In light of new social risks, such as the decline in fertility rates in large parts of the industrialised world, family policies – for example parental insurance and public childcare – appear to put increasing focus on the individual’s ability to combine labour market employment with family life. This means that individuals become less dependent on their families, conceptualised as an individualisation of policy. Some argue, however, that family policy trends are more ambiguous than usually framed. The aim of this essay is to contribute to research on family policy by examining whether traits of familising policy – policies which increases one’s dependence on one’s family – are found even within countries usually described as fully individualised. This is to be achieved by an in-depth study of the current Swedish policy trajectory, which is often portrayed as a leading example of the individualising trend.  By performing a qualitative content analysis on a Swedish government inquiry from 2017 about the parental insurance model, familising and individualising policy aspects are searched for. The main finding of the essay is that while the individualising aspects of Swedish family policy exceed the familising aspects, there remains some policy traits with familising functions. This is mainly in relation to the degree to which policy is prepared to intervene in gender-unequal behaviour, affecting women’s real possibility of combining work and family. The clearest example is that the parental insurance model still targets couples as a unit: the larger part of the parental leave days are proposed to be available for parents who live together to divide between them as they like.

The aim of the study “Gender and societal norms in change - Quantitative study on women's attitudes to childbearing and parenting” was to investigate women's attitude towards childbearing and parenthood, as well as women's attitude towards becoming a parent on their own. The goal was to develop knowledge regarding women's attitude towards having children in order to contribute with possible explanations for the downward trend of childbearing in Sweden. The study also investigates which factors can influence women's decisions towards having children. The questions that the study answered were: What does women's attitude towards becoming a parent look like on their own? What factors are important for women to consider when having children? How do the factors affect the timing of having children? The study was carried out using a quantitative method in the form of a survey. A total of 112 women participated in the study, which was based on theories of individualization, female individualization and gender socialization. The results of the study showed that the women did not experience a strong influence of gender and societal norms regarding childbearing and parenthood. However, the women felt that there are several important factors that they want to achieve before having children, which affect the timing. The majority of women were also positive about single parenthood and the use of medically assisted conception. / Syftet med studien var att undersöka kvinnors inställning till barnafödande och föräldraskap, samt kvinnors inställning till att bli förälder på egen hand. Målet var att utveckla kunskap gällande kvinnors inställning till att skaffa barn för att bidra med möjliga förklaringar till den nedåtgående trenden av barnafödande i Sverige. Studien undersöker även vilka faktorer som kan påverka kvinnors beslut att skaffa barn. De frågor som studien besvarade var: Hur ser kvinnors inställning ut till att bli förälder på egen hand? Vilka faktorer är viktiga för kvinnor att ta hänsyn till när de skaffar barn? Hur påverkar faktorerna tidpunkten för att skaffa barn? Studien genomfördes med en kvantitativ metod i form av en enkätundersökning. Totalt deltog 112 kvinnor i studien som tog avstamp i teorier om individualisering, kvinnlig individualisering och könsocialisering. Resultatet i studien visade att kvinnorna inte upplevde en stark påverkan av köns- och samhällsnormer när det gäller barnafödande och föräldraskap. Däremot ansåg kvinnorna att det finns flera viktiga faktorer som de vill uppnå innan ett barnafödande, vilket påverkar tidpunkten. Majoriteten av kvinnorna var dessutom positiva till ett ensamt föräldraskap och användning av medicinsk assisterad befruktning.

This study examines a late-modernity model of society where consumption is the conduit through which individuals meet society. This model is contrasted with Wilkinson's (1991) model that sees the community as the place where individuals make contact with society. Using Brown et al.'s (1996) Outshopping Index, residents of two rural Mississippi Delta communities were asked how often they shopped for 30 consumable items outside of their communities both in 1996 and again in 2007. Logistic regression demonstrates a significant interaction effect between year and outshopping such that outshopping was significantly and positively associated with community sentiment in 1996 but not in 2007. Such a transformation in the locus associated with consumption habits and community can be explained as an effect of globalization on rural residents during the period under observation. The results may be indicative of larger shifts in society as described by Bauman (2007), who argues that late modernity is a shift from mass consumer society to a society of consumers. This shift changed the meaning of community, eroding its traditional function as a point of access to society. Hyper-individualized consumption now serves this role. Though acknowledging that community is not a phenomenon exclusive to rural communities, I contend that they serve as ideal natural laboratories for observing late-modern societal shifts.

Denna uppsats är en kvalitativ studie av de två största professionella bloggarna i Sverige, blondinbella.se och kissies.se. Studiens syfte är att ta reda på vilka markörer för klass och genus som kan hittas på bloggarna och utifrån dessa vilken bild av att vara ung tjej det är som förmedlas till bloggarnas läsare. Debatten om de två aktuella bloggarna pågår i media och speciellt är det författarna bakom bloggarna som uppmärksammas, Isabella Löwengrip och Alexandra Nilsson. Med hjälp av teorier kring kön och klass analyserar jag bloggarnas innehåll och försöker utkristallisera vilka teman som är dominerande på dessa bloggar. Resultatdelen är uppdelad utifrån dessa teman som handlar om shopping, kroppsuppfattning och valmöjligheter. Ett utmärkande drag i bloggarna är betoningen på jaget, den individuella upplevelsen av allt som händer och hur alla omnämnda händelser relaterar till bloggerskorna själva. Det som till en början framstod som två ungefär lika modebloggar, har visat sig rymma fler olikheter och fler dolda sociala mekanismer än vad man först kunnat ana. Hur bloggerskorna förhåller sig till sin vardag, sin omgivning och till kritik och ideal, formas till stor del av deras klasstillhörighet. En annan slutsats är att den kommersiella sidan av bloggarna i stora delar utformar vad det skrivs om, vilket påverkar helhetsupplevelsen som förmedlas. / This is a qualitative study of the two biggest blogs in Sweden, blondinbella.se and kissies.se. The purpose of this study is to find out which characteristics can be found that represent social class and gender, and from that perspective, what image of being a young girl is forwarded to the readers of these blogs. The media debate on the two blogs is ongoing and of special interest are the two writers of these blogs, Isabella Löwengrip and Alexandra Nilsson. With the help of social class and gender theories I analyze the content of the two blogs and try to distinguish which themes are dominant. The result part is divided from those themes that consider shopping, bodily self-esteem and choices. A predominating characteristic on the blogs is the emphasis on the self, the individual experience, and how all that is happening is related to the bloggers themselves. What in the beginning appeared to be two similar fashionblogs, has turned out to be embedding more diversity and hidden social mechanisms than was first apparent. How the bloggers relate to their everyday life, their settings and to critique and ideals, is in big parts shaped by their social class. Another conclusion is that the commercial side of the blogs in large aspects shapes what is written and this affects the subjective total experience of the blogs

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Kurbelová, Jana: The individualization of teaching - the school reform of the thirties in the Czechoslovak Republic. Diploma work, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Department of Pedagogy, 2013. 78 pages (include insets). The consultant of diploma work: doc. PhDr. Růžena Váňová, CSc. The diploma work is primarily focused on the school system reform in 1930s' in Czechoslovakia led by Václav Príhoda. It detaily elaborates a Príhoda's new method of teaching, especially the individual approach to a teacher- pupil relationship. The goal of this diploma work is to analyse the individual approach implementation in detail on a theoretical and practical level. In theory, it is a description and an analysis of the Příhoda's method of the unitary and internally differentiated education with a respect to pupil's individuality. The practical level is represented by conclusions coming from the experimental work focused on theoretical rules in praxis application, provided by reformational schools. The diploma work has a historical and didactic meaning. Key words individualization of teaching, individualization, collectivism, differentiation, self- education, Dalton plan, Vaclav Prihoda, school reform, experimental schools, 1918-1938

In what ways and under what circumstances can a movie be a resource for individuals and their thoughts about existential matters? This central research question has been investigated using a both quantitative and qualitative approach. First, a questionnaire was distributed amongst 179 Swedish students to provide a preliminary overview of film habits. The questionnaire was also used as a tool for selecting respondents to individual interviews. Second, thirteen interviews were conducted, with viewers choosing their favourite movie of all time. In the study socio-cognitive theory and a schema-based theoretical tool is adopted to analyze how different viewers make use of movies as cultural products in an interplay between culture and cognition in three contexts; a socio-historic process, a socio-cultural interaction with the world and inner psychological processes. Summarizing the interviews some existential matters dominated. Matters of immanent orientation were in the foreground. Transcendental questions received much less attention. Summarizing the schema-based theoretical question, assessing which cognitive schema structures the narratives were processed through, the study found an emphasis on a combination of two main cognitive structures, person schema and self schema. Detailed person schematic cognitive processes about fictitious characters on the screen and their role model behaviour were combined by the respondents with dynamic cross-references to detailed self schematic introspections about their own characteristics, related to existential matters at some very specific moments in their lives. The viewers in the study seem to be inspired by movies as a mediated cultural resource, promoting the development of a personal moral framework with references to values deeply fostered by a humanistic tradition. It is argued that these findings support theories discussing individualised meaning making, developing ‘self-expression values’ and ‘altruistic individualism’ in contemporary western society.

Darbe atlikta teorinė inkliuzinio ugdymo sampratos, ugdymo(si) individualizavimo veiksnių bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje analizė. Iškelta hipotezė, kad pedagogai, individualizuodami ugdymo procesą, patiria sunkumų įvairiuose ugdymo individualizavimo srityse, kurie lemia specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių turinčių mokinių ugdymosi kokybę. Turinio (content) analizės ir struktūruoto stebėjimo metodais buvo atliktas tyrimas, kurio tikslas – atskleisti ir įvertinti ugdymo(si) individualizavimo veiksnius kokybės aspektu. Atlikta kokybinė gautų duomenų analizė. Tyrime dalyvavo 4 bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų pedagogai, 4 specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių turintys mokiniai. Buvo išanalizuotos 4 adaptuotos programos. Empirinėje dalyje analizuojamas adaptuotų programų pritaikymas individualiems mokinių gebėjimams ir poreikiams. ugdymo(si) turinio ir proceso individualizavimas. Vertinami ugdymo(si) individualizavimo veiksniai pedagogo ir mokinio veikloje. Aptariami ugdymo(si) individualizavimo teigiami ir neigiami aspektai. Svarbiausios empirinio tyrimo išvados: 1. Lietuvių kalbos adaptuotų programų turinio analizės rezultatai parodė, kad programose trūksta išsamaus mokinio gebėjimų ir individualiųjų poreikių įvertinimo. Pedagogų keliami tikslai labiau abstraktūs, orientuoti į dalykinių gebėjimų ugdymą ir dalinai susiję su mokinio gebėjimais. Ugdymo(si) turinys nederinamas su bendrojo ugdymo turiniu. Mokymo būdai ir metodai parinkti labiau elementarūs ir dalinai atitinkantys mokinio negalę. Galima... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In this research work there was done theoretical analysis of inclusive education conception, as well as factors of individualization in the process of education at comprehensive school. Hypothesis was set, that pedagogues, in the process of individualized education meet various difficulties which determine the quality of education for students with special educational needs. By the methods of content analysis and structural observation there was done a research, the aim of which was – to disclose and assess the factors of individualization in teaching – learning process in the aspect of quality. The qualitative data analysis was done. In the survey participated 4 comprehensive school pedagogues, 4 pupils having special educational needs. There were analysed programmes prepared at Pakruojis region comprehensive schools. In the empirical part adapted curriculum compilation and application matching with the pupils’ learning abilities and needs, as well as the individualization of educational content and the process for the schoolchildren with special educational needs, are analysed. The factors of individualization in teachers – pupil’s practice are evaluated too. Positive and negative aspects of individualized educational process are discussed. The most important conclusions of empirical research: 1. The results of analysis of adapted Lithuanian programmes content showed that there is lack of full – scale evaluation in defining pupils’ personal abilities and individual needs... [to full text]

In this study we have aimed to explore how participation and self-determination is implemented in the daily life of disabled people who receive support through LSS. The questions addressed concern possibilities/obstacles for the participation and selfdetermination of disabled people who live in group housings, and how the terms participation and self-determination are realized. Nine interviews have taken place with staff members and directors of different group housings. We have found that the interviewees believe that the nature of a person’s disability can be a barrier to the individual’s self-determination and participation in his or her everyday life. For individuals with more severe disabilities, the interviewees find that the use of different communication aids, such as sign language and pictures, can facilitate the communication between all parts involved, and make it easier for the wishes of the individual to reach through to the staff/directors. Sometimes the interviewees’ opinions of what is a healthy life does not correspond with the wishes of the individual. When this occurs we have found examples of the staff putting up boundaries for the individual’s self-determination, and instances in which the staff takes on a more passive role and lets the individual make his or her own decisions even if the staff does not necessarily believe them to be good ones.

This diploma thesis deals with forms of cooperation between family - school, their meaning at the beginning of the school attendance, the benefit of the individualization of the child's needs and the educational progress. Action research seeking to answer the question under what conditions the cooperation with parents has a positive impact on the learning progress of the child and in the individual case reports we describe the effective forms of the cooperation which contribute to the principle of the individualization in the education of children. Other methods in the context of the action research are: interview, e-mail correspondence, observation, recording, tripartite meetings, performances, evaluation. During our research we managed to establish cooperation with all parents of the pupils of the language course and also individualize their needs with regard to their cognitive abilities and home background. We have found that the parents are willing to cooperate if the teacher is able to create conditions for that not only at school but also whether he or she can choose appropriate strategies and forms of cooperation with regard to domestic conditions of the pupil. The contribution of this study is to implement an approach focused on the child and its individual development and to verify the...