This thesis is a study of social movements and their possibilities to effect politics by infuencing values in society through framing. I've looked upon social movements from a functionalistic-structuralistic perspective, as if they were carriers of values from people that otherwise won't be represented in the political life. The values that the social movements are struggling for can affect both the opinion and the decision-makers since the social movements in an active way are trying ti influence the society. The thesis examines the political opportunities that social movements hav to mobilise and grow. I have looked at different factors that either improve or make the political opportunities worse.

Historically, men have always had a superior position over women, which has beenportrayed in all kinds of media representations. Visual communication is an importantpart of our daily life since the reality is reflected through images. The development ofthe Web has led to increased interaction opportunities, and new ways to communicate,mainly through pictures. Politicians have embraced this and use social media as a partof their daily work. They also use social media to portray themselves from a morepersonal angle, which has created a higher interest for their personal life.

This essay is about democracy and how a democracy index can be used as a tool to illustratethe gap between reality and ideal. The purpose of this study can be expressed by two researchquestions: Does the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) democracy index illustrate thedistance between reality and the ideal of democracy presented by Dahl? and Can the EIU'sdemocracy index be modified by a) internal adjustments and b) using the variables includedin World Economic Forum?s (WEF) equality index?By using a combination of theories (Dahl?s theory of democracy, Rawls theory of justice andchosen theories critical to liberal democracy) as an analytical framework the following twoquestions have been answered:1) Which of the variables included in the EIU's democracy index have the potential to capturethe level of political equality?2) Which of the variables included in the WEF?s equality index have the potential to capturethe degree of political equality?By using a quantitative method the study?s third and last question has been answered:3) How strong is the rank correlation between the EIU?s democracy index and the WEF?sequality index, that is; how strong is the rank correlation coefficient (rho)?The data presented by the WEF?s equality index indicate that women are systematicallydiscriminated against as a group. From a democratic perspective the EIU may need tomeasure inequalities at a group level in order to capture the lack of political equality betweenindividuals. By reformulating some of the EIU?s variables, by revising the EIU?s point systemand by using the variables included in the WEF's equality index to extend EIU?s democracyindex, the chances of capturing the gap between reality and the ideal of democracy presentedby Dahl would likely increase..

Background: Many women experience high levels of pain after caesarean birth. Adequate postoperative pain treatment is important for the mother to be able to breastfeed, take care of the infant and experience a positive birth. Objective: The overall aim is to study women?s experience of postoperative pain and pain relief after caesarean birth. Method: A quantitative retrospective survey.

The aim of our study has been to see how DIK-forum represents the occupational groups that are represented in the frames of the trade journal. We have, to find out the phenomenon, done a content analysis by looking into 18 numbers of DIK-forum from year 2006 and 2007. The 18 strategically chosen journals was enough to give us a statistic result that we later on could generalize over those two years of DIK-forum. Totally there were 818 articles, news items and vacant advertisements that made the central point of this study. By these materials have we studied the representation of the occupational groups to find out if there were any over- and/or under represented groups, and also if the publications of the material were directed to the students or to the occupational groups in these trade journals.In our study the results shows that the trade journal DIK-forum does not represent all the occupational groups at the same level.

This thesis examines the organization Empower and their members, who consist of sex working women in Thailand. The purpose is to explore the more liberal point of view of prostitution and how the female members perceive Empower. Furthermore the study investigates if the organization can improve the sex workers empowerment. The study also delineates how these women reflect on their professional role as a sex working woman and whether the women relate to feminine discourses. The study is implemented in Chiang Mai, Thailand during the fall of the year 2010 and is based on qualitative methods like interview, focus group, observations and text analysis.

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to analyze the experience of being a woman diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. Another aim was to analyze how the women think itwould have influenced them, if they had been diagnosed during childhood.In the study, with a qualitatively approach, three women diagnosed with ADHD were interviewed. The data was analyzed with qualitative content analysis.The result shows that the women perceived affirmation when they received their diagnosis but they also pointed out that they had wished to receive the diagnose during childhood to avoid unnecessary suffering.The conclusion of the study was that it is essential to, as early as possible, follow up deviances in children and adolescents. Therefore, there is a need for more knowledge of how symptoms of ADHD in girls present itself.It is reasonable to believe that if healthcare and school have increased knowledge of symptoms of ADHD in girls, then these girls would be diagnosed at an earlier time.Keywords:ADHD,women,girls,treatment,self?esteem.

During a political election the public?s interest in politics and political journalism increases significantly. During the American presidential election in 2012 a big amount of articles on that topic were published in two of Sweden?s largest newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet and Aftonbladet. Political journalism tends to frame politics as sports, game and scandals rather than focusing on the political issues.

The question of direct citizen participation in politics and administration is a contestable one. Its proponents claim that it has positive consequences even for the more "traditional", representative democracy, since participation leads to an increased political knowledge and increased political interest, and thus creates a revitalised democracy. Critical voices have however been raised to the validity of this claim. Critics have also pointed out direct participation as problematic, because it leads to problems of political inequality: a difference of political influence between ? on the one hand, the citizens participating directly and those that restrict their political participation to voting, and ? on the one the other hand ? between the institutions, for example schools, that employ, and don?t employ this method of direct citizen influence.In this essay, these two points of criticisms are tested in the context of user-boards in elementary and secondary schools.

The aim with this essay is to penetrate the opinions of how women should be represented on screen. I am using a selection of contributions from the gender debate that Lars von TrierŽs movie Antichrist caused in Sweden in spring 2009. The focus of the debate was mainly about the way the female actress was displayed. The provocative thing considered by many was that the female part could be interpreted as evil and in connection with Antichrist. But is that a obvious negative way to present women? In a historical view the discussion have been constantly fluctuated when it comes to the ideas of the correct way to visualize women in the movies which have left us without a true answer to that question.I am interested in investigating what is considered today as the best way to represent women by Swedish debaters.By using Michel Foucault?s term discourse as theory in a text analyse I am trying to look trough their language and see their ideological position..

During the last years a discussion has emerged around problems with Swedish state boards trying to influence the public opinion and even political bodies through different kind of information efforts. Several observers inside and outside the academy have studied how state boards increasingly use information as an instrument and also how political bodies increasingly have given such instructions to state boards. This essay put those studies into the context of both information political history and previous theoretical interpretations in that field of research.The analytical tool consists of four ideal typical ways ('state opinions') to arrange relations between the state and the citizen. Some critics focus on problems with too much political steering and how political majorities uses state boards to spread ideological propaganda. Others highlight problems with autonomy and bureaucratic organizations taking initiatives by themselves to spread normative information.

The purpose of the thesis has been to explore the use of hedge fund styles when constructing portfolios of hedge funds (i.e. funds of hedge funds). The central question is if the use of hedge fund styles can significantly explain and improve risk adjusted returns (characterized by Sharpe ratios). The study has been done in collaboration with Optimized Portfolio Management AB who desire further knowledge and evaluation of hedge fund styles for their fund of hedge funds.To be able to create successful ex ante portfolios we have explored various prediction models for both risk and return. Our findings indicate that return prediction is problematic using simple models such as regression since the risk exposure of the indices appear to change significantly over time.

Background: Because of the high unhealthy rates among women in the com-mune a project to reduce it have begun. For this reason we have been given the mission from the commune of SotenÀs to study the character of these women's health. Objective: To study the health among permanent employed women in the commune of SotenÀs. Method: Quantitative method. The data have been collected through question-naire survey.

Abstract:The aim of this study has been to investigate (theoretically as well as empirically) the problematic notions of state neutrality and political perfectionism and, in particular, the potentially vast continuum existing between these concepts both in theory and in actual political practice. In order to accomplish this, a conceptual analysis has examined (some of) the arguments for and against state neutrality and political perfectionism, different aspects of neutralism and perfectionism as well as the exact definition of the concepts of ?neutrality of justification? and ?conceptions of the good?. Using a specific (though not entirely uncontested) definition of these concepts, an empirical analysis was made of Swedish parliamentary parties and their cultural policies. The empirical part of the study seemed to confirm one of the basic premises of this study; that state neutrality and perfectionism are often (as has indeed been recognized by critics of state neutrality) intertwined in the business of everyday politics..

The intention of this qualitative study is to describe and analyse women's violence against men from the perspective of authorities and volunteer organisations. Data has been collected trough semi-structured interviews with six respondents stemming from the police, social services and a help organisation for men respectively. The data has been analysed using existing research and common theories about power, sex and gender. The study shows that IPV does not only contain physical violence, but also acts of psychological-, sexual-, economical-, material-, and latent violence as well as the fact that one act of violence almost never exists alone. It is shown that women more often use psychological abuse against their partner then men do and also that men tend to stay longer in an abusive relationship then women.