The technology used in the development of web-applications is evolving at such rate that it has become more and more important to keep web-applications modern. If an application is based on a technical platform that is not renewed, the platform may over time develop into an obstacle in further development of the application. There may be compatibility issues and some of the code may be unnecessary due to abstraction, and therefore more time consuming to work with. Sometimes the reason may be that an application has been built to run, and is running on an application server that is no longer being maintained. The system can be large and modernization can cost a lot.

The aim of this thesis is to study discursive change in the Swedish environmental political discourse between 1987-2005. The text of three Swedish budget propositions are analysed for this purpose.The results from the analysis are related to a few relevant theoretical perspectives that hold partly different views on what constitutes ?sustainable development? and ?ecological modernization?. Through these theories the thesis continues the discussion around the two central but somewhat blurry terms sustainable development and ecological modernization. The aim of this discussion is to conclude whether the discursive change in Swedish environmental politics can be said to go more in the direction of sustainable development or ecological modernization, or if elements of both perspectives can be found.The analysis shows that the Swedish environmental discourse has come to include more and more political fields such as general welfare politics, during the period.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study the adaptation of recently recruited young professionals to a top consulting firm through their identity construction efforts. We analyze the influence of a major organization-related discourse on young professionals in order to account for the effects of emotional labor on their adaptation to work. Methodology: We have studied our empirical material in the light of a reflexive pragmatic approach. Thus throughout the analysis of interview material, we try to interpret carefully the material from various perspectives. As authors, we also reflect critically upon our own interpretations.

For this study I use a critical realism approach and the aim with the thesis is to elucidate humor as a socially reflexive tool. My investigation has its starting point in the stand-up comedy arena, which I mean can exemplify a social context where the communication is focused around humor. I mean that humor can be used to create imaginary variations of the knowledge and truths, which we live our lives according to. The asymmetrical interpretations of the socially reflexive tool humor can be used to identify, elucidate, and cope with the diverging truths of life. But even though humor has boundless possibilities to reshape knowledge, it is also limited by the social contexts where it is mediated and by the involved individuals that create the humor or sanction the humor positive and/or negative..

The aim ofthis study was to examine how economic growth affects the level of democracy inauthoritarian states. Some of these states have experienced high economicgrowth. However, one can discuss how it affects the country?s democratization-process.For that reason this study was needed to contribute to a clarification of howeconomic growth can affect authoritarian rule and democratization. This wasdone through an examination of the development in China.

The purpose of this study is to shine a light at the Swedish americans impressions and attitudes against the American society from the perspective of modernization and cultural attributes. This, with a reference frame of the deeply politically rooted European conception of America as a threat to the cultural well being, and as a thriving materialistic and progress bound constitution.The result shows that the attitudes against America in the descriptions were not all comparable with the conception that was conducted in Europe. However, the experiences altered whereas the study attends two different periods of time. The experiences differenced due to the growing exposure to cultural diversity and a modernization that grew faster in America than anywhere in the world. Not to mention the change of experiences and expectations that was with brought from a changing atmosphere in Sweden.

Offentligt rum och vardagens politik handlar om hur 1990- talets sociala förändring, med en rörelse från ett samhälle integrerat av arbetsetiken mot ett samhälle organiserat utifrån konsumtionsestetiken, förändrar demokratins villkor i och för det offentliga rummet. Det mer preciserade syftet är att undersöka vilka konsekvenser den sociala förändringen får för utövandet av vardagens politik i det offentliga rummet. Den övergripande frågeställningen är vad ett fritt ord innebär, vad är det fritt från och för vem är det fritt? Centrala begrepp i studien är: Medborgaren, dvs. individens kollektiva identitet som politisk varelse.

The aim of this essay is to examine how people living in the Swedish countryside looked upon changes in the interiors through modernization in 1850-90. For the first time, there was an abundance of objects available in stores in the countryside that the majority of the population had money buy. Many novelties were introduced in the interior decoration of ordinary peoples´ homes. This study focuses on the introduction and use of wallpaper and is based on a questionnaire about wallpaper sent from the Nordiska museet, National museum of Culture history in Sweden, to people all over Sweden in 1948. 148 people responded to the questions about use and attitudes toward wallpaper during the second half of the 19th century.My theoretical perspective is cultural diffusion, the spread of cultural items, more specific the diffusion of innovations from larger to smaller places, often influenced by social elites, hierarchical diffusion, and between individuals, contagious diffusion.The analytical perspective used for the analysis is based on the concepts of basic and variable modernity, initiated by the historian Sven-Eric Liedman.

The aim ofthis study was to examine how economic growth affects the level of democracy inauthoritarian states. Some of these states have experienced high economicgrowth. However, one can discuss how it affects the country?s democratization-process.For that reason this study was needed to contribute to a clarification of howeconomic growth can affect authoritarian rule and democratization. This wasdone through an examination of the development in China.

Drink! The Marketing History of The Coca-Cola Company: A Modernization Perspective examines the development of The Coca-Cola Company?s marketing history, from the founding of the company in 1886 until today. The Coca-Cola Company has been superior on the market for over a century. It has also developed along with the urbanisation of its society, which is interesting in a modernization perspective. The essay investigates the marketing strategies of the company, with focus on three themes: gender, sponsorship and interactive culture phenomenon.

This study investigated a local aspect of theSwedish elementary school modernization process between the years 1871-1882.Previous studies have been drawn from the school inspectors own reports andshow that the schoolboards housed a negative and resentful attitude towardsreforms and the school inspectors often felt that the parish priests were moreinclined to changes than the schoolboards themselves.  Other research on elementary schoolmodernization has stressed the matching grants as a major cause of developmentand further establishment. In this study, however, a schoolboards own notes inthe form of meeting protocols during an eleven year period as well as a letterby a priest Erik Lundberg, Redogörelseför skolhusfrågan i Tierp dated 6 October 1880 were analyzed to see if theprevious explanation of school modernization, in particular with regard to thereluctance to change by the schoolboards goes to demonstrate and confirm. Theresults of this study have shown that even if the schoolboards do notimmediately follow the school inspectors instructions, it seems not primarilybeen due to resentment. Reforms within the school world are well known forbeing time-consuming but for the current period, as this study concerns andwithin this specific parish there were conflicts of interest which are notshown when only the inspector?s accounts and reports are examined.

This investigation aimed to shed light on the terms of the dispensing and the retaining of municipal social benefits granted by Swedish social services, this in regard of a less visible societal subgroup; citizens who cannot attain or retain housing of their own.Through qualitative interviews with six municipal social workers in Skåne, the plight of these citizens is revealed from a policy-making perspective in respect of views on discretion and individual appreciation. How may the applicant impact the application process and how does social subletting operate as a service effort?Further analysis of the accounts of informants? views on change and the reasons for change, sketched an image of a society where public acceptance and tolerance are crucial factors for citizens hoping to achieve a homestead through means of municipal intervention.In conclusion, flexible attitudes towards job description are of major import to the possibility of offering client support in under-staffed municipal environs. Furthermore, reflexive social workers allying with the applicant throughout the process, from application to intervention are decisive for efficacious, long-term social work..

The aim of this study is to fill the gap in mathematics education research concerning the relationship between identity and positioning in mathematical collaboration in groups. This study elaborates on the relationship between how pupils see themselves as math students in sixth grade, how they show their identities as math students, in contrast to how they position themselves reflexively in group collaboration while engaging in mathematical problem solving. The theoretical concepts linked to this study are discourse, identity and positioning. Discourse is used to describe and form the setting and context of the study. Identity is seen as a transient and elusive concept formed by the students own perceptions of self through narratives.

The aim of this Master's thesis is to study how generational identities are conveyed in the reception of two debut novels, Jack by Ulf Lundell and Allt by Martina Lowden. Both novels have been considered literary and social expressions of their generations. The empirical material consists of 14 reviews in Swedish daily press from the time of publication of Jack and Allt, respectively. The thesis revolves around the following questions: How is the generational identity defined in terms of lifestyle practices, milieus and other social circumstances? To what extent are structured factors such as gender and class considered? How are the critics considering the reflexive project of the self? I base the theoretical framework on Anthony Giddens' theories about identity creation in the late modern society.

The aim of this study is to examine the democratization process of Kosovo in the years after the countries independence was assured. Two central questions for the case study consist of whether a democratic improvement in the country has occurred and which factors, positive and negative, are present to further improve or impede the democratizationprocess. The study builds upon two central definitions, democratic states and democratization in order to gain theoretical background to be able to measure these two quite abstract expressions. A socioeconomic model is used to measure favorable or negative developments within Kosovos society and the findings of this model confirms the hypothesis of modernization theory, namely that increased socioeconomic development increases the chance of a positive democratizationprocess. There has been a positive democratic development aswell as socioecomic progress but since the nature of this study is merely descriptive and not explanatory, it doesnt make claims on the explanatory power of modernization theory.