My thesis is an attempt to clarify the purpose and workings of art in relation to the artist, his/her fellows and society. Can art be considered as a uniting force? If so, where does its unifying quality lie? How does art connect with the individual, the community and society? My interpretation of the political climate regarding the arts has resulted in an exploration of the question: What role does art have in society today?The artistic ego as an altruism ? within the title of this thesis lies an absolute paradox ? a paradox that through this paper is tested, reviewed and demonstrated as a way of describing art and its workings. The thesis is problematized and studied from several angles: Through the inner artistic process, both reflective and empirical, and through philosophical studies..

In this masters paper the change that Lidköping public library went through between 1952 and 1959 is described and analysed. The aim is to describe and analyse the reactions that arose at the time that the first professional librarian, Jörgen Elgström, acted to create a modern public library in the town. The issues that are handled are: How did the local politicians and the general public react to the process of change that was started by Jörgen Elgström? What were the consequences for the staff, the premises, lending, child and youth activities? The paper is concentrated around the period 1952-1959 because this is the time when Jörgen Elgström was working in Lidköping. Jörgen Elgström has a central role in the paper.

The purpose of this Master thesis is to investigate issues concerning the role of the public librarian and their work with adult learners. This is done by examining Studiebibliotek Halland, a project initiated and financed by Kulturrådet, with the aim of improving for adult learners to use the public libraries in Halland. The major questions raised in this study are: How do the librarians interviewed experience their role as public librarian since the number of adult learners at the public library has increased? In what way do the librarians think they have to change their work in order to meet the demands of the adult learners? How do they feel about the change? Do they think their work will change more as a result of the project? Data was collected through interviews and the study is a qualitative study. The main results are that the librarians have a very positive attitude towards adult learners using the public library.

I wanted to focus this essay on the operative?s perspective of running religious organizations in the city of Karlstad and to see positive and negative aspects of their day-to-day life working with their organization, following up with a comparison of the difference and the similarities between those groups. After delimitating which groups I was going to examine, I implemented a qualitative study of four people, from two different religious groups, whom I performed interviews with. My method of performing these interviews and understanding the perspective of the informants, I had a semi structured interview guide along with a recent study that was opting for similar conclusions, only in a different county and with different input perspective. The result of my study showed a difference in establishment of their region but with a lot of similarities in problems with their religious and structural premises.

The purpose of this essay is to examine progression in user education atprimary and secondary school levels, specifically the role played byschool libraries, librarians and strategy documents in securingeducational progression. Progression is examined in the user educationprovided by the five schools, part of the same municipal schoolmanagement area which share the same strategy plan. The area, NorraFäladen, was awarded School Library of the Year in 2011 for its work,making it particularly interesting for this essay's purpose. The studycombines interviews with the area's three school librarians, who dividetheir time between the five schools, with an analysis of the strategydocuments that regulate user education within Norra Fäladen. Theanalytical framework is based on: AASL's model of progression in usereducation (Standards for the 21st-century learner); Ekström's model forsuccessful and active strategy documents; Kuhlthau's theory of thelibrarian's role in the information search process; and Limberg'staxonomy of the role of the school library.The study shows how a number of concurrent factors and prerequisitesinfluence how goals for progression in user education are met.

Title: From openness and presence to distance and control: to be medicated and to administrate from a patient and nurse perspective.Background: Within forensic psychiatric care the patients are admitted against their will, under heavy security with long term treatments. Self-care seems, based on scientific studies, to be dependent on what the nurses involved can provide. Emphasis should focus on a humane and respectful approach when the patient is exposed to coercive measures.Aim: From a patient and nurse perspective describe experiences of beeing medicated with and to administrate antipsychotic drugs within the psychiatric inpatient care.Method: Interviews with patients and nurses, which were analyzed using qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach.Results: Patients experience frustration over not beeing able to participate in or influence descisions made regarding their neuroleptic treatment. The neuroleptic treatment is described as a coercive measure and is characterized as an experience of losing control and independence. Nurses? experiences of administering antipsychotics were described as having to do what is needed for the long term benefit of patients? well-being.

The aim of our thesis was to gain greater knowledge of how young people relate to religion, religiosity and life, and this behavior might show influences of a gender perspective. Part of the aim was also to have greater awareness of how our education should include a gender perspective. To get to this goal, we have assumed the qualitative investigation method which we discussed with a number of students who read last year of high school. First, the interviews were aimed to let students talk about matters concerning religion and life. The next step was to examine their thoughts with a gender perspective as a starting point.

The estimated number of people living in extreme poverty is 1.3 billion and 70% of those are women. The aim of this study is to explain in what ways and why women are regarded as poorer than men.The definition of poverty has expanded and is now multidimensional. In order to answer the aim of this thesis the following dimensions will be included and work as a theory in which the analysis will be structured after. Through a gender perspective, will the role of woman emerge through a multidimensional definition of poverty. If the balance is a negative in these dimensions, the situation for women will worsen and become permanent.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the social worker?s perspective on working for the government as a professional in care of children, in relation to the family's right to self determination. The essay's empirical material is gathered from qualitative, semi-structured interviews with social workers who work with children and youth in communities and districts in Skåne and Stockholm City, Sweden. The analysis was conducted in line with theories of social constructivism. The results and analysis show that the interviewed social workers did not believe that the state has too much power over the citizen.

The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge and a picture of how foster parents perceive their task, the role of the placed children and their biological parents.  Even how they perceived their family have been affected by the mandates removal. Consistently showed the most positive experiences with strong ties to the children placed. However, there are experiences of the need for additional guidance, support, education and contact with the client to enhance a sense of competence in the task and prevent collapse. Burnout experienced often based in the placed child's difficulties in integration.

AbstractWe decided to explore former school pupils? experiences of not conforming to the norm. Earlier studies have focused on the children as ?the problem?.  We see this as worrying, especially since there is very little research focusing on the pupils? own experiences. The children?s own perspective needs to be brought to the fore.

This study, a document analysis with a qualitative approach, explores children, under 18years, who have been subject to measures of child welfare in the city of Malmö during theyears 1935-1937. It also explores the school's role in this context. The questions that the studyis guided by is: How was children described in the Child Welfare documents in Malmö duringthe years 1935-1937? And what role did the school have in Child Welfare work and whatmotivated this? The theoretical approaches are Foucaults theories of power, control anddisciplining.It appears from the study that the school and child welfare authorities had a close cooperationwith the purpose to control the upbringing and disciplining of the children. It was through theupbringing that the deviant child would become a "normal", docile and good, industriouscitizen.

 This report is about the principle and his / her role at the school it?s also about how the principle understands the role, its expectations and the demands connected. The facts are based on deep detailed interviews with three different principles. The theoretical approach is coming from ?hermeneutiken? and ?Gadamers? ideas regarding how an individual is creating the world and the surroundings to act within.

According to the Läroplan för förskolan, Lpfö 98, are pre-schools suppose to introduce the written language and embrace childrens curiosity about the ability to communicate with the written language. The purpose with this research is therefor to study the attitudes of pre-school teachers towards three- to five years olds writing and also to shred some light over which role teachers and other adults have when children learn to write. The earlier research contains different theories about how children in pre-schools conquer the written language and the teachers role in this process. Teachers attitudes towards and thoughts about childrens early writing could be made visible through interviews with teachers who all currently work at pre-schools. The results indicate that pre-school teachers have different attitudes towards childrens early attempts to write.

Early intervention is important on different levels and must be justified as a social and economic long-term investment. There is no doubt about the importance of early detection when helping children/students in need of support. What kind of support that is deemed suitable and who provides the support can be viewed from different perspectives and with different approaches. Seen from a relational perspective the special education process is a long-term process and affects not only the individual but the whole school culture and systems may need changing. This study intends to describe the importance of the learning environment and what efforts are initiated early for students in need of support from the special education point of view.