Strävan efter värdighet : En studie av servicearbete

The focus of this study is dignity in low status service work. Using labels such as bad jobs, McJobs and dirty work, these jobs have been described as low-skilled, low-paid, monotonous and physically demanding with lack of voice and no job security. Research on dignity at work is especially relevant in a time when different ambitions for more dignified work, initiated by political parties as well as unions, tend to be forgotten or down-prioritized. This study investigates what conditions are preventing dignity among low status service workers and how they create and maintain dignity for themselves. What briefly has been found is that dignity can be prevented by unreasonable demands, constant control, exposed work and mismanagement. Moreover, customerprerogative can prevent dignity when employees are being mistreated by disrespectful customers. Dignity is also hindered by frightening customers, especially in the case of sexual harassment, threats and violence. In this study theories about working conditions and professional status are brought together to explain experiences of dignity at work. Service workers do not only have managers to deal with, but also customers whose treatment is reflected by the status of the service occupation. Besides, working conditions and professional status are two mechanisms acting together when it comes to experiences of dignity at work and may thus result in double tensions in daily work.   Acts for dignity, meaning different ways in which the service workers create and maintain dignity for themselves, are reactions to the obstacles to dignity at work. Three different categories of acts for dignity can be found. The identity-bolstering acts help the workers maintain their professional identity or self-image when it is threatened by different obstacles to dignity. The justifying acts mean that the workers legitimize different obstacles to dignity. Finally, the compensating acts help the workers to even out different obstacles to dignity.

"It’s just very natural" – interpersonal knowledge as a didactical device in guided classroom conversations in religious education

This article investigates how teachers in religious education (RE) think and act as professionals while working with differences in religious and philosophy of life experiences and beliefs in class and trying to do this in respectful and inclusive ways. It analyses data from two research projects that were carried out in lower secondary school in Norway. The main research question is: What is the relationship between teachers’ contextual knowledge and knowledge of the child and how do these two dimensions of professional knowledge interact when religious education teachers try to strike a good balance between inclusion and productive learning in their teaching practice? The data analysed were drawn from three different data sets featuring three Norwegian religious education-teachers. The research was part of the EU-funded "REDCo"-project and the "Religious education and diversity" - project ["ROM"] funded by the Norwegian Research Council. The interviewees emphasized the potential of the religious education subject to contribute to a wider tolerance for difference and to support individual students in their identity management. The analysis shows, however, that considerable contextual awareness - of the classroom and of the local community - is needed to realize this potential. It also shows the importance of interpersonal knowledge between the teacher and each student if contextual awareness is to be effective in terms of inclusion, participation, wellbeing and good learning outcomes for all students.