Synen på invandring i Sverige har länge varit omdiskuterad, inte minst i media men även i politiska debatter. Invandringsnegativa partier får allt större stöd särskilt sett till det senaste decenniet. I den här uppsatsen undersöks ungdomars attityder till invandring, i Sverige, jämfört med den äldre befolkningen och skillnader i attityder till invandring inom gruppen ungdomar med hänsyn till bostadsregion, kön, föräldrars utbildningsnivå samt föräldrars invandrarbakgrund. Uppsatsen baseras på data från European Social Survey, 2002. Chi² -test används för att testa skillnaderna i attityder mellan grupperna. De slutsatser som dras utifrån analyserna är att ungdomar är mer positiva till invandring än äldre. Resultaten tyder även på att unga kvinnor är mer positiva till invandring än vad unga män är. Även föräldrarnas utbildningsnivå visade sig ha ett samband med ungdomarnas attityder till invandring. Ungdomar med högutbildade föräldrar är mer positiva än ungdomar med lågutbildade föräldrar. Ingen statistiskt signifikant skillnad fanns i attityden till invandring mellan ungdomar vars föräldrar är födda i Sverige och ungdomar vars föräldrar är födda i ett annat land. Detsamma gäller för skillnader i attityder mellan ungdomar från olika regioner i Sverige.

Environmental sustainability has long been assumed to be a postmaterialist claim solely granted for affluent countries. This Western perception suggests that African and other developing countries are not capable of successfully dealing with environmental issues due to limited institutional and instrumental resources. Through semi-structured interviews with nine Ethiopian environment experts, and the supplementary method of field observations, this paper demonstrate empirical material from the green state of Ethiopia. Albeit being one of the poorest countries in the world, Ethiopia is displaying capacity to overcome environmental challenges and a willingness to undergo an environmentally sustainable transition process. Ultimately, environmental sustainability in Ethiopia is a possibility that contain challenges. The state have established environmental units, produced the comprehensive Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy and is actively transforming the rain-fed agriculture, investing in infrastructure and renewable energies, providing agricultural extension systems, rehabilitating degraded lands and creating environmental awareness. In addition, the national reforestation program, which includes restoration, creation and conservation of forests, boosts the forest industry and develops eco-system services, such as carbon sinks. However, weak implementation capacity disables the state from following through with ambitious environmental policies, and, in addition, the urge for economic development along an absence of strong regulative mechanisms stimulate the continuing conversion of forests and lands to agriculture.

This study examines young Swedes’ support for democracy. Previous research suggests that many young people in Sweden are sceptical about the democratic governance as well as with democracy itself. However, there is a lack of qualitative studies within the subject - leaving the research field consisting of limited questionnaires. For a broader understanding, the study aims to go into depth with a qualitative semi-structured interview design. By applying the theory of postmaterialism carried out by Robert Inglehart, it is possible to gain an understanding of Sweden’s youth and their value orientation which might influence the support for democracy. The interviews were conducted with eight upper secondary school students at the Rudbeck school in Sollentuna, thereafter transcribed and thematically analyzed. The results are systematically divided into several categories, revolving around democracy as a state of governance and its principles, political participation and the functioning of democracy. The study finds that there is a discrepancy in supporting democracy in principle and instrumentally, among the participants. While there is a strong support for democracy as a form of governance as well as democratic principles, there is also criticism towards the government, the efficiency of the system, its availability and political institutions. The results are discussed and understood from a post-materialistic perspective, deepen our understanding of young individuals relationship with democracy.

Sambandet mellan individers klassbakgrund och utbildningsbakgrund med nuvarande värderingar i sociokulturella respektive socioekonomiska dimensioner undersöks. En genomgång av tidigare forskning, såväl kvantiativ, kvalitativ, som samhällsteori, ger flera konkreta hypoteser som testas. Sociokulturella värderingar operationaliseras genom Ingleharts postmaterialism-index. Socioekonomiska värderingar genom ett egenskapat index för socioekonomisk interventionism. Metoden är en multivariat regression med landfixa effekter, på data från European Values Survey, ur vilket väljs 21 europeiska OECD-länder. Förutom demografiska kontroller kontrolleras för nuvarande klass och utbildning. För socioekonomiska värderingar visar resultatet på små eller icke-existerande effekter för klassbakgrund och utbildningsbakgrund. Den starkaste effekten ges istället av nuvarande klassposition. För sociokulturella värderingar är resultatet att klassbakgrund har starkt förklaringsvärde för nuvarande värderingar, även efter kontroller för utbildning och klass. Denna effekt är jämförbar med utbildning och minst lika stark som den för klass. Andelen förklarad varians i samtliga modeller är samtidigt mycket låg. För kvantitativ värderingsforskning har resultaten implikationen att modeller för sociokulturella värderingar inte bara kan undersöka klass och utbildning, utan även måste även ta hänsyn till klassbakgrund. För teorier om primärsocialisering bekräftar vi en viktig och bestående roll, men också att enbart en liten del av variationen kan förklaras av variablerna vi använder. Slutligen ger de skilda mönster vi finner för värderingarna skäl att tro att dessa tillägnas genom olika mekanismer.

Who are the postmaterialists? Sociodemographic characteristics of those who bear postmaterialistic values in the Czech Republic and Germany This master thesis is devoted to the Value Change Theory formulated by Ronald Inglehart. This American sociologist came in the 1970's with a conclusion, that there is a substantial difference between the values of the generation that experienced war and the values of the post-war generation, which is experiencing an unprecedential economic growth. As a consequence these younger generations have different priorities called by Inglehart as postmaterialistic values in contrast to materialistic ones. The aim of this paper is to find out what are the socio-demographic characteristics of postmaterialists, whether they differ in time and over countries by using secondary data from the European Values Study and from International Social Survey Programme. The results support the theory only partly. Czech and German postmaterialists are both rather younger and more educated. But there is a difference when examining the influence of gender and the size of community, where they live. In the Czech Republic the probability of being a postmaterialist is higher among men and together with eastern Germany it is higher in big cities. For western Germany relationships were in...

This thesis explores the possible impact of a postmaterialist value shift on the future of democracy in advanced industrial democratic countries. Research over the past few decades has questioned the responsiveness of representative democratic institutions in advanced industrial democracies to individual and communal needs in society. Radical democratic theorists have called for direct action, structural reform, and other social and political changes to make democracy "stronger." Increased education levels brought on by continued economic and physical security in advanced industrial societies has led to a change in the ability of citizens to access the political process. How the relationship between the citizen and the state is altered as a result of continued prosperity is a primary motivation for this research. Working with World Values Survey data, I examine individual and societal level relationships between postmaterial values and direct political participation and acceptance of participatory values. Empirical evidence supports the hypotheses that postmaterial values are positively associated with direct political participation and as the level of Postmaterialists increases in a given society the level of participatory behavior and acceptance of participatory values will also increase. Substantive analysis suggests that increase in the level of postmaterialism in a country will lead to increases in alternative political activity and other forms of direct participation. / Master of Arts

Conflict between work and home continues to be a source of distress for many working people. This research had two major aims: one was to explore whether one's life values are associated with perceived conflict between work and non-work roles. Specifically, postmaterialism and materialism were examined to assess their relationship to work interference with family, and family interference with work. As hypothesized, materialism was positively associated with both directions of work-life conflict. Contrary to predictions, postmaterialism was not associated with work-life conflict. The second aim was to assess the predictive value of three different conceptualizations of materialism-postmaterialism for work-life conflict. Using a strong inference method (Platt, 1964), Inglehart's (1990) unidimensional measure was compared to bidimensional (Bean & Papadakis, 1994) and interactional (Giacalone & Jurkiewicz, 2004) conceptualizations. Results showed that the bidimensional model explained significantly more variance in work-life conflict than the unidimensional model, while the interactional model explained little additional variance. This study adds to research demonstrating links between materialism and various forms of negative well-being (Kasser, 2002). Suggestions are given regarding future research and how companies may be able to reduce employees' work-life conflict by de-emphasizing materialistic values. / Business Administration/Interdisciplinary

Syftet med denna studie har varit att analysera opinionsskillnaderna mellan arton olika europeiska länder med fokus på klimatförändringar. Med avsikt att studera hur postmaterialismen har påverkat människors åsikt och se om det finns en koppling mellan denna förändring och deras inställning till klimatförändringarna. För att kunna svara på denna fråga har undersökningen använt statistikdata från European Social Survey. Resultatet visar att det finns en skillnad i ländernas åsikter om klimatförändringar och där det finns en likhet mellan postmaterialism och deras åsikt om klimatet. Studien hittade dock en starkare koppling mellan människors utbildningsnivå och deras inställning till klimatförändringar. Denna korrelation blev uppenbar i Östeuropa eftersom de inte hade samma ekonomiska tillväxt som norra och centrala Europa, men detta hade liknande åsikter som sina andra länder. / The aim of this study has been to analyse the opinion differences of eighteen different European countries, with the focus on climate change. With the intentions to study how the postmaterialism has affected people’s opinion and see if there is a link between this change and their attitude about climate change. In order to answer this question, the study has used statistic data from European Social Survey. The result finds that there is a difference in countries opinion about climate change and where there is a like between postmaterialism and their opinion about the climate. However, the study did find a stronger connection between people’s level of education and their attitude towards climate change. This correlation became palpable in Eastern Europe since they have not had the same economic growth as the northern and central Europe, but this hade similar opinions as their other countries.