This thesis explores caregiving ideology and social interaction in Tanzanian families with a focus on guidance and control of young children. The study is set within a context of social change in terms of urbanization as well as the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The aim of the study was to explore how the conditions for children’s participation are shaped within local deology and situated practice. A qualitative study was undertaken inspired by the traditions of language socialization, sociocultural theory and discursive psychology. Data was collected in one urban and one rural district in the coastal region in Tanzania. The thesis contains four articles. Article one and two are based on data from focus group discussions with parents and grandparents exploring caregiving responsibilities. The first study explores caregivers’ discourses regarding the responsibility of guidance and control of children related to social change. The analysis constructed two interpretative repertoires: guidance and control as a community matter and guidance and control as a family matter. These repertoires are related to an ideological caregiving dilemma regarding parental authority and individual rights. The second study investigates caregivers’ discourses regarding early childhood discipline strategies. The analysis suggested a model illustrating various levels of power asymmetries related to corporal punishment, conceptualized in terms of to beat with care, to treat like an egg, as if beating a snake and the non-care of non-beating. Article three and four are based on video recorded data and present analyses of moment-to-moment, multimodal sequences of interaction. The third study explores how siblings in Tanzania actively engage in their own socialization concerning caregiving responsibilities through the negotiation of guidance and control between younger siblings, older siblings and adults. The forth article presents findings from analyses of naturally occurring literacy events. The analysis shows how participation is negotiated in terms of  symmetries and asymmetries between younger and older siblings. Norms and values belonging to the social order of the formal school are enacted parallel to the social order of participatory learning with roots in everyday interaction in the home. The four studies illustrate conditions of participation in terms of symmetries and asymmetries in early childhood relationships. The findings are also discussed in terms of a caregiving dilemma regarding individual rights versus parental authority. This dilemma is identified both in lived and theoretical ideology as presented in caregivers’ discourses and the ideology of children’s rights. / Avhandlingen behandlar omsorgsideologi och social interaktion i  tanzaniska familjer med fokus på vägledning och kontroll av yngre barn. Studien är situerad i en kontext som präglas av social förändring med avseende på urbanisering och implementeringen av konventionen om barns rättigheter. Syftet med studien var att utforska hur förutsättningar för yngre barns deltagande skapas inom ramen för lokala ideologier och som lokala praktiker. Data samlades in i en urban och en rural miljö utmed den Tanzaniska östkusten. Avhandlingen innehåller fyra delstudier. I analysen av data användes kvalitativa metoder som har sin teoretiska grund i språksocialisation, socio-kulturell teori och diskursiv psykologi. De första två artiklarna baseras på fokusgruppdiskussioner med föräldrar samt mor- och farföräldrar. Den första artikeln utforskar diskurser med avseende på ansvaret för vägledning och kontroll av barn relaterade till den aktuella sociala förändringen. Analysen konstruerade två tolkningsrepertoarer: samhällsansvar för vägledning och kontroll och familjeansvar för vägledning och kontroll. Dessa repertoarer är relaterade till ett ideologiskt omsorgsdilemma som rör föräldrars auktoritet och barns individuella rättigheter. Den andra studien utforskar diskurser rörande disciplinering och kroppslig bestraffning av små barn. Analysen presenterar en modell som illustrerar hur olika disciplineringsstrategier representerar olika former av  maktasymmetrier i form av a) att slå med omsorg, b) att behandla som ett ägg, c) som att slå en orm och d) icke-omsorgen i att inte slå. Studie tre och fyra är baserade på videoinspelat material och presenterar analyser av multimodala sekvenser av interaktion. Den tredje studien utforskar hur syskon under måltidssituationer bidrar till sin egen socialisation genom förhandlingar mellan yngre syskon, äldre syskon och vuxna. Den fjärde studien presenterar fynd från analyser av spontana läs- och skrivhändelser i barns vardag. Analysen visar hur förutsättningar för deltagande förhandlas i termer av symmetrier och asymmetrier mellan yngre och äldre syskon. Normer och värden som tillhör den tanzaniska skolans sociala ordning kan återfinnas i förhandlingar parallellt med informellt lärande med rötter i vardaglig interaktion i hemmiljö. De fyra studierna illustrerar förutsättningarna för deltagande i relationer genom att analysera symmetrier och asymmetrier i familjerelationer under de tidiga barndomsåren i Tanzania. Fynden tolkas också som omsorgsdilemman som rör individens rätt i motsats till auktoritet och anpassning till traditionella värden. Detta dilemma kan spåras både i praktisk och teoretisk ideologi i föräldrars och mor- och farföräldrars diskurser inom den kontext som barnrättsideologin skapar.

A qualitative study is presented concerning children’s participation in the local decisionmaking in Swedish municipalities. The study also aims at finding out what are considered to be successful factors and obstacles connected to the implementation of children’s participation in local decision-making. The study contains a summary of the convention on the rights of the child, focusing on article 12, as well as previous research findings concerning children’s participation and factors enabling respectively hindering participation. Method has been interviews with a purposive sample of politicians, civil employees and children from municipalities regarded as prominent in their work with children’s participation. Either through a formal or informal implementation model. The results have been analysed in the light of Roger Hart’s eight-step “ladder of children’s participation“, where position one is considered Manipulation from adults and position eight is Child-initiated and shared decisions with adults. The results show that the investigated municipalities are considering the voice of the children in the local decision-making. Depending on different variables in focus, the position on Hart’s ladder varies between four and seven. The study concludes that successful implementation of children’s participation in local decision-making commands parallel work with organizational structures, systematic and adult’s attitudes.

The thesis has been carried out at Nedis AB in Jönköping. The aim was to develop proposals on approaches that could help the company to continually improve their warehouse operations by eliminating unnecessary operations, making the warehouse more structured and how they better could use the staff's suggestions for improve-ment. The collection of data consists of observations, interviews with a total of nine people from the staff of Nedis AB and a benchmarking conducted at Husqvarna AB. A number of shortcomings and weaknesses in procedures at the warehouse were iden-tified. Packing stations were not standardized and they were seen as poorly structured and messy. Furthermore, procedures for maintenance and cleaning of the warehouse were flawed. There was no one in charge for maintenance, replenishment and clean-ing materials for the packing stations. There were no clear organization for the im-provements efforts in the warehouse, and also a low utilization and management of staff's ideas. The results of this thesis are suggested approaches that can address the weaknesses identified and that can be used to standardize the work of the warehouse of Nedis AB by establishing clear roles and responsibilities, create conditions for participation, structuring and creating procedures to maintain an organized workplace. In order to work towards continuous improvement, we propose a method where Nedis AB can work with visualization of the improvement process. We also suggest that the compa-ny use boards to easily give feedback and better monitor the on-going improvement efforts. If Nedis AB choose to work enthusiastically with the improvement process and to clarify the objectives of the staff, we believe that the proposals presented in this study will help the company achieve its goal to work towards continuous improvement.

This study is based on a field study carried out in Thailand during November and December 2009. The material is based on in-depth interviews with nine women that live in the northern parts of Thailand. Seven of them belong to the Karen minority group. The purpose of the study has been to highlight the different perspectives that exist in the city, and in the rural region, in the question of education and employment, equality in the household, and participation in society within the political area. The theoretical perspective has been preceded from a democratic perspective at an individual level. The results show that education is relevant in how women see themselves, and also gender equality in the household can be connected to influence in social life outside the household. This also shows that traditional norms play an important role. Especially in the case that the woman traditionally in Thailand has been responsible for the household, while the husband in the family has had responsibility for political decisions in society. Education can be seen to provide better conditions in life for women; an opportunity for more jobs, as well as an opportunity for an income. One difference is that for some rural women, educational aims are to learn to read and write Thai, while all the women in the city point out that a degree from the university is important. The comparison for women's responsibilities in the household and child-rearing shows that the rural women I interviewed in general are taking a greater responsibility in the household since the husbands are working a lot. The women in the city split the household chores more often between husband and wife. The Karen women I interviewed have highlighted the importance of the family, and then also their relatives. In the past, minority groups have been more vulnerable in the country, which could play a part in that family and relatives still are an additional safety net. In the area of participation in society outside the household, women in the rural area strongly believe that participation on a political level is an issue for men. And despite higher degree of education the women don’t have an increasing interest in participating. The women in the rural area though live close to the political authorities, which means that the majority of the women there have spoken directly to the leaders and thus can influence. Here, the level of education does not matter.   The women in the city have not talked directly to the leaders to the same extent. Meanwhile, one of the women in the city has engaged herself politically. She thinks she could get respect, both as a woman and as Karen. She also sees that the possibilities for women to participate are growing in the cities, where the level of education generally is higher. Though, the other interviewees in the city would not want to be politically active. The only interest for them is to read about the situation and to vote. The women also speak about the leader as corrupt and selfish, which leads to low confidence in politicians.   Finally, the study shows that traditional norms are still strong in the country, despite education and more equality in the household. Especially that woman should be responsible for the household, while the husband involve in social issues. This is shown particularly in the rural areas. In the city however, this is not highlighted in the same way. The women there have freed themselves more from the traditional norms. And two of the women with a higher degree, can run a household on only one salary. Several of my interviewees have also been moving between urban and rural areas. This makes transition between urban and rural areas not as strong as it were earlier, now it’d more gradual. At the same time the women have an everyday life in the specific social context, which result in that traditional norms are still stronger in the rural areas. / Denna studie baseras på en fältstudie som utförts i Thailand under november och december år 2009. Materialet utgår från djupintervjuer med nio kvinnor som lever i de norra delarna av Thailand. Sju av dessa kommer från minoritetsfolket Karen. Syftet med studien har varit att synliggöra de olika perspektiv som finns, i stad, respektive på landsbygd, i områdena utbildning och arbete, jämställdhet i hushållet, samt deltagande i samhällslivet inom den politiska sfären. Det teoretiska perspektivet har utgått från ett demokratiskt perspektiv på en individnivå. Resultaten visar att utbildning har betydelse för hur kvinnorna ser på sig själva, och även jämställdhet i hemmet kan kopplas till inflytande i samhällslivet. Här visar också att traditionella normer spelar en viktig roll. Speciellt i fråga om att kvinnan traditionellt i Thailand har haft ansvaret för hushållet, medan mannen i familjen har haft ansvaret för politiska beslut i samhället. Utbildning ses också som möjligheten till bättre förutsättningar i livet för kvinnorna, en möjlighet till fler jobb, samt en möjlighet till inkomst. En skillnad är dock att hos flera kvinnor på landsbygden syftar utbildning till att lära sig att kunna skriva och läsa Thai, medan alla kvinnor i staden framhåller att en utbildning med universitetsexamen är viktigt. I jämförelsen för kvinnornas ansvar i hushållet samt barnuppfostran, visar de intervjuade kvinnorna på landsbygden generellt att kvinnorna tar störst ansvar i hemmet då männen arbetar mycket. I staden är en uppdelning mellan hushållssysslorna större. Samtidigt kan två av kvinnorna i staden klara sig själva på en egen inkomst. De Karen-kvinnor jag intervjuat har lyft fram familjens betydelse, och då också sina släktingar. Tidigare har minoritetsgrupperna varit mer utsatta i landet, vilket kan spela in i att familj och släkt blir ett extra skyddsnät. Gällande deltagande i samhället utanför hushållet, menar kvinnorna på landsbygden starkare att detta är en fråga för männen. Trots utbildning för kvinnorna ökar inte intresset för att delta nämnvärt. En av kvinnorna känner dock inflytande med hjälp av sin utbildning.  Dock lever kvinnorna närmare de politiska makthavarna på landsbygden, vilket gör att majoriteten av kvinnorna där direkt talat med ledarna och på det sättet har inflytande. Här har inte utbildningsnivån spelat roll. Kvinnorna i staden har dock inte i samma utsträckning talat direkt med ledarna. Samtidigt har en av kvinnorna i staden själv engagerat sig politiskt. Hon kände där att hon kunde få respekt, både som kvinna och Karen. Hon ser också att möjligheterna för kvinnor att delta ökar i städerna där utbildningsnivån generellt också är högre. Allmänt är informanterna annars intresserade av situationen och går och röstar. Majoriteten har dock inget intresse av att själva delta. Kvinnorna talar också om ledarna som korrumperade och själviska, vilket leder till ett lågt förtroende för politikerna. Slutligen visar studien att traditionella normer fortfarande lever starkt i landet, trots utbildning och mer jämställdhet i hushållet. Där kvinnan ska ansvara för hushållet medan mannen engagerar sig i samhällsfrågor. Detta visas framförallt på landsbygden. I staden är dock inte detta lika tydligt och där har kvinnorna frigjort sig mer från traditionella normer. Flera av mina informanter rör sig också över stora områden och mellan stad och landsbygd. Det gör att övergångarna mellan stad och landsbygd inte blir så starka som de tidigare varit, de blir mer gradvisa. Samtidigt visar informanterna att vardagslivet i det specifika sammanhanget påverkar den sociala kontexten, vilket gör att traditionella normer fortfarande lever starkare på landsbygden.

<p>The thesis has been carried out at Nedis AB in Jönköping. The aim was to develop proposals on approaches that could help the company to continually improve their warehouse operations by eliminating unnecessary operations, making the warehouse more structured and how they better could use the staff's suggestions for improve-ment. The collection of data consists of observations, interviews with a total of nine people from the staff of Nedis AB and a benchmarking conducted at Husqvarna AB. A number of shortcomings and weaknesses in procedures at the warehouse were iden-tified. Packing stations were not standardized and they were seen as poorly structured and messy. Furthermore, procedures for maintenance and cleaning of the warehouse were flawed. There was no one in charge for maintenance, replenishment and clean-ing materials for the packing stations. There were no clear organization for the im-provements efforts in the warehouse, and also a low utilization and management of staff's ideas. The results of this thesis are suggested approaches that can address the weaknesses identified and that can be used to standardize the work of the warehouse of Nedis AB by establishing clear roles and responsibilities, create conditions for participation, structuring and creating procedures to maintain an organized workplace. In order to work towards continuous improvement, we propose a method where Nedis AB can work with visualization of the improvement process. We also suggest that the compa-ny use boards to easily give feedback and better monitor the on-going improvement efforts. If Nedis AB choose to work enthusiastically with the improvement process and to clarify the objectives of the staff, we believe that the proposals presented in this study will help the company achieve its goal to work towards continuous improvement.</p>

The aim of the present study is to clarify the nature of integration between the individual and the organization. I have utilized four analytical tools in this endeavor – forms of association, theoretical starting points, integrating factors, and principles of integration. The forms of association have been taken from Amitai Etzioni's model for describing the interplay between members' experience of an organization and organizational sanctions. These in turn provide us with three categories – coercion, when association is steered by constraint exercised by the organization; interest, when integration proceeds deliberately and voluntarily; and normative or institutional integration, when association is steered by a normative community. The starting point selected is important, and often decisive, for any effort to understand the connection between the individual and the organization. In the present effort to theoretically explain how a particular association between individual and organization emerges, I have deliberately selected human nature (the integrating unit) from the choice of two alternatives for the starting point. That is to say that the starting point for integration should be sought not in the organization, but in people. The reason for this decision is my contention that organizations have no organic form, and that they can be steered and influenced in a completely differently way than people. In order for the theoretical starting point to function as a explanatory factor, it should provide the location for an active element. I have chosen the individual's striving for development and maturity as the active element or integrating factor in this regard. The integration of individual and organization is fostered to the extent that the individual's striving for development is satisfied within the framework of the organization. I argue that participation is the principle of integration that serves this goal. In conclusion, participation promotes the integration of the individual and organization, and it drives the process of integration in respect to three forms of coordination – coercion, interest, and institutional integration. Submission (the absence of participation) leads to coercion. Negotiation (the preliminary stage of participation) leads to interest integration. Participation, finally, leads to institutional integration.

This study deals with the quality of democracy, and its purpose is to examine which factors affect the varying levels of the quality of democracy in the stable democracies in the world. The research question posited in the study is: what explains the varying levels of the quality of democracy in the democratic countries in the world, and do political institutions matter? Theoretically, the quality of democracy is distinguished from other similar concepts employed in comparative politics, and what the quality of democracy stands for is clarified. The quality of democracy is defined in this study as: the level of legitimacy in a democratic system with respect to democratic norms such as political participation, political competition, political equality, and rule of law. In total, four dimensions of the quality of democracy are included that are considered to be very important dimensions of the quality of democracy. These dimensions are political participation, political competition, political equality, and the rule of law. To explain the variation in the quality of democracy, an explanatory model has been developed. The explanatory model consists of five different groups of independent variables: political institutional variables, socioeconomic variables, cultural variables, historical variables, and physical variables. Methodologically, a large-n, outcome-centric research design is employed and statistical analysis is used to examine what effect the five groups of independent variables have on the four dimensions of the quality of democracy. Empirically, the results show that cultural variables and political institutional variables outperform socioeconomic, historical, and physical variables in relation to their effect on the quality of democracy. Consequently, cultural and political institutional variables are the two most important groups of variables when explaining the variation in the quality of democracy in the democratic countries in the world. In relation to the other groups of variables, historical variables are slightly more important than socioeconomic variables when explaining the variation in the quality of democracy. The physical variables constitute the group of variables that has the least importance out of the five groups of variables when explaining the variation in the quality of democracy. In summary, the findings from the study show that the best way of increasing the level of the quality of democracy may be to choose political institutions such as parliamentarism as the executive power system and a proportional system as the electoral system. To put this clearly, to increase the possibility of democratic countries achieving a high level of the quality of democracy they should avoid majority electoral systems and presidential or semipresidential executive systems.

Bakgrund: Forskning- och utvecklingsarbete är något som bedrivs på många håll inom hälso- och sjukvården. Detta innebär att många patienter som söker vård och behandling kan komma att tillfrågas om att delta i forskning. En person som är sjuk, och i behov av vård, kan uppleva att man i patientrollen hamnar i en beroendeställning i förhållande till vårdpersonalen. Patienten är den hjälpsökande och vårdpersonalen är de som på grund av kunskap och förmåga att hjälpa patienten har en starkare ställning. Att vara patient och medverka i forskning kan innebära att patienten får ökad uppmärksamhet men patienten kan också uppleva att beroendeställningen gentemot vårdpersonalen förstärks. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva patienters erfarenheter av att delta i forskning. Metod: En litteraturöversikt har gjorts där tio vetenskapliga, kvalitativa artiklar, med begränsning vuxna patienter, har utgjort grunden till resultatet. Resultat: Resultatet presenteras i fyra kategorier, vilka är; Överväganden inför beslut om att delta i forskning, Meningsfullhet av att delta i forskning, Upplevelse av hinder i samband med forskning samt Från känslan av stöd – till känslan av övergivenhet. Diskussion: Resultatet har diskuterats i relation till livsvärldsperspektivet enligt Dahlberg och Segesten. Tre aspekter av resultatet kommer särskilt att diskuteras: Barriärer för ett forskningsdeltagande kontra viljan att delta, Beroendeställningen till vårdpersonal -en riskfaktor för både patienten och forskningen samt Patientens delaktighet och autonomi i samband med beslutsfattande om att delta i forskning. / Background: Research and development is conducted in many areas of health care. This means that many patients seeking care and treatment may be asked to participate in research. A person who is ill and in need of care can experience him/herself, in the role of patient, ending up in a position of dependence in relation to health care professionals. The patient is seeking help and health care staff are those who by virtue of knowledge and ability to help patients have a stronger position. Being a patient and participating in research may thus imply receiving increasing attention, but also inferiority or dependency. Aim: The aim was to describe patients’ experiences of participating in research. Method: A literature review was performed based on results from ten qualitative articles, limited to adult patients with experience of participating in research. Results: The results are presented in four categories; exploring the decision to participate in research, Meaningfulness of participating in research, Perception of barriers related to research and from the feeling of support – to the feeling of abandonment. Discussion: The result has been discussed in relation to the life-world perspective according to Dahlberg and Segesten. Three main aspects of the results will be discussed; Barriers for participating in clinical trials versus willingness to participate, dependency on health care professionals – a risk factor both for the patient and the research trial, and the patient’s autonomy and participation in the decision-making about research.

This video ethnographies study examines the everyday interaction of two groups of children (aged between 10 and 13) as they use digital media in their spare time. One group of boys has been studied in their recreation centre and one group of girls has been studied at home and at the stable. The participants have different social and cultural affiliations. The purpose of the study is to examine how the children in the different groups organize their peer cultures as they participate with other children in different kinds of digital literacy events. Furthermore, the study aims at examining what kind of competencies the children display when they participate in these digital literacy events. Theoretically, and in the analysis of the material, the study is based on New literacy studies, in which literacy is approached as a social, cultural and situated practice. The empirical material consists of ethnographical fieldwork combined with video recordings of everyday digital literacy events of the children, as well as informal conversations and screen-shots of the online interaction of the children. The children’s participation in digital literacy events are analysed with a CA-inspired interaction analysis. The analysis focus on how the children organise their participation in the midst of face-to-face interaction and how they use writing, symbol and image based communication on the internet. In the analysis the children’s use of non-verbal resources and the body have also been taken into consideration. The study shows that the children in the two groups develop different forms of technical and social literacy competencies that draws on their experiences, hobbies and participation in local practices. Through their participation the children strengthen relationships and organize their peer cultures. Their digital literacy events also involve navigating on the internet, communication with friends via internet as well as critically evaluating information on the internet in interaction with their peers.

Avhandlingen behandlar en grupp industriarbetares deltagande i olika läraktiviteter på arbetsplatsen i samband med en organisationsförändring. Företaget var i behov av mångkunnig personal och organiserade därmed läraktiviteter. Syftet är att beskriva anställdas deltagande i dessa läraktiviteter i termer av faktiskt deltagande och inställningen till deltagande, samt att förklara eventuella skillnader. Deltagande förstås i termer av motivation som utvecklas i ett komplext samspel mellan individrelaterade faktorer och faktorer som har med arbete, läraktiviteter, förändringsprocess och yttre omgivning att göra. De motivationsteorier som används är förväntan-valensteori, arbetsrelaterad teori samt en kontextuell motivationsteori. Studien baseras på en fallstudie inom en avdelning vid ett traditionellt produktionsföretag. Det huvudsakliga empiriska materialet utgörs av intervjuer med de industrianställda. Dessutom har ett flertal informella studiebesök på arbetsplatsen genomförts, liksom dokumentinsamling och informantintervjuer. I resultatet framträder tre grupper med olika deltagarmönster, som utifrån mönstren kan benämnas de ”engagerade”, de ”motvilliga” och de ”osäkra”. Det visar att industrianställda inte är någon enhetlig grupp. För gruppen ”engagerade” fanns få hinder för att delta i läraktiviteter. De hade även egna personliga motiv för deltagande. De individrelaterade förklaringarna, tycks vara särskilt viktiga för att förklara motivationen, och de hade kommit in i något som kan beskrivas som positiva lärspiraler. Gruppen ”motvilliga” såg inte deltagandet i läraktiviteter som något viktigt. De var inte överens om företagets mål och kände sig inte delaktiga i förändringsprocessen. De kontextuella förklaringarna har alltså ett stort värde för att förstå deltagandet i denna grupp. Gruppen ”osäkra” hade låg tilltro till sin förmåga, och hade ringa erfarenhet av tidigare läraktiviteter. Hur läraktiviteterna var utformade, var särskilt viktiga för denna grupp. De ”osäkra” liksom de ”motvilliga” tycks ha kommit in i negativa lärspiraler. Studien visar således att olika faktorer är betydelsefulla för olika grupper. / This dissertation focuses on the participation of a group of industrial workers in different learning activities at the workplace in connection with an organizational change. The purpose is to describe the employees’ participation in learning activities in terms of actual participation and attitude to participation, and to try to explain any differences. Participation is understood in motivational terms, which exist in a complex interaction between individual-related factors and factors connected to work, learning activities, change process and external environment. The motivational theories used are the expectancy-valence theory, work-related theory and one contextual motivation theory. The study is based on one case study within a department of a traditional production company. The empirical material consists mainly of interviews with the industrial workers. In addition, data have been collected through informal study visits at the workplace, as well as through documentary analysis and informant interviews. Three groups with different participation patterns emerge from the data, and based on these patterns they are called “the dedicated group”, “the reluctant group” and “the insecure group”. This indicates that industrial workers are not a homogenous group. The “dedicated” group saw no obstacles in participating in learning activities. They also had their own personal motives for participation. The individual-related explanations seem particularly important to explain motivation, and this group had entered something which could be described positive learning spirals. The “reluctant” group did not consider it important to participate in learning activities. Their relationship to the company appear to be significant. Consequently, the contextual explanations are of great importance in order to understand the participation of this group. The “insecure” group showed little confidence in their own ability and had limited experience of previous learning activities. The design of the learning activities was especially important to this group. The “insecure” and the “reluctant” groups seems to have entered negative development spirals. The study thus shows that different factors are important to different groups.