Engelsk titel: Greater opportunities than interests : Civic culture and deliberative discourse on Swedish NGO websitesThis is a critical and normative study, which examines a selection of Swedish NGO websites as potential forums for civic culture and deliberative discourse in the public sphere. Sociocultural, political and sociological and media and communication theories are combined.The work is made within a Habermasian tradition, but the importance of a hermeneutic methodology is stressed, along with the sociocultural perspective to reach an understanding of why citizens engage in politics. In contrast to much of the earlier research concerning deliberative discourses on the Internet, a more informal understanding of how people discuss politics is stressed.The questions are: What kind of civic role do the websites discursive dimensions address? What kind of civic identity do the users address in the websites resource dimensions?The empirical results are both discouraging and encouraging for advocates who put their trust in the Internet as a potential civic tool, in these times when neoliberal models of citiziens are prioritizing citizens as consumers, thus neglecting citizens as political actors. The study reveals that the websites show good results in general, regarding the civic roles and identities of the websites as both discourse and resource for the users.

Personal branding is a common phenomenon within the Swedish business world, although less applied on the competitive and fast paced music industry. In order to strengthen Swedish artists' personal brands and to ensure congruence between the artists' presented identities and the target audiences' perceived images, we have developed a model, containing of seven essential factors. The seven dimensions authenticity, credibility, certainty, openness, availability, awareness and timeliness help improve strength when communicating brand identity, as well as minimizing potential discrepancy between identity and image. This report examines the brand strategies within the Swedish music industry through a case study of Sweden's largest pop star, Eric Saade, where Team Saade's communicated identity is compared to the targets audience's perceived image of Saade. Overall, Saade's personal brand has a high level of congruence, except from the clarity dimension, where his words are considered differing from his actions.

The main aim of this thesis is to study how and in which way the library personnel works with reading groups and their view of reading groups. I also want to study which role the governing- and policy documents have in the library personnel?s work. The following questions were asked.Which similarities and differences between the different library personals outlooks and acting can be interpreted from the following aspects:? Promoting reading, book selections and the leader's role?? To talk about personal subjects and to create possibilities for personal growth and increased empathy?? To promote language development and reading comprehension?The methods used in the study are a combination of interviews and observations.

In subsequent to Post-colonialism the African nations have dilated into different political directions. While some nations have established well-functioning democracies, others are still under authoritarian regimes. The aim of this thesis is to examine if civil society has an impact on democratic development in West Africa. Therefore the theoretical starting point is Putnam?s theory of social capital, but this study will also examine other possible causal explanations for democratic transition.This study will be based on a comparative analysis of Ghana and Guinea.

The purpose of this study was to discuss young immigrant's experiences of the meeting between their original culture and swedish culture. In this discussion certain emphasis is laid on the formation of identity. In a more specific manner the aim was to find out which underlying circumstances contributed to the individuals choice in considering him- or herself as swedish or not and what these circumstances depended on.The empirical material of this study consists of five lifestories based on the methodological study of narrative. I have analyzed the material with help from Anthony Giddens' theory of structuration with starting point in the conception of ontological safety. I identified four different themes that frequently recured in each lifestory: identity in migration- and integrationsprocesses, the open doors of globalization, "swedish" identity and belonging in two cultures.

That parents should be a part in their children?s education is something that we educationalist wish for the future. Research show that if you have a good relation between parents and school, it can help a student's educational process. In this study I have concentrated on the Swedish minority group Roma. The study is qualitative and based on interviews with Roma.

The purpose of this essay is to analyse how and why culture and tradition is created and maintained within a minor student society at a Swedish university by looking at its history. The West Coast Nation student society provided the material which was subsequently analysed and three sociological perspectives were applied in order to give the study a theoretical base. In order to investigate the purpose of the society, durkheimian theories on functionalism were applied. Moreover, Bourdieu?s thoughts on social fields were used as well as Elias? theories on the established and the outsiders.

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 group of elderly people in Sweden will increase significantly in the future and science point out that the future elderly people will not accept today?s standards and offers of assistance in today?s public elderly care. Therefore public elderly care stands before a significant challenge in terms of development that has to be sustainable. New research also points out that middle managers can be a great strategic resource, and a founder of success, in the challenge of sustainable development. The aim of the report was to increase the knowledge about what middle managers in public elderly care think sustainable development has to embrace, when it comes to quality and personnel administration, in order to meet the needs of the future elderly people.

Risk management has become a key ingredient for businesses all over the world. High Reliability Organizations (HRO) has distinguished themselves as experts in this area. By continuously focusing on improving their ability to manage risks they?ve been able to successfully avoid catastrophes in environments where normal accidents can be expected due to complexity and risk factors.The aim of the thesis is to improve the risk management at Apotekens Service by applying theories from HRO and safety culture. In July 2009, following the re-regulation of the Swedish pharmacy market, Apotekens Service AB was appointed national pharmacy infrastructure supplier for the Swedish health care system.

This paper aims to examine how and to what extent, a transition of Sweden according to the principles of Omställning Sverige (Transition towns Sweden), have the potential to contribute to a society with increased happiness.The paper is based on a qualitative textual analysis of the key texts in the Swedish Transition towns movement, Omställning Sverige. In the first part of the study the most important transition principles of Omställning Sverige were identified. Four key principles emerged: An altered view of economics, a spiritual change, a stronger local community and increased awareness. These transition principles were then analyzed through the lens of the scientific fields position on happiness, followed by a summarizing conclusion.The altered view of economics which Omställning Sverige advocates, where sustainability and quality of life are priorities over economic growth, is even necessary to secure our basic physiological needs. Such an economy has also improved conditions for economic stability, high employment and higher efficiency in the sense of happiness promoted in relationship to how many natural resources are used.

The actual project presents the development of a testing rig for a steam engine. A short overviewabout the development of steam engines is presented, until arriving to the development of thepresent engine, which will require to be tested in different ways.The testing rig studied on this project (based on a Lanchester engine) will be used to testdifferent materials and layouts for the group Piston-Cylinder.The engine is a high performance steam power engine, which is going to have a highpower/dimensions ratio, what will lead to require high performance components and materials.An introduction to the testing rig is presented, and the entire design project is done in order toreplace the disappeared documentation of the current testing rig, built on the 1970?s. Also somemodifications done in the original testing rig are presented, as well as some detected problemsand their possible solutions..

Kandidatuppsatsens syfte är att undersöka och analysera hur kommuner kan stötta och utveckla sina chefer och hur cheferna har upplevt den satsning som har gjorts. Inom ramen för syftet fokuserar jag på uppfattningar av hur formell ledarutbildning respektive informellt lärande påverkar ledarutvecklingen i kommunen. Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär med inspiration av hermeneutisk ansats då studien inriktas på att tolka och förstå en helhet genom dokumentanalys och intervjuer. Kvalitativa, semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts för att få en insikt i vad det är cheferna skulle vilja utveckla och hur detta skall gå till. Resultatet visar att det finns positiva erfarenheter av det ledarprogram som genomförts i en kommun och att respondenterna upplever att de fått en gemensam värdegrund att arbeta med och för att utvecklas vidare som ledare.

The purpose of this examination paper is to get an understanding as an upcoming teacher about how friends make an important impact on children?s identity development in school, their choice of friends circle and what kind of groups there can occur among them. With a deeper comprehension of these circumstances should an educationalist be more considerate and adapt his or hers education to prevent negative group formations and to be an outsider. To achieve my results I used a qualitative research method where I through observation handpicked eight students from upper level of compulsory school with different friend circles from two classes for further interviews. Beside this I observed students in their school environment for three days.

This study aims to illustrate the Leader approach and analyze the work of collaboration development within Leader. The idea has also been to describe some of the difficulties that might be encountered in this type of development work. By highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of this approach we hope to enhance the chance that future work in similar projects can be implemented more easily. Leader is a tool and methodology used in the European Union (EU) for work on sustainable rural development and it has been used since 1991. The purpose of Leader is that by supporting rural projects they will gain social capital and development in the rural communities.