AimThe aim of this study was to try to understand youngsters and their attitude to alcohol in the countryside and in a large city. The questions at issue have been: How do youngsters from the countryside, who drink, and do not drink alcohol, view the school- family- and friendsituation? How do youngsters from a large city, who drink, and do not drink alcohol, view the school- family- and friendsituation? Can we understand youths? attitude to alcohol on basis of the factors: School, family and friends? Are there any differences and similarities?MethodInterviews have been implemented with four youngsters in a large city and in the countryside. To gain as much as possible from the interviews a questionnaire was distributed to two classes in year nine in the countryside, and one class in the large city. The interview material was analysed on the basis from earlier research and two theoretical models.ResultsAccording to the youngsters that drink, both in the countryside and the large city, the most common view in school was that high demands are put on the youngsters and that they should study more then they do.

Media has a big impact on our lives and is one of the main channels for people to recieve information. When recieved, the messages creates a meaning for the people that read, hear or see them. In other words, media could be seen as a source for people on how to perceive the world and it gives a certain picture of what is ?normal?. We chose to do this study to get a deeper knowledge of how men and women are being portrayed in a Swedish lifestyle magazine and what messagest that sends out to the readers.In this study we have examined how men and women are being portrayed in the Swedish magazine Café, both in photographs and in text.

This thesis discuss the matter of non-profit-making associations as a self regulatory technique out of a theoretical concept of power. The object for the study is the non-profit-making association Ditt Nya Hageby, which work in the neigborhood of Hageby, a suburb to Norrköping. In the study the association is placed in a contemporary postmodern social context and analyzed through semi- structured qualitative interviews, accordingly to hermeneutical method, with five active members of the association as informants. The association consists of members who lives in the neighborhood. Together with a hired organizer they realizes their own ideas in to projects which unquestionably improves the social and physical enviroment in Hageby.

Although Dan Andersson (1888-1920) is considered perhaps the most important of the early Swedish workingclassauthors, there has not been much research on his work. Through a perspective based on critical whitenessstudies, intersectionality and existential phenomenology, this thesis performs a close reading of Andersson?sKolarhistorier (1914) and Chi-mo-ka-ma (1920) in order to map the discursive formations of whiteness andblackness in the texts, as well as to expose how these formations interrelate with that of humanhood.Since an underprivileged situation of oppression and poverty is the point from which the fictional worldunfolds in both Kolarhistorier and Chi-mo-ka-ma, whiteness is not an existential style within close reach for thecharacters. In Kolarhistorier the charcoal-burners claim themselves as ?weary of whiteness? and accordingly thetext establishes what the thesis reads as a realm of blackness where the black, male body becomes a locus ofpleasure instead of despair.

The gap between practise and theory is often described in negative words in teachers? professional lives. Learning study is a model for teachers´ professional development where a theoretical framework is used to enhance practice. The theoretical framework used by teachers in learning study is variation theory. In this study the research object is variation theory and the aim is to present how variation theory becomes a guiding principle to understand teaching and learning processes.

During the last decade a number of studies have been published that investigate how the most fundamental aspect of political organization, the regime type, affects population health. The results unanimously show that citizens of democracies live longer and healthier lives than citizens of non-democracies. Many explanations for this have been suggested, among these are that democracies redistribute more and invest more in salutogenic resources, and that the tendency of dictatorships to control the media negatively affects the ability to spread information crucial to public health. When these mechanisms are controlled for, however, it turns out that democracy has a large residual correlation with for example life expectancy, which suggests that other mechanisms are also involved.In this paper two new mechanisms regarding the possible psychosocially mediated health effects of the regime type are investigated, namely political repression, and the possible negative effects this might have on the levels of chronic stress, and autonomy, which connects to a large previous literature in social epidemiology. In the paper an ecological cross-country design is used and country-level data, provided mainly by the World Bank and Freedom House, is analyzed with a simple multiple OLS-regression model.

This is a study that aims to investigate what is being spoken about on an internet forum created for people who suffer from extreme loneliness. The study aims to answer questions regarding the users identity and general opinions regarding live a life of more intense solitude. The basic scientific approach of the study is centered around two terms, taken from Howard S. Beckers book "outsiders" (1997). These two terms are "outsiders" and "deviant careers", both dealing with the subject of deviant behavior.

Today?s society is very focused around technology and something that is very popular is the usage of mobile devices such as Smartphones or Tablet computers. One of the reasons why these devices are so popular, is because of the large amounts of services or ?apps? that they can provide for the user. They can do a lot of things that makes everyday living easier for the users.The focus of this study is to find out what kinds of mobile services the users of these devices are expecting and/or wishes to see in the future and what is required to be able to develop and use these services in a good way.We started of the study by searching for earlier studies on the same or similar subjects.

Research shows that Muslims are often reproduced within the context that reinforces stereotyping of Muslims, see for example Otterbeck and Schielke. They are often regarded as a collective group with no distinct individuals and thereby the Islamic religiosity is portrayed as different and deviant from the more secular and private practiced Protestantism that is a common belief in Sweden.The purpose of this work is to study the already existing representation of Muslim women in a Western context, i.e. Muslim women in Sweden. This is done through an analysis of two ethnographic interviews and observational studies, written by researchers in Sweden (Karlsson Minganti and Sultan Sjöqvist) to investigate the existence of an "us and them" mindset. The two ethnographic studies which are analyzed in this work, deal with different types of Muslims: women who have been Muslims since birth and converted Muslim women.

Digital artefacts such as smartphones have become an intricate part of our daily lives both private and professionally. They have evolved from doing simple tasks to become a form of expression, as well as acting as a gateway to the digital world of connections. We rely on various technology such as Wi-Fi networks to connect with others. They in turn have become more available and today, many establishments offer free network to their customers. With these developments comes different kind of risks for the user.

In the new media society, social media has become an important part of many organizations' daily lives. Organizations, whether public or private, must be where their audience is and many times, these can be found on social media channels like Facebook. Leading researchers in the fields of crisis communication and relationship management believe that social media is a great tool for managing relationships between an organization and its' public, whether it's before, during or after a crisis.The purpose of this study is to examine how the Karlstad municipality use Facebook to manage civic relations before, during and after a crisis. The municipality's approach will be compared to the citizens' experiences of the municipality's communication in different stages of a crisis.The theoretical framework used in this essay is the research on crisis communication and relationship management. How these two frameworks can be integrated with social media like Facebook, is an important part of understanding how the Karlstad municipality make use of Facebook to manage civic relations and communicate before, during and after a crisis.The empirical study consists of a qualitative interview, two qualitative content analysis and an online survey.

Den heliga kungen och den saliga änkan is a comparative study of the saint legend of Erik and the saint legend of Elin as they are represented each saint?s officium. The base for these comparisons is the question of what general similarities, and differences, there are as well as an immerse investigation of how these legends portray halidom and finally how the issue of femininity and manliness are portrayed through these two legends. During the thesis apparent similarities appear in how the legends are structured; a template seems to have existed in which the content of what a legend should include is stated. Erik, as well as Elin, are of noble birth and are portrayed as godly people who live bountiful and ascetic lives.

Edward Said's book Orientalism (1978) is the most important reference point in the post-colonial theory and describes how the West is dominant over the Orient. There is a clear distinction between "us" and "the other" and the purpose of this study is that, from a postcolonial perspective, focusing on Said's theoretical concepts "the other" and "discourse", examining how two foreign-born people with ethnic backgrounds living in the same place, are looking at themselves, at other foreign-born and native Swedes. My questions to answer this are; ?what are the concepts of "the other" and "discourse" and is it possible to use these concepts to examine how foreign-born people are looking at themselves, at other foreign-born and native Swedes in a specific location??, ?who is "the other" in a place where there are almost as many native Swedes as foreign-born??, and ?how do these two foreign-born people with ethnic backgrounds perceive Norrliden as a place and what effect has that place had on their identity?? I have used a post-colonial philosophical ground and a qualitative approach, focusing on two different interviews with two men, living in Norrliden. In Norrliden almost 50% of the inhabitants are foreign-born were both of the interview-persons are feeling safe and secure.

In this thesis I examine how the phenomenological philosophy of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger differ with regard to the phenomenological reduction, and in particular why there is no reduction in Sein und Zeit. I examine in what way philosophy is seen as an overcoming of the naïvete of a ?natural? attitude and how this natural attitude is understood, starting with Husserl?s descriptions of the phenomenological reduction, of the natural attitude of our daily lives and of his notion of transcendental subjectivity. By presenting these main aspects, I try to elucidate why, in Husserl?s view, laying the foundation of all knowledge must take form of a phenomenological first philosophy.

An increasing number of peole are resisting the attraction of living around nature and opting instead to spend their lives in cities. Parks and green areas play an important part in our well-being and we become fascinated with the diversity of nature, in which we find a peacefulness that is unique. Amongst other things, being surrounded by nature can reduce high blood presure, lower the production of stress hormones and stimulate the mind and our ability to concentrate. It is therefore vitally important to entice city residents to parks and green areas to improve their physical and mental well-being. Previous research has shown that humans are seeking for certain characteristics in the parks and green areas which they are visiting.