The aim of this study was to explore transsexuals? identity formation and experiences related to cross-sex hormone treatment, as well as to become absorbed in the narrative approach. To be able to participate in transsexuals? identity formation, life stories were well suited as a theoretical approach. Life stories can be seen as socially situated actions according to Mishler, where individuals? identity formation can be seen as both identity performances and identity claims.

This essay explores how artwork in the public space can be analysed, conceptualized and described by bringing attention to site. Through an analysis of artworks in the yearly art exhibition of Fittja Open 2011, the essay draws attention to site-specific art and structures of power. The principal aim is to present not only the exhibition of Fittja Open 2011 but also other artwork in the public sphere in Fittja, a suburb to Stockholm. From this point of departure other interests evolve that concerns the "image" of Fittja. The analysis, based on research in art history, architecture, ethnology and philosophy as well as qualitative interviews, also focuses on understanding the role of site and the relations between art practice, institutions and site.The result shows that there are problems with a ruptured interface between the artwork and site.

This study is a comparative analysis of how Hollywood portrays people from the Middle East before and after 9/11. The films used to conduct this study are True Lies (1994), The Siege (1998), The Kingdom (2007) and Body of Lies (2008). With a qualitative methodology, discourse analysis and postcolonial theory this study analysed not only how people from the Middle East is portrayed, but also how the Americans in the films are presented and how the characters in the films changed in the movies produced after 9/11.     The results show that people from the Middle East are portrayed in a negative way and that Hollywood uses stereotypes. However, people from the Middle East are more gradated in the films post-9/11. There is a bigger focus on Islam in the movies produced after 9/11 and the study also shows that family values play a less central part in the story in the films made after 9/11 and that work is of more importance.

International reading comprehension studies, like PIRLS and PISA, state that the reading comprehension of Swedish students has decreased significantly since 2000. As a consequence, the National Agency of Education has made reading comprehension teaching a prioritised field in terms of further education for teachers. There has also been a change in Lgr 11, the national curriculum for compulsory school, where it is stated that teaching in reading strategies shall be a part of the central content throughout compulsory school. When the pupils reach upper secondary school level, reading comprehension education is no longer a part of the curriculum. Today, students at upper secondary school for individuals with learning disabilities currently share the same curriculum as the ordinary upper secondary school.

This study aims to examine attitudes and conceptions of staff who work with mentally disabled persons, concerning normalization and gender. Six qualitative interviews with such professionals were performed and subsequently analyzed. Since the method of this study is qualitative, no claim of generalizability is made. The interview material has been categorized into themes by means of coding. The result of the study is presented according to those themes.

This master's thesis analyses the concept of equality between men and women in parts ofRegion Västra Götaland's area of operation. With critical policy analysis I analyse how theproblem of inequality is represented in the European charter for equality of women and men inlocal life (CEMR) and the Region Västra Götaland's plan of action for the charter. Throughinterviews with people responsible for gender equality in different areas I analyse, withdiscourse theory, the ways in which the concept of gender equality is articulated in differentareas of Region Västra Götaland, and what kind of politics these articulations enables.In the analysis I show that a discursive struggle of how equality is to be defined canbetter be understood as a discursive negotiation. Equality between men and women isunderstood in several ways at the same time, as antidiscrimination and basic human rights, asbalance between the sexes, and as an approach critical of norms and stereotypes. Within thesenegotiations certain understandings of gender are made possible or impossible.

This study aims to examine attitudes and conceptions of staff who work with mentally disabled persons, concerning normalization and gender. Six qualitative interviews with such professionals were performed and subsequently analyzed. Since the method of this study is qualitative, no claim of generalizability is made. The interview material has been categorized into themes by means of coding. The result of the study is presented according to those themes.

The process of European Integration and creation of the single market revealed many questions and boundaries on the development and improvement of the European Social Policy. Pension?s sustainability has become the priority issue especially during the EU enlargement processes. Different policy instruments and institutions available to governments of Member States in realization of social objectives resulted in a growing diversity of pension polices which produced different combinations of public and private provisions - ?private-public hybrids? , with the state exercising different degrees of influence in their development.

Syftet med den här studien var att undersöka om mental trötthet leder till ökad diskriminering av överviktiga. Genom att använda en dual process-modell, inleddes undersökningen med en bedömningsuppgift som deltagarna fick utföra i labbmiljö. Vid ett senare tillfälle fick var och en ombesörja att de genomförde ett implicit associationstest (IAT), följt av en explicit graderingsfråga, där deltagarna uppskattade en eventuell skillnad i normal- kontra överviktigas mentala prestation. Syftet med dessa tester var att ta reda på om diskriminering mot överviktiga existerade inom gruppen i sin helhet på såväl implicit som explicit nivå. Hälften av gruppen hade genomgått en kraftig mental trötthetsbelastning före bedömningsuppgiften, med avsikt att se om bias mot överviktiga ökade vid mental trötthet.

Grupptillhörighetens påverkan på uppfattningen av politiska uttalanden är något som inte tidigare studerats inom svensk forskning. I denna experimentella studie deltog 96 studenter, varav 25 män. Genom en enkätundersökning testades avsändarens betydelse på hur politiska uttalanden värderas. Syftet var att se om ett politiskt uttalande uppfattades olika beroende på avsändare och huruvida deltagarens grupptillhörighet påverkade uppfattningen om uttalandet. Fyra olika enkäter delades ut, innehållandes samma uttalande men olika påstådda avsändare.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate if Swedish agencies preserve their websites according to the Swedish archival legislations and guidelines. As a theory the OAIS Reference Model (Open Archival Information System, developed by US Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, CCSDS) has been used as a model to show how important it is to develop strategies for public digital information which has to be preserved for long term. The ingest function in the OAIS Reference Model demands that files are prepared for long term preservation and requires that the digital information fulfils established technical requirements.In the study the Swedish National Archive and their advices about preserving websites to archivists on the Swedish agencies are being studied. To control if the agencies meet the requirements for their management and preservation of their websites a survey was sent out to investigate if Swedish agencies preserve their websites. According to the survey result, 84 of 113 agencies preserve their websites in some way. If the technical requirements really was met could not be verified in this thesis, the results was relied on the responses from the authorities.

Background: Thanks to the globalization and the EU the international trade is growing faster than ever and companies are able to change ownership across the borders of the nations. Today one can talk about global marketplace with a deeper integration of the economies of the world. The rapidly growing list of mergers of Swedish companies since the last 10 years indicates that the global companies of today is using mergers as a strategic tool for continue their growth. However the number of unsuccessful mergers is big. The need of understanding and knowledge about different cultures is growing in the global business climate of today, since the collaborations across de national borders are increasing.Problem formulation: Which international strategies are fortunate in international mergers with Swedish companies?Purpose: The purpose is to analyze the integration of the three mergers; Vin&Sprit ? Pernod Ricard, Astra - Zeneca and Telia ? Sonera.Method: This study is a case study with a qualitative approach.

This study aims to examine attitudes and conceptions of staff who work with mentally disabled persons, concerning normalization and gender. Six qualitative interviews with such professionals were performed and subsequently analyzed. Since the method of this study is qualitative, no claim of generalizability is made. The interview material has been categorized into themes by means of coding. The result of the study is presented according to those themes.

Several previous studies have in different ways tried to explain how new social movements are affected by the different sets of political and social contexts within different states and societies. This essay asks the question how much the institutional aspects within the theory of Political Opportunity Structures (POS) have determined how the rather successful animal rights movements in the Netherlands and Great Britain have mobilized and acted to gain progress. Since the Netherlands and Great Britain contains different kinds of political and institutional contexts, these two states are found to be suitable for a comparative analysis of the theory's durability. A qualitative portrayal of both state's institutional political opportunity structures are presented. Then the mobilization, progress, and actions of the political party ?Party for the Animals? in the Netherlands, and a wide group of animal rights organisations in Great Britain are determined.

This study aims to examine attitudes and conceptions of staff who work with mentally disabled persons, concerning normalization and gender. Six qualitative interviews with such professionals were performed and subsequently analyzed. Since the method of this study is qualitative, no claim of generalizability is made. The interview material has been categorized into themes by means of coding. The result of the study is presented according to those themes.