In this paper my aim is to understand the trance movement from within as a collective phenomenon. I went to Turkey with my boyfriend David on a trance gathering, a festival called A Total Solar Eclipse Festival. There I did participant observations and interviews.Can Collins theory about interaction ritual be useful to raise the understanding? And is it fruitful to apply the term collective identity?The collective identity is build up by the festival as interaction ritual. It generates solidarity, emotional energy and a sense of belonging.In this paper I discuss different categories and symbols that the collective identity contains of.

This study considers Härskarringen (1959?61), a Swedish translation of J. R. R. Tolkien?s The Lord of the Rings (1954?55), within the framework of translation studies and the description of norms within different fields of translation.

This work has treated the subject of gender, with demarcation against the norms regarding appearance and beauty, conveyed by the media and how it affects society. This is expressed through social satire cartoons. This work has also led to an exploration of the importance of a personal drawing style and how it manifests itself..

This thesis studies the relationship between book values and market values in different assets and liabilities in Swedish Large Cap companies balance sheets. The aim is to find out if the relationship, the permanent measurement bias, has changed during since Mikael Runstens doctoral thesis from 1998 called The Association between Accounting Information and Stock Prices. Although some changes in the permanent measurement bias are found, this probably is due to other aspects than the introduction of IFRS..

The public health care sector has come under increasing pressure to cut down costs, maximize productivity and satisfy patients' needs during the 1990s and onwards. As a way of "getting more for less" quality management has been introduced. Originating in the private manufacturing industry, quality management has a strong focus on productivity and efficiency, aspects which are measured in quantitative terms. However, there are strong concerns that quality management is a means of speeding up the marketization of public health care by introducing core values much different from the ethic and medical norms that traditionally underpin health care organizations.This essay focuses on how quality management has been introduced to, and transformed by, public health care. A theoretical framework based on new institutionalism is constructed, and translation theories are used as a way of illustrating how the medical institutional environment, in fact, changes the concept of quality management.

The failure of Structural Adjustment Programs and its neoliberal policies to effectively reduce poverty have led to the creation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) by The World Bank and International Monetary Fund. PRSP, connected to both the Comprehensive Development Strategy and the HIPC initiative, are built on the notion of national ownership and stakeholder participation and thereby expand potential conditionality to include matters of governance. This thesis examines the evolution of PRSP and how the process of participation affects national governance structures. By analyzing the role of rules and norms within the World Bank and IMF from a historical point of view the thesis explains why the participation process has developed the way it has. It concludes that neoliberal norms, still at heart within the World Bank and IMF, have an impact on the process of participation within nation states and thereby its governance structure.

I have with this thesis sought to understand how chick lit could be useful in the classroom in the teaching of Swedish B-course in high school. Based on the model of critical literacy I am arguing that this genre would help to meet the objectives of the policy documents which, among other things, are to critically examine and analyze various types of texts.I have found that some of these texts could be used for analyzing and critically examine the ideological dimensions of texts and cultural heritage by the model of critical literacy, and also as a counterweight to the more traditional teaching of the canonical literature as a literary historical stuff that students should learn. I have also wanted to create a basis for discussions about literature in the classroom based on the chick lit genre. To do this I have, based on three themes and questions from the model of critical literacy, tried to focus on issues that might emerge from the ideological analysis and critical review. The model aims to deconstruct norms of society, and in the work of chick lit, I wanted to show how you could deconstruct norms around gender..

The DISA method is a universal program developed for teenage girls to prevent depression. The program includes cognitive behavioral techniques are suppose to change negative pattern of thinking, give practice of communication, strategies of problem solution and exercises to strengthen the social network. The purpose of this study is to find out how a group of teenage boys were affected by the DISA program and what factors that may have impacted the outcome. Material from three different studies have been used, a quantitative study in terms of data from self-assessment form CES-D, materials from two semi-structured focus group interviews with the boys and material from a questionnaire filled out by the boys on two occasions during the DISA method. The result of the CES-D indicates that the boys had less depressive symptoms after the final group meeting compared to the first group meeting and also a year later. Analysis of the material from focus group interviews and questionnaire have been made from a communication theory and systems theory perspective and indicate a shift to greater cohesion in the group and demonstrates that communication between the boy-group and group leaders had importance for the outcome.

The purpose with this study is to identify an organizational culture at Posten Örebro based on Edgar H. Schein´s theory about the three levels of culture. These three levels consist of artifacts, espoused beliefs and values and basic underlying assumptions. Artifacts represent the visible and tangible of an organization and this level is the easiest level to identify. Espoused beliefs and values include common thoughts and ideals within the organization and are an aware, but not necessarily material, cultural level.

Through a critical discourse analysis this study explores the gender norms that students on Kvinnofolkh?gskolan produce, reproduce and experience. Kvinnofolkh?gskolan is built on the understanding that the world discriminates against women politically, culturally, economically and socially, and thus intends to give women, non-binaries and trans people an education with a feminist alignment. Despite studies being made on gender segregated schools as identity forming, I argue that there is a lack of studies that show how gender discourse and theory is produced in contexts where men are excluded.

Our purpose was to investigate if Swedish University educated social workers, living as active Christians, in any way might be influenced by Christian values. The main questions; Can Christian values be a factor in the choice of career to become a social worker? How does a personal belief in Christ impact the relationship towards the clients? Is Christian belief a support in the work? In this paper we used a qualitative method and interviewed eight persons, with a background as above, four of them employed by a church organisation and the other four working in the social sector. The result we present is that the eight Christian social workers Christian belief influenced their work very individually. How much this supported them was a choice about how official and open they wanted Christian values to be.

This paper discusses some concerns about Japanese gender identity as a construct and the subversive means to overthrow it. In my paper I claim that the eastern influences on Japan has created a gap between old and new gender- traditions and norms. This interspace is what the philosopher Judith Butler claims as the site for a possible gender transformation. As Butler claims gender identity to be a construct, I use her methods of understanding and subsequently queertheory, to investigate the construct of Japanese gender identity and also the norms that constitute a national identity. As I elaborate on this theory I use specific artworks from Morimura Yasumasa, Yoshiko Shimada and Bubu de la Madeleine and also the all-male theatre kabuki vs.

Music has always been an important form of communication and it can be found in many different contexts including aesthetical, cultural and emotional forms. In the globalized society of today music can be distributed fast through radio, TV, CD: s and the Internet. For many people consumption of music is an important part of the daily life and it can contribute to shape an individual?s attitudes and personality.The main purpose of this study is to find out whether there are any differences between men and women?s musical preferences. I will apply an explorative approach using qualitative interviews to describe what causes the differences.

We, the authors of this essay are both students at the Bachelor Programme in Social Work at Malmö Högskola. During our education we have been reflecting on the gender perspective that is suppose to permeate the education. This essay aim to examine how some students at the Bachelor Programme in Social Work at Malmö Högskola, who identify themselves as GLBT , experience how questions regarding sex/gender and sexuality are spoken about during their education. We have a discursive perspective on how we understand norms and power of words and language. From a queerteorethic point of view we explain sex/gender and sexuality.

By the same time as the recent enlargement of the European Union, where Poland became a member, it was officially stated that the gender mainstreaming-policy was to be integrated into every area of EU. NGO:s working as entrepreneurs for the gender mainstreaming norm in Poland supported the accession largely because they believed it would help spreading the norm also on a national level. Qualitatively analyzing the Polish case and the difficulties gender mainstreaming as a norm candidate meets with I contrast expectations with what could actually be EU:s role in this matter.Arguing that EU is a context with room for spreading norms by both bargaining and socialization, this paper takes a social constructivist approach. Gender mainstreaming as a norm is difficult for EU to apply on their members, and thus was not widely discussed during accession negotiations. In the same time.