The purpose of this master’s thesis is to describe and analyse the origin and development of the municipal library of Västervik. There have been four previous libraries and our examination starts in 1859 with the foundation of a parish library. The other forerunners were a working-class movement library and two libraries in the International Orders of Good Templars. Before the merger of the libraries there were discussions in the municipal council, among the working-class movement and in the IOGT. The municipal library was inaugurated in 1908. Algot Johansson, a worker, became the first librarian and he was very important for the development of the municipal library. We conclude our examination 1945, when Algot Johansson retired. As a background and comparison we describe the development of libraries in Sweden and the national policies. As a comparison, we can see, among other things, that Västervik was early with a merger to a municipal library, but late with free loans and subsidies from the state. The national policy from 1930 has been very important for the municipal library. To analyse the origin and development of the municipal library in Västervik we used a theory by Magnus Torstensson, about two perspectives of structures and actors. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and investigate how the consumer-oriented commerce can be developed and integrated to the brand Västervik. This thesis has a qualitative approach and we have done a case study of the Swedish city Västervik. We have performed interviews, with eight selected respondents who have different backgrounds, but with competence in different problem areas that we investigate in this thesis. We have, in this qualitative thesis, found aspects that Västervik should consider if they want to succeed with an integration of commerce in the brand. We have through a model found common facets that commerce and tourism shares and which Västervik should consider in the process of branding the city. The results of this thesis are presented in chapter six, there we also have featured reappearing tendencies that consider the development of commerce and how the commerce could be integrated in the brand Västervik.

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and investigate how the consumer-oriented commerce can be developed and integrated to the brand Västervik.</p><p>This thesis has a qualitative approach and we have done a case study of the Swedish city Västervik. We have performed interviews, with eight selected respondents who have different backgrounds, but with competence in different problem areas that we investigate in this thesis.</p><p>We have, in this qualitative thesis, found aspects that Västervik should consider if they want to succeed with an integration of commerce in the brand. We have through a model found common facets that commerce and tourism shares and which Västervik should consider in the process of branding the city.</p><p>The results of this thesis are presented in chapter six, there we also have featured reappearing tendencies that consider the development of commerce and how the commerce could be integrated in the brand Västervik.</p>

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This thesis examined people and the motives behind their actions while participating in uprisings caused by famine and social injustice. Based on Hannah Arendts theories on uprisings and revolutions, the thesis focused on two uprisings in Sweden, the bread uprising in Jönköping 1855 and the hunger demonstration in Västervik 1917. Arendts distinction between liberty from restraint and the establishing of a constituted public freedom in a political sphere guided the research and analysis of the source material in this thesis. Both towns had undergone severe famine caused by poor harvests but most notably due to the upper classes, traders and venture capitalists exploiting the situation by purchasing the foods available in volume and exporting it or selling it for profit. The results showed several similarities regarding the motives the participants stated as causes to their participation in the uprisings. One noticeable difference that was revealed was that the participants in the hunger demonstration in Västervik 1917 held some motives higher than others: right of representation, reinstated right to vote, restored and higher income, right to 8-hour working days, long-lasting actions against poverty and political influence in decisions. This is radically different than the motives stated by the participants in the uprising of Jönköping 1855 in and of that the motives stated in the uprising in Jönköping where merely regarding the factual circumstances of the famine. Lower prices, banning buyout, exports of foods and the distilling of liquor. In no circumstance did the participant require influence in the politics or civil rights in any way; they only saw the peripheral problems and not the causes of their marginalized position in society. The results of the research turned out to be synonymous of Arendts distinction between liberty and freedom in that the participants in the uprising in Jönköping only wanted to be liberated from the temporary famine whilst the participants of the uprising in Västervik wanted to step out of the historical timeline and demand civil rights to govern themselves and gain influence in the political sphere and workplaces. The participants where exclusively working-class people, craftsmen, and people of the lower classes. The study showed that the participants of the uprising in Västervik were highly involved in working labor unions and some of them were devoted socialists. This shows that ideology likely influenced the motives of the participants in the uprising of Västervik. To sum up, research has been conducted in the field before but only regarding the uprisings separately. This thesis fills in the gap between the 62 years that separates them and contributes to the understanding of uprisings and revolution in Swedish historical research.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the local debate on the Music library in Västervik to see what arguments, pro et contra, that constitutes it. Since its opening the Music library has faced regular threats of being closed down. This is an issue interesting due to several factors, its lack of guaranteed public funding and relative importance to Västervik´s attempts at city branding being two. Using argument analysis, the thesis proposes that the local debate shows traces of both instrumental and culture centered, intrinsical views of the Music library, and that the instrumental view holds both negative and positive poles of opinion while the intrinsical counterpart is one-sidedly positive. Further, the thesis argues that this is in line with a long since documented shift in cultural politics towards a more market oriented discourse. / Program: Bibliotekarie

After being excluded from the Swedish Social Democrat party in 1917, the Revolutionary Socialists founded the Social Democrat Left Party. From this point onwards, the Social Democratic hegemony and dominant position within the Swedish workers movement and political landscape was challenged. This thesis aims to investigate the power struggles between these two parties, the Revolutionary Socialists and the Social Democrats, and their desire to influence control of the unions. Taking cues from earlier research calling for a more localized look at this struggle, this thesis turns to a case study of union matters of the the Factory Workers Union Local 84, at Västerviks Tändsticksfabrik, a match manufacturer and largest employer in the Swedish coastal town of Västervik from 1925 to 1930. Organizational material including meeting protocols, annual reports and member registration lists from the local political parties, cooperative union organizations (VFS) and Local 84 serve as secondary data sources. These documents were then analyzed through the methodological and theoretical framework of power resources. The findings from this study were extensive. However, first and foremost, the results show Local 84 to be dominated by members of the Swedish Communist Party (SKP) during the length of the study period. Interestingly, the material also indicates strong collaborative ties between Social Democrats and non-party workers on issues surrounding local condition and everyday issues. The everyday class struggle against the factory owners was very successful for the communist leadership, resulting in broad confidence among the workers, in turn strengthening the communist representative’s positions. Despite the claim that communists tended to resort to more conflict-laden measures, such as strikes or blockades, to achieve their demands, this study presents a different conclusion. The strategy of the communists in Local 84 was instead focused on collaboration beyond political boundaries in order to achieve their local and practical demands.

I denna uppsats undersöks hur järnvägen har musealiserats utifrån tre svenska museijärnvägar; Föreningen Gotandstågets Gotlands Hesselby Jernväg, Tjustbygdens Järnvägsförenings Hultsfred Västerviks Järnväg samt Skånska Järnvägars bana Brösarp-Sankt Olof. Musealiseringsprocessen och den nuvarande verksamheten undersöks och analyseras med fokus på hur identitet och autenticitet/ auktoritet hanteras och värderas. Actor Network Theory och Assemblageteori används som metodologiska verktyg för att studera de komponenter, aktanter, som nätverket museijärnväg består av. Identitet är viktigt för museiföreningarna på olika sätt. Det är dels lokal/regional identitet som föreningarnas verksamhet och museala anknytning ansluter sig till, vilket poängteras på en rad olika sätt, till exempel genom märkning på fordon eller med användandet av speciella emblem. Autenticitet är ett viktigt värde för museijärnvägarna men det behandlas på olika sätt. I de fall museijärnvägen är byggnadsminnesförklarad tolkas miljön som autentisk av en auktoritet på området. Själva museikonceptet skapades av museiföreningarna själva och därigenom kunde och kan de också själva sätta agendan för vad som är autentiskt. Tidvis samstämmer det med övriga auktoriteters bild, ibland inte till exempel vad det gäller tidsepoksbedömning. Det kan också uppstå värdekonflikter i vad föreningarna vill visa som när den kommersiella eller accessoriska verksamheten i form av souvenirförsäljning och kaféverksamhet marknadsförs på samma yta som den historiska miljön. I flera av dessa fall försöker föreningarna att anpassa att förändringarna till den befintliga miljön genom att de utförs i historiserande stil. På så sätt kan de i bästa fall uppfattas som något autentiskt.

The voluntary sector in Sweden is changing. This is reflected on the dynamic cooperation with public sector in their integration efforts. As a result of this partnership, the newly established integration funds’ have been built around the principle of reciprocity between associations and immigrants applying for asylum. But can the associations’ increase the level of social capital and create conditions for integration within the different arenas of society? The purpose is to identify the content of efforts and perceived integration benefits of examined projects among the associations in Norrköping and Västervik municipalities’. Furthermore, both the perceived and actual benefit aspects of the analysis are evaluated based on Robert Putnam's idea of social capital. The methodological starting points of the content analysis and perceived utility among performers’ and users’ identify different inconsistencies between project content, perceptions of the performers’ and the users’ experiences. The changed performance role of the voluntary sector supports the thesis of hybridization, where legal constructions, economic stimulus requirements, as well as requirements and goals from the local level have created incentives for both old and new associational values to merge. A majority of the associations confirmed by perceptions of performers’ and users’ have not been able to be confirmed by actual quality values and benefits, which can question the promotion of social capital. In cases where associations can be confirmed to contribute to a promotion basis for social capital, the results indicate different ways associations take through bridging versus bonding social capital. Furthermore, the aim of the work is different depending on focus areas and objectives. In conclusion, the results support the hypothesis that interaction between these types of social capital appears to contribute to the best possible conditions in this incremental integration process that enables different resources to be conveyed and made available to individuals.

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