Abstract Title: It is not necessary to be the best, but I don’t want to be average Author: Maja Benca & Emma Ender Tutor: Hedvig Ekerwald Purpose: The purpose of this thesis was to identify the subjective experiences of stressors and demands of law students of Uppsala University. Beyond these problems, this thesis was also identifying if there was a balance or conflict between social life and studies from a social psychological perspective. This essay is based on five key questions: How does the subjective experience of stress and demands affect the interviewed law students? How do the interviewed law students handle the stress and demands in their studies and in everyday life? Do the interviewed law students consider there is a balance between social life and studies? How do the law students want to present themselves in front of classmates and teachers? What do the interviewed law students consider to be the main goal in life? Method/Material: The material used in this thesis consists of a total of ten interviews with law students of Uppsala University, five women and five men in the ages of 20 - 32. Main results: The thesis results showed that the stress and demands are experienced individually and differently from person to person depending on ability and how individuals manage their stress. A correlation could be found between the demands and stress in the informants' subjective stories, and how they are being affected. In addition to this, we could also find that there is an imbalance and conflict between social life and studies, as they have to give their studies first priority. How informants present themselves and what their goals are, is also explored in this bachelor thesis. Number of pages: 50 Course: Social psychology C, Institution of Sociology, Uppsala University Period: Spring 2014 Keywords: Stress, demands, goal, impression, looking glass self, law students, master of laws, coping

Studien undersökte samvarians mellan juriststudenters attityder till isolering under häktningstiden ur ett brottsutredande perspektiv, ur ett integritetskränkande perspektiv och den kritik som riktats mot det svenska rättssystemet. Det undersöktes även om dessa attityder skiljde sig åt mellan män och kvinnor. En enkät besvarades av 244 juriststudenter från fyra lärosäten i Sverige (106 män och 138 kvinnor, M = 23,6 år, SD = 3,0). Resultaten visade ett negativt starkt samband vilket indikerar att perspektiven står i kontrast till varandra. Perspektiven samvarierade även med kritiken, där de som uppvisade en mer accepterande attityd till isolering ur ett brottsutredande perspektiv var mindre benägna att hålla med om kritiken. De som istället uppvisade en mindre accepterande attityd till isolering ur ett integritetskränkande perspektiv var mer benägna att hålla med om kritiken. Samtliga samband var starkare för männen, dock var skillnaden i styrka på samband för män och kvinnor mellan de båda perspektiven inte signifikant. Det identifierades signifikanta könsskillnader då män uppvisade en mer accepterande attityd till isolering ur ett brottsutredande perspektiv samt i lägre utsträckning höll med om kritiken. Kvinnor uppvisade istället en mindre accepterande attityd till isolering ur ett integritetskränkande perspektiv och höll i högre utsträckning med om kritiken. / The study examined the association between law students’ attitudes towards solitary confinement in remand prisons from a criminal investigation perspective, a violation of integrity perspective and the criticism directed against the Swedish Criminal Justice System. Differences in these attitudes between men and women were also examined. A questionnaire was answered by 244 law students from four Swedish universities (106 males and 138 females, M = 23,6 years, SD = 3,0). The results showed a negative strong correlation indicating a contrast between the perspectives. The perspectives also correlated with the criticism, where those displaying a more favourable attitude from a criminal investigation perspective tended to disagree with the criticism. Those displaying a less favourable attitude from a violation of integrity perspective tended to agree with the criticism. All correlations were stronger for males. However, the difference in strength of correlation for males and females between the perspectives, was not significant. The study identified significant gender differences where males had a more favourable attitude from a criminal investigation perspective and, to a lesser extent, agreed with the criticism. Females had a less favourable attitude from a violation of integrity perspective and agreed with the criticism to a greater extent.