Authors: Ellen Gunnarsson & Emma Lindström Title: Honour as argument- A qualitative study of approaches and attitudes towards the concept of “honour” in verdicts regarding Section 2 of the LVU.  [Translated title] Supervisor: Barzoo Eliassi Assessor: Anette Lundin   The aim of this study was to extend comprehension of which approaches and attitudes towards violence and oppression in the name of “honour” may be of significance in the social services investigations and judgments relating to section 2 of the LVU. The empirical material are based on ten verdicts, some including girls who were exposed to “honour related violence” and others including girls who were not exposed. To analyze the verdicts in this study, we examined the arguments authorities used for the decision on LVU through a text-analysis. The main conclusion of the study were that the social welfare authorities combined the concept of “honour” with culture and that “honour” was seen as something dangerous for the girls. This cultural interpretation creates an Orientalist view and divides people into "us” and “them" which can lead to discrimination and racism of certain cultural groups.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the guidelines, methods and strategies of social workers supporting children and young people who live with honour-related problems – in order to deepen the knowledge of tensions between the guidelines of social work and its practices. The result of the study has emerged from qualitative interviews with six social workers working with children and young people and three local authority documents containing guidelines and routines. The social workers were asked questions about their experiences of guidelines and routines and their current work situation. To analyse and understand the results a thematic method was used along with theories on discretion. The result shows that social workers use different assessment manuals in order to assess that a child/young person is exposed to honour-related problems, but their experience is that the manuals are not complete and adapted to children and young people who live with honour-related problems. Therefore, many social workers have a discretion, where they can take available methods and adapt them to the honour-related cases. The social workers have several different voluntary and family-oriented interventions to offer, but in honour-related cases the interventions are not optimal. The social workers experience difficulties with working with the families of children and young people with honour-related problems because they are not receptive to change, which was the first tension that could be identified. The overall experience of the interviewed social workers regarding honour-related cases shows that their work is complex in relation to laws, guidelines and methods. Thereby another tension was discovered in the result and analysis between forced interventions relating to the laws and guidelines and principles of the child's best interests. The social worker experiences are that it is difficult to motivate forced interventions as it does not always improve the situation of the child.

Genom användning av diskursanalys ämnar denna studie besvara följande frågor: ”Hur framställs skillnaderna och likheterna mellan våld i nära relationer och hedersrelaterat våld, och hur betraktas de som olika fenomen?” samt ”Hur kan synen av olika kulturer påverkas genom att definiera våldet på olika sätt?”. För att besvara dessa frågor har 29 tidningsartiklar om våld i nära relationer och 61 artiklar om hedersrelaterat våld som skrivits i svenska dagstidningar mellan åren 2002 och 2021 samlats in. Dessa har sedan analyserats med hjälp av Laclaus och Mouffes diskursanalys. Analysen fokuserar på hur hedersrelaterat våld och våld i nära relationer presenteras i den mediala debatten. Utifrån analysen uppkom två diskurser: ”Det främmande våldet” samt ”Den mediala rapporteringen av distinktionen mellan olika våld”. Diskursanalysen tillhör det socialkonstruktivistiska perspektivet. Majoriteten av den tidigare forskningen berör det feministiska perspektivet. Dessa perspektiv brukas för att försöka förklara om det finns någon skillnad mellan nyhetsrapporteringen av hedersrelaterat våld och våld i nära relationer samt hur detta påverkar synen på icke-svenska kulturer. Studien klargör att det finns en skillnad på rapporteringen av hedersrelaterat våld och våld i nära relationer. Detta bidrar bland annat till att kunna särskilja olika grupper i samhället där etniska minoriteter framställs som främmande och oförmögen att kunna anpassa sig till det svenska samhället. / Through the application of discourse analysis, the purpose of this study is to answer the following questions: “How are the similarities and differences of domestic violence and honour-related violence portrayed, and in what ways are they viewed differently?” and “How can the perception of other cultures be affected by redefining the violence?”. To answer these questions, 29 news articles regarding domestic violence and 61 news articles regarding honour-related violence have been collected and then analysed with the help of Laclau’s and Mouffe’s discourse analysis. The analysis focuses on the way domestic violence and honour-related violence is portrayed in the journalistic space. Through this analysis, two discourses emerged: “The foreign violence” and “The distinction in portrayal of difference types on violence in the sphere of media”. Discourse analysis lies within the realm of social constructivism. Most prior research touches upon the feministic perspective. These perspectives are used in order to explain any difference in the reporting of honour-related violence and domestic violence in the media, and furthermore how it affects the regard of non-Swedish cultures. The study identified that there is a difference in the portrayal of honour-related violence and domestic violence in Swedish media. Ramifications include segregation, leading to the view that ethnic minorities are unable to conform to the structure of Swedish society at large.

The aim of this qualitative study is to analyse, based on Erving Goffman's theory the dramaturgical perspective and with a narrative analysis of autobiographies, the configuration of roles by honour exposed women. In order to illuminate and increase the understanding of honour-related violence and oppression from the perspective of honour exposed women. There is a requirement of increased knowledge of honour-related violence and oppression, especially among social workers who need to know how to encounter honour exposed women. In the field of research increased knowledge is needed on an individual level, mainly to make the honour exposed women's perspective visible in social work. The results and analysis of the study shows that the honour exposed women perform with several roles in their family collective and in different public contexts. Moreover, numerous aspects in the roles of the honour exposed women emerge. In addition, the women struggle to seek help from the authorities, perform in roles backstage and the boundaries between front and backstage are ambiguous. Furthermore, the study also clarifies that the phenomenon of honour-related violence and oppression is complex with variative expressions.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka socialsekreterares upplevda kunskap om hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck samt deras upplevda trygghet i arbetet av sådana ärenden. Dessutom hade studien som mål att analysera eventuella samband mellan upplevd kunskap och arbetslivserfarenhet samt mellan upplevd kunskap och trygghet.  Inspirationen hämtades från SVT:s Uppdrag Granskning "Bortförd" (2023), där socialtjänstens hantering av hedersärenden kritiserades. Fokus i vår studie låg på bristen på kunskap och kopplingen mellan upplevd kunskap, trygghet och arbetslivserfarenhet. Genom att genomföra en enkät med 45 svar från socialsekreterare från 17 svenska kommuner och analysera svaren med statistikprogrammet SPSS, avsåg studien att belysa dessa aspekter. Resultatet indikerade att socialsekreterarnas upplevda kunskap om hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck låg på en medelnivå, medan känslan av trygghet i arbetet var relativt hög. Arbetslivserfarenhet visade en svag men signifikant koppling till upplevd kunskap. Dessutom observerades en stark positiv korrelation mellan upplevd kunskap och trygghet. Sammanfattningsvis bekräftar studien behovet av ökad kunskap om hedersrelaterat våld, då många upplever att de behöver mer kunskap i ämnet. Trots utmaningarna känner sig socialsekreterare relativt trygga när de arbetar med hedersrelaterade frågor. / The purpose of the study was to investigate social workers' knowledge of honour-related violence and oppression, as well as being comfortable working on such cases. Additionally, the aim of the study was to analyze possible connections between perceived knowledge and work experience, as well as between perceived knowledge and being comfortable dealing with such cases.  The inspiration was drawn from a Swedish television program "Uppdrag Granskning" ("Mission: Investigation") episode named "Bortförd" ("Abducted") (SVT 2023), where the social services dealing of honour cases were criticized. The focus of our study was on the lack of knowledge and the connection between knowledge, being comfortable dealing with such cases and work experience. By conducting a survey with 45 responses from social workers from 17 Swedish municipalities and analyzing the responses with the statistical program SPSS, the study intended to shed light on these aspects. The results indicated that social workers' perceived knowledge of honour-related violence and oppression was on average, while their sense of comfortability dealing with such cases was higher. Work experience showed a weak but significant connection to perceived knowledge. In addition, a strong positive correlation was observed between perceived knowledge and the feeling of being comfortable dealing with honour-related cases. In summary, the study confirms the need for increased knowledge about honour-related violence, as many believe they need more knowledge on the subject. Despite the challenges, social workers feel relatively confident when working with honor-related issues.

Hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck (HRV) är ett komplext fenomen somnyligen fått utökat utrymme inom svensk debatt och politik. Tidigareforskning visar att det saknas förståelse för hedersrelaterat våld utanförramarna av kulturella perspektiv. Vidare leder detta till en otillräcklig ochsimplifierad bild av fenomenet. Forskning visar även att behandlare somhjälper och vårdar hedersvåldsutsatta kvinnor bemöter klienten utifrån sinaföreställningar. Föreställningar om individer av annan kultur är oftageneraliserande och påverkar kvalitén på given hjälp och vård. Syftet meddenna studie är att undersöka hur socialarbetare beskriver sitt arbete medhedersvåldsutsatta kvinnor. Vi ämnar även att undersöka vilka föreställningarom kvinnorna som framkommer ur socialarbetarnas beskrivning av arbetet.Genom semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer med socialarbetare inomfältet av HRV framkom att det idag finns fler hinder än möjligheter i detpraktiska arbetet. Resultatet av denna studie visar att den hedersvåldsutsattakvinnan generaliseras då hon sällan blir förstådd utanför kontexten av henneskultur. Därigenom blir våldet hon utsätts för förminskat med tiden. Dettabeskrivs främst ha grund i att det hjälpande och stöttande arbetet utförs undertids- och resursbrist. Därför är det av vikt att den hjälpsökandehedersvåldsutsatta kvinnan får professionella möten där vikt läggs påinkludering och individuella behov. Resultatet visar att kvinnan som kännersig förstådd stannar kvar i det professionella samarbetet och har större chansatt bryta sig från våldet inom hennes familj.