The aim of this study was to examine how social workers perceive and interpret the term ?barnets bästa? (?The best for the child?), within the framework of investigatory work and enforcement of Swedish law, which is carried out by the Social Services. We wanted to investigate if the interpretation of the term had any causal effects on the work carried out by social workers. Seven social workers from two municipalities participated in this study in which we used qualitative semi-structured interviews based around two vignettes. We focused on age, experience, legislation, and external circumstances to gain insight into how these factors alter social workers? perception of the term ?barnets bästa?. Our theoretical approach was based on two theories on social constructivism.

The aim of this two years master´s thesis is to examine discourses about electronic books in relation to libraries that occur in the Swedish library journal Biblioteksbladet by using critical discourse analysis (CDA). The thesis also aims to discuss changes in the discourse practice, and discuss the relationship between discourse practice and social practice in the field of library and information science (LIS). A main point of CDA is that language is a form of social practice that helps shape social reality. Furthermore the concept of ideology, as understood with-in CDA, brings understanding to the way discursive events help reproduce and transform social relations of pow-er. The text samples span from 2005 up to and including 2011 and were examined by using Norman Fairclough´s three-dimensional conception of discourse, which allows for interpretation of text on a linguistic, discursive and social level.The result of the analysis showed that there are several different discourses about electronic books and li-braries, none of which can be said to be particularly representative.

Aim: The aim of this essay is to study the work of an alcohol company?s (Pernod Ricard) corporate social responsibility and how this work is being communicated to the company?s stakeholders. Furthermore I aim to describe the profile of the specific company, in other words how they wish their stakeholders to experience the company. I will then compare this profile with the image of how the interviewed stakeholders actually perceive the corporate social responsibility activities. Are there any differences?Material/Method: Together with literature and document studies, a qualitative method has been used and four focus group interviews with a total of 16 stakeholders have been conducted.Main results: The main results from the focus group interviews showed that the stakeholders appreciated corporate social responsibility work that focuses on the protection of young people.

This surveys hypothesis is based on the notion that all citizens have the right to access information of the municipality they live in. The aim of the study is to examine how residents of Vilhelmina municipality take note of the current information, and also how they would proceed to access information in the future. In order to conceptualise the results these following theories were used: digital divide, digital immigrants, digital native, uses and gratification theory, social capital, communications strategies and two-way communication. The survey is conducted with four focus group interviews and one separate interview with a person working at the municipal office. The focus groups were divided into age categories in order to see the similarities and differences between the groups' media habits and preferences of future communications.

Människan är till sin natur en social varelse och många sammanhang förutsätter en viss social kompetens. Att ha social fobi innebär en stark rädsla för att bli utsatt för andra människors kritik och iakttagelser. Denna fobi leder till problem med många aktiviteter i vardagen, som t.ex. att läsa högt inför andra människor, gå på fest eller äta tillsammans med andra. Syftet med studien var att, med stöd av en arbetsterapeutisk arbetsprocess, undersöka hur några arbetsterapeuter arbetar med personer som har social fobi.

The aim of this master thesis is to study if the websites of the Swedish public libraries are accessible to all people. According to the library law all people must have access to the public libraries and their information services. Today, when the Internet is one of the largest sources of information, it is important that all people, including those with different kind of disabilities, children, elderly, immigrants and people with old technical equipment, have access to the public libraries websites.We have in this study considered the graphic user interface, the language, the structure and the navigation possibilities at ten public library websites. We have from a checklist of our own, based upon the opinion of different experts such as Jacob Nielsen and Tommy Sundström, investigated the websites.The main finding of our study is that the websites are generally accessible even thou we found a lack of accessible for immigrants. Most of the websites had some pages in English, but none hade all pages in this language.

The aim of this study is to examine which communication channels and communication strategies Umea? municipality could use for information concerning outdoor recreation. To achieve this aim the following theories and views have been applied: social communication, communication strategies, two-way symmetrical communication, social media and uses and gratifications. The study was conducted through four focus group interviews and one informant interview. The focus groups consisted of four groups of outdoor enthusiasts in Umea? municipality: outdoor interested students, organized outdoor enthusiasts, active families and active seniors.

The aim of this master's thesis is to study how the design of the music library space affects how it is used and its role as an arena for culture. This is done in form of a case study of Library 10 in Helsinki, a public library branch that specializes in music and information technology. The backdrop to the study is the changing context for cultural activity in the information society and the role of public libraries as public space and meeting place. By analyzing the distribution of space in the library, the distribution of functions and artefacts and the spatial use of the room, I interpret the ways in which this distributional logic produces a unique place for music and culture. I discuss the music library design in a space and place perspective, utilizing theoretical tools from cultural geography and the space theories of Henri Lefebvre.

This thesis studies how the Swedish government articulates social exclusion within the spring budget of 2007. Through a discourse theoretical approach, inspired by Ernest Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, the empirical findings are reconstructed through the nodal point of labour and two chains of equivalence, based upon the duality between employment and unemployment. By viewing social exclusion as a phenomenon concerning discourse, identity and politics, this duality forms the basis of a deconstructive and hegemonic analysis.I argue that the term social exclusion is a powerful and flexible political concept in that it obscures ideological assumptions and objectives as well as draws attention away from alternative social concepts. Throughout the thesis social exclusion is stressed as a social category constituting the relation between individual and society. Hence I argue that it is of vital importance that the values underlying its usage are made explicit and that social exclusion as a floating signifier is made an object of academic analysis..

The purpose of this essay was to investigate which factors the individuals found important in the process of becoming a person with a drug-free life. The framing of the questions we had were to get the experiences, thoughts and wishes of the drug users. The survey was based on thematised qualitative interviews and focused in the personal stories of the interviewees. We interviewed four women and five men, all of which had several years of drug-abuse behind them. We found similarities and patterns and we could identify that the three most important things was the own motivation, will and that the drug-abuser had the possibility to change their social network and had the ability to find other important things in life..

Internet has made information more easy to get, but also more difficult to retrieve. There is a need for information retrieval systems that assure accurate, reliable and up to date information. Quite a number of both commercial and non commercial search services has been developed on the Internet. We have made a qualitative study of one for-pay product in particular, NetS k, produced by BTJ (Bibliotekstj nst), Lund. It is a database that contains collected, evaluated and classified links, and is especially developed to suit public librarians in Sweden.

In this report we make an attempt to analyze where Swedish Twitter users believe the line is drawn between the private and public. Our goal is to find out what the factors are that determine what they decide to write on Twitter and what not. A survey was sent out and spread amongst Swedish Twitter users during one week to provide us with the data to answer our question formulation. The results do not draw an exact line between the private and the public but it nevertheless provides us with an idea of what users think is inappropriate to write about on Twitter. Through the study we found out that our respondents believe that it is inappropriate to write private information about others than them self.

This masters thesis aims to explore the branch libraries in Kalmar municipality and their relation to the Information and communication technology ICTsociety. How do they adapt to and assimilate with, the ICT-society? What are their roles in local social networks and do they make a difference there? To answer these questions, critical discourse analysis, CDA, as founded by Norman Fairclough is applied to four interwievs with branch library managers. Other theorists used are Michel Foucault, Chaïm Perelman and Ludwig Wittgenstein. A solid description of todays society on different levels is also given.

 The purpose of this study is to examine how individuals' social capital can affect the opportunities for finding a job. That is, what benefits social contacts can provide in the hunt for a new job. The main questions that will be answered throughout this study are:- Of what importance are social contacts when looking for a job?- What are the advantages and disadvantages that the respondents present with recruitment thru informal channels/social contacts?-What are the advantages and disadvantages that social contacts can provide in terms of personal recommendations when looking for a job according to the recruiters?The study is based on five qualitative interviews with mainly recruiters from various parts of the labor market. The collected empirical data that the study has yielded indicate that individuals' social capital of the highest degree is crucial for the opportunities they have to find a job.

Sociala trender är föremål för ständigt debatt i såväl media som människor emellan. Men hur förhåller vi oss till trender? Hur behandlar vi, som vardagsmänniskor, den informationsström vi konfronteras med? Det övergripande syftet med denna studie är att illustrera hur tre unga nyblivna mammor söker, hanterar och värderar informationsflödet om amning. Studiens analys görs med utgångspunkt från det sociologiska begreppet social reflexivitet för att ur detta perspektiv illustrera hur värderingar skapas i interaktion och reflektion. Resultatet visar att internet är den primära källan till information för de unga mammorna.