Despite a high degree of individualism, associationism is extensive in Sweden, and it is said to have contributed to the democratization of Swedish society. Cultural associations constitute a significant part of the cultural range. In recent years, however, alarming reports of reduced involvement and membership numbers have been announced. The purpose of this study is to qualitatively investigate how cultural associations in Karlstad's municipality relate to general social development with a reduced membership flow in the associationism. The survey was conducted through semi-structured interviews with persons who have a trust assignment or some other relationship with cultural associations in Karlstad. The result was analyzed by content analysis. The survey shows a consistent view that there is a problem about either the commitment or the number of members and that the situation has changed over time, but also that the complexity of differences between different cultural associations makes it impossible to draw a general conclusion about the cultural associations as a unit. Generally, people with trust assignments in cultural associations experience the cultural associations standing stable. Some associations decrease in size or disappear, while others start or expand their activities. Persons with trust assignments within and in relation to cultural associations, holds a consistent view of the importance of associations for the rest of society, as they are considered important for democracy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kau-68440 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Oskarsson, Frida |
| Publisher | Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för samhälls- och kulturvetenskap (from 2013) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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