffs. The empirical data was analyzed by extracting quotations from the interviews.The study found that layoffs affected the morale and attitude towards management of the individual, and that perceived justice and uncertainty are two causes of negative effects from layoffs..

This study aims to investigate, describe and discuss the views of a group of adolescents on their identity and the process of second language acquisition. They all came to Sweden and started studying in Swedish schools in the last three years without any knowledge of the Swedish language.The study has been conducted with respect to the adolescents own perspectives and what they consider important.The methods used are group discussions/ interviews, observations in class and informal discussions with teachers and adolescents.Their voices are described and discussed in this paper. One must take into consideration that there is no objective of being neutral or to generalize the results to any other group or category. On the contrary the study has involved critical self- scrutiny and active reflexivity according to ethnographic tradition.Symbolic interaction has provided a theoretical framework for the study. Looking into how social identities may be constructed or communicated from the adolescents voices and looking in to their use of language the study reveals that several expectations and situations need? to be met by different identities.

The purpose of this paper has been to study and to compare three novels, written by Katarina von Bredow, Syskonkärlek (1991), Som om ingenting (1999) and Som jag vill vara (2007), with focus on the protagonists. The aim was also to map how the novels relate to the contemporary youth novel, the girl book, Chick lit and Chick lit junior. The protagonists were compared on the basis of themes, sow as relationships within the family, boyfriend and friends, as well as identity. The protagonists have in common that the relation with their family members is important. The three protagonists consider that friendship is important.

The development of five individual pupils? writing abilities, as reported by six of their teachers, is analysed. The thoughts and reflexions inspired by the everyday interaction between the teacher and the pupil suffering from some kind of reading and writing disability are presented. The purpose is to capture what was unique and characteristic in the measures that triggered a positive response in the pupils. Some of the questions answered in this study are: How does the phenomenon of reading and writing disabilities manifest itself in the classroom, and what are the consequences for the individual pupil of the various pedagogical measures available?One conclusion that may be drawn from this study is that there is no cut-and dried method for working with pupils suffering from reading and writing disabilities.

Background: The district nurse's competence description is comprehensive and sets high standards for a wide range of skills. The population's need for health care will rise according to life expectancy, lifestyle diseases and multi-morbidity increases. To graduate as a district nurse, 75 higher education credits are needed and after graduation, the district nurse must have developed both personal qualities and gained skills that makes it possible to work in primary care, child / school health care and home care. Aim: The aim of this study is to highlight the newly qualified district nurse experiences in developing professional identity and describe on how this development affects nursing.Method: In the pilot study a qualitative method with an inductive approach was used, and data collection was made by four semi-structured interviews. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

This essay is derived from a case study about the SIRA school in Betlehem. SIRA is classified as a special education school with financial support from the Swedish International Relief Association. SIRA acts to provide support for children with reading and writing difficulties in their daily school work.The study's aim to describe the context for SIRA's specialized educational activity. The formulated questions should provide answers to which factors that influence SIRA's work, its goals, development, and the distinguished pedagogical approach.During the research comprehensive interviews were conducted with parties which can influence the way schools operate and provide the necessary support for students. Factors that influence the school's operation are analyzed from a ecological development perspective created by Urie Bronfenbrenner. The theory advocates that a student's development and interaction mainly comes from participating in activities, social roles and relations.This constant process of mutual adaptation between the developing individual and its surrounding environment is to be defined as its own entity. The result shows that SIRA's practice a special educational operation with focus on an approach which strengthens the student's identity and communicational skills..

AbstractHuvudfrågeställningen för uppsatsen är hur invandrarungdomar upplever och hanterar sin livssituation i de två kulturella världar de eventuellt lever i, den ursprungliga och den svenska kulturen? Undersökningen är utförd kvalitativt och baseras på fem intervjuer. De intervjuade har haft sin primära socialisation i hemlandet och under tidig ålder flyttat till Sverige. Teoretiskt utgår uppsatsen från Berger & Luckman, Jenkins, Ålund och Deniz vilka med sina skilda teorier förklarar varför identitetsprocessen och tillhörigheten är komplexfyllda för invandrarungdomar. Tidigare forskning har visat att invandrarungdomar upplever skilda problem i sin vardag därför att de lever i utkanten av två skilda kulturer.

Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this paper is to describe how a number of strategically selected employees at the Swedish Institute, with the purpose to promote Sweden in the world, look at the challenges facing Sweden concerning nation branding in the new era of cooperation within the European Union. I examine how these people look upon the work of public diplomacy and nation branding in order to actively participate and influence the EU's common communications platform.Material/Method: The method used in this thesis is qualitative interviews. The reason why I chose this method is because I consider it to be the most appropriate in order to collect information about how these selected employees at the Swedish institute regard the challenges that lay ahead in terms of nation branding within the European Union.Main results: On the basis of the results I have gained by dint of the analysis, it can be concluded that it is of utmost importance to take the societal changes, which are a result both of the worldwide globalization and the EU cooperation, into consideration when designing a future communication strategy for the Swedish Institute. The nation-state continues to play an important role in Sweden, but its importance is declining as the EU cooperation is progressing. The citizens? identity plays a crucial role in designing a nation?s communications strategy, and from the analysis I conclude that we move not from a Swedish to a European identity, but towards a pluralistic union where multiple identities meet under one umbrella; the EU..

This study attempts to look into and discuss if there are motivation factors involved whentrying to achieve a seeond language, which might effect the acquisition in any direction. Theeducation provided in Halmstad in Swedish as a seeond language is also studied on bases ofthe IDs (Individual Differences) that might occur. The study is carried out by interviews witheight informants. The interviews are analyzed and the results, which support previous researchin the area, are presented; and finally, in the conclusion part, suggestions for future researchare given, along with propos als on how to expand a study in this area..

In recent times statistical findings suggesting a deteriorating mental health among teenagers, have been published. Not only did I find the lack of an all-inclusive analysis problematic, but also the fact that the studies themselves where often insufficient. Thus my purpose has been to chart these statistical studies, and then scrutinize the results.My method has been inspired by critical theory, where an interpretive starting point, self-reflection, and the idea that man and society interacts as a whole, is of great importance. Aside from the above mentioned studies, I have also employed secondary empirical data from TV, newspapers and the Internet. My own experience as a social worker has also been an important resource for this paper.

Purpose: From an activity-perspective examine the meaning of housing accessibility and older persons´ perception of participation. Method: Systematic literature review of articles searched in the databases, Medline, Pubmed, Ahmed, Cinahl, Scopus and Google Scholar. Search on individual keywords, and in various combinations of the words home environment, home modification, occupational therapy, aging, accessibility and participation. Nine scientific articles were examined. Results: The articles were published between 2005 and 2009.