Actitudes hacia el catalán : un estudio sociolingüístico de principiantes del catalán en Barcelona

This study focuses on the Catalan language of Catalonia, a region located in the east of Spain. There are many immigrants living in this region who decide to learn the Catalan language in hope of finding a job or to integrate in the Catalan society. The main aim of this study was to discover the types of language attitudes the beginners of Catalan show towards this language (general, instrumental and integrative attitudes). Language attitudes are of importance because it can indicate the “health” of a minority language, such as is usually considered Catalan. The method applied was direct, where the informants had to answer a written questionnaire. The results of the study show positive attitudes towards the Catalan language and its general use in Catalonia. The main conclusions of the study were that the informants showed positive and slightly more instrumental attitudes towards Catalan, indicating that the main motive of learning the language was more of practical use than integrative motives.

Inte bara jämställdhet : Beslutet om föräldraledighet, moderskaps- och faderskapsidealoch idéer om barns bästa

More than gender equality. Decisions on parental leave and ideals around motherhood, fatherhood and the best interest of the child On the basis of 40 semi-structured interviews, this study discusses decision making processes regarding parental leave among nascent first-time middle-class parents in Sweden. We analyze motives and ideas behind the couples’ plans and decisions and how decisions on parental leave were made. We furthermore show how the decision making processes can be discussed in relation to the institutional context. The results show that ideals and norms of gender equality are accompanied by gendered divisions of work and care and a partially traditional view on motherhood and fatherhood. Contrary to previous studies, we do not find a clear link between gender equal ideals and explicit negotiations. An equal division of parental leave is, in some couples, taken for granted to such an extent that the decision on how to divide the leave is taken implicitly rather than explicitly. Decisions on division of parental leave are not isolated processes. Rather, ideals and norms around motherhood, fatherhood, gender equality and not least what is ‘in the best interest of the child’ constitute part of the context in which these decision making processes take place.

Att leva och sälja sin dröm : Livsstilsföretagaren mellan familjeliv, marknadoch politisk retorik

Living and selling a dream: Lifestyle entrepreneurship in the intersection between family, market and political rhetoric The article focuses on lifestyle entrepreneurship, characterised by a balancing work between personal lifestyle motives and economic motives. It builds on a qualitative study of business owners who have realized a life dream of starting a countryside business in the tourism and hospitality industry in Sweden. Through the notion of ”balancing work”, the analysis focuses on the tension between a personal life sphere and a market. In particular, the analysis highlights how the notion of ”the life dream” emerges as a narrative practice of self-realization, simultaneously as it is offered as an experience product. The analysis demonstrates how the entrepreneurs balance between personal stories of togetherness and marketing practices, between images of right and wrong commodification, and between constraining working conditions and a popular image of the successful entrepreneur, reinforced by a political discourse on rural entrepreneurship. It is concluded that balancing work between personal identities and economic practices is a practice of valuation, offering new insights into working conditions and markets situated in the intersection between markets and personal life spheres.

Fan Culture as an Informal Learning Environment : Presentation of a NGL project

Fan culture is a subculture that has developed explosively on the internet over the last decades. Fans are creating their own films, translations, fiction, fan art, blogs, role play and also various forms that are all based on familiar popular culture creations like TV-series, bestsellers, anime, manga stories and games. In our project, we analyze two of these subculture genres, fan fiction and scanlation. Amateurs, and sometimes professional writers, create new stories by adapting and developing existing storylines and characters from the original. In this way, a "network" of texts occurs, and writers step into an intertextual dialogue with established writers such as JK Rowling (Harry Potter) and Stephanie Meyer (Twilight). Literary reception and creation then merge into a rich reciprocal creative activity which includes comments and feedback from the participators in the community. The critical attitude of the fans regarding quality and the frustration at waiting for the official translation of manga books led to the development of scanlation, which is an amateur translation of manga distributed on the internet.  Today, young internet users get involved in conceptual discussions of intertextuality and narrative structures through fan activity. In the case of scanlation, the scanlators practice the skills and techniques of translating in an informal environment. This phenomenon of participatory culture has been observed by scholars and it is concluded that they contribute to the development of a student’s literacy and foreign language skills. Furthermore, there is no doubt that the fandom related to Japanese cultural products such as manga, anime and videogames is one of the strong motives for foreign students to start learning Japanese. This is something to take into pedagogical consideration when we develop web-based courses. Fan fiction and fan culture make it ​​possible to have an intensive transcultural dialogue between participators throughout the world and is of great interest when studying the interaction between formal and informal learning that puts the student in focus

The Passionate Combining Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are portrayed as salient drivers of regional development and for a number of years nascent entrepreneurs have been studied in a large number of countries as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project and the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics. Scholars have devoted much effort to investigating factors that determine how individuals engage in entrepreneurial activities, with most of the discussion limited to business start-ups. However, since this type of project does not follow identical nascent entrepreneurs over time, limited knowledge exists about their development and whether they stay in this nascent phase for a long time. In practice, it is common for entrepreneurs to run a business and at the same time work in wage work, so-called combining entrepreneurs. In Sweden, almost half of all business owners combine wage work with a business. However, not all combining entrepreneurs will eventually decide to leave the wage work and invest fully in the business. Consequently, much research has focused on the first step of entering entrepreneurship full time, but less has focused on the second step, the transition from the combining phase to full-time self-employment. The aim of this thesis is therefore to contribute to the theory of entrepreneurship by gaining a deeper understanding of combining entrepreneurs and their motives and intentions.   In the context of combining entrepreneurs, the theory of identity, resources and choice overload has been used to examine how entrepreneurs’ age (when starting the business), entrepreneurial tenure (the length of engagement in the side-business), hours spent (weekly involvement in the side-business), involvement in entrepreneurial teams (leading the business with one or more partners) and involvement in networks (business networks) influence their passion for engaging in entrepreneurship while sustaining wage work. Different categories of combining entrepreneurs and their intentions have also been examined.   A survey was administered to 1457 entrepreneurs within the creative sector in two counties in Sweden (Gävleborgs County and Jämtlands County). Since there were no separate mailing lists to only combining entrepreneurs, the survey was sent to all entrepreneurs within the chosen industry and counties. The total response rate was 33.5 percent and of them 57.6 percent combined, yielding 262 combining entrepreneurs who answered the questionnaire. The survey was then followed up with eight focus group interviews and two single interviews to validate the answers from the questionnaire.   The results indicate three types of combining entrepreneurs: nascent – with the intention to leave the combining phase for a transition into full-time self-employment, lifestyle – with the intention to stay in the combining phase, and occasional – with the intention to leave the combining phase for full-time wage work and close down the business. Transitioning fully to self-employment increases with the individual’s age. Also, a positive interactive effect exists with involvement in entrepreneurial networks. The results also indicate that the ability to work with something one is passionate about is the top motive for combining wage work with a side-business. Passion is also more likely to be the main motive behind the combining form among individuals who are older at business start-up, but passion is less likely to be the main motive behind the combining form among individuals who spend more time on the business. The longer the individual has had the side-business, the less likely passion is the main motive behind the combining form, and passion is less likely to be the main motive among those who are part of an entrepreneurial team.

Från nationsbyggare till global marknadsnomad : Om medborgarskap i svensk utbildningspolitik under 1990-talet

I den här avhandlingen är intresset riktat mot svensk utbildningspolitik och medborgarskap. I tider av globalisering, och med ett etablerat svenskt medlemskap i Europeiska unionen, har det nationella policyskapandet kring utbildningens medborgardanande funktion hamnat under ökat tryck. I studien undersöks hur detta hanteras i svensk utbildningspolitik under 1990-talet, en tid som utmärker sig genom betydande förändringar på utbildningsområdet i Sverige. Frågan är, mera precist, vilken riktning för skolans, enligt lag befästa, uppdrag att fostra demokratiska medborgare som utstakas i svensk utbildningspolitik vid denna tid. Genom att fästa vikt vid mål, visioner och motiv som formuleras i utbildningspolitiska 1990-talstexter klarläggs förståelser av medborgarskap som karaktäriserar svensk utbildningspolitik under denna tid. Även en bredare historisk analys görs, ur vilken historiska målsättningar med skolans medborgarfostran som föregår 1990-talets framträder. Studiens syfte är kritiskt. Förståelserna granskas utifrån vad de innesluter och vad de utesluter, vilka möjliga konsekvenser de kan tänkas få för olika individer och grupper i samhället, och om det finns öppningar för tänkbara alternativ. Studien visar på två historiska skiften vad gäller medborgarskapets innehåll och mening i det inhemska policyskapandet. Det första skiftet äger rum under 1990-talets tidiga del. Då bryts en etablerad samhällsbyggande medborgarroll upp, till förmån för andra mera marknadsorienterade medborgarroller. Under 1990-talets senare del, då marknadsorienteringen förstärks i neoliberal riktning, sker ett andra skifte; en historiskt vedertagen gemenskapstanke – nationen – bryts upp som grund för medborgerlig gemenskap. Denna tanke ersätts av en annan som är globaliseringsinriktad, vilken visar sig ha andra inne- och uteslutande mekanismer för olika individer och samhällsgrupper. Utifrån dessa forskningsrön tecknas avslutningsvis några konturer till ett alternativt sätt att tänka kring medborgarskap och gemenskap. Detta alternativ tar form i ambitionen att, i högre grad än vad som blir synligt i svensk utbildningspolitik, resonera kring möjligheter för ett medborgarskap bortom förhandstecknade indelningsgrunder för ett “vi”. Språk som politisk och samhällelig förändringskraft ges en central betydelse i avhandlingen. I analysen av texternas tal om skolans medborgarfostrande roll undersöks pågående politiska motsättningar när det gäller att vinna tal- och tolkningsföreträde till skolans fostransmål. Utgångarna av dessa motsättningar belyses genom tre områden för medborgarfostran som urskilts som centrala; ett politiskt, ett kulturellt samt ett ekonomi- och arbetslivsriktat. Genom dessa har rådande medborgarskapsdiskurser tagit form, ur vilka de utbildningspolitiska förståelserna av medborgarskap gestaltas och diskuteras.