Allvarliga kränkningar av den akademiska friheten förekommer idag i flera av Europarådets medlemsstater och det är ofta samhällsvetenskaperna som utgör måltavlan. Situationen är särskilt allvarlig i Turkiet där tusentals universitetslärare avskedats. Intervjuer med avskedade turkiska samhällsvetare och samhällsvetare som lever under hot om avsked ger en sammansatt bild: här finns både resignation och motstånd.
Increasing numbers of people in welfare societies express worries about their ecological footprint. Some make efforts to significantly reduce their consumption. Because people have been socialized into a society of mass/excess consumption, there are great challenges. How can someone learn to downsize when society incessantly compels her to continue with mass consumption habits? This article demonstrates, theoretically and empirically, how social relations, within a societal context of mass consumption, shape the conditions for transforming lifestyles to reduce consumption. It contributes to sociology as well as a growing interdisciplinary literature on reduced consumption by focusing specifically on challenges related to social relations. The study uses a qualitative approach and an interview study of 24 people in Sweden making significant efforts to reduce their consumption. Findings – both perceived challenges and creative ways of coping with them – are related to four analytical themes: (1) the intersection of everyday rituals and consumption; (2) the norms and normality of mass consumption; (3) social comparison and status consumption; and (4) social and community support for reducing consumption.
Medical research with jurisdictional consequences: interpretative flexibility in the controversy over MMR vaccination and autism
Based on the empirical case of the controversy of MMR vaccination and autism around the turn of the millennium, this paper argues for the analytical importance of the concept of “interpretative flexibility”. As shown, this concept is useful not only for the small subfield of sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) but also for the broader social sciences. First we analyse, by reference to interpretative flexibility, the initial dispute within medical research concerning evidence for and against a possible link between the measles component of the MMR vaccine and autism. In a second step we move beyond this traditional application of the concept, showing how the interpretative flexibility of the research results remains in society although consensus has been reached in the medical community. This further step is exemplified by two legal events, in Sweden and the US respectively. In both these cases the difficulties in providing uncontested evidence affected institutions and practices at great distance and with different outcomes. Our findings suggest the importance of not only applying the concept of interpretative flexibility to classical scientific laboratory disputes, but also connecting it to its societal manifestations.
Theory and typology. Macrosociology, institutional spheres and social action
The conceptual triad ’state-market-civil society’ is taken as point of departure for a discussion of the broader issue of the uses of typologies in sociology. It is argued that in order to avoid being subordinated to politically loaded notions pervading public discourse, a genuine sociological typology should meet two demands; its dimensions should be derived from a macro-sociological theory, and it should be underpinned by a micro-sociological theory of action. In this way, a typology will serve as a pipeline between micro and macro theories, and also as a checking point for estimating the coherence between these two levels of analysis. As an illustration, Mary Douglas’ grid-group model is introduced. This typology is derivable from Durkheim’s macro-sociology, but it has a weak microfoundation. Two theories of action are discussed and compared; the theory of rational choice and the theory of interaction rituals. After demonstrating that the theory of rational choice is incommensurable with the ”multi-rational” premises of the grid-group model, itis indicated that an elaboration of the Goffmanian theory of interaction rituals would constitute a viable micro-foundation for the grid-group model. Finally, it is concluded that from the point of view of grid-group, ’civil society’ is a highly ambiguous category that should be replaced by the categories of ’community’ and ’isolate’.
This article is concerned with providing empirical evidence relating to the use of digital media and resistance during the so-called Arab Spring events. These events have been widely acknowledged as a case where digital media significantly contributed to the successful attainment of movements’ objectives. The use of such innovative technologies has been tied to the characteristics and, ultimately, the ends of these movements, with their ‘youthful’, ‘leaderless’ and ‘spontaneous’ nature reflecting Western-orientated practices. However, the analysis presented here utilises interview data obtained from participants in the 2010/11 Tunisian Revolution, detailing their perspectives and explanations of digital media’s role. The data and analysis show that while such technologies were a useful tool, their prominence has been exaggerated and offers a flawed understanding of the events. Rather, the social change being pursued during the Tunisian revolution was profound. Therefore, the deeper implications of the common emphasis on digital media in the literature is explored, with Rosa’s (2015) assessment of social acceleration being informative for elaborating on the nuances of these technologies’ use during the 2010/11 events. With technical acceleration linked to the prominence given to online networks’ utility for resistance, Rosa’s analysis of such acceleration in relation to acceleration of social change and the pace of life helps to clarify why looking beyond online technology for the implications of resistance during the so-called Arab Spring is so important. In this regard, one of these implications is introduced, namely the constructive forms of resistance that may provide a space for alternative understandings of modernity.
The Swedish model for full employment is under reconstruction. Increasing unemployment rates and sick-leaves is challenging traditional Swedish labour market policies. At the same time new institutions and actors have entered the labour market. Nowadays, half the Swedish workforce is covered by collective agreements on how to manage redundancies due to structural changes at workplaces. In the future these new institutions will influence the role of traditional actors such as the governmental Labour Market Board and the Employment services offices. Neo-classical economists have recommended lower levels of unemployment insurances and social security to manage the problems. Contrary to these economists we argue that the solutions put forward by new collective agreements, institutions and actors show that the Swedish model can be developed. In the article this new institutional infrastructure of insurances, temporary work agencies, security funds and collective agreements that has emerged during the last decade is described. If the heavily centralistic labour market policy could be replaced by new efforts of different actors on local and regional level the Swedish labour market model could be filled with a new content in line with the demands from a modern working life.
Drawing upon an explorative study of family law proceedings from a school perspective, the aim of this paper is to examine the school staffs strategies for solving or coping with problematic situations in this context. Gendered conflicts between adults and violence are extreme cases for pedagogues in school and preschool. How do the staff cope with their own and the children's vulnerability? Based upon interviews with 22 informants, the staff's strategies are outlined and discussed in relation to organizational and professional circumstances and intersecting social relations of power. An analytical construction of six types of proactive and reactive strategies, ranging from distance keeping to normalization of own exposure, is utilized in the analysis. Findings suggest that the staff's strategies to handle challenging events in this context vary with the parent's gender, class position and ethnicity. Further, it is argued that creating a sense of safety and promoting learning among the children may be obstructed by lack of support from the school's organization, demands on staff to perform customer oriented attitudes towards parents and lack of clarity concerning the limits of the social task. Conflicts between the organization and profession on the one hand and the educational and the social task on the other hand, are thus illuminated. In conclusion, a further aim of this article is to contribute to broader discussions on men's violence against women and children - in families as well as in workplaces and in the intersection between these two areas.
Drawing upon an explorative study of family law proceedings from a school perspective, the aim of this paper is to examine the school staff's strategies for solving or coping with problematic situations in this context. Gendered conflicts between adults and violence are extreme cases for pedagogues in school and preschool. How do staff cope with their own and the children's vulnerability? Based upopn interviews with 22 informants, the staff strategies are outlined and discussed in relation to organizational and professional circumstances and intersecting social relations of power. An analytical construction of six types of strategies, ranging from distance keeping to normalization of own exposure, is utilized in the analysis. Findings suggests that the staff's strategies to handle challenging events in this context vary with the parent's gender, class position and ethnicity. Further, it is argued that creating a sense of safety and promoting learning among the children may be obstructed by lack of support from the school's organization, demands on staff to perform customer oriented attitudes towards parents and lack of clarity concerning the limits of the social task. In conclusion, a further aim of this article is to contribute to broader discussions on men's violence against women and children - in families as well as in workplaces and in the intersection between these two areas.
Pedagogues in the borderland of their social task: dealing with family law proceedings, threats and violence
Drawing upon an explorative study of family law proceedings from a school perspective, the aim of this paper is to examine the school staff’s strategies for solving or coping with problematic situations in this context. Gendered conflicts between adults and violence are extreme cases for pedagogues in school and preschool. How do the staff cope with their own and the children’s vulnerability? Based upon interviews with 22 informants, the staff’s strategies are outlined and discussed in relation to organizational and professional circumstances and intersecting social relations of power. An analytical construction of six types of proactive and reactive strategies, ranging from distance keeping to normalization of own exposure, is utilized in the analysis. Findings suggest that the staff’s strategies to handle challenging events in this context vary with the parent’s gender, class position and ethnicity. Further, it is argued that creating a sense of safety and promoting learning among the children may be obstructed by lack of support from the school’s organization, demands on staff to perform customer oriented attitudes towards parents and lack of clarity concerning the limits of the social task. Conflicts between the organization and profession on the one hand and the educational and the social task on the other hand, are thus illuminated. In conclusion, a further aim of this article is to contribute to broader discussions on men’s violence against women and children – in families as well as in workplaces and in the intersection between these two areas.
Research has established that school performance relates: (i) negatively with poor mental health during childhood and (ii) positively with family socioeconomic resources. In this article, we examine the potentially moderating effects of family resources on the relationship between school performance and poor mental health, using register data covering all children born in Sweden in 1990. The dependent variable is graduation from upper secondary school. We perform separate analyses for girls and boys. Our results indicate that compensatory effects of the socioeconomic resources of the family on the risk of graduation failure among those with poor mental health is more pronounced among girls compared to boys.
Research has established that school performance relates: (i) negatively with poor mental health during childhood and (ii) positively with family socioeconomic resources. In this article, we examine the potentially moderating effects of family resources on the relationship between school performance and poor mental health, using register data covering all children born in Sweden in 1990. The dependent variable is graduation from upper secondary school. We perform separate analyses for girls and boys. Our results indicate that compensatory effects of the socioeconomic resources of the family on the risk of graduation failure.
In year 1998 the Swedish government adopted an ambitious urban renewal policy (URP). One of its main elements was to combat social exclusion in a number of housing areas in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. Between 2002 and 2004 I have been studying implementation of this policy and its ideas in five neighborhoods in Stockholm. Based on previous research I claim that this form of ethnified urban poverty, in popular discourses named urban segregation, is being generated by the structural unemployment and by the so-called ”ethnic factor” embodied in processes of stigmatization and discrimination. URP has been set up to assist the general welfare policy to challenge and ultimately solve this social problem.
In this article I focus on three problems inherited in the policy implementation: disparity between theory and practice concerning the basic ideas of URP; the anomaly concerning the time aspect and an extreme unwillingness by the state to follow up the implementation process. One of the main conclusions is that URP has failed in its ”mission” to assist the general welfare policy because, firstly, the local analysis of what generates the social exclusion highlighted only the structural unemployment.The impact of discrimination and stigmatization was omitted. Secondly, URP:s practical implementation was particularistic, non-relational and anomalistic.
The Sustainability revolution: A Societal Paradigm Shift - Ethos, Innovation, Governance Transformation This paper identifies several key mechanisms that underlie major paradigm shifts. After identifying four such mechanisms, the article focuses on one type of transformation which has a prominent place in the sustainability revolution that the article argues is now taking place. The transformation is piecemeal, incremental, diffuse in earlier writings referred to as "organic". This is a more encompassing notion than grassroots, since the innovation and transformation processes may be launched and developed at multiple levels through diverse mechanisms of discovery and development. Major features of the sustainability revolution are identified and comparisons made to the industrial revolution.
The Sustainability revolution: A societal paradigm shift – ethos, innovation, governance transformation
This paper identifies several key mechanisms that underlie major paradigm shifts. After identifying four such mechanisms, the article focuses on one type of transformation which has a prominent place in the sustainability revolution that the article argues is now taking place. The transformation is piecemeal, incremental, diffuse – in earlier writings referred to as ”organic”. This is a more encompassing notion than grassroots, since the innovation and transformation processes may be launched and developed at multiple levels through diverse mechanisms of discovery and development. Major features of the sustainability revolution are identified and comparisons made to the industrial revolution.
Modern fathers - between tradition and relation
Research on families simultaneously shows change and instability and duration and stability. Research on men as fathers bears the same contradiction, showing a man, who has got both traditional and more family and relation oriented characteristics. By asking men and women to tell about their life plans, their experiences of family life, gender and equality, we have tried to get hold of changes between ideal and gender identity, within the family context. The results show that the family with the focus on the children dominates the life plan of men and of women. We also find great similarities between the sexes in what they tell as about their family project. Differences appear, however, in what men and women tell us about what they do in their everyday family praxis. In the conflict between traditional roles, equality and every day praxis, men and women create routines which are effective, but also producing ambivalence in the conception of one self as parent, sex partner and equal partner of a married couple.
Governing and ideological dilemmas in drug education
Drug education (ANT) in Swedish schools has a history over decades. Here, the pedagogical approaches fluctuated between transfer of solid knowledge from the teacher to the pupil, and working with values and have a more pupil-driven teaching – a classic dichotomy. Rhetoric about the school’s way of teaching has thus always been ambivalent and subject to reexamination. The study analyses various textual material on ANT education. As a methodological tool Billigs concept Ideological dilemmas is used, which is a fruitful way to identify the rhetorical building blocks of (school) politics, but also to analyse political talk in more detail. The article analyses the ideological dilemmas under three dichotomies: Knowledge vs. values, teacher control vs. learner control, and prevention vs. promotion. Throughout we can see this question of how teaching could be successful, given the tension between authority and democracy. The article concludes by relating this basic ideological dilemma in a wider discursive context of governance in our time.
n/a
Alternative or Reconstruction? - On Haberm as criticism of Marx
Should we understand Habermas’ works in social theory and politics as an alternative to or a reconstruction of Marx? I try in this article to present the possible arguments for both standpoints. It is shown that if we take our point of departure in Habermas’ distinction between ”labour” and ”interaction”, we must treat his writings as an alternative to Marx. If we, however, start out with his distinction between ”life world” and ”system”, then we must understand them as a reconstruction. In the first case it becomes clear that the concepts ”labour” and ”interaction” are opposites and can be used to ground opposite social scientific paradigms, but in the second case it becomes just as clear that Habermas’ criticism of the system’s colonisation of the life world is modelled after Marx’ criticism of political economy. Taken together, Habermas two forms of criticism of Marx leads him to transfer the Marxian form of criticism of modem society from the capitalistic economy to the paternalistic social state. That is, Habermas doesn’t locate reification in the capitalistic mode of production. In society of today reification is the product of the social state.