Research shows that unemployed´s motivation to seek work affects their health and social life. Employment officer?s motivational work should be based on strengthening the individual's confidence in their abilities. Five motivational theories underpinning the study is Cognitive Theory, Self-determination theory, Expectancy Value Theory, need theory and Goal Theory. The purpose of this study was to investigate individuals' job motivation, and emotional experiences, also in relation to contact with the employment officer.

The focus of this thesis is the conception of work and the relation between work, economic growth and welfare in today?s Sweden in the editorial of Dagens Nyheter (DN), which is the main morning paper in Sweden.As the theoretical foundation of this thesis is social constructionism and the method being used is critical discourse analysis, the language is considered as an important source for the construction of value and meaning of work. In that context it is important to investigate how DN, by certain ways of representing reality, preserves a certain view of the human being, the society and the economy. Which ideological ideas underlie the conception of work that emerges in DN? What social consequences will these ideas have?The thesis discusses the ?truths? that the editorialists mediate concerning for example the view of the human being as guided by rational choice and the view of economic growth as the main goal for social life.One of the conclusions is that DN considers work as a means for economic growth as economic growth is regarded fundamental for the survival of the welfare state..

This study focuses on the use of animals in social work from the perspective of social workers. The purpose of this study is to examine social workers? experiences of animal assisted social work and how social workers view the integration of animals in various fields of social work. The research is based on a qualitative method and four semi-structured interviews were conducted with social workers. The theories incorporated in the study are Attachment Theory and Sense of Coherence (SOC).The following results are presented: Social workers are considered to have a more comprehensive understanding of clients compared to their associates who do not hold a degree in Social Work.

The society of consumption exposes us to a lot of information, where advertisement constitutes an extensive part. Due to its expanding, advertisement receives a natural and obvious space in our everyday life. This study aims to investigate how social and cultural values can be mediated in advertisement. The focus has been put to ideas related to health and fitness in the advertisement of power drinks. The thesis takes social constructionism as a starting point, and combines image- and critical discourse analysis in purpose to analyze the pictures.Sociology of consumption, construction of identity, lifestyle and everyday life all constitute an essential part of my analysis.

According to statistics two thirds of Swedish criminals relapse into crimes within three years (Brå, 2007). Researchers suggest a relationship between attitudes toward crime and delinquent behaviour (Andrews & Bonta, 2003), but whether these attitudes are implicit or explicit remains unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to measure both constructs. Using SC-IAT (Karpinski & Steinman, 2006) and constructs from the Theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985), criminals (N = 51) in three different prisons in southern Sweden were tested. Analysis yielded mixed results.

The purpose of this study was to illustrate how professionals, who work with psychosocialproblems among children, look at the impact of social factors on behavior that causes ADHDdiagnosis and at the relationship between social factors and the increased diagnosis that hasoccurred in recent years. To answer our purpose, we chose a qualitative approach byinterviewing six professionals who had different professional affiliations. We analyzed theresults using systems theory and attachment theory. The results showed that the professionalssaw various social factors that influenced the behaviors that cause ADHD diagnosis, particularlytroublesome growing environment and the school environment that requires greater cognitiveability and social skills of children today. They also saw that social factors could have an impacton the increase of diagnoses, particularly that the diagnosis can result in that the understandingchanges and that it is considered easier to get extra support at school with a diagnosis..

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the schools? pupils have the capacity to understand societal change through social consciousness. In order to investigate that a theory has been developed specifying what social consciousness means and how it is used. The theory has been used as a tool in an ideology critical analysis of the steering documents on which the schools? work is based.

The main purpose of this study is to find out what kind of help social service in one selected municipality in Sweden can provide for children who have witnessed or been victims of domestic violence. Using focus group interview this study investigate how the social workers meet the needs of these children. The bases for our analysis are the Organization Theory and the Attachment Theory, as well as previous research. Important results are that the social services are dependent on notifications in order to do their work and that the most common interventions are foster care, emergency foster care and/or family therapy. The difficulties that social workers perceive their work are unjustified families and heavy workloads.

Media has power and impact. It is therefore important for managers to be able to handle media storms when they arise. If not, the brand can be affected negatively. It is managers who should learn to handle media storms because the managers constitute an important part of the external face of the company. Because it is managers who should learn to handle media storms it is interesting to study how media storms should be handled from a theoretical management-perspective.

The aim of this study was to reach a deeper understanding of the process that occurs within the social services after receiving a notification according to Chapter 14, section 1, The Social Services Act. More specifically the focus of this study was to illustrate how social secretaries reason about children?s participation in the process, as well as to examine whether the legislative change, Chapter 11, section 1 a, The Social Services Act, has affected the process in any way. The study?s results reflect interviews with five social secretaries who are active in four different municipalities in southern Sweden.

This paper examines in what way the heterosexual matrix is challenged by Stephenie Meyer in Breaking dawn (Så länge vi båda andas). By doing a thematic study on the various family constellations appearing in the novel, I search for the queer elements in it. I discuss incest, family building and motherhood, and find that there are numerous queer elements associated with the themes I have chosen. I conclude that the Cullen family challenges the heterosexual matrix, despite not being typical queer vampire characters. I also find that building a successful family is not based on gender or constellation otherwise, but is instead dependant on democracy and equality.

The aim of this master?s thesis is to explore concert institutions? informative texts prior to upcoming concerts ? texts in promotional materials and descriptive texts in programme papers. The thesis is carried out from a critical discourse analytical perspective. The discourse analysis is focusing on finding the texts? messages and it asks the question: To whom are these texts addressed? Theoretical support is mainly taken from Foucault?s theory about the relation between power and knowledge.

The purpose of this study is to use a qualitative approach to get an understanding of what is expected of social workers targeted towards women managers in social services. Nine social workers were interviewed. The empirical data was then analyzed on the basis of gender theory. Respondents did not see their supervisor as a manager but more as a social worker with special tasks. Our empirical data indicates that there is a strong belief that men and women possess different properties.

There is an awareness of the importance of gender equality in most western societies, both at the political level and in everyday life. In academia, for instance, gender is nowadays a scientific field which indicates that there is a lot of knowledge about the subject. What we do not have much knowledge about is whether gender knowledge leads to changes in gender relations in practice. The aim of this study is to explore how gender scholars relate to using ? practicing ? gender knowledge.

A carnival can not be stopped! A design pedagogical study of children and norms In Basel, the only Protestant carnival in Europe takes place. The carnival is called Fasnacht. For three days, there is a wild and uninhibited play with tradition, crossing borders and social criticism.The aim of this thesis is to expand the understanding of the concept of the carnival, and how to use it for an educational purpose. Three children from Basel have been involved in an workshop where they designed and talked about norms and power structures through the carnivalesque principle. The study is based on the questions: How can you use the carnival as a starting point for designing and talking about norms and power structures together with children? And; How can the design process support such a project? To spot this, I made arrangements for a design educational project.