Den här studien presenterar Batman och Jokern som meningsskapande tankefigurer hos en samhällelig publik inom rådande kultur. Protagonisten och antagonisten representerar språkliga uttryck och innebörder bortom rollerna som enbart hjälte och skurk. Studien uppenbarar en relation mellan fiktiva karaktärer och socialt handlande, där serieupplagan är bestående av mening för den samhälleliga publiken. Det är en kvalitativ undersökning utifrån tematisk analys med en ontologisk och epistemologisk argumentation för ett kritiskt realistiskt förhållningssätt. Jag har använt mig av tre serieupplagor i karaktärsanalysen av protagonisten och antagonisten. De teoretiker som till störst del framträder är Goffman och hans dramaturgiska terminologi, Webers resonemang om idealtypers funktioner samt Fiskes kommunikationsteori och dess förekommande genom populärkulturens maktdimension. Analysen har uppenbarat vad som är kärnan i differensen mellan hjälten och skurken och hur dessa kan förstås som meningsskapande, symboliska uttryck för samhällsvarelsen.

The thesis investigates how the notion of ‘ontology’ has been used in the field of medical informatics and knowledge representation. Partly to investigate what an ‘ontology’ can be said to represent and what requirements we can have on a good ‘ontology’. The author studies the already existing medical terminologies and ‘ontologies’ to elucidate what theories they are based on. The terminological theories of Eugen Wüster and his legacy in medical informatics are studied. It is noted that terminological theories handling linguistic entities are not suited for describing and representing medical theories, since these are assumed to refer to the real world, which consists of more than linguistics entities. In order to find a metaphysical theory in accordance with the world view that medical theories describe, the author turn to the critical realism of Karl Popper, Roy Bhaskar and Ilkka Niiniluoto. These theories, taken together with the metaphysical theories regarding universals of David M Armstrong and Ingvar Johansson, are used as a basis to find out what an ‘ontology’ can be said to represent, and what criteria and requirements we can have on a good ‘ontology’. Among the requirements presented in the thesis are stability, interoperability and the requirement that a good ‘ontology’ must be in accordance with our best available theories. Finally, it is discussed how these requirements and criteria can come into conflict with one another, and how one should reason when handling these trade-offs. The author emphasises the importance of including the medical expertise in the process of creating ‘ontologies’, in order to produce as useful and relevant ‘ontologies’ as possible. / Avhandlingen undersöker hur begreppet ’ontology’ används inom den medicinska informatiken och kunskapsrepresentation. Dels ämnar avhandlingen att utreda vad en ’ontology’ kan sägas representera och dels vilka krav man kan ställa på en god ’ontology’. Utifrån historiska studier av redan existerande medicinska terminologier och ontologier studeras vilka teorier som ligger till grund för dessa. Bland annat studeras Eugen Wüsters teorier rörande terminologi och hur dennes efterföljare inom medicinsk informatik ser ut. Författaren konstaterar att terminologiska teorier som behandlar språkliga entiteter inte är lämpliga för att beskriva och representera medicinska teorier, då dessa antas handla om en verklighet bestående av mer än språkliga entiteter. För att hitta en metafysisk teori som stämmer överens med den världsbild som de medicinska teorierna beskriver, vänder sig författaren till Karl Poppers, Ilkka Niiniluotos och Roy Bhaskars syn på kritisk realism, vad det gäller vetenskapliga teorier. Detta tillsammans David M Armstrongs och Ingvar Johanssons metafysiska teorier rörande immanent realism och universalia, används som grund för att försöka analysera vad en ’ontology’ kan sägas representera, och vilka krav vi kan ställa på en god ’ontology’. Bland de krav som presenteras i avhandlingen finns stabilitet, interoperabilitet och kravet på att en god ’ontology’ ska vara i enlighet med de bästa tillgängliga vetenskapliga teorierna. Avslutningsvis diskuteras hur dessa krav kan komma i konflikt med varandra, och hur man bör resonera när man hanterar dessa ’trade-offs’. Författaren poängterar vikten av att man tar med medicinska expertisen i skapandeprocessen av ’ontologies’, för att man ska producera så användbara och relevanta ’ontologies’ som möjligt.

The aim of this study was to examine the representation over time of the Swedish social service in the national daily press. More specifically, its aim was to compare the years 1997, 2007 and 2017 and examine any differences and patterns in the reporting due to social changes in society. As this study was based on quantitative content analysis, all articles published in four of the largest national papers during those years, containing the word ”socialtjänsten” [the social service] were read. A code schedule with six themes were made to be used when reading the articles. The themes were: 1) Name of the newspaper. 2) Year of publication. 3) Character of article; news or editorial. 4) Field of social service; e.g. ’child welfare’. 5) Level of analysis; micro, meso or macro. 6) Rating of the social service; positive, negative or neutral. The analysis was based on three media theories; agenda setting, news valuation and framing. As a conclusion the valuation of the social service seems to be pretty much the same over the years; almost two of five articles has a negative valuation of the social service and three of five articles has a neutral valuation of the social service. In relation to that approximately two of one hundred articles has a positive valuation of the social service. Editorial material tends to valuate the social service more negative than news material. The level of analysis seems to have changed to fewer articles on a micro-level in 2017 than in 1997. The five most common fields associated with the social service are youth criminality, child welfare, social service as an organisation, economic aid and migration.

Globalisation, internet and digitalisation has given cause to vast changes in society, where the individual is to an ever greater extent extradited to oneself through individualisation, flexibilisation and informatisation. Taken together this known as institutional individualisation. Globalisation, internet and digitalisation has facilitated a plethora of possibilities for remote work, i.e. white collar work that is not confined to a dedicated office area, but rather being undertaken on the go, at home or in a hotel lobby. As the global spread of Covid-19, office work has taken on new dimensions forcing employees to conduct their work within the context of the private sphere, thus altering working fromhome (WFH) into working athome (WAH). This is here researched, using a combination of critical theory and social critical realism.            In this master’s dissertation, WAH full time due to Covid-19, has therefore been set in relation to institutional individualisation and its incusing on contemporary society. Thus, against the background of individualisation, flexibilisation and informatisation, and how they together comprise our everyday working lives in the organisations where we, by means of making a living, every day partake, the changed nature of the relation between the private and the professional sphere has here been investigated. Eleven semi structured in-depth interviews, in addition to four confirmatory interviews, have served to give new insights on the social im­pli­cations of WAH. These are presented in six verified hypo­thesises, with subordinate clauses. Taken together, these in turn serve to illustrate a catalysed institutionalised individualism, and a usurpation of the private sphere, by the pro­fessional sphere, while simultaneously instigating a perceived free will, making the trans­formation a choice of the employee him- or herself. / Globalisering, internet och digitalisering har givit upphov till stora samhälleliga förändringar, där individen i allt större utsträckning utlämnas till sig själv genom individualisering, flexi­bilisering och informatisering. Sammantaget kallas detta för institutionaliserad individ­ualism. Globalisering, internet och digitalisering har också faciliterat en pletora av möjligheter till distans­arbete, dvs tjänstearbete som inte är begränsat till den dedikerade kontorsytan, utan snarare utförs på språng, i hemmet eller i en hotellobby, alltså på distans. Med den globala spridningen av Covid-19, har kontorsarbete tagit nya dimensioner och tvingat de anställda att utföra sitt arbete i kontext av den privata sfären, och därmed förändrat arbete frånhemmet (WFH) till arbete ihemmet (WAH). Detta har här beforskats medelst en kombination av kritisk teori och social kritisk realism.            I denna magisteruppsatsen har heltidsarbete i hemmet, med anledning av Covid-19, därför satts i relation till institutionaliserad individualism och dess prägling av det samtida samhället. Mot bakgrund av individualisering, flexibilisering och informalisering, och hur de tillsammans utgör våra vardagliga arbetsliv i de organisationer där vi, genom förtjänandet av vårt levebröd, varje dag deltar, har förändringar i relationen mellan privat och professionell sfär således undersökts. Elva semistrukturerade djupintervjuer, har tillsammans med fyra bekräft­ande intervjuer, tjänat nya insikter om sociala implikationer av arbete i hemmet. Dessa presen­teras genom sex verifierade hypoteser, med tillhörande under­klausuler. Samman­taget tjänar dessa i sin en illustration av katalyserad institutionaliserad indi­vid­ualism och den profess­ionella sfärens usurpering av den privata sfären, samtidigt som en uppfattad egen vilja konstituerar transformationen som själv­vald.

Fysisk aktivitet som behandling mot depression har ett växande forskningsstöd. Denna uppsats utforskar vilka möjligheter och svårigheter som framkommer i psykologers beskrivning av att använda fysisk aktivitet som behandling. Vi gjorde semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta psykologer och använde en reflexiv tematisk analytisk metod. Vi fann att fysisk aktivitet framstår både som en lösning och samtidigt ganska problematiskt vilket fångas i det övergripande temat: Fysisk aktivitet har löst problem, eller inte som vi utforskar i fyra teman. Analysen visar hur fysisk aktivitet förstås genom idéer om objektivitet, medicinska teorier och psykologiska teorier eller modeller såsom beteendeaktivering. Vi undersöker också de problem som uppstår i psykologens vardag med fysisk aktivitet som intervention. Analysen innefattar även hur psykologens roll i vården ser ut och hur psykologer navigerar den i relation till fysisk aktivitet som är något olika yrkeskategorier i vården kan använda. Detta för att kunna bidra till diskussionen om hur rekommendationer utformas genom att ställa frågan: Fysisk aktivitet för vem? / Physical activity is a widely acknowledged and used intervention for treating depression. This study explores possibilities and difficulties in psychologists’ accounts of using physical activity in everyday practice. We investigated how eight psychologists described physical activity in everyday practice using a semi-structured approach. We used reflexive thematic analysis methodology to interpret data and identify how physical activity appears to provide both a solution and new problems to the psychologists. We capture an idea where physical activity isa solution of problems, or not and explore this idea in four themes. We explore how physical activity is made sense of through ideas of objectivity, medical theories and psychological theories or models as behavioral activation, but also potential problems that arise in the everyday practice of psychologists. Our analysis could be viewed as exploring how psychologists navigate their role in the everyday health care promoting physical activity. The result could also be part of discussions in policy making, raising the question: physical activityon whose terms?

As an innovation Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is designed as a tool for clinical problem solving. According to its theory of use EBP will bring a difference for policy makers, for professionals, for researchers and for service users. One question to be asked is whether EBP actually leads to the radical social change it is designed to accomplish. The aim of the study is to describe and analyse the outcome of the effort to establish EBP, with a focus on the case of social work in Sweden. The research questions are: What is EBP? Why are efforts made to establish EBP? What is the outcome of the EBP project? How can the outcome of the EBP project be explained? The case study was conducted on a critical realistic meta-theoretical ground with a focus on explanation of social change with an explicit actor-structure perspective. Methodologically, a narrative synthesis of studies was made. As a complement primary data were collected to fill empirical gaps. The state of things was described before and after the EBP-initiatives. Several helping theories – Kuhn’s theory of paradigm, program theory, neo-institutional theory and theory of diffusion – were used to analyse the empirically mapped outcome of the EBP project. The results show that the import of the original model of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) to social work is a part of a wider social movement in the helping and educational professions. The new model has influenced social work as a discipline, as a field of practice and as a field of policy. There are examples of full-scale implementations of EBP, although EBP has not reached a general status as daily practice. Some obstacles remain. The gradual adaption of EBP corresponds to criteria hold by Kuhn for a paradigm shift. Acceptance of the model has contributed to change the structure and function of social systems. At an organizational level, this change means on-going institutionalization. The innovation is influencing the way institutional actors conduct their work. Although the structural conditions have been optimal, the EBP-model has been debated with heat. The EBP-debate and policy-driven infrastructural efforts have brought a more in-depth examination of the model. So-called coercive, normative, and regulative isomorphisms were used to change organizations. The degree of institutionalization depended on the individuals and the organizations willingness and preparedness to change, to understand, and to put the model into practice. When actors used a less strict version of the original EBP model, the pace of cultural and institutional change slowed down.

As an innovation Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is designed as a tool for clinical problem solving. According to its theory of use EBP will bring a difference for policy makers, for professionals, for researchers and for service users. One question to be asked is whether EBP actually leads to the radical social change it is designed to accomplish. The aim of the study is to describe and analyse the outcome of the effort to establish EBP, with a focus on the case of social work in Sweden. The research questions are: What is EBP? Why are efforts made to establish EBP? What is the outcome of the EBP project? How can the outcome of the EBP project be explained? The case study was conducted on a critical realistic meta-theoretical ground with a focus on explanation of social change with an explicit actor-structure perspective. Methodologically, a narrative synthesis of studies was made. As a complement primary data were collected to fill empirical gaps. The state of things was described before and after the EBP-initiatives. Several helping theories – Kuhn’s theory of paradigm, program theory, neo-institutional theory and theory of diffusion – were used to analyse the empirically mapped outcome of the EBP project. The results show that the import of the original model of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) to social work is a part of a wider social movement in the helping and educational professions. The new model has influenced social work as a discipline, as a field of practice and as a field of policy. There are examples of full-scale implementations of EBP, although EBP has not reached a general status as daily practice. Some obstacles remain. The gradual adaption of EBP corresponds to criteria hold by Kuhn for a paradigm shift. Acceptance of the model has contributed to change the structure and function of social systems. At an organizational level, this change means on-going institutionalization. The innovation is influencing the way institutional actors conduct their work. Although the structural conditions have been optimal, the EBP-model has been debated with heat. The EBP-debate and policy-driven infrastructural efforts have brought a more in-depth examination of the model. So-called coercive, normative, and regulative isomorphisms were used to change organizations. The degree of institutionalization depended on the individuals and the organizations willingness and preparedness to change, to understand, and to put the model into practice. When actors used a less strict version of the original EBP model, the pace of cultural and institutional change slowed down.

This dissertation studies the development of the environmental issue from a discursive perspective. Through an analysis of views on nature and the environment in several NGOs and main political organs, the dissertation tries to explain how a certain view became hegemonic. The analysis pertains to the period between the publication of Silent Spring in 1962 and the introduction of the concept sustainable development by the UN in 1987. From a realistic starting point and with critical discourse analysis (CDA) as its method, the dissertation aims to identify causal powers and mechanisms that have generated and institutionalized the environmental discourse. An analytical model is developed and applied on three levels; a sociolinguistic, institutional, and macrosocial level; which also reflect the methodological progression of the study from description to explanation. The result shows that the discursive practice was hegemonized by a Western view promoting economic growth. This discourse gradually gained ground at the expense of an anti-systemic discourse which posited structural societal changes as the answer to environmental problems. Mechanisms such as the exclusion of some views and actors from common discursive practices were crucial for the process of homogenizing the discourse and developing consensus. Through incorporating that part of the environmental movement which did not fight the dominant economic and political system, the UN turned it into support for its own project, which is part of the process of hegemony. At the same time the environmental objectives of the hegemonic discourse were established in the institutional spheres. The institutionalization of the environmental issue changed the focus from social critique to a question of development and technology, something which helped displace the original critical and partially anti-systemic character of environmental discourse. Through turning the critical and negative account of the situation into a more harmonious and hopeful vision, for instance in terms of sustainable development, a foundation was laid for the later development of ecological modernization. When the hegemonic discourse invested the concept of sustainable development with emphases on progress and economic growth, it encapsulated the environmental issue within the framework of the prevailing social system. / <p>With summary in English and Spanish/Con resumen en inglés y en español</p>

Mellanchefer inom socialtjänstens sektion för barn och unga arbetar i en motstridig organisation. Mellancheferna blir länken som fogar samman politiskt fattade beslut med förvaltningens krav och förväntningar, personalgruppens behov och klienternas rätt till hjälp och stöd. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur mellanchefernas ledarskap skapas utifrån de förutsättningar som ges och den komplexitet som rollen innebär. Sex kvalitativa intervjuer med mellanchefer inom sektionen för barn och unga i fem mellanstora kommuner har genomförts. Genom att undersöka hur mellancheferna navigerar mellan domänerna politik, förvaltning och profession och med hjälp av begreppet parallellprocesser kan mekanismer som utgör viktiga faktorer för ledarskapandet synliggöras. Tydligt är att socionomernas starka professionsidentitet präglar ledarskapet i alla led och att prioriteringar och val många gånger motiveras mot bakgrund av den starka professionstillhörigheten. Resultatet visar också att mellancheferna i studien främst ser sig som socionomer och identifierar sig mer med sin profession än med sin funktion som chef. Professionsidentifikationen utgör många gånger en legitimerande grund för hur ledarskapet bedrivs i sin operativa form. / Middle-managers leaders in the social services´ department for children and young people work in a conflicting organisation. These middle-managers become the link which joins together political decisions with requirements and expectations from the management, the needs of personnel and the clients´ right to aid and support. The aim of this study has been to investigate how middle-management leadership is created within given conditions and the complexity that their role entails. Six qualitative interviews with middle- managers in the department for children and young people in five intermediate municipalities have been realized. By investigating how these middle-managers navigate between the political, management and professional domains and, with the aid of the concept of parallel processes, mechanisms, which can constitute important factors for leadership, have been made visible. It is clear that the professions identity of social workers influence their leadership at all levels and that priorities and choices are often motivated because of this strong professions identity. The result also shows that the middle-managers in this study regard themselves as social workers and identify themselves more with their profession than with their function as managers. Professions identification often constitutes a legitimizing basis for how leadership is conducted in its operative form.