This thesis brings fresh light on the types of problems that contemporary democracies might face when interacting with private interests. More specifically, the study examines the separation between the state and private interests, based on the assumption that this separation is a precondition for maintaining democracy and legitimate governance. It is thereby a contribution towards understanding the social forces that allow private interests to penetrate the public realm, as well as the forces that protect the state from such penetration. Under which circumstances do private interests access state apparatus in ways that contradicts its universalistic principles? How does the state consider challenges against its legitimacy and how are such threats dealt with? These questions are answered by means of two case studies. The first concerns the interaction between a number of state authorities that receive sponsoring from business enterprises. The second concerns interaction - partially afflicted by corruption - between the state monopoly for selling alcoholic beverages (‘Systembolaget’) in Sweden and its private suppliers. Applying theories on organizational boundaries, exchange, trust, networks as well as legitimacy to these cases, the study demonstrates how state reforms, inspired by the logic of markets, has introduced new ways for private interest to access state affairs. In the case of ‘Systembolaget’, this is particularly evident. The possibility of access, the study argues, is a consequence of reshaping the internal boundaries of the state, broadening informal relations as well as extended scope of action for state employees. This replaced social differentiation as a mechanism of separation by the personal integrity of state employees. Interestingly, this finding should be considered in relation to how the state has attempted to sharpen its organizational boundaries through a strengthening of regulation and the businesslike relations of exchange.

O transtorno de pânico é uma das questões preocupantes em termos de saúde coletiva. Pensamos que tal transtorno se configura como uma nova forma de adoecimento psíquico, categoria que tem penetrado em diferentes espaços sociais, e suas descrições vêm sendo incorporadas ao arcabouço identitário dos sujeitos. Problematizar as matrizes culturais da emergência e difusão deste transtorno, no campo da construção de subjetividade e de identidade, é o objetivo deste estudo. Na pós-modernidade, por um lado, nos centramos nas características do que se denomina sociedade de risco, (BECK, 1998) a qual gera sentimentos de imprevisibilidade, desenraizamento e desfiliação; por outro, juntamente com o desprestígio do ideal da interioridade, observa-se um recurso a se recorrer ao registro do corpo e da biologia como âncora subjetiva. (COSTA, 2005). Com a predominância de um cenário de incerteza e de risco permanente, cria-se uma atmosfera em que a previsibilidade e a confiabilidade são constantemente ameaçadas, Ou seja, o valor da confiança no registro da ontologia refere-se à existência de um ambiente suficientemente confiável e previsível para que os sujeitos experienciem uma constância dos ambientes de ação social e material circundante (WINNICOTT, 1963). Verificaremos, em meio a um cenário de risco ambiente, como o pânico emerge e é difundido com base em matrizes desviantes. O transtorno de pânico, pretensamente radicado no cérebro e determinado pela genética, parece ser uma das entidades às quais as pessoas aderem e ao redor das quais se agregam. Nesse sentido, defendendo que os tipos de patologia, nos quais se inclui o transtorno de pânico, podem servir também como redes de pertencimento, formas de sociabilidade que se organizam em torno de predicados físicos, tanto na esfera da normalidade quanto da patologia, entre as quais o corpo anatomofisiológico se destaca como fenômeno identitário, denominado por alguns autores de bioidentidade (ORTEGA, 2000). Humanizar o conceito transtorno de pânico, portanto, é afirmar que tais sintomas já conheceram outras utilizações. Entendendo o sujeito como um conjunto de crenças podem ser alteradas, revistas, repensadas, redimensionadas (COSTA, 1994). Ao sair da esfera da universalidade e essencialidade, típicas de classificações reducionistas no campo da psiquiatria, para a perspectiva de que existem jogos de linguagem diferentes para se referir ao pânico, percebemos que em vez de o transtorno de pânico existem os pânicos, ou seja, são plurais e diversificadas as diferentes gramáticas para se falar daquilo a que se reduz hoje essa classificação psiquiátrica. / Panic disorder is one of the worrying questions in terms of collective health. We believe that such disorder is a new form of mental illness, a category that has penetrated different social spaces, and its descriptions have been incorporated into the identitary framework of subjects. This study aims to question the cultural origins of the emergence and diffusion of this disorder in the field of subjectivity and identity construction. In post-modernity, on the one hand, we focus on the characteristics of what is called risk society (BECK, 1998), which generates feelings of unpredictability, unrootedness, and disaffiliation; on the other hand, together with the lack of prestige of the interiority ideal, individuals tend to resort to the register of the body and of biology as subjective anchor (COSTA, 2005). With the predominance of a scenario of uncertainty and permanent risk, an atmosphere is created in which predictability and trustworthiness are constantly threatened. That is, the value of trust in the register of ontology refers to existence of an environment that is sufficiently trustworthy and predictable so that the subjects experience a constancy of the surrounding environments of social and material action (WINNICOTT, 1963). We shall verify, within a risk scenario, how panic emerges and is diffused based on deviating origins. The panic disorder, which is supposedly rooted in the brain and determined by genetics, seems to be one of the entities to which people adhere and around which they aggregate. In this sense, we defend that the types of pathology in which the panic disorder is included may also function as belonging networks, forms of sociability that are organized around physical characteristics, both in the sphere of normality and of pathology, among which the anatomo-physiological body emerges as an identitary phenomenon, which some authors call bioidentity (ORTEGA, 2002). Humanizing the concept of panic disorder, therefore, means stating that such symptoms have already known other uses. If one understands the subject as a set of beliefs and desires, whose identity is under permanent reconstruction, these beliefs can be altered, revised, rethought, re-dimensioned (COSTA, 1994). When we leave the sphere of universality and essentiality, typical of reductionist classifications in the field of psychiatry, and embrace the perspective that there are different language games to refer to panic, we perceive that, instead of the panic disorder, there are panics, that is, the different grammars used to talk about that to which this psychiatric classification is reduced today are plural and diversified.

O transtorno de pânico é uma das questões preocupantes em termos de saúde coletiva. Pensamos que tal transtorno se configura como uma nova forma de adoecimento psíquico, categoria que tem penetrado em diferentes espaços sociais, e suas descrições vêm sendo incorporadas ao arcabouço identitário dos sujeitos. Problematizar as matrizes culturais da emergência e difusão deste transtorno, no campo da construção de subjetividade e de identidade, é o objetivo deste estudo. Na pós-modernidade, por um lado, nos centramos nas características do que se denomina sociedade de risco, (BECK, 1998) a qual gera sentimentos de imprevisibilidade, desenraizamento e desfiliação; por outro, juntamente com o desprestígio do ideal da interioridade, observa-se um recurso a se recorrer ao registro do corpo e da biologia como âncora subjetiva. (COSTA, 2005). Com a predominância de um cenário de incerteza e de risco permanente, cria-se uma atmosfera em que a previsibilidade e a confiabilidade são constantemente ameaçadas, Ou seja, o valor da confiança no registro da ontologia refere-se à existência de um ambiente suficientemente confiável e previsível para que os sujeitos experienciem uma constância dos ambientes de ação social e material circundante (WINNICOTT, 1963). Verificaremos, em meio a um cenário de risco ambiente, como o pânico emerge e é difundido com base em matrizes desviantes. O transtorno de pânico, pretensamente radicado no cérebro e determinado pela genética, parece ser uma das entidades às quais as pessoas aderem e ao redor das quais se agregam. Nesse sentido, defendendo que os tipos de patologia, nos quais se inclui o transtorno de pânico, podem servir também como redes de pertencimento, formas de sociabilidade que se organizam em torno de predicados físicos, tanto na esfera da normalidade quanto da patologia, entre as quais o corpo anatomofisiológico se destaca como fenômeno identitário, denominado por alguns autores de bioidentidade (ORTEGA, 2000). Humanizar o conceito transtorno de pânico, portanto, é afirmar que tais sintomas já conheceram outras utilizações. Entendendo o sujeito como um conjunto de crenças podem ser alteradas, revistas, repensadas, redimensionadas (COSTA, 1994). Ao sair da esfera da universalidade e essencialidade, típicas de classificações reducionistas no campo da psiquiatria, para a perspectiva de que existem jogos de linguagem diferentes para se referir ao pânico, percebemos que em vez de o transtorno de pânico existem os pânicos, ou seja, são plurais e diversificadas as diferentes gramáticas para se falar daquilo a que se reduz hoje essa classificação psiquiátrica. / Panic disorder is one of the worrying questions in terms of collective health. We believe that such disorder is a new form of mental illness, a category that has penetrated different social spaces, and its descriptions have been incorporated into the identitary framework of subjects. This study aims to question the cultural origins of the emergence and diffusion of this disorder in the field of subjectivity and identity construction. In post-modernity, on the one hand, we focus on the characteristics of what is called risk society (BECK, 1998), which generates feelings of unpredictability, unrootedness, and disaffiliation; on the other hand, together with the lack of prestige of the interiority ideal, individuals tend to resort to the register of the body and of biology as subjective anchor (COSTA, 2005). With the predominance of a scenario of uncertainty and permanent risk, an atmosphere is created in which predictability and trustworthiness are constantly threatened. That is, the value of trust in the register of ontology refers to existence of an environment that is sufficiently trustworthy and predictable so that the subjects experience a constancy of the surrounding environments of social and material action (WINNICOTT, 1963). We shall verify, within a risk scenario, how panic emerges and is diffused based on deviating origins. The panic disorder, which is supposedly rooted in the brain and determined by genetics, seems to be one of the entities to which people adhere and around which they aggregate. In this sense, we defend that the types of pathology in which the panic disorder is included may also function as belonging networks, forms of sociability that are organized around physical characteristics, both in the sphere of normality and of pathology, among which the anatomo-physiological body emerges as an identitary phenomenon, which some authors call bioidentity (ORTEGA, 2002). Humanizing the concept of panic disorder, therefore, means stating that such symptoms have already known other uses. If one understands the subject as a set of beliefs and desires, whose identity is under permanent reconstruction, these beliefs can be altered, revised, rethought, re-dimensioned (COSTA, 1994). When we leave the sphere of universality and essentiality, typical of reductionist classifications in the field of psychiatry, and embrace the perspective that there are different language games to refer to panic, we perceive that, instead of the panic disorder, there are panics, that is, the different grammars used to talk about that to which this psychiatric classification is reduced today are plural and diversified.

The purpose of this study has been to examine whether Rohrschneider and Schmitt-Beck’s (2002) theory about institutional trust can explain peoples' trust in the Swedish states and government agencies work during the corona pandemic. The theory consists of three factorsthat build institutional trust: the state’s performance, correspondence between the individual’s political values and those of the government, as well as the individual's social capital. The theory was tested using a quantitative method consisting of a survey, which collected data from 108 students. The results were then analyzed using both single and multiple linear regression analysis, and discussed in relation to the theory and previous research. This led tothe study’s conclusion, which indicates that the same factors presented by Rohrschneider andScmitt-Beck (2002) builds trust in the strategy that the Swedish government and government agencies have taken when handling the corona pandemic. The students’ perception of the government’s performance seems especially important for their trust in the government’shandling of the pandemic. The result also indicates that a higher degree of social capital and a correspondance between the students’ political values and those of the government correlates with a higher amount of trust in the handling of the pandemic. / Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att studera huruvida Rohrschneiders och Schmitt-Becks (2002) teori om institutionell tillit kan förklara tillit till den svenska regeringens och myndigheternas hantering av coronapandemin. Enligt teorin skapas institutionell tillit av tre faktorer: statens prestation, samstämmighet mellan individens och regeringens politiska värderingar samt individens socialt kapital. Denna teori testades i denna studie med hjälp avkvantitativ data inhämtad genom en enkätundersökning, som besvarades av 108 studenter. Datamaterialet analyserades sedan med både enkla och multipla regressionsanalyser och diskuterades i relation till teorin samt tidigare forskning. Resultatet indikerar att samtliga trefaktorer som Rohrschneider och Schmitt-Beck (2002) fann betydelsefulla för institutionell tillit även har samband med tillit till regeringens och statliga myndigheters hantering avcoronapandemin i Sverige 2020. Studenternas uppfattning om regeringens och statligamyndigheters tidigare prestationer visade sig vara speciellt betydelsefull för deras tillit till hanteringen av pandemin. Vidare visade resultatet att en högre grad av socialt kapital samt överensstämmelse mellan studenternas politiska värderingar och regeringens politik samvarierar med en högre tillit till hanteringen av pandemin.

Banksektorn är i Sverige idag en digitaliserad marknad och en stor majoritet av svenska bankanvändare använder bankernas digitala tjänster som utgör online banking. Forskning visar på att bankers konkurrenskraft till stor del idag är beroende av deras position i den digitala miljön. Banker som tillhandahåller enkel användning på nätet med stor upplevd kundnytta har en fördel som både ger dem fler kunder och lägre handläggningskostnader eftersom kunder då är mer benägna att välja den banken och utföra sina ärenden på nätet. För att bankerna skall kunna utnyttja detta verktyg och skörda dess fördelar krävs dock att användarna har en positiv inställning till användande, denna inställning kommer till stor del ur vilka intryck plattformarna ger användaren. I denna studie undersöks användares intryck av koncepten tillit och misstro vilka vi finner vara viktiga för människors vilja att använda online banking-plattformar. Vi ser både genom egna resultat och tidigare forskning en stark koppling mellan upplevd misstro hos människor och en direkt ovilja att använda dessa system samt att tillit är viktigt för att användarna skall regelbundet föredra användning av ett system över andra alternativ. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur applicering av Nielsen’s 10 designprinciper inom online banking-plattformar påverkar människors upplevelse av tillit och misstro gentemot dessa system. Undersökningen har genomförts med en ansats som grundar sig i mixed methods research och vid genomförande har båda kvalitativa och kvantitativa metoder använts. För datainsamling har studien grundat sig i ett experiment som innebar att vi forskare skapade olika testsystem som respondenter fick använda, dessa testsystem var medvetet bristande för olika designprinciper med syfte att väcka en reaktion från respondenten. Efter att respondenterna under videoobservation genomfört ett antal uppgifter i sitt testsystem fick de sedan svara på en enkät för att bedöma användarupplevelsen och hur de har upplevt de olika designprinciperna. Slutligen genomfördes en semistrukturerad intervju med varje respondent, intervjun var fokuserad på att undersöka huruvida användaren känt misstro eller tillit för olika aspekter i systemet. Efter datainsamlingen analyserades datan, vi använde då ett tolkande synsätt för att generera empiri om hur respondentens upplevelse av misstro och tillit påverkats av avsaknaden av vissa designprinciper. Resultatet visar på att Nielsens designprincip 4, 6, 8 och 9 kan användas för att påverka användares tillit till en online banking-plattform. Dessa designprinciper hade förmågan att ge användare ett seriöst intryck och påverkade deras upplevelser av tillit, välvilja och kompetens. Designprincip 1, 3, 5 och 6 kan användas för att påverka användares misstro. Dessa designprinciper visade sig påverka användares känslor av upplevd risk och tillförlitlighet till systemet. Dessa fynd tyder på att man kan manipulera dessa principer för att gynna användares uppfattning av misstro samt tillit och därmed stärka sitt system. / The Swedish bank sector is today a digitalized industry, with a large majority of swedes using their online banking services. Previous studies show that banks' competitiveness today is very reliant on their position in the digital environment. Banks that offer their customers methods to carry out simple tasks on their own by using online banking are both shown to attract new customers, and also reduce administrative costs, since people today are more inclined to choose banks that offer online services. For banks to get these opportunities and reap the rewards of online banking it is necessary for users to have a positive outlook, and this positive outlook is usually created by how good the online platform works. This study examines users' impressions of the concepts trust and distrust, which are concepts we find to be important for people's will to use online banking platforms. Through both our own and previous research we find a strong correlation between apparent distrust among users and repulsion towards use of a system. We also found out that the feeling of trust towards a system is important if users should frequently choose one system over another. The purpose of this study is to find out which of Nielsen’s 10 design principles affect users feelings of trust or mistrust towards an online banking application.  The study was performed using a mixed-method approach, and has included both qualitative and quantitative research methods. For the collection of data we conducted experiments, where we created test systems that the different respondents got to try out. These test systems were flawed in the sense that we consciously tampered with some of Nielsen’s 10 design principles, where the goal was to get some kind of reaction from the respondents. After doing the experiment under video surveillance, we had the respondents answer a survey which asked them to rate the usability of the system but also the different design principles. After the survey we conducted an interview with all the respondents, where the goal was to research their feelings of trust or mistrust towards the test system. After this we analyzed the collected data, where we used an interpretive approach to generate concrete data on the respondents feelings of trust or mistrust depending on the use, or misuse, of Nielsen’s 10 design principles.  Our result indicates that design principles 4, 6, 8 and 9 are the most important when it comes to users feelings of trust towards an online-banking platform. These design principles had the effect of giving the system a serious impression which in hand affected the users feelings of trust, competence and goodwill. Design principle 1, 3, 5 and 6 were strongly correlated to users feelings of mistrust towards an online-banking platform and these design principles were strongly correlated with users feelings of risk.  Our findings show that it is possible to manipulate these design principles to change the perception of trust and mistrust that a user has, to subsequently favor the system.

In my thesis, I focused on the challenges of the American Dream and its damaging demands. I compared these aspects to The Glass Menagerie, All My Sons, and Death of the Salesman, plays by Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, two playwrights concerned with similar issues in the 1940s and 1950s. Each chapter was introduced by Robert Frost's poem related to its topic. This element was added as a chapters' introduction to express the universality of the depicted issues and to tight the sections together under one pattern. In the theoretical part of the thesis, I concentrated on the 40s and 50s America and its features and the historical development of the American Dream. This section's main influences were works by Rodney P. Carlisle, Richard A. Schwartz, Stephanie Coontz, and Jim Cullen. With their books about America and its historical background, Carlisle, Schwartz, and Coontz provided a base for the factual context of this thesis. Cullen's work on the American Dream was used as the primary source for understanding the reasons behind the Dream and its historical development. The whole thesis was supported by arguments from Lauren Berlant, John W. Thoburn and Thomas L. Sexton, and Piotr Sztompka. Berlant's work on cruel optimism provided a possible explanation of particular behavior that accompanied...

Money attitudes modeled in the home are an important part of a child's economic socialization. Although not always labeled as such, earlier literature clearly addressed this type of child learning through observation, interaction, and direct familial involvement (Rettig, 1986). Families operate as one of society's most salient economic socializing agents as they provide environments conducive to human development, information networks, role models, and grants and exchanges (Rettig, 1983). The research reported here addresses the economic socialization of children and their money attitudes as emerging adults. The current study investigated the role of money attitudes (power, anxiety, and distrust) by examining their contribution to impulsive buying among college students. Building on the groundbreaking work of Roberts and Jones (2001), this research also examined credit use and debt avoidance as potential moderators between money attitudes and impulsive buying. Contrary to the way money attitudes have been modeled in previous research, this study found support indicating that the anxiety attitude scale was not an antecedent to impulsive buying. Instead the scale as originally created (Yamauchi & Templar, 1982) was found to consist of two highly correlated subscales, one conceptualized as an antecedent to impulsive buying and the other may be more appropriately modeled as a result of it. Secondly, when tested as moderators, although some of the interaction terms between the money attitudes and behaviors were significant, neither credit use nor debt avoidance was found to be a significant moderator. This indicates a potential need for further research on the relationship between this measure and impulsive buying. Clarification made in the research reported here between anxiety and compulsive buying provides an insight that money attitudes are not all the same. Evidence suggests that some attitudes are precursors to behavior while other attitudes may be the result of behavior. With the passage of time, the drive to seek anxiety relief through impulsive buying may unwittingly fold back to greater rather than less anxiety. Impulsive buying based on anxiety then becomes a belief in relief that is not real. The proposed new attitude-behavioral model acknowledges the difference in money attitudes, that some are best conceptualized as predictors of impulsive buying while others are better conceptualized as a by-product of the behavior. Using this model in future research will acknowledge the potential of a circular relationship between attitude-behaviors and attendant implications for helping individuals and families. For this study, data was collected from students attending ten universities, located mostly in the state of Utah. There were 709 respondents used in this study, substantially more than have been used in similar studies. Demographically, there was a representative mix of male and female respondents and a balanced mix of age groups with a slight shift toward older students. Demographic information also includes respondent's reported race, home state, age, year in school, and family income. In accordance with the research of Roberts and Jones (2001), using ordinary least squares regression, the unconstrained traditional model was tested. Regression analysis of impulsive buying was preformed on money attitudes (anxiety, power, and distrust), controlling for age, gender and income. Following the procedure that Aiken, West, Cohen and Cohen (2003) and Baron and Kenny (1986) outlined, the attitude-behavior relationships between money attitudes and impulsive buying for the potential effects of the two moderating variables-credit use and debt avoidance were also examined. In those models where a significant interaction effect was found, post-hoc analysis was used interpret the significant slope differences in the independent variables.

Using a mixed method design, this study explored financial knowledge, behaviors, and economic socialization in a sample of men (N = 155) incarcerated in a Midwestern county jail. A financial knowledge assessment, adapted from the FLLIP assessment (Zhan, Anderson, & Scott, 2006), was administered as well as a survey of financial behaviors and criminal history characteristics. Based on responses to the quantitative survey, a theoretical sample of participants (n = 12) was selected to participate in in-depth, qualitative interviews regarding economic socialization to the formal economy, particularly banks. Quantitative analyses revealed that the mean financial knowledge score for the sample was 59%, with Whites (M = .68; n = 46) scoring significantly higher than non-Whites (M = .55; n = 108). Factors related to financial knowledge were explored through bivariate and partial (controlling for age and race) correlational analyses. Hierarchical linear regression was conducted to determine the demographic factors, criminal history characteristics, and financial behaviors that predicted financial knowledge. Results revealed that having filed a tax return was the strongest predictor of financial knowledge. Qualitative analysis, using a grounded theory methodology, revealed that the majority of the men were distrustful of banks and other financial institutions. There appeared to be two pathways to distrust of banks: (1) anti-bank socialization through family and peers, which was solely experienced by the older Black men in the sample and (2) usage problems, which was the predominant pathway for the White men.

No description available.

Smart technology, such as the internet of things, artificial intelligence, and big data, provides consumers with a new level of convenience through various smart-connected products (SCPs). Although many experts have increasingly warned about the privacy vulnerability issues of various SCPs, consumers often underestimate privacy risks when adopting smart technology. Accordingly, this dissertation presents a literature review and three empirical studies that examine the privacy problems and suggest new concepts and models for a deeper understanding of the privacy suspension phenomenon. The first chapter reviews the literature related to the privacy suspension phenomenon by integrating the antecedents of consumers' privacy concerns. New concepts of privacy concerns, such as active and inactive privacy concerns, are suggested along with multiple propositions for the proposed privacy suspension theory, which extends the dimension of ambivalence toward trust and distrust regarding smart technology. The second chapter presents the proposed privacy–common good trade-off model and three assumptions related to privacy trade- offs, privacy reduction, and anchoring effects in the sustainable smart-connected car context. This study also discusses the relationships between governments, companies, and consumers regarding the effects of the common good of sustainability and government subsidies. The third chapter evaluates the mediation effects between sustainability, trust, privacy concerns, disclosure intentions, and purchase intentions when purchasing sustainable smart-connected cars based on the proposed sustainability–trust–behavior model. Finally, the fourth chapter provides a practical solution to resolve privacy suspension issues using the design science research approach. This study proposes privacy information type characteristics to evaluate SCPs' tailored data collection capabilities, visualizing them through a spider diagram design method with nudges. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation discusses the consumer privacy suspension phenomenon when adopting smart technology. The first chapter summarizes existing studies regarding privacy concerns, trust, distrust, and ambivalence in adopting technology. It also proposes new concepts of privacy concerns and outlines the unique relationship between consumer privacy concerns and ambivalence toward trust and distrust in smart-connected products, thus helping readers understand why consumers reduce privacy concerns when adopting smart technology. The second chapter presents an empirical study that examines how consumers trade their privacy for the common good of sustainability based on the proposed privacy–common good trade-off model and outlines three key assumptions in the sustainable smart-connected car context. The third chapter discusses the roles of sustainability and trust when consumers decide to disclose their personal information and purchase sustainable smart-connected cars based on the proposed sustainability–trust–behavior model. Last, the fourth chapter provides a practical solution to improve the current inefficient privacy notification systems that cannot apply to different smart-connected products due to various smart sensors collecting different types of personal information. Thus, this dissertation contributes to a deeper understanding of the consumer privacy suspension phenomenon and how sustainability benefits can mitigate the conflicting interests between governments, companies, and consumers when adopting smart technology. In addition, the suggested practical solution using the design science research approach can help consumers make better privacy decisions when purchasing smart-connected products.