<p>Culture plays a key role in international business. This work-based thesis undertakes a case-study research of an information management software introduction process from Sweden to China. To design interview questions, the author used Prof. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as the base theory and reviewed a number of literatures which apply this theory in the IT area. After interviews with both Swedish and Chinese sites, the results were analyzed with the theoretical data to examine how cultural differences influence people in a software introduction process. The author also applied software culturalization from Marble and Lu. Compared to the author’s own experiences and interview data, a recommendation list is stated as a guide of how to succeed in software introduction under different cultural backgrounds.</p>

Culture plays a key role in international business. This work-based thesis undertakes a case-study research of an information management software introduction process from Sweden to China. To design interview questions, the author used Prof. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as the base theory and reviewed a number of literatures which apply this theory in the IT area. After interviews with both Swedish and Chinese sites, the results were analyzed with the theoretical data to examine how cultural differences influence people in a software introduction process. The author also applied software culturalization from Marble and Lu. Compared to the author’s own experiences and interview data, a recommendation list is stated as a guide of how to succeed in software introduction under different cultural backgrounds.

This study explores suitable applications of culturalization in the case of educational games for children, specifically in relation to the Chinese market. Culturalization, in the context of video games, are design choices and adjustments applied to a product in order to cater to the needs of different cultural environments. The characteristics of both this genre, and this target locale, determines to which aspects of the product culturalization should be applied. Using three commercial educational games as a basis for discussion, the research was conducted through a series of expert interviews with pedagogues, localizers and game researchers in China. By analyzing the data gathered through these interviews, a series of aspects to consider for culturalization was defined. These were: usage of cultural references; the branding of the product; educational utility in relation to the local school curriculum; choice of gamification design.

Abstract The thesis examines Finnish social workers’ understandings of racism. The research task is to view how professionals understand racism as a phenomenon, how they perceive social work’s role in relation to racialization and racism and how they understand the complex relationship between race and gender in the Nordic context. The data consists of two focus group interviews and three indepth interviews conducted with child welfare professionals. Qualitative content analysis is used as an analysis method. Anti-racist social work and intersectionality are presented as a theoretical framework in the thesis. Anti-racist social work is part of the tradition of anti-oppressive theory, where societal power structures are raised to the centre of attention. Race is understood as a socially constructed power hierarchy enabling privileged and oppressed positions. The concept of intersectionality refers to the similar nature of all power structures, where all forms of oppression are understood as mutually constructed. The findings suggest that racism is infrequently recognized in social work practices. The dominant approach in Finland emphasizes cultural competence, while the importance of anti-racism remains scarce. The gender equality discourse is especially strong in relation to immigration. Immigrant women are often portrayed as victims of their culture, and gendered violence is explained through culture. The thesis suggests that racism is rarely accounted as a cause when viewing problems in racialized families. Combining anti-racism and intersectionality while reinforcing critical reflection on social workers’ stance and privileges is proposed as a method for improving social work practice.

The aim of this study has been to analyze how society is constructed in the workbook Möte med människor från andra kulturer, a popular material within the “cultural competency” industry. The analysis has largely been carried out from the perspective of a pedagogy against oppression as it has been outlined by Kevin Kumashiro. I have found that the material combines discursive movements, which in complex and hybrid ways deconstruct, decenter, recenter and reproduce stereotypes and norms, through its normative language and pedagogy. A language constructing culture as cleanly demarcated, static and homogenous. Cultures are made mutually exclusive and cultural patterns dominant within Sweden are placed in a dichotomous relationship with the “immigrant” other, naturalizing the privileges of the former and the marginalization of the latter. The material attempts to structure a reflexive process encouraging the reader to develop a critical self-awareness. However, the material, more often than not, fails to move this beyond an individual level, other than to inscribe a static and excluding notion of “Swedish” culture and identity onto the reader. The material teems with critical potential but I argue that its ambition is mired by normative language and staging. This is not to say that it cannot encourage critical awareness, but inarguably, its ability to do so has been lessened.

<p> </p><p>The aim of this study has been to analyze how society is constructed in the workbook <em>Möte med människor från andra <em>kulturer</em>, a popular material within the “cultural competency” industry. The analysis has largely been carried out from the perspective of a pedagogy against oppression as it has been outlined by Kevin Kumashiro. </em></p><p>I have found that the material combines discursive movements, which in complex and hybrid ways deconstruct, decenter, recenter and reproduce stereotypes and norms, through its normative language and pedagogy. A language constructing culture as cleanly demarcated, static and homogenous. Cultures are made mutually exclusive and cultural patterns dominant within Sweden are placed in a dichotomous relationship with the “immigrant” other, naturalizing the privileges of the former and the marginalization of the latter.</p><p>The material attempts to structure a reflexive process encouraging the reader to develop a critical self-awareness. However, the material, more often than not, fails to move this beyond an individual level, other than to inscribe a static and excluding notion of “Swedish” culture and identity onto the reader. The material teems with critical potential but I argue that its ambition is mired by normative language and staging. This is not to say that it cannot encourage critical awareness, but inarguably, its ability to do so has been lessened.</p><p> </p>

This dissertation examines how young people with Kurdish backgrounds form their identity in Sweden with regards to processes of inclusion and exclusion. It also sheds light on the ways these young people deal with ethnic discrimination and racism. Further, the study outlines the importance of these social processes for the discipline of social work and the ways social workers can work with disadvantaged and marginalized groups and endorse their struggle for social justice and full equal citizenship beyond racist and discriminatory practices. The empirical analysis is built on interviews with 28 young men and women with Kurdish backgrounds in Sweden. Postcolonial theory, belonging and identity formation constitute the central conceptual framework of this study. The young people referred to different sites in which they experienced ethnic discrimination and stigmatization. These experiences involved the labor market, mass media, housing segregation, legal system and school system. The interviewees also referred to the roles of ‘ordinary’ Swedes in obstructing their participation in the Swedish society through exclusionary discourses relating to Swedish identity. The interviewees’ life situation in Sweden, sense of ethnic discrimination as well as disputes over identity making with other young people with Middle-Eastern background are among the most important reasons for fostering strong Kurdish nationalist sentiments, issues that are related to the ways they can exercise their citizenship rights in Sweden and how they deal with exclusionary practices in their everyday life. The study shows that the interviewees respond to and resist ethnic discrimination in a variety of ways including interpersonal debates and discussions, changing their names to Swedish names, strengthening differences between the self and the other, violence, silence and deliberately ignoring racism. They also challenged and spoke out against the gendered racism that they were subjected to in their daily lives due to the paternalist discourse of ”honor-killing”. The research participants had been denied an equal place within the boundary of Swedishness partly due to a racist postcolonial discourse that valued whiteness highly. Paradoxically, some interviewees reproduced the same discourse through choosing to use it against black people, Africans, newly-arrived Kurdish immigrants (”imports”), ”Gypsies” and Islam in order to claim a modern Kurdish identity as near to whiteness as possible. This indicates the multiple dimensions of racism. Those who are subjected to racism and ethnic discrimination can be discriminatory and reproduce the racist discourse. Despite unequal power relations, both dominant and minoritized subjects are all marked by the postcolonial condition in structuring subjectivities, belonging and identification.

The aim of this study was to examine how social workers relate to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, regarding their cultural background and potential social issues. In order to achieve a more profound and comprehensive view of the social workers views regarding the separated children, we selected to execute semi structured interviews with social workers. These interviews were aimed at those social workers who performed assessments and investigations concerning unaccompanied children. We completed nine interviews which we recorded and transcribed in a strict manor. When we analyzed the empirical material, certain themes where identified as more protuberant and thus we our selection was based on what we regarded as the most relevant topics, in accordance to the aim of the study. Furthermore, our focus was set upon the social workers views regarding cultural differences between unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and Swedish children. We also decided to focus on which views these social workers portrayed, regarding the unaccompanied asylum-seeking child’s cultural background and how social issues could affect the social workers frame, their assets and formulation of their interventions, concerning separated children. We learned during our study that the social workers are enduring a heavy workload, especially since the numbers of arriving separated children are rapidly increasing. Furthermore, the economical recourses, in forms of personnel, are not increasing the same pace. In recent years, societal attitudes have altered and more negative and separative views regarding separated children are apparent. However, the social workers have applied a more universalistic approach towards the children to show the resemblances rather than differences between unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and Swedish children. Our study makes evident, that underneath this universalistic policy, culturalization of the children took form and this development also affected how the interventions were framed. Conclusively, this study displays how culturalization of the interventions affected the care of the children negatively and resulted in a declining standard of care, as well as differentiation of care.