This study aims to examine the driving factors behind youth organizing in Swedish urban outskirts, known as ’förorten’. The national organization Förenade Förorter, which acts as a platform for local youth organizations located in ’förorten’, serves as a case to illustrate the connection between experiences of racism, autonomous self-organizing and political influence. The study is based on interviews with representatives of these local youth organizations as well as the central organization. The material is analyzed through a theoretical framework of postcolonial theory and theories of democratic participation and representation, using the policy-analysis tool What’s the problem represented to be combined with the ACTIE-model used to contextualize community initiatives. The study concludes that structural racism serves as the main reason behind the founding of Förenade Förorter and its member organizations. The organizing can be described as a decolonizing strategy, where knowledge, experiences and practices are shared between the people involved in the network in order to deal with a society incapable of providing equal opportunity for all. The network serves as a platform for agency and collective strength while building structures to challenge existing democratic institutions - by being more democratic. / <p>2022-06-10</p>

“There is an overconsumption in the Swedish society that affects all living and contributes with consequences for all. How does this affect us humans? How does it affect society and what consequences become visible? Today the main focus is on the environment and climate changes where the government and the media are responsible for what is being published. The focus is the entire population but is the government and the media doing a good job to reach out to everyone of its inhabitants? To get a first point of view of the situation we have chosen a subculture to investigate - a social movement, Extinction Rebellion. They are making headlines all over the world with their radical actions which both informs and scares the population. Our study will have its starting point in the theories of Zygmunt Bauman - The consumer society, Bert Klandermans &amp; Jacqueline van Stekelenburg - Social movements and Richard Jenkins - Social identity. By collecting empirical research by qualitative interviews, we would like to find an understanding that can explain why some people choose to deviate from the norm to act against society for the environment. The result indicate that people would like to change the society and that there is a genuine fear that is connected to the consumer society and its consequences. These consequences are the motivation for people to join a social movement, such as Extinction Rebellion.” / Det finns en överkonsumtion inom det svenska samhället som påverkar allt levande och bidrar med konsekvenser för alla. Hur påverkas människan? Hur påverkas samhället och vilka konsekvenser blir synliga? Det är idag stort fokus på miljön och klimatförändringar där staten och media väljer vad som publiceras. Deras inriktning blir mot hela befolkningen, men lyckas staten och media nå ut till alla invånare? För att få en inblick i hur situationen ser ut har vi valt att granska en subkultur - en social rörelse, Extinction Rebellion, som försöker skapa rubriker runt om i världen genom radikala aktioner som både informerar och skrämmer upp befolkningen. Studien har sin utgångspunkt i Zygmunt Baumans - konsumtionssamhället, Bert Klandermans &amp; Jacqueline van Stekelenburg - sociala rörelser samt Richard Jenkins - social identitet. Metoden som används är kvalitativa intervjuer som söker en förståelse för att förklarar varför vissa människor aktivt väljer att avvika från normer för att ta ställning mot samhället för miljöns skull. Resultatet pekar på att individer har en vilja att förändra samhället samt en genuin rädsla för det senmoderna konsumtionssamhällets konsekvenser. Dessa konsekvenser blir en faktor som motiverar människor till att gå med i en social rörelse som Extinction Rebellion.

Understanding how political parties and social movements interact and what are the results of these interactions is important for both scholars of Political Science and Sociology. This is particularly true for far-right actors since they are characterised by diverse ideological and organisational features. Understanding how parties and movements interact can help shed light on how these features develop and, ultimately, explain their success. In the dissertation a novel conceptualisation of party-movement interactions is presented, as well as a theory that aims to explain when parties and movements are more likely to develop stronger interactions on three different dimensions, frames, actions and organisations. This theory is tested by looking at two sets of far-right parties and movements, Lega Nord and CasaPound Italia in Italy and the United Kingdom Independence Party and the English Defence League in the United Kingdom. The analysis is carried out through a Political Claim Analysis and a document analysis of parties and movements documents for the period 2009-2019. The analysis finds that parties and movements have closer interactions on the frame dimension when issues they own gain prominence in the public debate and when political parties are weak electorally. In the actions dimension, interactions tend to be closer when parties are weak electorally and movement organisations moderate their repertoire of actions. Finally, in the organisational dimension, relations are closer when parties are weak electorally and in proximity of electoral campaigns. This research makes two contributions to the study of far-right parties and movements. The first is theoretical, for the paper advances a new theory of party-movement interactions that could be tested in different scenarios. The second is empirical, for the paper provides indications on when parties and movements are more likely to have closer interactions and how through these interactions they change and develop their features.

Disinformation campaigns are a growing threat towards democracy and a phenomenon that is important to understand in order to guard against. One part of the literature around disinformation campaigns that is as of yet not widely studied is how they can be connected to social movements. Previous research on this connection have shown that disinformation campaigns will tend to support social movements indirectly through the spread of disinformation which both amplifies the claims of the movement and attracts more mobilizers, which can lead to for example lessened trust towards institutions and thus a successful disinformation campaign. This paper analyses the case of the mobilization against the Swedish Social Services in order to see if this connection between the disinformation campaign and the social movement was present in this case as well. The findings made shows that the connection was not that of an indirect connection as have been observed in previous studies but rather one of direct cooperation. Furthermore, this paper also explores what factors allowed for both a disinformation campaign and mobilization against the Swedish Social Services to manifest.

This dissertation is an examination of trust in vaccine science, with a focus on ideas about vaccination outside the scientific consensus. It is grounded in empirical research, including 35 interviews and a review of publicly available documents, books, and academic articles. Theoretically, it is informed by theories in the sociology of science, social movements, and the sociology of expertise. In substantive chapters, it investigates the origins of the modern ‘anti-vaccine’ movement, the spread of the movement's ideas in different sociocultural and political contexts, and the perspectives and personal experiences of those who are part of the movement. Overall, it contributes to a growing body of literature that aims to change the conversation around vaccine hesitancy from an information-deficit problem to an issue about trust in institutions. The dissertation is organized into three main papers. The first is an analysis of a specific historic episode, namely the 1998 MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine-autism controversy. I find that institutional incentive structures unintentionally circulated misinformation about the MMR vaccine by former medical doctor Andrew Wakefield and posit the role that academic reward structures have in fostering public trust. The second paper examines vaccine hesitancy with a social movement lens, specifically focusing on the strategies used by the anti-vaccine movement to organize and frame their message. I introduce the concept of an ‘anti-scientific intellectual movement’ to understand the increasing trend of social groups opposing science as a set of institutions. The third paper is a study of the lived experiences of participants who were interviewed in 2019 about their views on vaccination and how their individual experiences and meaning-making activities impacted their trust in vaccine science. I find strong distrust in scientific institutions, a desire for open dialogue and debate, and dissatisfaction with the ‘anti-vaccine’ label which participants felt erased the nuance in their perspectives. Altogether, this dissertation makes significant contributions to ongoing discussions about the public face of science and how to effectively engage with public audiences to build trust. / Dissertation / Candidate in Philosophy

This study compares repertoire and framing between two protests in the early Dutch environmental movement and two protests in the modern Dutch environmental movement. The aim of the study is to find differences and similarities between the two time periods the protests take place in. The four cases are studied using the comparative case study method, specifically doing a historical comparison. In each case, the theoretical concepts of repertoire and framing are analyzed. Each case is studied through a qualitative analysis of archival and secondary sources, including newspaper articles, publications and social media posts. Using the theoretical concepts of framing and repertoire, several similarities and differences are found between the four cases. All four cases use the frame of the threat to human health in their campaigns and aimed for a low threshold for people to join their campaigns. Frames differed more across campaigns with different topics than across campaigns from different time periods. In repertoire, cases differed across time periods more than within time periods. The contemporary cases focus on commitment by showing the willingness to bear great personal risk, whereas the historical cases focus on showcasing their worthiness through alliances with strategic actors. Overall, the comparative historical analysis employed in this research reveals that there are greater differences between time periods when it comes to repertoire than in framing, showing that repertoire is defined more by time period than framing for the chosen cases.

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The central problem that this research seeks to engage is the non-implementation of an Afrocentric movement for African American economic advancement. A wealth of research has explored external and internal factors that cause inequalities in wealth among African Americans and their White counterparts, but there has yet to be an adequate program that addresses African American poverty. The lack of an Afrocentric program has contributed to the formation of African American communities plagued by economic challenges. Social factors such as structural racism, poor educational institutions, generational transfer of poverty, urban removal etc. has had devastating effects on African Americans' opportunities of accumulating wealth. While wealth alone will not solve all issues that face African Americans, addressing economics realities from a social, political, and historical perspective will assist with the current movement for African American economic empowerment and contribute to the economic dimension of the struggle for African liberation. In focusing on economics, this research seeks to contribute to African liberation by providing a detailed Afrocentric historiographical perspective, an empirical analysis of current economic realities, and a model for economic liberation. / African American Studies