What are borders? Walls, fences, barbed wires, sovereignty markers, nationalities, symbols, cultures, religions, skin colours, prejudices… Where are borders? In reality, in jurisdiction, in our minds, on maps, in citizenship, inside our bodies, in our gaze… What do borders do? Define, separate, exclude, include, discriminate, hurt, rape, reduce… The concept of borders is complex and it represents paradoxes such as visible - invisible, reinforcing - weakening, inclusion - exclusion and legal - illegal. In this essay borders are treated from a political philosophical perspective with arguments drawn mainly from the theorists Étienne Balibar, Wendy Brown and Shahram Khosravi. The case is analysed and illustrated by empirical data from mass media reporting. Borders, both visible and invisible, contain a powerful symbolism and affect us as individuals, groups and society. Discussing borders makes weaknesses of the human rights system visible. Borders might affect people's ability to gain access to universal human rights. Where and why do we mark borders and who gets be in or out?

Birka Folk High School, Jämtland County Folk High School, opened its doors in 1901 and welcomed its first students. As part of their studies, the students participated in discussions covering a wide range of issues. The purpose of this thesis has been to examine the views on citizenship expressed in discussions among students at Birka Folk High School in Sweden from 1901 to 1920. What characteristics did the students believe a good citizen should possess, and did these expectations differ based on gender? Can any contradictions between the region of Jämtland and the nation of Sweden be discerned in the students' discussions?  To answer these questions, five record books from Birka Folk High School's student discussions for the years 1901-1920 have been studied using a qualitative method.  The study found that the students expressed the belief that a good citizen should be self-controlled, honest, helpful, and sober. There were also differences in expectations depending on whether the citizen was a woman or a man. The woman was expected to be a healthy and good mother with primary responsibility for the home and child rearing, while the man was expected to be hardworking and dutiful.  In the students' discussions, there were no contradictions between the region of Jämtland and the nation of Sweden. The students expressed warm feelings for Jämtland, but these do not seem to create any aversion to the nation. It is rather that the students' feelings for the region put it in a larger context and create a sense of belonging with the nation. / Birka folkhögskola, då Jämtlands läns folkhögskola, slog upp portarna 1901 och tog emot sina första elever. Inom ramen för sina studier deltog eleverna i diskussioner där ett brett spektrum av frågor diskuterades.  Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att undersöka vilken syn på medborgarskap som framkommer i de diskussioner som folkhögskoleelever vid Birka folkhögskola hade under perioden 1901 till 1920. Vilka egenskaper ansågs en god medborgare behöva och skiljde elevernas förväntningar på hur en god medborgare skulle vara beroende på om medborgaren var en kvinna eller man? Kan någon motsättning mellan regionen Jämtland och nationen Sverige skönjas i elevernas diskussioner?  För att besvara frågorna har fem protokollsböcker från Birka folkhögskolas elevdiskussioner för åren 1901 - 1920 studerats. De diskussioner som bedömts relevanta utifrån uppsatsens syfte har studerats utifrån en kvalitativ metod.  Undersökningen visade att eleverna gav uttryck för att en god medborgare skulle visa självbehärskning, vara ärlig, hjälpsam och nykter. Det fanns även skillnader i förväntningar om medborgaren var kvinna eller man. Kvinnan skulle vara en sund och god mor vars huvudansvar var hemmet och barnuppfostran, medan mannen skulle vara arbetsam och plikttrogen.  I elevernas diskussioner framkom det inga motsättningar mellan regionen Jämtland och nationen Sverige. Eleverna uttrycker varma känslor för Jämtland men dessa verkar på inte skapa någon aversion mot nationen. Det är snarare så att elevernas känslor för regionen sätter in den i ett större sammanhang och skapar en känsla av tillhörighet med nationen.

The following study explores the political debate on integration requirements for permanent residence and citizenship in Sweden between the years of 2000 and 2023. Prior research by Christian Joppke shows that Europe is undergoing a policy trend called civic integration, wherein a large number of countries have introduced various types of requirements for permanent residence and citizenship. The trend emphasizes the fulfilment of duties as a precondition for obtaining certain rights, such as the right to stay permanently in the host country.  Sweden has been considered an exception from the policy trend, having not introduced any formal language and civics tests for immigrants. Previous research by Karin Borevi argues that Sweden´s integration politics are rights-based, in contrast to the duty-based approach characterizing civic integration.  However, in 2019 the Swedish government changed its stance on the integration requirements and proposed their introduction. Although these requirements have not yet been voted on in the parliament, recent developments suggest that it is only a matter of time.  By studying the political debate on language and civics requirements among different Swedish governments, findings show that the country has shifted from the rights-based approach to the duty-based approach within integration politics. The findings support previous research by Joppke and show that the country has become more aligned with the policy trend of civic integration.

Den digitala världen utvecklas i rask takt, och elever i dagens skola spenderar mycket tid på mediala plattformar. Trots att styrdokument fastslår att samhällskunskapsundervisningen ska utveckla de kompetenser som elever behöver för att navigera detta har undervisningen inte följt med i utvecklingen. Denna litteraturstudie har som syfte att undersöka hur undervisning i medielitteracitet kan genomföras, varför sådan undervisning är nödvändig och vilka utmaningar som behöver adresseras för att undervisningen ska vara möjlig. Empirisk data från nio forskningsartiklar analyserades utifrån pragmatisk lärandeteori. Resultatet visade att undervisningen inte sällan bedrivs med lärarcentrerad metodik, att innehållet fokuserar på de grundläggande delarna av medielitteracitet och att lärare saknar förståelse och förmåga relaterat till detta begrepp. Uppsatsen presenterar elevcentrerade aktiviteter med inslag av produktion som förslag på hur medielitteracitet kan utvecklas genom adekvat undervisning. Detta kan gestaltas i erfarenhetsbaserat lärande med inslag av inquiry. Behovet av undervisning uttrycks av såväl lärare och elever som av politiska aktörer på nationell, europeisk och global nivå, och blir uppenbart i ljuset av elevernas mediala vanor. För att lärare ska kunna undervisa i dessa frågor krävs det att de förses med möjligheter till fort- och utbildning inom ämnesområdet. Om läraren utvecklar en god medielitterär förmåga kommer eleverna lättare kunna guidas till att använda mediala plattformar på ett ändamålsenligt sätt vad gäller både konsumtion och produktion av innehåll – en förutsättning för kritiska, ansvarstagande och demokratiska samhällsmedborgare.

The aim of the study is to investigate social studies teachers’ idea of the importance of students’ agency for their future citizenship and how social studies teachers in upper secondary school assist students’ agency in their teaching. The methodologically the study is based on, is 6 interviews with social studies teachers of different ages and with different experience. The results show that the social studies teachers’ teaching have two main themes. The themes are to contribute to the students’ analysis of the world around them and assist the students’ future life as employees. Two theoretical starting points have been used to discuss the results, Ninni Wahlström’ capacity strategy and John Dewey’s communication theory. Social studies teacher’s teaching with a focus on students’agency means that the students should develop the future skills to set goals, reflect on their learning, to be able to make independent decisions, which leads to become competitive in the labor market with general competencies such as creativity, language skills and social competence. This results in that the students become competitive in the labor market where they have the capacity to become independent individuals with general skills such as creativity, language skills and social skills. The social studies teachers view that it is crucial for the students ’agency that they develop an analysis of the world around them, which means that the students can analyze current events such as the Ukraine war in 2022 and be able to discuss this with other people. The students can use this in their future citizenship. Social studies teachers encourage students’ agency in social studies by using project work in social studies for students to learn to solve problems in creative ways to solve real problems as future citizens. The social studies teachers encouragea linguistic ability through their social teaching that encourage students' agency. It means being able to reason, see connections and draw conclusions about current events. The social studies teachers believe that this encourages the students’ personal development and their future citizenship where the students have a self-esteem to succeed in projects in the future and to understand modern society. According to the social studies teachers, the students should socialize with other students through group exercises in teaching, which they believe gives the students expanded opportunities in life. The social studies teachers believe that dialog as a pedagogical method encourage the student’s democratic competence, which means that the students develop a thought structure about the democratic rules within a democratic society and it is also important for the students’ agency that they develop a democratic competence which means that the students are critical of the information in a global community so they know which information can be trusted. The pedagogical approach among the social studies teachers is that it should be a creative social environment where the students learn to think independently with the teacher as a supervisor in the classroom who does not impose knowledge on the students. The main pedagogical method to assist students’ future citizenship in social education is to use news in the social studies. Keywords: Social studies, Citizenship, Media, Language skills, Agency, Social competence, Creativity, Upper Secondary school

Democracy is an ever so current topic, especially since we are facing a negative trend of decreasing voting participation in Sweden. This is, according to some, evidence of a democratic failure, while others are of the opinion that democracy is ever changing and that voting participation is not the only way of assessing the strength of a democracy. The younger generation is often at the center of the discussion of democracy, and are often seen as uninterested or even unconvinced of the point of democracy.  In this study I seek to understand how pupils in upper secondary school understand and construct democracy and citizenship, hoping that this will further my understanding of the purpose of the Swedish social science subject. To do this I have interviewed 16 students in three focus groups, focusing on how they as a group discuss and construct democracy and citizenship.  The interviews have been analyzed by three different theoretical points of views. Firstly I have used Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne’s (2004) work along with Erik Amnå’s (2008) study about democracy and different types of citizenship. I then focused on social interaction and how language can be used to transfer power and responsibility, mainly using James A. Holstein and Gale Miller’s (2013) study. Lastly this is put in the context of social science, using Gert Biesta (2020) to understand the split mission of education and social science specifically.  Pupils understand democracy and citizenship in different ways, but have a mutual understanding of what the ”right answer” to the question of what democracy is. This is something they probably have been socialized into knowing from their years in school. As the title of this study insinuates, pupils are inclined to transfer the power of change to politicians or adults when discussing the topic more freely, which also transfers the responsibility of society from themselves and makes them passive. This is something the students seem to think is fair, due to their lack of knowledge in politics. This in turn makes it clear that the pupils' expressed needs concerning social science education is focused on deeper factual knowledge, which might be a part of what social science should be but makes the task of allowing students to be active citizens invisible.

This thesis examines the political ideas of citizenship that can be found in Swedish education policies between 1962 and today. Furthermore, the thesis also examines how these ideas have changed over time. The material consist of four education policy bills that was adopted during the studied time period. The analytical tool of the study is based on three different ideal types of social citizenship: The socio-liberal citizenship, the libertarian citizenship and the republican citizenship. These ideal types also contains three different dimensions of social citizenship: Goals and values, characteristics of the citizens and rights and obligations. The primary findings of the study shows that a focus on public good and community engagement associated with the republican citizenship can be found in the bill from 1962, while in the bills from 1991-1993 the focus has shifted towards individual satisfaction and freedom of choice associated with the libertarian citizenship. In the bill from 2009 the shift is not as clear as ideas associated with the libertarian citizenship reappears in this bill as well. Although, the primary focus of the bill can be claimed to be on social justice, equality and social inclusion, associated with the socio-liberal citizenship. The results of the study thus indicates a shift from the republican citizenship in the 1960s, towards the libertarian citizenship in the 1990s and then towards the socio-liberal citizenship in the 2010s.

Having ratified the UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child), the Swedish government and its authorities are responsible towards their young citizens to guarantee them care, protection and to be put first. In addition, children have a right to participation in processes and decisions which affect them. Especially in situations where the child is in need of protection. In research, children´s protection and children´s participation has been investigated as two separate, and often opposing rights, and the perception of children has in many regards been an ambivalent one. This study is focusing on the perception of the child and their participation in their welfare using two perspectives that splits the perception of the child: Children as subjects of rights and children as objects of care. The study investigates the perceptions of children and their participation in family therapy at Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (BUP) and family treatment at the municipal Social Services. Family therapy/treatment is a treatment aimed to gather the family to solve their common problems based on the system theory that perceive the family as a system. Through eight qualitative interviews with therapists and social workers, the study investigates the respondents own perceptions. The study finds that both the perception of the child as subjects of rights and as objects of care is found both at BUP and at the Social Service, although the perception of children as subjects of rights is more clear at the BUP and the perception of children as objects of care more clear at the Social Services. A discovery is that the Social services is more clearly using concepts linked to the system theory at the same time as being treating the parents as the main actors in the treatment with slightly less focus on the child´s participation. BUP, on the other hand is more clearly using concepts linked to the child as the patient with more individual and clear focus on the child´s participation, suggesting that where there is a perception of the family as a system, there is less focus on the child´s participation and where there is more of an individual focus, there is more focus on the child´s participation.

Den akuta hemlösheten har ökat i såväl Sverige som internationellt under de senastedecennierna, där den ideella sektorn har fått en allt större roll i att erbjuda välfärdstjänster föratt stävja samhällsproblemet. Tidigare forskning har visat på både problematiska ochgynnsamma aspekter med organiseringen av det ideella arbetet mot akut hemlöshet. Ideelladagliga verksamheter riskerar att bidra till att situationen i hemlöshet snarare upprätthålls änförändras samtidigt som individer i hemlöshet får basala och sociala behov tillgodoseddagenom insatserna. I tidigare forskning har dock lite utrymme getts åt att undersöka dagligafrivilligorganisationers arbete mot akut hemlöshet i Sverige i förhållande till sociala rättigheteroch sociala skyldigheter. Den här kvalitativa studien har därför genom sex semistruktureradeintervjuer med personal samt deltagande observationer undersökt en dagligfrivilligorganisations insatser, funktion och syfte med utgångspunkt i socialt medborgarskapoch erkännandeteori. Studiens resultat visar att relationskapande mellan personal och gäster iakut hemlöshet är centralt för att skapa tillit men leder också till en dold disciplinering, vilketär en förutsättning för att skapa en social miljö som präglas av alla människors lika värde.Resultaten visar även att den ideella verksamhetens insatser kan bidra till att individer i akuthemlöshet kan tillvarata sociala rättigheter inom verksamhetens kontext samtidigt somverksamheten kan innebära dels en förutsättning, dels en barriär för gäster att kunna uppfyllasociala skyldigheter gentemot samhället. Relationen mellan gäster och personal kan emellertidleda till känslor av erkännande hos gäster och därmed främja självförverkligande. Socialarättigheter behöver ges lättare åtkomst till på strukturell och lokal nivå för att individer i akuthemlöshet ska ges förutsättningar att kunna delta i samhällsgemenskap och samhällsutveckling.Studiens resultat är av relevans för socialt arbete såväl på nationell och kommunal nivå som förden ideella sektorn och bidrar till en fördjupad orientering över dagliga frivilligorganisationersansvarsroll och insats i arbetet mot akut hemlöshet. / Acute homelessness has increased in both Sweden and internationally during the past decades,where the non-profit sector has gained an increasingly larger role in providing welfare servicesto prevent the social problem. Previous research has shown both problematic and beneficialaspects of day centres work towards acute homelessness. Day centres can help maintain ratherthan change the situation of homelessness, while individuals who experience homelessness alsoget basic and social needs met. However, little attention has been given to the work of daycentres in Sweden in relation to social rights and social obligations. This qualitative study has,through six semi-structured interviews with staff and participant observations, examinedinterventions, function and purpose of a day centre with social citizenship and recognition astheoretical framework. The study's findings show that relationship building between staff andguests in acute homelessness is central to creating trust but do also provide a form of discipline,which is a prerequisite for creating a social environment characterized by equality.Furthermore, the results show that the interventions offered by day centres can help individualsin acute homelessness to take account of their social rights within the context of the day centre,while serving as an obstacle as well as a possibility for individuals to fulfil social obligationstowards the society. The results also show that the relationship between guests and staff canlead to recognition among guests and promote self-realization. Social rights need to be moreeasily attainable at a structural and local level in order for individuals who experience acutehomelessness to be given the opportunity to participate in the community and socialdevelopment. The study’s results are of relevance for social work at national and local level aswell for the non-profit sector and give an orientation of the role, responsibility and interventionsof non-profit work towards acute homelessness.

Syftet med denna studie är att söka se hur identitetsskapandet ser ut hos ett antal unga män som studerar första året på gymnasieskolans yrkesförberedande program. Via metodologisk ansats i diskurspsykologin analyseras samspelet mellan etnicitet och kön i de unga männens konstruerande av sig själva och andra. I analysen framträder ett antal markörer som används som resurser i de unga männens identitetsskapande och förståelse av "de Andra". Markörerna är i uppsatsen centrala teman och rör områden som medborgarskap, svenskhet, invandrarskap och maskulinitet.