Globalization and social interaction between countries are two current topics in today’s research. A shown interest in exchange studies among students all over the world is one of the positive outcomes of globalization and the social interactions that comes with it. This essay examines how a group of Japanese exchange students studying at a university in Sweden experience their social meetings with the local Swedish students and fellow Japanese exchange students. A netnographic method was applied to interview the informants online, 12 synchronous interviews were thus carried out to better understand the experiences of the Japanese exchange students. To better understand the relations that occur between the informants and the Swedish students, and the relations that occur with fellow Japanese students, the theory of “the Established and the Outsiders” by Norbert Elias and John L. Scotson (2010) is applied. This theory examines the relationship that takes place between a group that is new and has a low sense of community, and a group that is established and has a high sense of community. This study shows that the Japanese exchange students have a positive attitude when it comes to getting to know Swedish students. The X-program and also the mix of local students and exchange students in classes contributes to create a social platform for the Japanese exchange students. This study also shows that the group of Japanese exchange students have a low sense of community within the group, the study examines different factors to discuss why that may be.

This ethnography aims to identify the role of the Pentecostal beliefs that peasants in South Brazil use in justifying their life situations. Anthropological data were collected in the Sertão region of Jaguariaíva, in the Brazilian State of Paraná. An interpretative approach was used with concepts including the moral order of peasantness, moral economy, and multiple livelihood strategies. The core results indicated that Pentecostals in the countryside are not monolithic in terms of religion and have varying degrees of engagement with a variety of churches as well as their relations with the wider capitalism. Their economic and life-changing decisions are articulated by a moral order of peasantness expressed by dependence on Providence and the interpretation of events as a revelation of Divine will. The moral order is significant for maintaining viable peasant communities, orienting their relations to land, kinship, work, and consumption in a way that sets them apart from the “world.” Such findings question the Weberian explanations for the role of Pentecostalism in Latin American capitalism and confirm the repeasantization theory concerning the persistence of a distinctive peasant way of life. / Esta etnografia visa identificar o papel das crenças pentecostais com as quais os camponeses do sul do Brasil se expressam para justificar sua subsistência. O trabalho de campo antropológico no Sertão de Jaguariaíva, Paraná, serviu para a coleta de dados. Em uma abordagem interpretativa, a análise emprega conceitos de ordem moral da campesinidade, economia moral e múltiplas estratégias de subsistência. Os principais resultados são: o pentecostalismo rural não é monolítico e conta com diferentes graus de envolvimento com uma variedade de igrejas e com o capitalismo em geral. Não obstante, suas decisões econômicas, ou de grande impacto na vida, são articuladas por uma ordem moral campesina expressa pela espera na providência e pela interpretação de eventos como uma revelação da vontade divina. A ordem moral tem relevância para a manutenção de comunidades camponesas viáveis, orientando suas relações com a terra, o parentesco, o trabalho e o consumo, de modo a distingui-las do “mundo”. Tais resultados juntam-se ao debate das explicações weberianas sobre o papel do pentecostalismo no capitalismo latino-americano e confirmam a teoria do retorno do camponês como categoria e sua persistência como um distinto modo de vida.

This thesis aims to contextualize gender politics, nationalism, and animism as interconnected cultural patterns reflecting 19th century acculturation and post-WWII national reconstruction of Japan. In particular, state-nationalism, hegemonic femininity, commodity animism, uniform fetishsm, and power structure are analyzed through the symbolisms and discourse of the Japanese indigenous faith: Shinto, female practitioners, and followers. There are two points of ideological and linguistic rupture in modern Japan: late-19th century and mid-20th century, in which a large part of this thesis is dedicated to for a holistic contextualization in accordance to historical narrative and events. Materials for this thesis were collected through three separate occasions of field research: winter of 2016 to 2017, summer of 2017, and the spring of 2018 where participant- observation, semi-structured interviews across different platforms, internet ethnography, and archival data analysis were combined. The thesis is separated into three parts: super state- nationalism, gender politics, and commodity animism, and each chapter has its own thematic focus for analysis while the ideological shifts are explained largely based on Ideological State Apparatus and subjectivity. The development of the several thousand year old faith is the preoccupation of this thesis in an attempt to interpret the collective identities, tendencies, and patterns of Japanese modernity.

Fear is a challenge for European democracies today that is discussed in the same breath as rising populism and anti-immigrant speech. However, it seems that fear has also become a defining principle for Western (post)modern society in many other areas of life. This observation has been framed by the term culture of fear and described by recognized sociologists like Ulrich Beck, Zygmunt Bauman and Frank Furedi. They argue that changing social conditions like individualisation and globalisation have altered Western society’s preoccupation with security, uncertainty and risk. In consequence, Bauman and Furedi talk about a fear that has become “free-floating” and “liquid”. This research project asks about the implications of such a culture of fear for society and takes a closer look at what has been described as politics of fear. By conducting a critical political discourse analysis of the political talk show hart aber fair, this paper aims at tracing politics of fear in the German discourse over migration during the “refugee crisis” (2015-2017). In a three-tiered approach, the investigation embarks by defining culture of fear and its social premises, followed by a discussion of politics of fear theories drawing upon such concepts as precaution, prevention and securitisation. Emerging from this discussion, both a “traditional” politics with fear and a (post)modern politics of uncertainty are identified. The subsequent analysis of a selected hart aber fair episode from the 5th September 2016 bases on Siegfried Jäger’s approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and examines the argumentation and interaction of the guests in the debate. The findings indicate that in addition to the use of fear as a political means for populist politicians, the narrative of the “fearful society” has on a whole permeated the German political discourse over migration. Hence, culture of fear offers a new perspective for the understanding of political discourse and the current developments in political practice.

This study focuses on intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic resources in multiple dimensions and decomposes the influence of parents’ education, social class, and income in relation to the same outcomes for children as well as the unique impact of mothers and fathers on sons and daughters. In order to minimize measurement error in parental characteristics and life course bias for children, high quality Swedish administrative register data (spanning over 40 years) is utilized. A sibling correlation approach is employed to establish the net influence of each parental resource, both in general and by parents’ and children’s gender. The results show that intergenerational inequality is subject to resource specificity. First, same resource transmission implies that the same parental resource as the child outcome matter most in transmission of advantage. In this sense, educational elites foster educational elites, while economic advantage favor children’s own economic status. Second, the intermediate and overlapping socioeconomic field resource, parental social class, explains most of children´s outcomes in education and income suggesting that there is a same field transmission. Parental resources explain little variation in its field opposite (i.e. parental education on child income and parental income on child education). Finally, whether or not intergenerational inequality is subject to gender specificity is ambiguous, it ranges from negligible to substantial contributions. Mothers’ and fathers’ resources do matter independently over all outcomes, where especially fathers’ income dominate and drives the total influence of parental income. However, the result for the same gender transmission is mixed. The conclusion is that gender and, especially, resource specificity cannot be neglected without biasing results, confusing time trends, and underestimating the true rate of intergenerational inequality. Intergenerational processes of inequality will be misrepresented in a unidimensional conceptualization of socioeconomic transmission, which will also affect both theoretical understanding and the prospects of policy intervention.

Denna uppsats avser att utreda om och i så fall varför folkhälsan i de postkommunistiska staterna Ryssland, Polen, Tjeckien och Estland har utvecklats olika sedan Sovjetunionens sammanbrott. Huvudsyftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka och förklara skillnaden i hälsoläget efter den så kallade rubelkrisen 1998. Skillnader i hälsoutveckling ställs mot å ena sidan ekonomiska - och å andra sidan sociala faktorer. Tänkbara samband mellan bland annat förväntad livslängd och bruttonationalprodukten (BNP) per capita samt inkomstfördelning prövas. Dödlighet och förväntad livslängd undersöks i respektive land för perioden 1989-2002. Mortalitetens eventuella samband med sjukdomen levercirros samt alkoholkonsumtion över samma tidsperiod analyseras. Datamaterialet är sekundärdata och en kvantitativ komparativ metod används för analysen. Data är konstruerad främst som medelvärden för ett specifikt årtal för respektive land. Materialet består således av ett populationsurval. Två olika teoretiska utgångspunkter gör anspråk på att försöka förklara problematiken med transformationen från kommunism till demokrati. Det är den nyliberala - samt den mer socialorienterade ekonomiska teorin. Dessa ställs mot varandra i början av denna uppsats. Tidigare forskningsresultat tyder på en kraftig försämring av folkhälsan efter 1989 i främst Ryssland och Estland medan Tjeckien och Polen uppvisat en positiv hälsoutveckling. Våra resultat visar att det troligtvis är sociala och psykosociala faktorer, såsom hur en familje- och arbetssituation exempelvis kan påverka en persons hälsotillstånd, som verkar vara avgörande för förståelsen av ökad ohälsa. Analysen visar vidare att en ojämn ekonomisk fördelningspolitik tillsammans med en svag institutionell infrastruktur har en stark inverkan på ovannämnda faktorer. Ryssland presenterar ett avvikande resultat i jämförelse med de tre övriga länderna för flertalet av undersökta variabler. Vi har funnit att Tjeckien och Polen står för den mest hoppingivande förändringen beträffande dödlighet och förväntad livslängd. Estland har dragits med svårigheter att komma tillrätta med landets hälsoproblematik, men har under senare år uppvisat mer positiva siffror. Ryssland representerar däremot fortsatt negativ hälsoutveckling trots en liknande ekonomisk tillväxt. Att landet så sent som år 2002 redovisar en mycket hög dödlighetsfrekvens och låg förväntad livslängd ser vi som anmärkningsvärt. Skillnader i dödlighet och förväntad livslängd mellan könen och mellan de olika länderna visade sig vara mycket stora. Det bör noteras att denna uppsats endast är inriktad på att belysa den skillnad i förväntad livslängd och dödlighet som uppkommit sedan sammanbrottet 1989 fram till 2002.

The experience of living as HIV positive constitutes a mixture of social phenomenon which affects individuals in various ways diverging between countries and regions of the world. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate how gay men in Sweden’s larger urban cities experience living with the disease, focusing on social exclusion, disclosure decisions and social relations. Using phenomenology, textual data was analysed from in-depth interviews with 14 HIV positive gay men. This research proves that stigma associated with HIV is a major stressor for the individuals serving as a barrier affecting their quality of life. The prevalence of stigma manifests itself via personalised, disclosure decisions, fear, and environmental attitude. Social exclusion was experienced due to being HIV positive and various factors impact disclose decisions, such as second disclosure. Stigma was especially experienced via online communication on dating apps such as Grindr, making it more difficult for the participants to make new connections. A structural change in how gay men have sex has been noticed in line with advancement in medicines, resulting in an increased engagement in unprotected sex. Findings also suggest divided opinions about the obligation to inform while agreeing that the law needs to be modified.

Temporary employment has become more common on the labor market. In 1990, time-limited employments corresponded to 9 percent of all employments in Sweden. Today, time-limited employments account for 17.9 percent of the entire labor market. In this context, it is interesting to investigate how the occupational categories that employs temporary employees most, to investigate the employees' experiences of cohesion and community within these professions. The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of how cohesion is affected by the widespread use of temporary employment in these workplaces and to gain a deeper insight into the employees' perceived job security. Previous research talks about the importance of social relations between different groups and the importance of community in the workplace, and also highlights the difficulty of establishing contact and equal cohesion of employment. The theoretical starting points we have used are Guy Standing Precariat (2013) and Elias and Scotson The Established and the Outsiders (1999). The result of this study shows that the experience of occupational safety depends largely on our respondents' type of employment, however the result does not clearly indicate a difference between permanent and temporary employees in terms of cohesion and community experiences depends on the form of employment. Though, we have found several other explanations, such as work experience, for these differences. / Tillfälliga anställningar har blivit allt vanligare på arbetsmarknaden. Från att tidsbegränsade anställningar har motsvarat 9 procent av alla anställda 1990, motsvarar tidsbegränsat anställda idag 17,9 procent av hela arbetsmarknaden i Sverige. Det är med denna bakgrund intressant att undersöka hur de yrkeskategorier som utnyttjar tillfälligt anställda mest, för att undersöka de anställdas upplevelser kring sammanhållning och gemenskap inom dessa yrken. Syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelsen för hur sammanhållningen påverkas genom utbredd användning av tillfälliga anställningar på arbetsplatser och få en djupare inblick i de anställdas upplevda arbetstrygghet. Den tidigare forskningen talar om vikten av de sociala relationerna mellan olika grupper och hur betydelsefullt det är med gemenskap på arbetsplatsen, och belyser också svårigheter att skapa kontakt och lika sammanhållning över anställningsformerna. De teoretiska utgångspunkter vi har använt oss av är Guy Standings Prekariatet (2013) och Elias och Scotson Etablerade och outsiders (1999). Resultatet av denna studie visar att upplevelsen av arbetstrygghet till stor del beror på respondenternas arbetsform, men skillnaden mellan fast och tillfälligt anställda visar inte tydlig att skillnaden i upplevelser om sammanhållning och gemenskap, beror på anställningsformen. Utan att vi istället funnit flera förklaringar till skillnaderna, så som arbetserfarenhet.

The aim of this essay was to examine the justifications of the swedish government to perform medical age assessments on unaccompanied refugee children seeking asylum in Sweden. These governmental justifications were analyzed through Michel Foucault's theory of disciplinary power as well as through anthropological research on classification of age. The empirical material consisted of a selection of websites from different authorities that process medical age assessments. These were then studied through critical discourse analysis. The essay showed that these justifications can be understood as an expression of disciplinary power, where medical age assessments discipline individuals to docile bodies. Furthermore, the analysis also showed that the governmental justifications were partly founded upon western concepts of how a child is supposed to be and what a child is entitled to.

Throughout history South Africa has been dominated by a white race group and during the era of apartheid racial segregation was encouraged as well as an idea of racial order was established through institutionalised racism. Marriage across racial borders was prohibited according to the Mixed Marriages Act. The end of apartheid and the transition to democracy in 1994 meant a radical political change within the country, but the issue of race became a question of social and economic inequality. In this essay I study the approaches and experiences of interracial couples in the post-apartheid society, and interracial couples impact on the South African society. I am particularly interested in the South Africans idea of social order today and whereas racial thinking is still present in the postapartheid society. I use qualitative content analysis to discuss ideas of order in relation to race and my material consist in audio files from interviews with interracial couples, as well as literature, books and articles. In my analysis I discuss cultural and social norms, fear of race pollution, prejudice and racial stereotypes as well as thoughts about unity and humanness. Racial thinking is still present in the South African society although the development of relationships across racial borders has increased since the end of apartheid. The interracial couples in my study notice a certain uncomfortableness among the people in their surroundings, some more than others, because people are still getting used to the thought of interracial couples. Although racist beliefs and power relations are still implied by the surroundings the couples appear to feel increasingly at home in South Africa, even though they live in an in-between world, in a New South Africa.