The aim of this study is to see which male norms and ideals are expressed in four selected books for children aged 9–12. Is it just a stereotyped ideal that is represented in the books or can others be found as well? The method used for the analysis is critical discourse analysis, proceeding from a gender perspective. The material I have studied consists of Berts dagbok, Min vän Percys magiska gymnastikskor, Eva & Adam – en midsommarnattsmardröm and Sju förtrollade kvällar. My analysis shows that all the books contain roughly the same ideals and norms but that there is always a character who reflects the male ideal more than the other characters.

The main purpose of this dissertation, and the four studies it includes, is to investigate some ways in which the concept of writing ability is rendered concrete in different national writing tests. The dissertation combines two theoretical approaches. Assessment theory serves as a framework for the approach to national tests. Tests are understood as a practice aiming at providing evidence for the inferences teachers need to draw about students’ writing ability, in order to make decisions that are part of school practice, such as giving grades. I examine the tests from the perspective of an anthropological theory of text that takes dialogism as its point of departure and views texts as culturally valued utterances. The analyses focus on the relations between writing task, students’ texts and assessment criteria, and how these can be both in alignment and in conflict with the claims on score meaning made by different test constructions. In the first study, four students’ texts from the national writing test in upper secondary school are closely analyzed to show how a writing task regulates students’ scope for action in their texts as regards global inner structure and perspective on content. The second study investigates how a national writing test was carried out in two classrooms in primary school, and highlights the relations between the task, students’ texts and assessment criteria. In the third study, I argue that a pursuit of reliability in writing tests becomes misguided unless it takes as its starting point the definition of writing ability the tests are made to measure. In the fourth study I examine the writing tasks of the tests in upper secondary school from 2007–2012. The analysis brings four distinct and recurrent task types to the fore, from which a reconstruction of the target domain of writing within the school subject of Swedish is made. Overall, the dissertation contributes to critical reflection on the understandings of writing expressed by test constructions, and points at possible further development of writing tests, given the theoretical perspective on writing that the dissertation employs.

Many pupils today have difficulties in the form of ADHD. This is something that interests us and thus wanted to study how these pupils are treated and whether there is a description depending on the gender. The previous research that we have taken note of highlights important parts of our work that are relevant. Gender and relational perspective are our central starting points and permeates the entire study. We have used observations as the main method and supplemented with interview method. The result shows that pupils with ADHD are treated differently school and the leisure center depending on their gender. / Många elever har idag svårigheter i form av ADHD. Detta är någonting som intresserar oss och ville därmed studera hur dessa elever bemöts och om det finns en skildring beroende på kön. Den tidigare forskning som vi har tagit del av lyfter upp centrala delar i vårt arbete som är relevant. Genus och relationellt perspektiv är våra centrala utgångspunkter och genomsyrar hela studien. Vi har använt oss av observationer som huvudmetod och kompletterat med intervjumetod. Resultatet visar att elever med ADHD bemöts olika i skolan och fritidshemmet beroende på deras kön.

Objective: Cultural neuropsychologists face barriers such as access to culturally appropriate psychometric instruments and norms. Further, three commonly encountered dilemmas in cultural neuropsychology include the following questions: (1) How do psychologists determine the best normative data to use for a given assessment scenario? (2) Do measures and models developed with North American samples also work in adaptations of instruments used with cross-cultural samples? (3) How can alternative and cost-effective measures be developed to meet the need for additional assessment tools? In response to these dilemmas, this dissertation consists of three papers aimed at developing Latinx and cultural neuropsychology psychometric resources for one of the most common cultural assessment scenarios: intelligence assessment amongst Spanish-speaking individuals using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV). Chapter 1. A sample of 305 highly educated Colombian corporate executives completed the WAIS-IV. Data were scored using norms from Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Spain, United States, and Canada and scores were compared using ANOVA. Additionally, a comparative sociodemographic framework was established to contextualize our sample to the standardization samples and populations of the six countries. Chapter 2. Accumulating evidence indicates the original factor structures published in the Wechsler Intelligence Scales may not best describe the data captured by these tests, and instead supports a five factor Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model over a four factor Wechsler model, and a bifactor model over a higher-order model. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling was used to evaluate factor structure of the Chilean-WAIS-IV (Wechsler, 2013) normative sample (ages 18-60; N=672) to better understand its psychometrics and to contribute to much needed cross-cultural study of alternative WAIS-IV factor models. Results marginally favored CHC and bifactor models but provided strong support for higher-order and Wechsler model variants as well, pointing to the need of further theoretical, methodological, clinical, and cross-cultural research. Chapter 3. The recent publication of the Chilean adaptation of the WAIS-IV has contributed to ongoing efforts to provide more psychometric instruments culturally appropriate for regions in South America. While not all assessment situations necessitate administration of the full WAIS and calculation of a full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ), there is virtually no published research on WAIS-IV short forms for estimating IQ in Latin America. This study used a rigorous series of methods (adapted from Smith et al., 2000) to develop robust estimated IQ short forms, aligned with Wechsler and CHC models, using the Chilean WAIS-IV standardization data (ages 18-90; N=887). Linear scaling was used to produce normative tables for the 28 best two-, three-, four-, and five subtest short forms of the Chilean WAIS-IV. Discussion. Together, the three papers of this dissertation provide psychometric guidance and resources not only for Latin American neuropsychologists in the area of intelligence assessment, but also more broadly for all cultural neuropsychology researchers and clinicians. / Graduate / 2020-06-25

The Swedish Sports Confederation (Riksidrottsförbundet) is a powerful organization of opinion within the service of Swedish sport, continually clarifying the responsibilities that sport assumes and the positive values that the popular movement represents. However, gender equality seems to be a difficult task to solve. In fact, Riksidrottsförbundet aim for that both genders should have the same amount of power to form the sport and to have equal opportunity to exercise and be leaders in sport. Additionally,both genders should have the same amount of influence in boards. This is something that’s not reached when the majority of all board members are still men. This leads to that several of the sport clubs must work to recruit more women. Swedish football have since 2019 created the project called “Plus 10 000”which strives to bring in more female leaders and coaches by 2022. Riksidrottsförbundet have a projectcalled “Strategi 2025” where one of the goals is that none of the genders should be represented with less than 40 %. The purpose of this study was to find out the gender equality in boards of football clubs in Umeå and what role the woman in those boards had. It was studied what 40 % means in practice for the equality in the boards and why the boards that had 40 % women succeeded with the recruitment and integration. Through interviews with people in boards of football clubs, the study showed how norms and performances control recruitment. The result showed that the members of boards were unaware of these norms and how they made the recruitment of women more difficult. The clubs were open to bringin more women, especially young women, but in most cases the masculine norm were invisible and made men choose men. The conclusion of the study is that women are not the problem, instead it’s the masculine norm and culture that create limitations. Awareness of the norm and culture must be established but also the process of recruitment must change in order to improve gender equality within the boards

Societal discourses and rigid gender norms, tenaciously reinforced by media representations, prevent men from being recognized as survivors of sexual violence (Gulas, McKeage, & Weinberger, 2010; Heber, 2017). Consequently, research on the ability of male survivors of sexual violence to acquire positive characteristics as a result of their victimization, termed posttraumatic growth (PTG), is limited (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004a). This thesis assesses the experience of PTG for male survivors of sexual violence, specifically analyzing the role of gender norms, coping styles, and service access in the production, or lack thereof, of PTG. Through the concepts of gender norms and coping, the experience of PTG for male survivors is contextualized, providing insight into how these forces individually and collectively facilitate or hinder the experience of PTG. A qualitative comparative analysis is conducted in order to establish a configuration of causal factors that are associated with the presence and absence of PTG for male survivors (N=9). Only one of the five hypotheses this thesis tests are supported; high stability (no interruption) of service access is associated with PTG. This thesis argues that the use of coping styles and service access is intertwined with conflicts between their gender and victimization, where male survivors utilize certain forms of coping or services depending on the degree to which they need to regain feelings of control.

This qualitative interview study aims to examine the work of change regarding IntimatePartner Violence (IPV), through the voices of seven change workers at Non-GovernmentalOrganizations (NGO) in Nairobi, Kenya. The focus lies on identifying worker’s expresseddefinitions and comprehensions of violence and in what ways those affect the work of changein sectors as victim support, awareness creation & changing societal attitudes and norms. Athematic analysis reveals two themes of social and cultural norms, which emerges as themain comprehensions of violence; as well as essential components of the work of change.Feminist theory enables the image of gendered, embodied norms that supports the hierarchalstructure of marriage and women’s subordination. Findings of social and cultural normsinclude IPV as a loving form to discipline a woman, marital rape does not exist and womenshould stay in marriage. Furthermore, this study presents a mutual understanding of IPV bythe change workers, but with various ways to create change. Obstacles for the eradication ofIPV is presented as lack of shelters, lack of legal implementation, as well as lack ofknowledge within the police force. Key findings include an ambivalent perspective from thechange workers concerning women’s subordination. Most worked against it, while sometaught it, so women could “escape” violence by becoming more submissive. Throughout, IPVis expressed in gender-neutral terms, but interviews reveal the perspective of genderasymmetry and that IPV is a form of violence directed towards women by men.

The dissertation thesis deals with choice of law and choice of court in the area of international trade, as governed by the EU and international legal instruments. The thesis is divided into 4 basic chapters, its centerpiece being chapters II and III, which contain a detailed analysis of choice of law and choice of court in the EU legal instruments and also in international agreements. Chapter I is an introduction of the topic, while chapter IV brings a summary of findings and conclusions made throughout the thesis. The introductory chapter brings about the justification, why it was choice of law and choice of court, which have become the subject matter of the thesis. Right at the beginning, the importance of these tools for international transactions is demonstrated; principle of party autonomy, which is reflected in these tools, plays a key role here. It is party autonomy principle and its history, what is analyzed in the first part of this chapter, while the author comes back to this pivotal (and nowadays in principle universally respected) principle also in other chapters, always in relation to the specific legal instruments dealt with therein. The introductory chapter also discusses the reasons, why parties conclude choice of law agreements and it also analyses under which circumstances they...

Cette recherche doctorale utilise le cadre théorique de la relation marque-consommateur pour apporter un éclairage nouveau sur les répercussions d’un acte de transgression commis par la marque. Il s’agit dès lors de ruptures avec des pratiques si généralisées et si diffuses qu’elles échappent à l’attention du consommateur, tout en étant assez prédominantes et ostensibles pour imprégner son expérience de consommation et in fine ses attentes. Un cas réel de rupture de normes de distribution permet d’éclairer ce travail : la récente offre, par la grande distribution, de produits alimentaires dits « moches » qui rompent avec la norme habituelle des produits standardisés. Sur la base d’une revue de la littérature et des résultats de deux enquêtes exploratoires qualitatives, le modèle de la recherche est exposé. Une enquête longitudinale sur des consommateurs réguliers de la marque-enseigne E. Leclerc (réalisée en deux vagues sur les mêmes répondants) est utilisée pour mesurer et valider nos hypothèses de recherche. Nos résultats permettent de mettre en lumière l’évolution du comportement du consommateur après la présentation de l’offre transgressive et confirment la détérioration de l’image de marque et du processus relationnel. Si la transgression peut être destructrice, elle est aussi créatrice de valeur par son caractère novateur et ses pouvoirs d'attraction et de différenciation. / This research has based itself on the relationship between the consumer and the brand to demonstrate the consequences of an act of transgression done by the brand. Such breaches constitute ruptures with customs so widespread that they escape the consumer’s attention, while simultaneously remaining predominant and visible enough to impregnate its consumption experience and ultimately its expectations. This theoretical approach is highlighted by a real case of a breach of distribution norms: the recent offer of “ugly” products by supermarkets, which constitutes a breach to the usual norm of standardised products. This transgression occurred subsequently after the controversy over food waste. The research model presented herein is based on a review of literature, in addition to two qualitative exploratory studies. A longitudinal study examining regular customers of E.Leclerc supermarkets, which was conducted on the same respondents during two different sessions, is used to measure and validate our research hypothesis. The results exhibit the evolution of the consumer’s behavior following the introduction of the transgressive offer and confirm the deterioration of the brand image and the engagement process. If the transgression can be destructive, it can also create value through its innovative nature, its ability to attract consumers and its power of differentiation.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman has several characters who in many ways break gender norms. The main protagonist of the novel, Coraline, acts more in accordance with masculine gender norms, and the mother figures are mothers who do not fully conform to the traditional mother role. The purpose of this study is to look at how Coraline and the mother figures perform their gender, and in which ways this breaks with or aligns with traditional gender norms. The analytical approach is based on Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, and on masculine and feminine gender schemas defined by John Stephens. For the analysis of motherhood, gender performativity has also been used, and works by Adrienne Rich and Einat Natalie Palkovich. This study shows that the protagonists challenge traditional gender role norms of masculinity and femininity, whereof motherhood is part. The study also shows that there is a lack of female role models for the young protagonist, and that acting according to masculine gender norms is desirable and necessary in the novel. But for the mothers, breaking gender norms is undesirable, dangerous, and even punished. A conclusion of the study is that even though Coraline appears to be a feminist novel, the underlying message is not entirely so.