Over the past two decades, violence at work has become the object of an increasing level of attention. The objective of the thesis is to analyse how the development of violence at work as a social problem might be understood. The studies in the thesis examine trends in exposure to violence at work among different occupational groups (I), the attention focused on violence at work in trade journals (II), the measures proposed to combat the problem in trade journal articles (III) and in the occupational injury reports made by the victims themselves (IV). The first study shows that, according to victim surveys, levels of exposure to work-related violence have increased since the beginning of the 1980s. The increases are greatest in relation to the female-dominated occupations found in the care provision sectors. Study II presents a quantitative content analysis of trade journals from the period 1978–2004. The results show that there has been an increase in the amount of attention focused on violence at work. The results indicate that definitions of violence have expanded and that attention has become focused on new groups of victims and perpetrators. Study III examines the ways in which trade journals describe measures to combat violence at work. The results indicate that there has been a shift from viewing violence as a problem that should be resolved at the workplace as a health-and-safety issue, to increasingly viewing it as a problem that should be resolved externally with the help of the justice system. Study IV is based on an analysis of occupational injury reports from staff in the care sector who have been exposed to violence at work. Irrespective of the nature of the risk situation that preceded the violent incident, the staff who have been exposed to violence at work would prefer to see the problem resolved internally at the workplace. / Våld i arbetslivet har under de senaste två decennierna fått en större uppmärksamhet. Syftet med avhandlingen är att analysera hur utvecklingen av våld i arbetslivet som samhällsproblem kan förstås. I fyra delstudier behandlas omfattningen och utvecklingen av utsatthet för våld i arbetslivet bland olika yrkesgrupper (I), hur våld i arbetslivet uppmärksammats i facklig press (II) och vilka åtgärder som förespråkas i facklig press (III) samt i arbetsskadeanmälningar (IV). Gemensamt för avhandlingens studier är att de tar upp frågor som rör förändring över tid, hur utvecklingen kan förstås och vilka konsekvenser förändringarna för med sig. I den första studien visas att utsatthet för arbetsrelaterat hot och våld enligt svenska offerunderökningar har ökat sedan 1980-talets början. Ökningarna är störst för de kvinnodominerade jobben inom välfärdssektorerna. I studie II görs en kvantitativ innehållsanalys av facklig press 1978-2004. Resultaten visar att uppmärksamheten för våld har ökat och pekar på vidgade definitioner av våld och att nya grupper uppmärksammas som offer och förövare. I studie III undersöks hur åtgärder mot hot och våld i arbetslivet uppmärksammas i facklig press. Resultaten indikerar att våld i arbetslivet har gått från att ses som ett problem som skall lösas som en intern arbetsmiljöfråga på arbetsplatsen till att allt oftare ses som ett problem som ska lösas externt med hjälp av polis och rättsväsende. Det har skett en förskjutning mot ett förrättsligande när det gäller hur våld i arbetlivet ska åtgärdas. Utvecklingen kan sammanfattas som en rörelse ett arbetsmiljöproblem till ett brottsproblem. Studie IV utgår från en analys av arbetsskadeanmälningar från vård- och omsorgspersonal som utsatts för våld i arbetet. När man ser till de åtgärdsförslag som de utsatta själva föreslår för att undvika att våldet skall inträffa igen så framgår att det finns en diskrepans mellan de åtgärder som uppmärksammas i facklig press och de åtgärder som personalen efterfrågar. De våldsutsatta ser främst att våldsproblemet, oavsett vilken risksituation som föregått våldet, löses internt på arbetsplatsen. Adekvata resurser i form av tid och personal för att utföra arbetet efterfrågas gång på gång. Insatser av externa aktörer såsom polis och rättsväsende efterfrågas däremot inte. / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Submitted.

Even though the goals of Swedish disability-politics are equality, full participation and autonomy, people with disabilities almost every day encounter discrimination and oppression. This thesis deals with the question of the public service-medias role in this discrepancy between political rhetoric and practices. The study of mass media’s role is interesting considering its cultural impact and the importance of cultural values in all kinds of communication situations. The focus of the study is on Swedish public service-television and the aim is to investigate the role of SVT in the implementation of the political goals of disability-politics. To what extent do SVT promote these goals and to what extent do they counteract them? The study’s ambition is both descriptive and analytical. Theoretically the study takes as its point of departure a social constructionist perspective. The only reality we thus can get in contact with is one that, via our language, has passed through our former knowledge and experiences. Language is therefore the main object of study. Another theoretical point of departure is a normative view on the role of mass media in society. This approach is characterized by the assumption that mass media has a certain usefulness for society as a whole, which in itself is a central purpose for public service-media. The study is based on data consisting of programme descriptions and video copies of programmes from the start of SVT in 1956 until 2 000. Altogether it represents more than 2 000 TV-programmes and over 40 000 broadcasting hours. Furthermore, the data consist of official political documents regarding media and disability matters. The data are approached from a discourse-analytical perspective and investigated in three studies. One of the data clusters was used to carry out a quantitative outline of SVT’s representations of disability. Another was used in an analysis of the socio-historical context and its changes over time and yet another was an analysis of the contents and narratives of the programmes. The main conclusions are that disabled persons and programmes that deals with disability issues are, and has been, rare in SVT, not more than 1-2 hours per 1 000 broadcast hours. The amount is the same today as it was in 1956. Another conclusion is that even though it seems like SVT is trying to promote the goals of disability-politics the consequences appears to be that SVT instead counteract them. One reason might be that the dominating representation in SVT has been of disability and disabled persons as normal. But because of journalistic practices, the outcome becomes portrays of deviance and The Other. This solution, however, is too simplistic. There is also a problem with the political rhetoric. As long as political goals, formulated in terms of ideals, which by definition are impossible to achieve, there will always be a discrepancy between political rhetoric and practices. The final conclusion therefore, is that reflections need to be done and consciousness needs to be raised in order to discover the discrepancy and from that point, try to create a change.

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> <p align="left">In this study, the two most dominant sexual discourses were the male sexual drive discourse and the have/hold discourse. These discourses, together with traditional gender constructions, made condom negotiation difficult for women. Nevertheless, the discourses and constructions were also resisted and challenged. This study was limited by its focus on heterosexual women and the negotiation of condom use. Future studies which explore alternate forms of safe sex, sexual orientation and allow men&rsquo / s experiences to emerge would provide greater insight.</p> </font></font></p>

När specialpedagogen använder handledning som verktyg söker hon åstadkomma förändring genom att ge pedagogerna råd. Fokus i samtalet riktas framförallt på barnet och på pedagogens arbete. Specialpedagogen kan ses som en slags expert på området barn i svårigheter och den pedagogiska praktiken. När specialpedagogen använder handledning som rum för reflektion söker hon åstadkomma förändring genom att ställa frågor för att stimulera pedagogens tänkande och stödja hennes utforskande av hur problemet kan förstås. Specialpedagogen kan då ses som en slags expert på att föra reflekterande samtal och samtalets fokus riktas huvudsakligen mot pedagogen. Specialpedagogernas repertoar innehåller därmed såväl förmåga att handleda genom att ge pedagogerna råd med utgångspunkt i det enskilda barnet som att stimulera pedagogernas reflekterande över aspekter av sitt arbete. Avhandlings syfte är att undersöka hur elva specialpedagoger beskriver och genomför handledning med pedagoger i förskola och grundskola. Intresset riktas mot samtalens innehåll och mot de påverkansprocesser som äger rum i samtalet. Handledningssamtalen studeras ur specialpedagogens perspektiv. Specialpedagogers handledningssamtal kan bidra till att vidga synen på objektet för den specialpedagogiska verksamheten såväl som befästa ett individperspektiv på området. I denna studie dominerar användningen av handledning som verktyg. Utmaningen förefaller ligga i att söka skapa villkor som även gynnar användningen av handledning som rum för reflektion.

Our aim with this study is to investigate whether or not Utbildningsradions - which is a public broadcasting agency - educational programmes reproduce the existing gender patterns of the female and male genders. We have chosen to analyse two educational programmes, Home Farm Twins and Rena rama forntiden. We use a social constructionist theory regarding the construction and reproduction of gender and the method we have chosen to use is a qualitative content analysis to study the educational programmes. Our conclusion is that in the case of Home Farm Twins, it reproduces the current stereotypes that exist in society. Rena rama forntiden on the other hand does not, the program has got a clear gender perspective in regards to its content. Though it can be said that in some ways it does not reflect upon the gender patterns that exist in society today, to a satisfactionary extent. Utbildningsradion does not achieve its policy concerning Home Farm Twins, but on the other hand it shows that in the case of Rena rama forntiden they do own up to the standards regarding cultural diversity and creative aim.

The aim of this essay was to deepen the knowledge of how child-protection-work is illustrated by massmedia. The essay takes it stand in discourse analysis to explain what image is displayed of social work concerning child-protection that is published in news media during 2007 in one of Sweden’s most read evening-papers. The result of the study is that social workers involved in child-protection-work often are categorized as either too zealous or too uncommitted, in the media. The result reflected the current discourse concerning how social workers do their duties in the modern society.

Happiness research is advancing as an academic discipline as well as on the political agenda. An aspect, largely ignored in the field, is what impact an individual’s construction of the good life has on his or her subjective well-being. The purpose of this paper was to investigate how people in different situations in life and with different backgrounds construct the idea of a good life and the importance these constructions may have in explaining subjective well-being. Despite the differences between themselves, the respondents’ constructions of the good life were shown to have a lot in common. Some factors in the good life were shared by the respondents, such as relations to other people, access to food, water and housing, whereas in other aspects, such as money and time, the constructions of the good life differed quite a lot from one another. When evaluating their own lives the respondents used quite different criteria mostly corresponding to their idea of the good life. If this is a general pattern, possible to replicate in other studies, one may in the future be able to draw the conclusion that the construction of the good life has an effect on our subjective well-being.

Uppsatsen syftar till att studera svenska tidningars rapportering om Kina och klarlägga hur bilden av Kina konstrueras i tidningarna. Detta görs genom en diskursanalys av artiklar från tre av Sveriges största dagstidningar. Både teori och metod har sin utgångspunkt i Laclau &amp; Mouffes diskursteori. Valet av artiklar grundar sig i att artiklarna på ett eller annat vis handlat om, eller tagit upp Kina och därigenom hjälpt till att konstruera en bild av landet. I analysen har det insamlade materialet sorterats in i tre olika teman utifrån vad artiklarna berör, dessa teman är, ekonomi, politik, och orientalism. De två första innefattar artiklar om Kinas ekonomiska och politiska förfarande. I det tredje temat, orientalism, innehåller artiklar där landet och dess invånare framställs som ”Den andre”, motsatsen till väst. Resultatet visar att de tre utvalda tidningarnas likartade rapportering kring de olika temana skapar en enhetlig bild av Kina. Det är den liberala demokratin och marknadsekonomins hegemoniska position som genomsyrar samtliga tidningars konstruktion av Kina. / This essay aims to study how Swedish newspapers are constructing China textually. This is done by a discourse analysis of articles from three of the biggest newspapers in Sweden. The essays theoretical and methodical background stems from Laclau &amp; Mouffe’s discourse theory. The selection of newspaper articles is based on the simple fact that they are written about China or that they mention China, and thereby helps to construct an image of the country. In the analysis of the gathered articles, the material has been sorted into three different themes depending on what the subject matter of the articles was. The themes are economics, politics, and orientalism. The first two themes address Chinas economic and political actions. The third theme, orientalism, includes articles where the country and its inhabitants are portrayed as “the other”, the opposite to the western world. The results show that the three newspapers selected all portray the same things in regards to the different themes that helps create a unified image of China. It is the liberal democracy and the market economy’s hegemonic position that permeates the reporting on China in the newspapers.

Titel: Fostran som pedagogiskt projekt. Bilden av ”problembarnet” i statens offentliga utredningar. (The bringing up of pupils as an educational project. The image of ”the problem child” in governmental committees).    This study focuses on the image of the problem child as it appears in two texts (from the 1940s and 1970s) of governmental committees on Public Health (SOU) and the new school law (Ds 2009:25, will be implemented in July 2011). By image is meant that the image of the problem child is constructed for specific purposes rather than being “found” in an objective reality.    The aim is to describe, analyse and compare discourses on “the problem child” as they appear in the texts. The method used is an application of discourse analysis based on a social constructionist approach and the work of Michel Foucault. Among the Foucauldian concepts used are discourse, governmentality, power and subjectification. In the final chapter possibilities and limitations of Foucauldian analysis are discussed. The discourses that influences the image of the problem child, in the different texts, have three major continuities operating, the talk of a school which aim is to not separate the pupils, the use of the term behavioural disorders and finally the pedagogical methods that individualises, differentiates, compares, places in hierarchy as well as shuts out pupils from the classroom. The emphasize of the teachers role to give knowledge to the pupils rather than bringing them up separates Ds 2009:25 from the two SOU-texts where the emphasize is placed on the bringing up of the pupils. Potential effects concerning the problem child because of this change in the pedagogical discourse are discussed.

In this report, I examine a part of the teaching of computer programming in a Swedish ”gymnasium”, carried out through the course ”Programmering A”. In this beginner course, students, often in heterogeneous groups, are taught the basics of using a programming language. However, quite a few pupils are facing problems in completing the course. Especially, the construction and use of ”for-loops” (in the programming language C++) seems to be hard to master. The report focus on the making and practising of a student-oriented excercise, which uses both visual and problem-oriented means to teach ”for-looping” in a way that makes learning easier, and also stimulates the students' creativity. Pros and cons with this excercise are discussed in the report, within the theoretical framework of the mathematician Papert and his ”constructionism”, as well as with some Swedish constructionist studies. The report is based on a qualitative study of three small student groups performing the excercise, at a ”gymnasium” in Sweden.