Portugal has experienced various structural changes in recent history which have greatly contributed to the country having a sizeable and varied immigrant population at present. The Global Economic Crisis of 2008 has severely impacted numerous countries in the European Union including Portugal. Conditions in Portugal had been gradually worsening, largely as a result of a stagnating national economy, where unemployment steadily increased in the years leading up to 2008. In the wake of the crisis, Portugal has experienced dramatic reductions in GDP, soaring unemployment rates and in particular regarding youth unemployment, social unrest and political instability. Further, the most vulnerable socioeconomic groups in Portugal have been worst affected, where social inequality, poverty and a whole array of other social issues have been exacerbated by the crisis and the austerity policies that were implemented in the wake of the economic crash. This thesis attempted to discover if attitudes towards immigrants have changed in light of worsening economic conditions in Portugal during three different time periods 2002-2006-2012, with a primary focus on the most recent period where conditions were most austere. Moreover, this research also sought to establish the determinants which influence attitudes towards immigrants over the same time period. Data was used from three rounds of the European Social Survey and in particular, round 1 (2002/2003), round 3 (2006/2007) and round 6 (2012/2013). Descriptive statistics and ordered logistic regressions were used in order to answer the research questions and realistic group conflict theory was utilised as a theoretical framework when analysing and explaining the findings. It was evident that attitudes towards immigrants have become more negative over the given time period and were indeed most pronounced in light of the recent economic crisis. It was also apparent that natives who were in greater competition with immigrants possessed the most pronounced levels of prejudice.

We have made qualitative interviews with five respondents who were on sick leave in more than six months and then returned and came back to work fully. Those we have interviewed have been on sick leave for different diagnoses. We want to study how social relationships within the private- and working- life contributes to recovery, for people who are on long-term sick leave, and how the factors contributes for that person to return to work. In our respondents privacy life we want to see the importance of relations with friends and acquaintances have for recovery. In the workplace we look for the importance of our respondent’s employer and colleagues have for their recovery. Our respondents declare recovery as a process where the individual needs of sick leave should be in focus. Our results have revealed that the participation of the sick leave of these aforementioned groups have a positive effect on recovery. When our respondents have addressed the nature and “Försäkringskassan” as important recovery factors has this also been included in our study.   Key words: Sick, recovery, social relations, responding

Denna uppsats handlar om restaurangbranschen och hotell- och restaurangfacket. Medlingsinstitutet presenterar varje år en rapport som innefattas av statistik om hur den fackliga medlemskapsutvecklingen sett ut under året i olika branscher. Hotell- och restaurangfackets organisationsgrad visade år 2015 28 % vilket gör hotell- och restaurangfacket till Sveriges minsta fackförening. Uppsatsen utgår ifrån en kvalitativ ansats och syftar till att förklara hotell- och restaurangfackets utmärkande organisationsgrad. Denna förklaring söker vi genom att undersöka sociala faktorer inom restaurangbranschen och var restaurangarbetaren förankrar sin trygghet samt hur trygghetsförankringen kan förstås. Empirin samlas in via semi-strukturerade intervjuer vilka utgår ifrån följande teman: trygghet, sammanhållning, lojalitet, flexibilitet och attityd till hotell- och restaurangfacket. Som teoretisk ansats har vi valt att använda oss av sociologen Karl Polanyis och hans förklaring om det inbäddade samhället. Vår studie tyder på att stark social sammanhållning inom restaurangbranschen uppfyller individens trygghetsbehov i tillräcklig utsträckning för att ett fackligt medlemskap är att betrakta som överflödigt. Eftersom restaurangarbetarens trygghetsbehov redan uppfylls av de sociala relationerna inom restaurangbranschen så blir det inte rationellt för restaurangarbetaren att ansluta sig till hotell- och restaurangfacket. / This paper is about the hospitalityindustry and hotel and restaurant union. Mediation Office presents an annual report contained statistics on union membership trends during the past year in various industries. In 2015 the hotel- and restaurant union organization rate showed 28 % which makes the hotel- and restaurant union Sweden's smallest union. The essay is based on a qualitative approach and aims to explain the hotel- and restaurant union peculiar degree of organization. This explanation we seek by examining social factors in the hospitalityindustry and where restaurantworkers anchor their security and how the security anchor can be understood. The empirical data collected through semi-structured interviews, which are based on the following themes: security, shared attitude, loyalty, flexibility and attitude to the hotel and restaurant union. As a theoretical approach has been chosen to use the sociologist Karl Polanyi and his declaration of the embedded community. Our study suggests that strong social stance shared in the restaurant sector meet individual security needs adequately to a union membership is regarded as superfluous. Since the restaurant worker's securityneeds are already met by the social relations within the hospitalityindustry it will not be rational for restaurant workers to join the hotel- and restaurant union.

The study, Mind the Gap between Grade Three and Four is written within the research fields of Mathematics Education. The research interests in the study concerns how to achieve a smooth transition between grade three and four in compulsory school. As a mathematics teacher I found out that the transition from one grade to another in compulsory school affects both the pupil and the mathematics teacher and not always in a satisfactory way. Formal meetings concerning handing over information about pupils are not sufficient, and there is a definite difference between what is said about the pupils during a formal meeting and what is said in more informal settings. Are their gaps that occur? The aim of this study is to listen to mathematics teachers´ and to illuminate their stories about handing over pupils from grade three and taking over pupils in grade four. I am searching for gaps in their stories. My goal is to safe guard the continuity concerning the changes of grades between grade three and four in compulsory school. The research questions are: What are the important factors for mathematics teacher´s concerning the transition between grade three and four? What themes and gaps concerning the transitions are revealed in their stories? The study is based on a theoretical framework made of; Gees (1999) theory about "language-in-use" and "the seven building blocks of language". Social constructions because the idea is to criticize and change the established order regarding the transition between grade three and grade four. I also made a choice to look at the difficulties concerning the transition as external factors and not as the shortcoming of the mathematics teachers´ therefore I use the critical perspective. Discourse is used because this study is about communication, both spoken and written. In order to investigate important factors for mathematics teachers concerning the transitions I interview six mathematics teachers. They are asked about the existent transition between grade three and four at their schools and what they think are important factors for transitions overall. I also videotape one formal meeting because when different methods are used it helps me verify 2 the outcome. The transcriptions from the interviews and the formal meeting are analyzed with help from the discourse analysis based on Gee (1999). The analysis/result shows themes that are important and signal about gaps that could be filled by further research. Themes revealed concerns: school organization, formal/informal meetings, teaching, assessment and special pedagogy. Gaps that are visible concern the teachers’ different educations, the school-web and the curriculum, time, relations, communication, assessment, feedback, teaching methods, teaching materials, and pupils in special needs. I argue that its´ necessary to create a structure and make guidelines for formal conferences concerning the transition between grade three and four to minimize the discontinuity. It should also be of interest that the gaps mentioned in this study are filled, and one way to begin could be to plan for collegial work between teachers’ in different grades.

This research attempts to extend the application of spatial analysis to the investigation of human agency in social relations. Marcos Llobera's research framework on modelling daily experience and social space showcases great potentials of utilising Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to explore the perception and behaviour of individual agents. By expanding Llobera's work and incorporating Tim Ingold's wayfaring theory to explore the human agency in the context of social relations, this research proposes a new analytical method to investigate social relations through the accumulation of intimate interactions. Exemplified with detailed analysis on two settlements of Kaushi people in Taiwan, the proposed analytical method demonstrates great strength and yields fruitful insights into their social structure and transformation. In addition, this method is particularly instrumental in unravelling specific relations between individuals, as well as between social groups. The application of this method on Kaushi settlements yielded fruitful insights of their social structure and transformation. On the other hand, the side products of this approach can be further employed to investigate the visual structure and movement intensity of a site, as well as to experiment alternative 'what if' scenarios relating to visibility, movement, and interaction. In sum, this research augments the potential of spatial analysis to explore human agency in a social context and lays out a further platform for the investigation of social relations at a settlement scale.

O tema desta dissertação é o impacto do alcoolismo nas relações sociais, em especial, na família e no trabalho. No mundo existem 500 milhões de dependentes, 10 a 15% da população têm propensão à dependência. O consumo de álcool e outras drogas em ambiente de trabalho atinge 10 a 14% dos trabalhadores, eleva os atendimentos médicos e diminui a produtividade. O trabalho tem como ponto de partida a freqüência a reuniões de Alcoólicos Anônimos (AA) em regiões centrais e periféricas da cidade de São Paulo. A análise teórica é baseada nos conceitos de identidade e socialização. Segundo Habermas (1983) a identidade é gerada pela socialização, isto é, pela integração do sujeito ao sistema social, por meio da apropriação dos universais simbólicos. Contudo, em fase posterior, ela é garantida e desenvolvida pela individualização, ou seja, pela independência em relação aos sistemas sociais. O álcool, em princípio, exerce a função de \"modelador social\", favorecendo o relacionamento social, mas, a partir do avanço do processo de alcoolização, domina e destrói o cotidiano pessoal. Conforme avança o processo de alcoolização, maior o prejuízo das relações sociais. Conclui-se que o discurso médico influencia o AA e seus freqüentadores. Existem importantes diferenças entre os membros de AA, tais como, o período de desenvolvimento da dependência alcoólica, os tipos de profissão e os níveis educacionais e de rendimento. / This research presents an investigation on the impact of alcoholism in social relations, mainly in family and work ones. There are 500 million alcohol addicts in the world and 10 to 15% of the population is likely to be dependent one day. The consumption of alcohol and other drugs in work environments has impact on 10 to 14% of workers, which increases hospital assistance and decreases work productivity. The analysis in this investigation starts from AA meetings\' attendance in downtown and surrounding areas in São Paulo city. The theoretical analysis is underpinned by the concepts of identity and socialization. According to Habermas (1983), identity is created by socialization; i.e, by the acquisition of symbolic universals. However, later on, it is sustained and developed by the process of individualization; i.e., by getting independent in relation to social systems. At the beginning, alcohol has the function of social \"modeler\" and it favors social relationship. However, as the process of addiction advances, it dominates and destroys everyday life. As a conclusion, medical discourse influences AA and its participants. There are important differences among AA members, such as, development period of alcohol dependence, kind of occupation, educational and income levels.

O tema desta dissertação é o impacto do alcoolismo nas relações sociais, em especial, na família e no trabalho. No mundo existem 500 milhões de dependentes, 10 a 15% da população têm propensão à dependência. O consumo de álcool e outras drogas em ambiente de trabalho atinge 10 a 14% dos trabalhadores, eleva os atendimentos médicos e diminui a produtividade. O trabalho tem como ponto de partida a freqüência a reuniões de Alcoólicos Anônimos (AA) em regiões centrais e periféricas da cidade de São Paulo. A análise teórica é baseada nos conceitos de identidade e socialização. Segundo Habermas (1983) a identidade é gerada pela socialização, isto é, pela integração do sujeito ao sistema social, por meio da apropriação dos universais simbólicos. Contudo, em fase posterior, ela é garantida e desenvolvida pela individualização, ou seja, pela independência em relação aos sistemas sociais. O álcool, em princípio, exerce a função de \"modelador social\", favorecendo o relacionamento social, mas, a partir do avanço do processo de alcoolização, domina e destrói o cotidiano pessoal. Conforme avança o processo de alcoolização, maior o prejuízo das relações sociais. Conclui-se que o discurso médico influencia o AA e seus freqüentadores. Existem importantes diferenças entre os membros de AA, tais como, o período de desenvolvimento da dependência alcoólica, os tipos de profissão e os níveis educacionais e de rendimento. / This research presents an investigation on the impact of alcoholism in social relations, mainly in family and work ones. There are 500 million alcohol addicts in the world and 10 to 15% of the population is likely to be dependent one day. The consumption of alcohol and other drugs in work environments has impact on 10 to 14% of workers, which increases hospital assistance and decreases work productivity. The analysis in this investigation starts from AA meetings\' attendance in downtown and surrounding areas in São Paulo city. The theoretical analysis is underpinned by the concepts of identity and socialization. According to Habermas (1983), identity is created by socialization; i.e, by the acquisition of symbolic universals. However, later on, it is sustained and developed by the process of individualization; i.e., by getting independent in relation to social systems. At the beginning, alcohol has the function of social \"modeler\" and it favors social relationship. However, as the process of addiction advances, it dominates and destroys everyday life. As a conclusion, medical discourse influences AA and its participants. There are important differences among AA members, such as, development period of alcohol dependence, kind of occupation, educational and income levels.

This dissertation examines the history of land inequality. Historians have long assumed that unequal distribution of land in Zimbabwe was a consequence of colonial rule. I show that unequal distribution of land long predated colonialism, and that the interaction between pre-existing and new forms of inequality fundamentally shaped the colonial experience. I begin with basic perspectives from environmental and agrarian history, I emphasize that access to land has determined whether Africans will be able to obtain subsistence, but that productive land is always a relatively scarce resource. I look very closely at the differences in soil productivity within particular landscapes, micro-environments and even individual tracts. Such differences in soil quality and the resulting scarcity of the most productive lands, I argue, provoked competition for land long before shortages caused by colonial land policies. I situate this competition within the intimate social settings of households, kinships and, after the imposition of British rule in 1890, farms and mission stations. In them, I find political and social dynamics which, together with colonial rule, created inequality among Africans and contributed to unequal access to land. They include gender, kinship, status and generation. Through an analysis of stories of precolonial migration and settlement, I examine claims to political and ritual control over territory made by chiefs, spirit mediums and `first-comers'. Colonial land alienation deepened this competition, while the contingencies of colonial administration often forced officials to relate to European settlers in ways that opened opportunities for Africans to contest their subordinated access to land.

<p>This study aims to examine how the students ethnic background affects them in their social relationships at school. The main research questions in this study have been: </p><ul><li>How does the ethnic background of students affect there social relationships with their friends at school?</li><li>How does the identity creates and develop in the context of social relationships?</li><li> What significance does the language that is spoken hold in the social relationships of the children</li></ul><p>The main research questions have been investigated based on the students perspective, where the two main methods were individual interviews and observation on the schoolyard during recess. The interviews and observations where carried out at eight informants with three different ethnic backgrounds. The three ethnic backgrounds were Swedish, Somali, and Syrian.           </p><p>The results of the study showed in the interviews that no one of the informants differentiated themselves from their friends who came from different ethnic backgrounds from which they did, they did not categorize themselves based upon their ethnicity. However, worth emphasizing is that the observations showed that what the students said in the interviews was not always, what happened in practice. The conclusion of this study is that ethnicity does not affect the students when choosing their friends, at least not in the same proportion as language does. In addition, the choice of friends was more affected by the residential area, which the informants lived in, more so than by their ethnic background. </p>

This study aims to examine how the students ethnic background affects them in their social relationships at school. The main research questions in this study have been:  How does the ethnic background of students affect there social relationships with their friends at school? How does the identity creates and develop in the context of social relationships?  What significance does the language that is spoken hold in the social relationships of the children The main research questions have been investigated based on the students perspective, where the two main methods were individual interviews and observation on the schoolyard during recess. The interviews and observations where carried out at eight informants with three different ethnic backgrounds. The three ethnic backgrounds were Swedish, Somali, and Syrian.            The results of the study showed in the interviews that no one of the informants differentiated themselves from their friends who came from different ethnic backgrounds from which they did, they did not categorize themselves based upon their ethnicity. However, worth emphasizing is that the observations showed that what the students said in the interviews was not always, what happened in practice. The conclusion of this study is that ethnicity does not affect the students when choosing their friends, at least not in the same proportion as language does. In addition, the choice of friends was more affected by the residential area, which the informants lived in, more so than by their ethnic background.