This paper investigates on the self-identification and feeling of belonging among the “Kosovo Albanian” “descendants” in Sweden. This is a study performed through semi-structured interviews of six volunteering participants, born and/or raised in Sweden, whose parents migrated after the 1990 which was the period of Bosnian and Croatian war that caused tensions in the Balkans. The concept of belonging together with the concept of identity, seen as self-identification, personal and collective identity, have guided through the findings of this paper. The result is that, regarding this sample, age of migration, and place of birth seems to matter in more easily defining identity and belonging.

À quelles conditions deux objets singuliers sont-ils identiques, ou distincts au contraire ? Cette thèse choisit de ne pas aborder cette question de front, en proposant immédiatement des critères – des conditions nécessaires et suffisantes – d’identité pour certains types d’objets (les personnes, les artefacts, les objets inanimés…). Elle commence bien plutôt par prendre du recul, en demandant ce que sont de tels objets ordinaires, quelle est leur ontologie, et quelle est par conséquent la nature d’une relation d’identité entre eux. La conclusion de cette enquête, menée dans une perspective néo-carnapienne, est déflationniste : les relations d’identité numérique entre objets ordinaires ne sont pas déjà présentes dans le monde, comme des faits substantiels que nous n’aurions plus qu’à découvrir. Après avoir élaboré cette théorie de l’identité dans une première partie, cette thèse la met ensuite au travail, pour résoudre dans une deuxième partie les principaux paradoxes de l’identité dont la littérature regorge : problèmes liés au vague, aux modalités, à la coïncidence, problèmes enfin d’identité personnelle. / Under what conditions are two singular objects identical or distinct? This thesis chooses not to tackle this question upfront, by directly putting forward criteria – that is, necessary and sufficient conditions – of identity for certain kinds of objects (such as persons, artefacts, inanimate objects…). It rather begins by stepping backwards, in order to tell a story about ordinary objects, about their ontology, and consequently about the nature of the relation of numerical identity between two such objects. The upshot of this enquiry, led under the guidance of a neo-Carnapian meta-philosophy, is deflationary: numerical identity relations between ordinary objects are not already there in the world, like substantial facts waiting to be discovered. After elaborating such a theory of identity in the first part, this thesis then uses it to solve most of the well-known problems of identity, in the second part: those related to vagueness, essentialism and modality, spatio-temporal coincidence, and eventually personal identity.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de contribuer à la littérature en économie en analysant trois déterminants psychologiques dans la manière dont les individus prennent des décisions dans le temps en utilisant des approches et des méthodologies issues de l’économie et de la psychologie. Ainsi, le premier chapitre de cette thèse analyse théoriquement la demande des individus pour des dispositifs d’engagement pour lutter contre leur propre préférence pour le présent. Cette étude théorique est illustrée par une expérience en laboratoire sur la perte de poids. Le deuxième chapitre étudie empiriquement l’impact des conditions de travail sur les comportements de santé des individus à la lumière de la littérature en psychologie sur l’autorégulation. Le troisième chapitre propose une traduction et une validation de l’échelle des aspects de l’identité et montre que l’analyse économique des préférences individuelles peut bénéficier de la ré-introduction de la subjectivité de l’identité personnelle. Enfin, le dernier chapitre de cette thèse explore dans quelle mesure cette subjectivité de l’identité personnelle peut être importante pour comprendre les choix intertemporels. / The objective of this thesis is to contribute to economic literature by analysing three psychological determinants in the way individuals make decisions over time, using approaches and methodologies from economics and psychology. Thus, the first chapter of this thesis theoretically analyses the demand for commitment devices to overcome their own present-bias. This theoretical study is illustrated by a laboratory experiment on weight loss. The second chapter empirically examines the impact of working conditions on individuals’ health behaviours in the light of the psychological literature on self-control. The third chapter proposes a translation and validation of the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire and shows that the economic analysis of individual preferences can benefit from the reintroduction of the subjectivity of personal identity. Finally, the last chapter of this thesis explores the extent to which this subjectivity of personal identity can be important in understanding intertemporal choices.

During the last decade there has been a major change in the labour market where the work has become more limitless and the number of entrepreneurs has increased. This study analyses how self-employed female accountant experience their personal identity and professional identity. Central questions are the individual experience of the personal- and professional identity, the connection between them and which importance self-employment has for the perceived personal identity. Previous research indicates that there are several separate studies about self-employed, accountant and identity but not in a combination with each other, which lays the foundation for the study's relevance. The theoretical starting points are Erving Goffman's stigma theory and the dramaturgical perspective as well as concepts about the boundless work and identity. The study is based on a qualitative research method in which five semi-structured interviews have been conducted. The results indicate that there is a connection between the personal identity and the professional identity. Besides, it emerged that the role of self-employed has importance for the perceived personal identity. / Under det senaste decenniet har stora förändring skett på arbetsmarknaden där arbetet blivit allt mer gränslöst och antalet egenföretagare ökat i omfattning. Studien undersöker hur egenföretagande kvinnliga redovisningskonsulter upplever sin personliga identitet och yrkesidentitet. Centrala frågor är individens upplevelse av sin personliga- och yrkesidentitet, kopplingen dem emellan samt vilken betydelse egenföretagande har för individens upplevda personliga identitet. Den tidigare forskningen tyder på att det finns ett flertal separata studier om egenföretagare, redovisningskonsulter och identitet men inte i kombination med varandra, vilket ger upphov till studiens relevans. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna är Erving Goffmans stigmateori och det dramaturgiska perspektivet samt begreppen gränslöst arbete och identitet. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ forskningsmetod där fem semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts. Studiens resultat visar att det finns en koppling mellan den personliga identiteten och yrkesidentiteten hos urvalsgruppen. Ytterligare framkom det att rollen som egenföretagare har en betydelse för individens upplevda personliga identitet.

In this essay I try to put Jaspers philosophy of love in dialogue with some of the leading approaches of personal identity. I start briefly with the pre-Socratics Parmenides and Heraclitus. I then introduce some leading identity theories within the analytical tradition and finally the narrative identity theory with Paul Ricoeur at the forefront. In section 2.1, I analyse the basic concept of Umgreifende and its relation to, among others, Kant and Kierkegaard. Knowledge and objectification of personal identity are seen as major problems in identity theories and contrasted with Jaspers’ idea of ​​identity as Existenz. In section 2.2 I analyse Jaspers’ view on action and freedom. Love appears as the cornerstone for Jaspers’ philosophy in general and Existenz in particular. I link Jasper's concept of love to Augustine and at the same time show the differences between the two. In section 2.3, I analyse Jaspers’ view on communication and action which he thinks is the only way for the self to appear and become phenomenal. The world is proving to have a key role as a medium that enables communication. In section 2.4, I clarify Jaspers view on the role of language in intersubjective communication and the possibilities of hermeneutics. The essay concludes with a brief summary.

Denna studie av ungdomar med utländsk bakgrund försöker skapa förståelse för ungdomars identitet i samband med kulturkrockar och se påverkan av att leva med två olika kulturer. För att ta reda på detta har denna huvudfråga använts: Hur upplever ungdomar med utländsk bakgrund att deras två kulturer och kulturkrockar påverkar deras identitet? Denna kvalitativa studie har innefattat en semi-strukturerad intervju och fem intervjupersoner som alla är utlandsfödda med utländsk bakgrund. De alla beskrev hur deras identitet påverkas av kulturkrockar och av att leva med två kulturer. De stöter på missförstånd som sätter spår på självförtroendet och i dessa kulturkrockar genomgår identiteten en förändring. De påverkas av andra människors reaktioner på dem, hur andra ser på dem och här förändras deras självbild. De anser att det är svårt att veta vad de har för identitet och vilken kultur de identifierar sig med vilket leder till att de upplever en identitetskris och skapar en egen kultur med de båda kulturerna de har. För ungdomarna är identitet något som ständigt förändras och formas i sociala sammanhang i samband med kultur och kulturkrockar. / This study of young people with a foreign background tries to create an understanding of young people's identity in connection with cultural clashes and to see the impact of living with two different cultures. The main question that has been used in this study: How do young people with a foreign background experience that their two cultures and cultural clashes affect their identity? This qualitative study has included a semi-structured interview and five interviewees who were all born abroad with a foreign background. They all described how their identity is affected by cultural clashes and by living with two cultures. They encounter misunderstandings that affect their self-confidence and in these cultural clashes, identity undergoes a change. They are affected by other people’s reactions to them, how others see them and this changes their self-image. They believe that it is difficult to know what their identity is and which culture they identify with, which leads to them experiencing an identity crisis and creating their own culture with the two cultures they have. For young people, identity is something that constantly changes and is shaped in social contexts in connection with culture and cultural clashes.

Alla människor möter dagligen olika former av attityder. En utländsk bakgrund kan dock medföra fler eller annorlunda utmaningar i mötet med attityder. Denna studie fokuserar på unga vuxna med utländsk bakgrund i åldrarna 18–25 år, och har till syfte att utforska attityder de möter i sin vardag. Studien tittar även på hur attityderna påverkar utvecklingen av den personliga respektive den sociala identiteten hos individer med utländsk bakgrund. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer av unga vuxna med utländsk bakgrund. I den konventionella innehållsanalysen i studien framkom många intressanta perspektiv. Resultaten belyser att acceptans ledde till de positiva attityder man sökte, men i vissa fall kunde medföra nya problem. Individer som genom förändringar av den egna identiteten lyckats med integrationsprocessen möttes av negativa attityder från andra med utländsk bakgrund. Vidare belyser resultatet att för några var behovet av extern bekräftelse mer trivialt, då de visar upp en högre nivå av egen bekräftelse. Sammanfattningsvis visar resultatet att attityder - positiva som negativa - har ett inflytande på utvecklingen av densociala såväl som den personliga identiteten hos unga vuxna med utländsk bakgrund. / All individuals face different kinds of challenges on a daily basis. A foreign background can however come with its own set of challenges when it comes to attitudes. This study focuses on young adults with a foreign background aged 18-25 and explores the different types of attitudes these young adults face on a daily basis and the effect of such attitudes on the formation of the personal and social identity of these individuals. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with young adults from a foreign background and to analyse their response we used conventional content analysis. The results highlight that acceptance into the individual’s new context led to more positive attitudes, but in some cases we find that when becoming more integrated sometimes other foreign people might react badly towards the integrated person, giving them negative attitudes following the change in identities. Further the results showed that for some, the importance of exterior validation is more trivial, following a greater internal validation. To conclude the results, show that attitudes, be they positive or negative, do have an impact on the personal and social identity formation of young adult immigrants.

No description available.

Although women increasingly contribute their labour to an ever-burgeoning workplace, little is understood about their roles and sense of identity at work. Adopting a phenomenological approach to this study will allow the researcher to discover what women’s experience of their sense of identity at work encompasses. Furthermore, a review of the contemporary literature, and a phenomenological approach to the study employing semi-structured interviews and an explication of the protocols using the ‘modified’ Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method (Creswell, 1998), may be used to explore women’s experience of their sense of identity in the workplace. Recommendations may be made for future research and organisational practice. The main findings indicated, inter alia, that the participants expressed their sense of identity at work from a ‘collective’ or social identity orientation. This finding also supports various feminist researchers’ viewpoints that women may develop a unique sense of identity relative to the environment in which they find themselves (Ely, 1994; Hakim, 1996). Themes that arose from the interviews with the participants included the concerns women express universally to a greater extent, yet included their interests, abilities, traits and material characteristics to a lesser extent (Ashforth & Mael, 1989; Hogg & Turner, 1987). The study findings also questioned psychology-based “person-centred” ideas about women’s relationships with other women at work, and added credence to the supposition that the demographic composition of an organisation may influence an individual’s experiences at work (Ely, 1994, p. 203). Furthermore, as social v identities are more significant in organisations, due to the incidence of social groups (Fisher, 1986; Mortimer & Simmons, 1978; Van Maanen, 1976), it would appear that as fewer women are employed in management and the upper echelons of organisations, they would therefore not benefit from being involved in the social environment of work, and would therefore not be in a position to adopt the identity of their counterparts (Becker & Carper, 1956). The contribution of this research to understanding women’s experience of their sense of identity, and the provision of a basic framework in this regard, may assist female employees, and their employers and managers, in their relationships at work, and in this way improve the employment prospects and retention of women. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

This study is about the nature of persons and personal identity. It belongs to a tradition that maintains that in order to understand what it is to be a person we must clarify what personal identity consists in. In this pursuit, I differentiate between the problems (i) How do persons persist? and (ii) What facts, if any, does personal identity consist in? Concerning the first question, I argue that persons persist three-dimensionally (the endurance view), and not four-dimensionally (the perdurarne view), on the ground that objects must always fall under some substance sortal concept S (the sortal dependency of individuation), and that the concept person entails that objects falling under it are three-dimensional. Concerning the second question, I differentiate between Criterianists, who maintain that it is possible to specify a non-circular and informative criterion for personal identity, and Non-Criterianists, who deny that such a specification is possible. I argue against Criterianist accounts of personal identity on the ground that they are either (i) circular, (ii) violate the intrinsicality of identity or (iii) do not adequately represent what we are essentially. I further criticise three Psychological Non-Criterianist accounts of personal identity on the ground that they wrongly assume that 'person' refers to mental entities. Instead I formulate the Revised Animal Attribute View where person is understood as a basic sortal concept which picks out a biological sort of enduring animals. In this, I claim that the real essence of a person is determined by the real essence of the kind of animal he is, without thereby denying that persons have a real essence as persons. / digitalisering@umu