Background: Investors use companies? credit ratings as a base in their buy and sell decisions. Companies? credit ratings are also used as indicators of safety in the legislation. This means that credit rating agencies have an important role in the society because they communicate the company?s credit rating to investors and other actors in the society.

The thesis explores what is meant by multiculturalism in today's Sweden based on burial grounds and funerals in a minor municipality. This is done through an ethnographic case study of the municipality of Vara. The study aims to investigate how multiculturalism looks and is responded to. The study maps which aspects are placed on multiculturalism in a minor municipality and which adaptations and compromises are highlighted. This is done within the framework of theories concerning multiculturalism and social identity, and the result of the empirical case study is presented by applying the theories to the material. From burial places and funerals, social collective and individual identities are analysed based on the social categories of religion/faith/secularity and place belonging, based on the perspectives of rituals and traditions as well as the location of the grave. The study finds that there are several aspects of multiculture in the burial grounds, as multiculture not only includes cultural influences from immigrants but also the different preferences of the local villages, in combination with the development of society, and Sweden in general.

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.

Background: Miscarriage is a common phenomenon in our society. It is reported that approximately 17 % of all pregnant women in Sweden go through a miscarriage every year. For many women miscarriage is a tumultuous life event that often has a deep emotional impact. Miscarriage is a subject that often is prohibited to talk about in our western society. Consequently this means that nurses have an important role in the emotional support for these women.

The aim for this essay is to investigate the importance of studying religion in an upper secondary school in Närke county, this is done by distribution of a questionnaire. The importance is studied both on the individual level and on the societal level. The result shows that although the students do not have a big interest in religious studies still the subject has an importance on both an individual and a society level..

The aim of this study is to examine how and in what way users of the public participate and affect the archival information that is to be preserved for the future through the examination of three archival projects involving public participation. The study seeks to examine if participation of the public could lead to increased democracy and diversity of information in the archives. The study will be performed through the examination of three participatory archives all tied to traditional archival institutions.The study is based on the theoretical framework of Benn and Gaus and their notions of public and private which they discuss using the key words access, agency and interest. The study also takes into consideration Laura Millar?s theories of social memory as a means for the public good.

In preparation for the autumn term in 2011, the Swedish elementary school adopted newsyllabuses regarding,inter alia, the civic education (Sw. Samhällskunskap). The civiceducation has traditionally been a disciplinary subject with a main purpose of mediatingdemocratic values as well as providing general orientation in the society. Generally, the civiceducation intends to reflect the world in which people live in, being a complex society whichto a large extent is regularly affected by global aspects and developments.The purpose of this study is to review all the elementary school?s syllabuses relating to thecivic education with specific focus on the globalisation perspective.

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.

People living with disabilities in our society today are more likely to be without a job compared to the rest of the population. The fact that a high number of people are not given the opportunity to work, and thereby being self-sufficient, is a failure for both the individual and the society. My purpose with the study is to increase knowledge and understanding regarding disabilities in the working life, with focus on the disability dyslexia. In the study, I am investigating the employer?s obligations and rights when employing a person with disabilities.

AbstractThe purpose of my study was to examine how four social studies teachers in upper secondary school interprets the democratic educational mission and core values, and if they believe that the same values are tools to influence the students' democratic approach and if they think it is possible. It is also the study's minor purpose to make an analysis of my findings and previous research in the area to explain any similarities or differences in the social studies teacher's interpretation and practice of the democratic educational mission and core values. I used qualitative semi-structured interviews as a method in which the interview questions were based on my research questions. The two criteria I had for my sample of respondents was that there would be social studies teacher at a upper secondary school and that I wanted to have two of each sex. Their interpretation and how they think they practice the democratic educational mission and core values are similar.

This thesis examines what and in which language young people in Sweden with other linguistic backgrounds than Swedish read, as well as if they have access to the literature that they demand, how they use the library and what kind of role the library plays to them. The chosen method was quantitative and it consisted of a questionnaire as this method is useful in quantifying phenomena, which is the purpose of this thesis. The investigation shows that the studied population is bilingual. I hope that the thesis points out the range of the problems and that these issues need to be solved within the society and not the within the family. We need to make use of the resources of the young immigrants, as their cultural competence, in some cases even bi-cultural competence, can be useful for the Swedish society.

Compulsive gambling has lately become a more common and serious issue in our society. The number of compulsive gamblers is constantly increasing alongside the growth of the gambling industry and the consequences of compulsive gambling include both economical and social disasters. Every addiction has a start, and so does compulsive gambling, which is why we chose to perform a survey in order to determine the possible causes to why individuals are drawn to gambling and what leads them into compulsive gambling, and also during which circumstances do they find the strength and will to come out of their addiction to gambling. The theories that are used in this paper include globalization, socialization, Bauman´s consumption society and empowerment, alongside the six phases of gambling by Custer and Milts, describing the way in and the way out of compulsive gambling. This survey is one of the qualitative kind, which means that the chosen theories are connected to the ten interviews that were done with gamblers of various kinds.

Sweden was transformed to a democratic industrial society in the late 19th century. Political influence had been bound to the four estates, nobles, clergy, burghers and farmers. The reforms of the 1860s moved Sweden towards political democracy with universal suffrage. At the national level a two-chamber parliament was established in 1866. Political power should now be a function of economic status.

The purpose of this paper is to view Karlstad Municipality and their financial support to non-profit organizations within equestrian sports. Despite the varying representatives of various equestrian sports in Karlstad, there seems to be a single beneficiary within the sport when it comes to financial support from the municipality. The policies and plans concerning cultural development are directly compared to the Karlstad Municipality and its contribution to these organizations within equestrian sports. Through interviews and reports I have studied the process of financial support from the Karlstad municipality using an intersectionality theory based on Nina Lykkes guide on gender studies and feminist theory. Pierre Bourdieu?s theories on field, habitus and capital are also used as a method to enhance the understanding of equestrian sports and its role in modern Swedish society. The conclusion is that the Karlstad Municipality is, for a several of reasons, promoting non-profit organizations within equestrian sports, which are operating as riding schools.

This is a study of Prehistoric musical instruments from Scandinavia and the different meanings they could have had in the Prehistoric society. I have described the different types of possible music instruments and the different categories that they belong to. I have also written about their different functions that could have been for example ritual artefacts, shamanic tools or useful instruments in hunting. Two case studies are also presented in the essay, the Falköpingsflute and the Balkåkradrum..