Gun violence has become a well-discussed subject within the political debate about crime. Frequent shootings in criminal environments have become a major issue distinguishing Sweden from other countries. This paper presents a quantitative study on how several social factors may influence the shooting rate at a regional level. Using data from the SOM Institute at the University of Gothenburg and SVT this study aims to provide a deeper understanding of gun violence in Sweden, regionally. Previous research suggests that there is an ongoing violent spiral and areas with a high number of crimes has different levels of trust in the police and deficient socioeconomic standards, such as low levels of education and financial difficulties, often induce crime rates. Regression analysis was used to examine how trust in the police, educational level, average income and year may affect the regional shooting rates over the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. Moreover, the theoretical framework of this study is mainly the social disorganization theory and routine activity theory. The result suggests that there are no statistically significant correlations between any of the hypothesized factors and the regional shooting rate, contradictory to what previous research implies. Finally, this study concludes that even though no statistically significant relationships were found on a regional level, geographical correlations may occur if smaller units such as socially vulnerable areas were to be examined. Limitations and recommendations for future studies on gun violence are discussed.

The scientific consensus has for long been that residential segregation is best conceived of as a multidimensional phenomenon that can exist on several geographical scales (Massey & Denton, 1988; Lee et al., 2008; Reardon & O’Sullivan, 2004; Reardon et al., 2008). Despite this deepened understanding of residential segregation and how to best measure it, theoretical models of segregation processes have tended to disregard the diversity of dimensions and scales of segregation. Moreover, while residential segregation is broadly defined as the spatial separation of people of different social groups (Timberlake & Ignatov, 2014), the frequently used Schelling model is aspatial (Schelling, 1971). In contrast, the lesser-known Sakoda model incorporates a distance-decay effect and is thus explicitly spatial (Sakoda, 1971). The aim of this thesis was to evaluate two theoretical agent-based models of segregation processes—the Schelling- and Sakoda model—by measuring the segregation patterns they generate under different parameter settings across four dimensions and six spatial scales of segregation, ranging from the micro- to the macro-scale. Thus, providing an assessment of the capacity of these models to generate (grow) different forms of residential segregation. Results from simulation experiments showed that the popular Schelling model was limited in its capacity to generate different forms of segregation. In its standard configuration it could generate micro-segregation along two out of four dimensions: Evenness and Exposure. The spatially explicit Sakoda model was able to generate segregation patterns which varied substantially across all scales on the Evenness and Exposure dimensions. In addition, it was able to generate varied patterns of Concentration and Centralization under certain parameter settings. These findings contribute new insights to the possibilities afforded by these two models in modeling processes of residential segregation. If the goal for theoretical models is to generate segregation patterns which vary across all dimensions and scales of residential segregation, then the standard configuration of the Schelling model is not enough. This thesis suggest that the Sakoda model is a promising candidate for this purpose. In addition, this thesis shows the importance of using a comprehensive measurement framework in theoretical modeling of segregation processes.

Denna studie undersöker unga vuxnas förändrade beteendemönster till följd av Covid-19 pandemin samt hur de anpassat sig till dessa förändringar. Studien bygger på en hermeneutisk metodansats som syftar till att medföra en ökad förståelse av unga vuxnas subjektiva upplevelser till följd av fenomenet samt hur den förändrade tillvaron påverkat dem i efterhand. Studien tar stöd i en teoretisk och begreppslig referensram som utgörs av grundläggande vardagssociologiska teorier såsom symbolisk interaktionism, Garfinkels tankar kring vardagssociologi, Fines tankar kring ideokulturer samt inslag av Goffmans dramaturgiska perspektiv. Empirin utgörs av semistrukturerade intervjuer med totalt 10 intervjupersoner i åldrarna 20–30 år med olika livsstilar och boendesituationer. Studiens resultat visar på hur unga vuxna är anpassningsbara utifrån flera aspekter där vi kunnat koppla anpassningen till förändrad social interaktion, psykiskt tillstånd och hemarbete. När samhället tvingades till en förändring i och med Covid-19 pandemin, då normer och förhållningssätt blev otydliga och stundtals även ifrågasattes, så presenterar studiens resultat att det var unga vuxna som intog rollen som anpassningsbara parter gentemot andra grupper i samhället för att på så vis säkerställa att den sociala interaktionen och den sociala ordningen inte skulle rubbas.

Money can be understood as a disembedding mechanism, detaching social relations from a spatiotemporal context. However, different infrastructural instantiations of money make visible–and invisible–different qualities of money. Through a two-month ethnographic study of El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as a complimentary legal tender, I show how Bitcoin in El Salvador functions as a technology of the imagination that brings future-making and deterritorialization into the forefront of money infrastructure(s).  The thesis is divided into three main parts. First, I briefly introduce how people leverage Bitcoin as a tool for shaping subjective attitudes towards time, and consequently–to inspire hope.  Then, I show how foreigners travelling to El Salvador to use Bitcoin are not doing this out of economic considerations. Rather, this transnational group of Bitcoiners can be characterised as a recursive public that utilises Bitcoin to escape the formation of the nation-state and form a deterritorialized community around shared speculative visions of the future. Bitcoin also allows them to make general infrastructural features of money visible and to contest these. The prime example being money’s disciplinary effects on subjective attitudes towards time. In the last part, I show how deterritorialization and speculative futures also come to the forefront of Salvadoran imaginaries of Bitcoin. We can understand attitudes of fear and attitudes of hope as responses to this imaginary. The thesis concludes by arguing that Bitcoin’s materiality affords imaginaries of disembedded social landscapes, thus rendering visible preexisting infrastructural features of money. However, in the specific context of El Salvador Bitcoin also works as a tool for re-embedding, but only for the Bitcoiners.

Over the past decades, the world has witnessed significant social and demographic changes, including a declining fertility rate in Europe, a decrease in job security and flexibilisation of the labour market, and an increasing flow of migrants to the Global North. Especially migrants have been affected by precarious work arrangements. However, little research has been conducted on the specific impact of employment uncertainty on migrant fertility intentions. Using binary logistic regression models, this study looks at the effect of both objective and subjective indicators of a precarious employment situation on short-term fertility intentions using the Swedish GGS-II survey data. The analysis includes both migrants and Swedish-born individuals and covers men and women separately, which is rare in previous research that has focused chiefly on women only. The findings suggest that the impact of unemployment on fertility intentions differs between migrant and Swedish-born women and men. Specifically, being an unemployed migrant, compared to being unemployed and Swedish-born appears to increase the likelihood of expressing a positive fertility intention. The time since arrival for female migrants does not moderate the effect of employment status. However, for female migrants in education who have resided in Sweden for at least five years, the probability of stating a positive fertility intention is substantially reduced compared to newly arrived migrant women. Moreover, the probability of expressing a positive fertility intention increases when a migrant woman perceives job loss as likely in the near future relative to Swedish-born women with similar job security perceptions. Regarding men, the results are less conclusive, with no substantial differences observed in the impact of the likelihood of job loss on fertility intentions between migrant and Swedish-born men. The study suggests that despite the importance of the institutional setting for fertility decision-making, other mechanisms are at play, too: migrants and Swedish-born individuals seem to respond differently to labour market uncertainties and especially unemployment.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka drivkraften bakom volontärarbete på punkfestival. Frågeställningarna innefattar vad punken som subkultur har för betydelse och hur gemenskap bildas inom volontärarbete. Studiens empiri består av fyra kvalitativa intervjuer med individer som har erfarenhet av volontärarbete på punkfestivaler. Dessa intervjuer har sedan kodats med hjälp av tematisk analys. Analysen tar avstamp i teorier kring ritual, symboler, och kollektivt medvetande. Resultatet visar på att punkens grundläggande värderingar bygger på autencitet, kollektivitet och autonomi. Vidare är dessa värderingar sammanvävda med informanternas upplevelser av volontärarbete på punkfestival. Den icke-kommersiella aspekten av festivalerna är viktig för autenciteten och autonomin inom arbetet. Via musiken förkroppsligas dessa värderingar vilket formar meningsskapandet inom volontärarbetet.

This thesis investigates the issue of vulnerable migrant employment and public policies in the Apulia region of southern Italy, with a focus on the EU-funded projects P.I.U. Su.Pr.Eme and Su.Pr.Eme Italia. The study uses a three-step methodology to collect relevant and reliable data, aiming to shed light on the challenges faced by vulnerable migrants and assess the effectiveness of policies. The analytical framework reflects this three-step methodology, using the literature review, the 4Ps framework and the assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation as lens for the analysis. The research highlights the importance of social rights to non-citizens, which can protect human rights and benefit the host society. The analysis shows mixed results regarding the effects of the EU-funded projects on social integration and combatting labour exploitation in the agriculture sector of Apulia, depending on their effective application.

The main purpose of this study was to examine managers' capabilities to support the boundaries between work-life and private-life in the non-profit sector. The theoretical framework of the study is centered on work/family border theory where we focused on managers' dual role of border-crosser and border-keeper and explained this using new institutional theory as an analytical lens together with previous research on the special nature of the nonprofits, as well as policies for border control and the balance between autonomy and control. To understand the boundaries between the two domains, four focus groups were interviewed, consisting of three to four individuals. The participants were managers of various organizations within the nonprofit sector. According to boundary theory, employees become central participants when the organization helps them internalize the culture of the domain, develop knowledge in their jobs, when they connect with those who already have central membership, and when they are given responsibilities with which they can personally identify. The central membership is then assumed to provide tools for them to be able to increase the balance between work and private life on their own. The result of the study has shown that there are two factors that the managers believe affect the boundary between work and private life in addition to the actual time, namely performance boundaries and role boundaries. Based on what the focus groups convey, there is a notion of an ideal in the nonprofit sector where the job is to some extent expected to be seen as something more than a job that reinforces the boundless tendencies between working life and private life.

Sammanfattning Titel: I vilken utsträckning tar nordisk forskning hänsyn till barn som upplevt våld? – En Scoping review om konsekvenser för barn som upplevt våld i nära relation utifrån barndomssociologin och ett intersektionellt perspektiv. Författare: Sandra Adam & Rebecka Göransson Handledare: Nina Åkerlund Examinator: Tina Olsson Följande uppsats är en litteraturstudie i form av en scoping review på redan befintlig forskning om barns konsekvenser av att ha upplevt våld i nära relation. Bakgrund: Var tionde barn i Sverige har upplevt våld i nära relation. Våld mot barn i nära relationer är ett relativt nytt forskningsområde och ett utbrett folkhälsoproblem. I flertalet fall av våld i nära relation finns det barn i hushållet. Forskning visar på att barn är sårbara och att våldet leder till psykiska, beteendemässiga och sociala konsekvenser. Våld mot barn går även att ses som en försvårande omständighet när det dessutom sker av barnets omsorgspersoner. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att utifrån barndomssociologin och det intersektionella perspektivet studera forskning från Norden som involverar barn som har upplevt våld i nära relationer. Metod: En sammanställning av 17 vetenskapliga artiklar gjordes genom en scoping review utifrån Arksey & O´malleys modell. Artiklarna togs fram genom sökningar i två olika databaser och därefter gjordes en kvalitetsgranskning av alla 17 artiklar. Analysen är teoridriven, vilket innebär att resultatet analyserades utifrån barndomssociologin och ett intersektionellt perspektiv som därefter delades in i över- och underteman. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i tre huvudteman och tio underteman. Det första huvudtemat belyser synen på barn i nordisk forskning; hur barn beaktas och hanteras. Analysen visar att barn hanteras en homogen grupp i flera avseenden. Det andra huvudtemat är konsekvenser av våld vilket belyser olika våldsformers lång- och kortsiktiga konsekvenser för barn. Olika våldsformer påverkar barn på olika sätt, men tenderar att överlappa varandra i flesta fall. Det tredje temat handlar om hur våldet får olika konsekvenser för olika barn. Här lyfts forskningens representation av kön och ålder, närmare bestämt pojkar, flickor, små barn och ungdomar. Slutsats: Barn som utsätts för våld i nära relation är olika och bör därför hanteras som en heterogen grupp både i forskning och praktiskt socialt arbete.

This thesis investigates overeducation as an aspect of integration among the second generation in Western Europe. As the second generation grows and establishes themselves in the labour market, research about their labour market outcomes becomes increasingly important. Using nine rounds (2002-2018) of the European Social Survey (ESS), this thesis investigates the impact of being a second generation on the probability of being overeducated in Western Europe. An overeducation-measure is developed using the realised matches-approach and weighted linear probability models are performed on pooled and country-stratified samples. The thesis takes into account labour market supply-and demand-side characteristics to discuss possible mechanisms behind the results. The results show that across Western Europe, the second generation faces a higher probability of being overeducated compared to their native counterparts. The UK stands out, where the second generation is subject to an 8,53-percentage point higher probability of being overeducated than the natives. Parental origin and level of education are important supply-side factors, where the second generation with parents from non-EU countries and those with non-tertiary educated parents have higher probabilities of being overeducated. On the demand-side, employment and unemployment protection regulations are associated with overeducation, where stricter employment protection and higher net replacement rates in unemployment is associated with lower probabilities of overeducation among the second generation. This thesis highlights the importance of assessing the labour market supply- and demand-side characteristics in research about labour market outcomes for the second generation, and contributes to the research field with the comparative perspective.