The aim of this study was to examine young adult cannabis users? attitudes towards cannabis and their perception of the normalization of cannabis. The purpose was also to explore how their views of cannabis correspond with norms regarding cannabis. This study is based on interviews with five young adult cannabis users. The theoretical framework is based on Parker?s normalization thesis, Goffman?s notion of stigma, Becker?s definition of outsiders and the definition of social identity developed by Stone.

Many homeless and private owned cats are relinquished to cat shelters. Shelters are often a very stressful place for cats and their welfare may be endangered. Today it is common that cats are housed in groups at cat shelters and there are some perceived problems in housing cats in groups. The social structure of the cat is very complex and although cats are basically solitary they can be kept in groups under the right conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate how cats in groups interact with each other at a cat shelter.

Nowadays, packaging design is seen as a competitive tool and its importance for corporations is becoming increasingly apparent. The rivalry within homogeneous markets puts high demands on differentiation and the ability to create something more than the product itself. With this fundamental question, the soft drink industry has been examined and a case study of the brand Coca-Cola has been performed. The aim is to investigate how packaging design is used as a tool for strengthening a brand and to explore which additional values this contributes. In addition, the study observes the most important factors in the development of packaging design.A theoretical work of reference, consisting primarily of theories related to branding, design development and visual identity, has been developed to support the study.

The aim of this study was to investigate in what way content marketing can be understood through podcasts as an alternative marketing tool. The material which the study was based on is Ölpodden, a podcast initiated by Carlsberg Sweden. The study intended to shed light on the interdiscursivity that emerges when brands are communicated through podcasts. Another aim was to understand how relationships and identities are constructed through the podcast by examining its intended audience. In order to achieve this a critical discourse analysis was used as both underlining theory and comprehensive method.

The purpose of this essay has been to investigate the research and national initiatives regarding film and Cineliteracy in the Swedish curriculum.The results show that, after all research, national initiatives and the continual clarification from the Swedish National Agency for Education concerning film's place in the Swedish subject, the vision of students cineliteracy not at all obtain an obvious place in the curriculum.The research points out the main causes behind this result to be teachers' lack of expertise and the fact that the formal education for future teachers in the subject still upholds traditional views on the subject of Swedish.The initiative presented in this essay also show lack of continuity, lack of adequate professional development opportunities for teachers and lack of practical guidance manuals to help teachers to develop and educate their pupils in line with current research and visions. .

The question of the provision of electronic books in Swedish public libraries has lately evolved into a lively debate in Swedish media, where the public library?s identity and itsexpected role as a democratic institution is an underlying topic. The aim of this bachelorthesis is to examine the idea of the public library?s identity as expressed in newspaperand journal articles by writers connected to the library sector. The aim is achieved byexamining the language-use and identifying discourses in the debate.

This thesis examines the experience value of the wolf and wolf hunting presented in mediaduring December 17, 2009-Feruary 15, 2010. I analyze news articles, editorials and letters tothe editor in three newspapers. In order to investigate the experience value of the wolf and thewolf hunt, I have with inspiration from a model employed in the assessment of experiencevalue of tangible cultural heritage, developed a model which I use to analyze the mediamaterial according to the criteria of aesthetic value, identity value, value of tradition andsymbolic value. In order to analyze the results of the analyze, I employ experimental andsociocultural theory and method, which means that I assume the experiences of the wolf andthe wolf hunt as related to a social and cultural perspective that partly depends on how weidentify ourselves and what kind of experiences and understandings we have of the landscapeand large carnivores. Since media affects how we perceive our surroundings and the wolfhunting attracted much attention in media, I found it interesting to examine how the wolf andthe wolf hunt were displayed in news articles and letters to the editor.

In my opinion, the city is a place fit as much for children as for grown-ups. I have noticed, however, that this is not a view shared by everyone. Does not the urban space belong as much to children as to other people? Yes, of course. Today and in the future most people will live and grow to be adults in cities. I would even take it as far as to say that without children, there will be no real city.

The way in which media discusses religion has changed over time. Due to the separation of state and church in 2000, the Swedish state to a lesser extent legitimizes its political ruling with references to religious concepts. As a result, a higher tolerance towards religious minorities can be said to have taken place. This is an ambiguous change however, where critique raised towards religious practices and expressions of minorities also occurs to a higher extent. The public debate is in large part conducted through the media, but is also seen to be produced and reproduced through the media?s discourse.

This essay studies what has been written about religious experience and visions both in the past and now. It deals with both the religious experience and tries to explain how and if there is any place in the modern society for religious visions and experience. The essay has a strong theoretical perspective to psychology of religion as presented by Anton Geels whose writings in the subject have been of one of my main sources.The study shows that people of all times and cultures have had religious visions and the feeling of a divine experience even if this has changed because of tradition, time and place. Religious experience and visions can furthermore occur both in a spontaneous, unprepared way as well as being cultured through ascetic practice in order to facilitate the divine reception. The study also shows that religious experience in no means is reserved for special ?chosen ones? but can occur to each and every one, no matter what class, race or position in life.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how people from Iran experience reading in their mother tongue, Persian, compared to how they experience reading in Swedish and if there was a difference. The questions to be answered in the thesis were: What is the dominant purpose when people read their mother tongue and when they read in Swedish. Do they read because they need information, because they want to relax or do they, when they read, reflect on their own lives? The method was qualitative, interviews were conducted with 8 Iranians living in Sweden. The theoretical background consists of a description of theories on reading and theories on language and identity.

The purpose of this work has been to understand the reading group from the perspective of the society. The studyhas taken place in the city of Västerås and the results can thus not be used in a more generalized sence. Byfocusstudies conducted with members from four different reading groups connected in different ways to the libraryin Västerås I have reached the following conclusions.According to Jürgen Habermas theories the reading groups, with their ideals regarding education and meetingswhere everybody are equals, belong in the part of the public sphere that he calls literary. There are someconnections to the political sphere, for exempel the down to earth quality of the literature that is the choice ofthe groups and their way of discussing it.One problem that occures when one tries to apply Habermas idéas regarding the public sphere on readinggroups is that the criteria Habermas considers as vital to sphere for it to work properly does not seem to workon the reading groups. Inclusion, eqality and freedom of subjects are necessary to create a public sphere.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the points of view of three groups of actors about their local learning center and its collaboration with the library. By interviewing groups of actors from the municipal sector, the library staff and students, I aim to investigate their associations of the learning centre, what kind of services it should offer, and how they understand the role of the library staff in specific collaboration between the public library and the adult education administration. The study design is based on Gunnar Grepperud?s and Terje Thomsen?s three missions for a local learning centre; the mission of a broker, a meeting place and a motivator. I also use Carol Kuhlthau?s levels of mediation as an approach to investigate how the actors want the library staff to work in relation to the centre.

This master thesis is about a place that has a story to tell. Olsson?s garden came about when Mr Carl Oscar Olsson acquired a piece of land in Landalabergen in the beginning of the 1930's and at that time he started his industrious work of uniting much of Sweden's flora in his garden. Since the very beginning Olsson's garden has played a lot of different rolls in a variety of situations and meant different things for different people. Today one can find traces from Mr Olsson's life and deeds in the garden.

This study deals with a research on what the opening sounds in movies tell us about the story that we are about to follow. The purpose is to examine if and how the sound in the first five minutes of the movie contribute in giving information about the film?s genre. The theoretical base includes both genre theory and Michel Chion?s theory on film sound.