Challenging From Within : Youth Associations and Female Leadership in Swedish Mosques

This chapter focuses on women members of the Sunnī-dominated national organization Sweden's Young Muslims (Sveriges Unga Muslimer, SUM) and some of its local youth associations in different Swedish towns, to argue that involvement with these associations is increasing Muslim women's engagement with mosques and other venues for acquisition of Islamic knowledge. Illuminating the continuous challenges to the women's presence in mosques and their wider public activism the chapter examines how these women defend their right to exercise religious authority while supporting the traditional sources of Muslim authority in the public sphere. It analyzes how the women reinterpret the Islamic texts to change their daily lives as well as their position within both the Muslim community and Swedish society as a whole. The chapter emphasizes that in more informal situations, backstage among peers, the women put gender on the agenda, initiate reflexive deliberations, and test alternative norms and practices.

Möten med muslimer i Sverige

Snart tjugo miljoner muslimer lever i Europa, och runt 300 000 i Sverige. Knappt fyra procent av Sveriges befolkning är muslimer, och bara en liten del av dem utövar sin religion, är praktiserande. Men alla muslimer, oavsett grad av religiositet, behandlas ungefär på samma sätt. De möts av fördomar, okunskap och hat. Detta konstaterande låter journalisten och författaren Kerstin Gustafsson Figueroa bli utgångspunkt för en antologi -För Guds skull. Muslimer i Sverige -fylld av personliga samtal med människor bakom stereotypierna.

Fruktansvärd, ospelad och nyskriven - kriser och konflikter kring ny svensk dramatik : från Gustav III:s originaldramatik till dagens beställningsdramatik

The issue of this thesis concerns a selection of historical debates in which new Swedish drama is under discussion. The studied debates take place in the cultural and political fields and within the fields of theater and literature and deal with a recurring assumption in Swedish theatre history – that new Swedish drama is insufficient. The primary object of this thesis is to find explanations to: why is the Swedish new drama so often described as defective? The following questions, guiding the analysis, are: How are the crises described? What are the stakes? How has the dramatic text been influenced by being judged either as literary product or a product for the stage? How is the playwright’s role described, and perhaps changed, in the crises? The aim of the analysis is to understand how traditions and conventions are shaping the debates and contribute to perpetrate the myth of the malfunctioning Swedish new play. In a historical perspective several attempts have been made to govern new Swedish drama by legislative and political power. New Swedish drama has, for example, been viewed as a possible expression of the nation, as part of shaping the Swedish Welfare state or creating interactive communication with the audience. Despite its many uses, new Swedish drama continues to be describes as flawed. The study starts with King Gustav III:s Swedish theatre where the purpose was to produce Swedish original plays. The study ends with an analysis of a new government grant for new Swedish drama, which was installed in 1999. The chosen debates are analyzed with the help of concepts borrowed from the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, looking at each historical situation as a possible moment for the establishment of the field ”new Swedish drama”. The survey ends with eight interviews with playwrights, who are active today. The conditions for the new Swedish drama are the guiding line in this thesis. These conditions are found in the cultural, social and historical contexts that cooperate when a taste or convention is being shaped. They are part of the discourses in the field, where criteria for the new Swedish drama is formulated. In order to understand the significance of, for example, the expression, ”the newly written Swedish drama” research has been pursued in biographical material, historical surveys, and debates in the daily press and in professional journals. Without being a full bourdieuan analysis, the thesis is using concepts from Bourdieu. The work of British feminist theatre historian Tracy C Davis inspires the critical historic perspective.

Redaktören har ordet

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

Sociologisk Forskning 2016:2

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

Non-take up i det svenska välfärdssystemet : Om betydelsen av social position för kvinnors beslut kring mammografiscreening

Non-take up in the Swedish welfare system: On the impact of social position on women’s decision-making regarding mammography screening Central to a well-functioning and effective welfare system is that benefits reach the people to whom they are intended. By focusing on an example of so called non-take up – namely women’s decision not to attend mammography screening – this article discusses decision making in relation to living conditions, i.e. social position, and to the public health intentions of the welfare state. The main theoretical basis for the analysis is Rogers’ humanistic/existential theory. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were made with 18 women who had abstained from mammography screening. Their decision was described, analyzed and problematized focused on whether their living conditions, leading to a strong or weak social position, is of relevance to their decision to refrain from this health promoting examination. The women’s own experiences clearly showed how their social position was of great importance for how they explained their decision to abstain. Furthermore, social position affects how women handle different impact from living conditions, society’s expectations and personal experiences of mammography screening. This study makes visible the gap between public health intentions of the society and individual conditions.  

När kallet ställs på sin spets : Pensionering ur ett existenssociologiskt perspektiv

When the calling is brought to a head: Retirement from an existential sociology perspective In this article we analyze how the meaning and value of work can emerge, be defined and redefined in relation to the coming of retirement, by focusing individuals with dedicated work approaches interpreted as a calling. By relying on an existential sociology framework we analyze the retirement process as an existential imperative, e.g. life phases or processes where questions on meaning and life quality become prominent. For the interviewees, the day of retirement becomes a sort of a road sign that – depending on the distance of time to the point of retirement – has intensified existential questions and the meaning of work. The article explores the defining dimensions of a calling as found in the interviewees dedicated work approaches. We address the types of problems and opportunities that arise when the interviewees are soon to retire and their associated strategies: listening to a calling on ”standby”; learning not to listen to one’s calling, listening to a calling from a private sphere and project the calling’s commitment to other activities.

Normalisering av ungdomar i problem genom styrning av föräldrar : Från strukturella orsaksförklaringar till familjecentrerade lösningar

Normalizing problematized youth by governing their parents: From structural explanations to family-centred solutions The current article explores the ways that organizational representatives outline the causes of and propose solutions to the problematic behaviour of youth living in, what is described as, an immigrant neighbourhood in a Swedish city. The empirical material, consisting of interviews with representatives from various organizations (such as the police, schools, social services and NGOs) as well as field observations, has been analyzed using the theory of governmentality. The causes of problematic youth behaviour are related to disadvantaged immigrant urban space, unemployment, unstable home situations and family relations, and parents’ deviant norms, knowledge and culture. In the discourses about causes and solutions, a recurring frame of reference is the issue of immigration in general and parent’s migrant background in particular. In spite of the complexity of the proposed causes, the pronounced solutions are directed towards the fostering of immigrant parents, the establishment of zones of communication and early prevention. Hence, the prevailing solutions are permeated by discourses of activation of parents.

Anförande: Academic work : A tale of essential tension between research and teaching

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

Anförande: Pressed for time : The digital transformation of everyday life

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

Anförande: Uthållig kreativitet – tills döden skiljer oss åt : Tre faror, två demoner, tio budord

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

Recensioner

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

Sociologförbundet har ordet : Osäkerhet och kreativitet: Rapport från Sociologidagarna 2016

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

Att hantera funktionärer utifrån organisationers perspektiv : En kvalitativ studie om hur organisationer som arrangerar idrottsevenemang hanterar funktionärer gällande rekrytering och behållande

Flertalet evenemang är idag beroende av funktionärer för att genomföras. Att ha funktionärer till hjälp är ekonomiskt bärkraftigt för organisationer som anordnar evenemang, då de inte behöver anställa betald personal. Vetenskapliga studier menar att organisationer bör upprätta tydliga planer eller strategier för hur de ska hantera funktionärer då konkurrensen om funktionärerna ökar. Eftersom det är kostsamt att rekrytera nya funktionärer bör det vara av stor vikt för organisationer att försöka behålla sina funktionärer inför framtiden. Syftet är att undersöka organisationer som arrangerar årligen återkommande idrottsevenemang för att få en djupare förståelse för hur de arbetar med sina funktionärer. För att undersöka detta har vi intervjuat tre av Sveriges största årligen återkommande idrottsevenemang som alla är beroende av funktionärer. Intervjuerna genomfördes personligen med respektive person i organisationen som hade det övergripande ansvaret för funktionärer. Undersökningen visar att väletablerade evenemang, som de i studien, har vissa likheter i hur de hanterar funktionärer som vetenskapliga studier förespråkar. Att följa en strikt plan för hur arbetet med funktionärer bör gå till visar sig inte vara nödvändigt. Det visade sig att samtliga organisationer delegerar ansvaret för funktionärer till projektledare eller huvudfunktionärer. Det som var viktigt vid rekryteringen var; synliggöra, intervjuer och utbildning. Det som utmärkte sig vid att försöka få funktionärerna att återkomma var; förmåner, kommunikation och relationen. Resultatet visade att arbetet med funktionärerna, trots att de kan vara många till antalet, inte behöver vara komplicerat.