Sama Dilaut are a marginalized, ethnic group in Malaysia and are known as seafaring nomads. The group is found in the whole Coral Triangle. Many groups around the world who share a history of nomadic origin, also face marginalization by society. One cannot help but wonder why these different groups face similar repercussions.   In Malaysia, the Sama Dilaut are stateless and considered to be in the country illegally, despite the fact that the group has been documented to live in the area as far back as the 16th Century. The future prospects for the stateless children in the country due Malaysia’s statement to ratify UN Convention for the Rights of Children but not UN Convention for Stateless People. The NGO, PKPMM, Sabah provides formal schooling for marginalized children in the state of Sabah. It thus seems paradoxical that the state aims to provide educational opportunities, while at the same time attempting to arrest and deport members of the Sama Dilaut.     This study is conducted as a deductive qualitative field study based on semi-structured interviews to collect empirical data. I traveled to Sabah, on Eastern Borneo in Malaysia, to visit PKPKM Sabah. The qualitative tradition of ethnomethodology provided my approach. Furthermore, the analysis is a thematic text analysis which is primary based on the explanations by Monica Dalen in the book Interview as Method (2011).   The theory the Established and the Outsiders, and the Durable Inequality theory provided the base for this research. These two theories have been used as theoretical framework and analytical assistance. With the awareness that the perspective of western sociology could become indistinct to apply globally. Yet, these two theories are most suitable.   The inequality between, the two categories, Sama Dilaut and the majority society is a natural routine and is manifested in most social contacts them between. This also consolidates and legitimizes the situation and the various positions, the members from each category, are in. Furthermore, it is presented how this takes place over generations; individuals are replaced within the categories, but the categorical behavior consistent. The group of Sama Dilaut does not only deviates from the majority society but also lacks a strong cohesion within their own ethnic group (Elias & Scotson 1999:50-51), which can be applied to other marginalized groups who share a similar history of nomadic traditions.   The organization, PKPKM Sabah, which has been working to legalize their operations, can now provide formal education for the underprivileged children of Sama Dilaut. At the same time, the policy pursued by the government towards illegal immigrants, deprives them of their educational rights, which are granted to them by Education for All. Despite the presence of the PKPKM schools and education centers, the children of Sama Dilaut have very little educational opportunities.

This Bachelor thesis is an interpretive study, where the material has mainly been gathered through ethnographic methods, with thematically opened interviews and observations providing the primary data. A field study was conducted in Bolivia during the months of November and December of 2009; in La Paz in the Western highlands, including some interviews in the fast growing suburb El Alto, as well as in Santa Cruz de la Sierra in the Eastern lowlands. Bolivia is one of the poorest and most unequal countries in Latin America and the world, and the purpose of the study is to re-contextualise and re-interpret how inequality is created and maintained in the Bolivian society by doing a case study on gender inequality. In addition, an intersectional analysis is used that takes into account the diversity of the Bolivian society in terms of ethnicity and class. The study aims at exploring the mechanisms that create and maintain inequality in a Bolivian context as well as looking at the prospects for potential change in the unequal relations between groups of people within the new context of indigenous president Evo Morales and a new inclusive constitution. Using an abductive method, the empirical material has been re-interpreted with the help of American sociologist Charles Tilly’s framework of durable inequality. He identifies two mechanisms that create inequality, exploitation and opportunity hoarding, and two mechanisms that reinforce inequality; emulation and adaptation. Together with the concept of intersectionality, recognising women’s different experiences depending on, for instance, ethnic background or social class, these two frameworks are framing the study. Jointly they generate a new analytical tool that can deepen the understanding inequality mechanisms: the Intersecting Inequality Framework. The content of the interviews when analysed show that inequalities in Bolivia have long historical roots, and that the processes of exploitation, opportunity hoarding, emulation and adaptation that Tilly describes all take place in creating and maintaining an unequal position for Bolivian women. The Intersecting Inequality Framework reveals that the inequality mechanisms in the three dimensions of gender, ethnicity and class sometimes work autonomously and other times intersectionally. Changing durable inequality is a slow process; nevertheless there are signs of changed relations between categorical bounded groups in the Bolivian society. Although, in the context of Morales the main political focus at the time lays not on attaining gender equality, but rather to continue the empowerment of the indigenous populations.

This dissertation considers how the transition from craft manufacture to mechanized glass production affected the organization of work and the consequences for the recruitment of labour. Based on gender and ethnicity, the dissertation studies the composition of the workforce, the significance of qualifications, and differences in career paths and length of stay have been investigated at Surte glassworks 1943–1978. Charles Tilly’s theory of durable inequality is applied to analyse whether primarily gender and ethnicity had any effect on the assignment of tasks and on discrimination. In conclusion, the results from Surte are compared with conditions at Kosta glassworks. Whereas Surte’s specialty was machine-made bottles, Kosta was geared to craft production of utility glass and art glass. After mechanization at Surte, machine-tenders were counted among the most qualified category, instead of the glass-blowers who had previously been in demand. Manufacture at a pace regulated by machines led to more routine chores such as inspection and packaging. At Kosta, with its focus on craft, glass-blowers still had the highest positions and had learned glass-blowing in the traditional way through practical exercise. At neither Surte nor Kosta did women have any opportunity to receive comparable training. After the Second World War there was a growing need for labour at both Surte and Kosta, and to keep production going the main alternative was foreign labour. The peak was reached in the 1960s, and of roughly 660 collectively employed workers at Surte in November 1964, almost 40% were immigrants, chiefly from Finland. Kosta at the same time, with just under 330 employees, had slightly under 10% foreign workers, mainly from Greece. Kosta attracted a number of skilled glass-workers from abroad, but the majority of immigrants there, and all those at Surte, lacked experience of glass manufacture At neither Surte nor Kosta, with their different production methods, is there any evidence of durable inequality based on ethnicity. The assignment of tasks was guided rather by the functions in demand at the companies and by the applicants’ qualifications. Internal training and career opportunities were open to all male workers, regardless of which country they came from. On the other hand, the gender division of labour at both glassworks created durable inequality for all women regardless of nationality. / <p>Projektet delfinasierat av Kulturparken Småland.</p>

<p>The background to this thesis lies in the great changes that have occurred in the disability field during the last threes decades. The purpose of this thesis is to describe, analyze and try to understand how these changes impact on life conditions for adult persons with mild intellectual disabilities. The main focus in this study is to listen to the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities themselves. The questions addressed in the study are; how do people with intellectual disabilities experience participation, citizen-ship, social exclusion and social inclusion in society? Where are their daily arenas and what characterizes those arenas in terms of citizenship, exclusion and inclusion? What type of experiences do they have from encountering people in the community, from encountering the organisations and staff that provide support and service and from the consequences of disability policies in practise? How do staff close to them work to reach the goals of participation? What role can professionals play in supporting participation? Which possibilities and barriers do the staff experience?</p><p>Empirical data for the study has been gathered by qualitative methods, mainly participant observations and interviews but also from document analysis of local authority documents, official guidelines, laws and national and international disability policy documents.</p><p>The theoretical framework is based on theories about citizenship and participation. Social exclusion and social inclusion are the sensitizing concepts in this study. For the interpretation and analysis theories about citizenship, participation and categorization were used.</p><p>In the light of the empirical findings the results of the study show that three main themes were promi-nent. The first theme concerned the daily arenas, were there were both excluded arenas and included are-nas with various forms of interaction with the society. The arenas for support and service in housing and daily activities are described as excluded arenas with mainly internal social interaction. On the other hand the new arenas such as daily activity centres, located in the community, such as cafés, shops run by peo-ple with intellectual disabilities together with staff had frequent interaction with other people in the soci-ety. The second theme concerned the content in the encounters between respondents with intellectual disabilities and different actors in the community. The informants had both positive and negative experi-ences of these encounters. The encounter with the disability policy was, according to this dissertation, that the user informants hade many experiences of lacking social citizenship but also that they experienced structural inclusion when politicians listen to them and answered their questions. The third theme con-cerned how the staff works to reach the goals of participation where both possibilities and barriers exist on structural and individual levels. This study illustrates the user informants’ many experiences of citi-zenship and social exclusion but also examples of social inclusion.</p><p>In the concluding chapter the results are discussed and analyzed in relation to the theoretical frame-work, where the concept of categorisation was very important. Finally, the description of the process clearly illustrates the difficulties for disability service organisations to develop support and services that are adapted to the actual disability policy. The results shed light on the gap between theory and practise.</p><p>Some of the most positive changes towards inclusion in society for people with intellectual disabilities come from services run by users and staff close to them. Final conclusions and reflections of the results in the study are that support and service also can be discussed in terms of universalism in order to reduce the process of categorisation.</p>

The background to this thesis lies in the great changes that have occurred in the disability field during the last threes decades. The purpose of this thesis is to describe, analyze and try to understand how these changes impact on life conditions for adult persons with mild intellectual disabilities. The main focus in this study is to listen to the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities themselves. The questions addressed in the study are; how do people with intellectual disabilities experience participation, citizen-ship, social exclusion and social inclusion in society? Where are their daily arenas and what characterizes those arenas in terms of citizenship, exclusion and inclusion? What type of experiences do they have from encountering people in the community, from encountering the organisations and staff that provide support and service and from the consequences of disability policies in practise? How do staff close to them work to reach the goals of participation? What role can professionals play in supporting participation? Which possibilities and barriers do the staff experience? Empirical data for the study has been gathered by qualitative methods, mainly participant observations and interviews but also from document analysis of local authority documents, official guidelines, laws and national and international disability policy documents. The theoretical framework is based on theories about citizenship and participation. Social exclusion and social inclusion are the sensitizing concepts in this study. For the interpretation and analysis theories about citizenship, participation and categorization were used. In the light of the empirical findings the results of the study show that three main themes were promi-nent. The first theme concerned the daily arenas, were there were both excluded arenas and included are-nas with various forms of interaction with the society. The arenas for support and service in housing and daily activities are described as excluded arenas with mainly internal social interaction. On the other hand the new arenas such as daily activity centres, located in the community, such as cafés, shops run by peo-ple with intellectual disabilities together with staff had frequent interaction with other people in the soci-ety. The second theme concerned the content in the encounters between respondents with intellectual disabilities and different actors in the community. The informants had both positive and negative experi-ences of these encounters. The encounter with the disability policy was, according to this dissertation, that the user informants hade many experiences of lacking social citizenship but also that they experienced structural inclusion when politicians listen to them and answered their questions. The third theme con-cerned how the staff works to reach the goals of participation where both possibilities and barriers exist on structural and individual levels. This study illustrates the user informants’ many experiences of citi-zenship and social exclusion but also examples of social inclusion. In the concluding chapter the results are discussed and analyzed in relation to the theoretical frame-work, where the concept of categorisation was very important. Finally, the description of the process clearly illustrates the difficulties for disability service organisations to develop support and services that are adapted to the actual disability policy. The results shed light on the gap between theory and practise. Some of the most positive changes towards inclusion in society for people with intellectual disabilities come from services run by users and staff close to them. Final conclusions and reflections of the results in the study are that support and service also can be discussed in terms of universalism in order to reduce the process of categorisation.