Suchergebnisse

In this research anthology, inequality in Swedish working life in a Sweden marked by increased inequality, is studied. Racialised inequality, racism and discrimination in individual workplaces are focused, but inequalities based on class and gender are also studied. The concept of inequality regime is used by several of the authors to analyse work organizations. The workplaces studied are found in different sectors, not least in healthcare. The book also includes contributions that provide comparative international perspectives and studies of the development of inequality over time. The anthology contains 12 chapters based on empirical studies of working life, one chapter that analyses working life inequality from a political theory perspective, an introduction and a closing chapter that frames and draws conclusions from the different studies, as well as an afterword. The authors are 22 researchers from different social science disciplines.

The so-called Swedish model of trust is characterised by strong public support for the idea of an individual-based and extensive welfare state, well-developed state individualism, high levels of social trust, widespread appreciation of the judiciary, openness, tolerance, and a free and independent press. Today, Swedish society faces several challenges. Will the Swedish model of trust be eroded or is it relatively resilient to stress? A Novus survey from 2019 found that a total of 74 percent of the Swedish population were very or quite worried about Islamic extremism, 66 percent very or quite worried about right-wing extremism and 46 percent very or quite worried about left-wing extremism. Other surveys show that the public is also concerned about the deterioration of the welfare state, social gaps, the increased number of refugees to Sweden and xenophobia. Moreover, the Novus survey shows that 65 percent believe that violence-promoting extremism will increase in Sweden in the coming ten-year period. 22 percent indicate that they have become suspicious of people they have encountered in everyday situations and 15 percent have avoided large crowds, e.g. shopping malls, pedestrian areas and subways. When asked which measures are good for increasing security in society, common answers were to reduce social exclusion, increase camera surveillance in public places and provide more information on democratic principles and values. These answers indicate that Swedish public opinion has a relatively balanced view of public measures against violent extremism, which is consistent with the Swedish model of trust. In general, the public does not propose the implementation of overly excessive measures against violent extremism. However, given continued public concern over the development of violent extremism, the long term stability of the Swedish model of trust remains in question.

Homosexuality, bisexuality, transgender and queer have long been a sensitive topic in Christian churches. As society has changed, some denominations have become increasingly affirming, while others see the changes as incompatible with Christian values.
A Conditional Community is based on in-depth interviews with 29 lgbtq Christians and is the first Swedish scientific study on the subject. Using a phenomenological approach, the author investigate how sexuality, intimacy and faith are experienced by the interviewees and how their Christian identity interacts with their identity as lgbtq people.
A Conditional Community is aimed at teachers, researchers and students in fields such as religious studies, sexology, gender studies and psychology. The book is also of interest to professionals who require knowledge on the subject, such as pastors and therapists. Furthermore, it can serve as a basis for discussions and reflection on faith, sexuality and lgbtq in the Free Church contexts.

This report deals with various aspects, on countermeasures taken to diminish the impact of the Chernobyl accident, in critical fallout areas of Jämtland county, in order to reduce the contamination of the farmers produce and food stuff items with Cs-137 in the years 1986 – 1992. At the time of the Chernobyl radioactive fallout in Sweden the growing season had not yet started in Jämtland county (middle east Sweden), where two moun-tainous agriculture areas were critically contaminated with Cs-137. There was thus time for consideration if these areas, sensible for transfer of Cs-137 to crops, could be used for further agricultural produce, or had to be excluded. According-ly, the Swedish government delegated to Swedish radiation safety authority (SSI) to set up acceptable limits for contents Cs-137 in food stuff items, and to inform regional authorities (Agricultural boards) to facilitate the accomplishment of investigations and field research, which effectively could decrease the transfer of Cs-137 to agricultural crop and animal products. In Jämtland county, agriculture animal and soil advisers were to take part in the direct information of the farmers. Agr Dr I. Bjäresten, animal adviser, is initiator and head author of the report. She was much engaged on all levels of developing and testing the countermeasures to be employed by the farmers, and especially so in the years 1986 and 1987. Agr B. Jönsson, soil adviser is author of the supple-ment, where he re-ports about soil conditions and experiences from the field con-tamination areas investigated in years 1986-1990. Docent K. Rosén, research scientist in radioecology and soil sciences, SLU, is a staff member of research teams on the Jämtland county. He was engaged to get the report published. The report comprises a description of steps taken between the national authori-ties and the Jämtland county administration board in the unexpected situation after the Chernobyl serious fallout. The administration board made many delega-tions to the regional farming advisers, of which the latter in turn cooperated with the farmers concerned, of the "mysterious" radioactive fallout on their fields, and with university departments working with radioecology in Sweden. Their task was to estimate effective decrease of the different countermeasures recommend-ed and to a great extent implemented by the farmers on field and animal levels. The report can be considered as a narrative or account of experiences obtained by Bjäresten during her work with suitable countermeasures to decrease conta-mination of plant and animal products from the contaminated area considered.

We live in a moment of hardening of nationalist discourses against immigration and racial minorities. In this conservative climate, Canada prevails as a benchmark for multicultural integration. However, there are voices within the nation that question this image of harmony. The case of the Black Vancouver community has not yet been studied in depth in this regard. This article of reflection aims to contribute to the debate on the relations of the nation-state and subaltern groups, and how they manifest themselves in the multicultural city. Vancouver has been chosen as a paradigmatic space because of its transcultural character built on indigenous lands. The object of study was the literature of Wayde Compton author and black activist of the city. Stemming from theories of the socio-spatial dialectic of Edward Soja and Leonie Sandercock, this article analyses the connection between the city, its representation in literature and its effects on social relationships. The work of Compton and its parallelism with the geo-history of Vancouver and subaltern ethnic communities were analysed. The result reaches a reading of Vancouver as a (post)colonial city and space of subaltern multiculturalism, regarding the official Canadian model, and colonialism that has made invisible to the Black Vancouver and the indigenous communities.

Det finns lantbruksföretagare som idag upplever en stor arbetsbelastning, ekonomisk börda, frustration och stress orsakat av olika lagkrav och myndighets- och branschkontroller, vilket är ett allvarligt hinder för utveckling och tillväxt i sektorn. Denna studie syftade till att identifiera och kvantifiera tid och kostnader för olika regelverk som belastar de svenska lantbruks- och landsbygdsföretagarna och analysera effekterna av dessa. Studien omfattade analys av utvecklingen av antalet regler som gäller för lantbruksföretag under 1996-2016. För att kvantifiera tid och kostnad för lantbruksföretagens administration användes en digital dagbok där cirka 50 lantbruksföretagare registrerade den tid som de årligen lade ner för insamling, dokumentation och rapportering av uppgifter och kostnader för administration, kontroll, inspektioner och tillstånd. Vidare intervjuades 30 lantbruks- och landsbygdsföretagare, statliga tjänstemän och rådgivare om deras erfarenheter kring lagstiftning och byråkrati i svensk livsmedelsproduktion. Under 20-årsperioden 1996-2016 ökade antalet lagkrav som berör lantbruket med 120%. Flest lagkrav berör gårdar med nötkreatur i kombination med växtodling (ca 450 lagkrav). Under samma period ökade även kravet på antalet journaler med 340% (från 5 till 22) och tillfällen då det krävs en anmälan eller tillstånd med 450% (från 6 till 33). Den ökande byråkratin tar tid att hantera och medför en kostnad och mental belastning för företagen. Den administrativa aktivitet som tog mest tid var journalföring, märkning och rapportering av djur. Kostnaden för rapportering av djur (per djurenhet) var fem gånger högre för får jämfört med nötkreatur. Förberedelser, genomförande och efterarbete av kontroller var den administrativa aktivitet som tog näst mest tid för företagen. Drygt 70% av företagen som deltog i studien kontrollerades minst en gång under en sexmånadersperiod. Knappt 30% av företagen kontrollerades av både myndighet och bransch under samma period. Flera företag framförde önskemål om att kommuner, myndigheter och bransch skulle samordna eller samverka kring kontroller. De flesta företagen som medverkade i projektet var generellt nöjda med sin inspektör eller kontrollant men upplevde det som ett stort problem när kontrollanten hade låg kompetens, speciellt inom djurskydd. De ansåg att utfallet av kontrollen delvis var ett resultat av vilken kontrollant de haft, eller vilken kommun de var verksamma i och att det skiljde sig åt mellan kontrollanter och kommuner. Företagarna upplevde tvärvillkorskontroller extra jobbiga, då en avvikelse kunde få stora ekonomiska konsekvenser. Tjänstemännen ansåg att de arbetade med samsyn inom myndigheten och kände sig ibland hotade och uthängda i media. Det har i många år funnits en politisk vilja att förenkla regelverket för företagen. Detta har avspeglats i att flera myndigheter har fått i uppdrag att förenkla via sitt regleringsbrev. Frekvensen på detta uppdrag har varierat mellan olika myndigheter och år. Förenklingarna som genomförts har ibland förenklat för företagen och ibland för myndigheterna.

Stratagems adopted by democratic leaders to try to insinuate, or anchor, a preferred course of action into the larger collective will have a variety of repercussions. Beyond the apparent success of the venture itself, the long-term integrity of the democratic fabric may be at stake if simmering rancour and discontent is left unheeded. These questions would seem particularly pertinent when studying the national side of the evolution of the European Union. The periodic shunting of competencies to European institutions is highly complex, so much so that popular legitimacy for the momentous changes is in effect something of an ephemeral commodity. The referendum, with its unique potential to determine the prevailing vox populi, has from time to time been employed to offset these problems, and lend continued credence to the relinquishment of sovereign power. The political entities that will be the powerhouses in this contest for the hearts and minds of the public are, inevitably, national political parties. They, too, are likely to pay whatever political price will be exacted as a consequence of this unusual form of battle – including the exposition and potential widening of internal rifts. Noticing a dearth of investigative tools that can help us unravel these processes, the author develops a structured framework of analysis specifically designed to "parse" strategic or tactical action, with the aim to gauge likely party-democratic fallout. She makes a first-level distinction between "convincing" strategies (basically conceptualised as compatible with deli¬berative-democratic tenets), and "persuading" strategies (closely associated with a subset of negotiation theory principles focusing on strategic action). While both strategies may lead to the desired short-term outcome – where leadership preferences are duly propagated – a convince/persuade analysis is shown to yield improved understanding of the concomitant, longer-term effects. The author studies the Swedish Social Democratic Party's internal handling of the debates leading up to two pivotal referenda – the EU membership referendum of 1994, and the EMU referendum of 2003. Reviewing a wealth of secondary sources and conducting more than 40 interviews with high-level party officials and other centrally positioned actors (representing both sides of the two issue divides), she is provided with a unique material, which is parsed through the framework (which at this point also proves to be a sound analytical instrument). The study is primarily qualitative in nature, but an entire chapter is devoted to a complementing quantitative analysis where an existing Discourse Quality Index (DQI) is used to determine the level of deliberation prevalent in four party congresses (two preceding the EU referendum; two preceding the EMU referendum). One "convince" sub-dimension, respect, proved to be the one most easily affected by external events, not to mention deadline imposed by the referendum. The qualitative analysis revealed a generally higher level of justification (another "convince" sub-dimension) in the EMU case than in the EU case, and the reverse was true for the respect dimension. In both instances, the party leadership acted to pacify [persuade] the debate, notably by prohibiting government ministers from being active in the respective no-campaigns. A preliminary hypothesis that "deliberative space" shrinks as the final deadline looms was in part corroborated, as turned out to be valid for the respect dimension.

This dissertation is about expert influence and democracy and focuses on how political decision-making about issues highly dependent on qualified scientific expertise should come about in order to be democratic. The primary purpose of the study is to evaluate, from a democratic perspective, the Swedish legislative process concerned with medical gene technology ? an archetypal case where the decision-making processes involve a marked level of expertise. It is argued that a democratic decision-making process should be characterized by openness and transparency and the possibility for a variety of standpoints to be visible and open to debate. This democratic norm is valid for all decision-making processes and the crucial question is whether a decision-making process highly dependent on qualified scientific expertise would have difficulties meeting such posed democratic criteria. The author makes a systematic empirical and normative analysis of the decision-making process in question, which is anatomised and evaluated against the democratic norm. The overall result of the study is that scientific experts have been able to define the problems on the political agenda and, thereby, had influenced the process as a whole. However, this has not constrained a variety of standpoints to be visible, but views expressed about the experts? problem definitions have prompted more frequent responses from the political decision-makers than other views, which only occasionally have been responded to. The Swedish legislative process concerned with medical gene technology has thereby partly deviated from democratic ideals.

[Twilight of Swedish social democracy]For fear of a supposedly worse result, the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) greeted the outcome in the Swedish parliamentary election in 2018 as a half victory. SAP's poor support among voters, the lowest since an almost general male suffrage was introduced in 1911, underlines the malaise afflicting social democracy's global flagship. In his article, written before the result of the long government-forming process, Göran Therborn charts the background to the election results by examining the SAP-led neoliberalization of Swedish politics since the early 1980s, and the rise of the far-right party Sverigedemokraterna (the Sweden Democrats) as a political force in the wake of recession and refugee arrivals. To this Swedish translation, Therborn has added a short postscript on the latest development after the January agreement in 2019 that led to the formation of a SAP-led minority government.Publication history: A translation of a, by the author, slightly revised and enlarged version of "Twilight of Swedish Social Democracy" in New Left Review, issue 113 2018 (https://newleftreview.org).(Published 15 April 2019)Citation: Therborn, Göran (2019) "Solen går ner över svensk socialdemokrati", in Arkiv. Tidskrift för samhällsanalys, issue 10, pp. 7–32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13068/2000-6217.10.1 ; Av rädsla inför ett förmodat än sämre resultat hälsade Socialdemokraterna resultatet i det svenska riksdagsvalet 2018 som en halv seger. SAP:s usla stöd bland väljarna, det lägsta sedan en nästan allmän manlig rösträtt infördes 1911, understryker det missnöje som drabbat socialdemokratins globala flaggskepp. I sin artikel, som skrevs före det att regeringsbildningen blev klar, kartlägger Göran Therborn bakgrunden till valresultatet genom att granska den av SAP ledda nyliberala omsvängningen av svensk politik sedan början av 1980-talet, och uppgången för Sverigedemokraterna som politisk kraft i spåren av lågkonjunktur och flyktinginvandring. Till denna svenska översättning har Therborn fogat en kort efterskrift om den senaste utvecklingen efter januariavtalet 2019.Publiceringshistorik: Översättning av en, av författaren, något reviderad och utvidgad version av artikeln "Twilight of Swedish Social Democracy" i New Left Review, nr 113 2018 (https://newleftreview.org).(Publicerad 15 april 2019)Förslag på källangivelse: Therborn, Göran (2019) "Solen går ner över svensk socialdemokrati", i Arkiv. Tidskrift för samhällsanalys, nr 10, s. 7–32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13068/2000-6217.10.1

In this report future annual emissions amounts of gaseous pollutants, particulate matter (PM10) and noise from the non-road mobile machinery sector in Sweden were estimated. The estimates over future emissions amounts were conducted for each year from 2006 to 2020. Special focus has been taken to the impact of European and national legislations, the age distribution of different types and sizes of machinery and measures to reduce the annual emissions. Besides different measures to reduce emissions, corresponding costs were also estimated. The study comprises fuel consumption and emissions of CO2, carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM), and noise from non-road mobile machinery equipped with diesel engines with a rated engine power of 37 to 560 kW. Non-road mobile machinery for example includes tractors, wheel loaders, excavators, articulate haulers, mobile cranes, combined harvesters, forestry machinery and trucks. The current report was a supplementary study to a report describing a methodology for estimating annual fuel consumption and emissions from the non-road mobile machinery sector in Sweden for year 2006. Inventory data of the year 2006 study was obtained from the Swedish machinery testing institute's machinery inspection operation, statistics of sale returns from trade organisations and the Swedish motor-vehicle register. The number of machinery and annual fuel consumption and emissions amounts for year 2006 is presented in table S1. Besides estimates of annual fuel consumption and emissions amounts, emissions of noise was also derived both at a national level and for a specific construction site. For the case study the results showed that it was possible to reduce the average noise level with more than 3 dB(A) compared with the base scenario just by choosing the machinery fulfilling the strictest noise limits, i.e. Stage II which was mandatory for most machinery from 2006. Other measures simulated included various types of retrofit of noise reduction packages. The specific cost for the different measures to reduce average noise emissions from the specific construction site varied from 4 000 up to more than 500 000 SEK dB-1. For the estimate of future fuel consumption and emissions amounts various simulations were conducted, each with a different measure for reducing the annual amounts. Five main emission reduction measures or programs were studied: - Scrappage program - Alternative fuel program - Voluntary emission regulation program - Retrofit of aftertreatment program - Noise reduction program The impact on engine exhaust gas emissions and noise of the current European emission and noise regulations, Stage I to IV and Stage I to II for emissions and noise respectively were common for all simulations or programs. Besides the impact of European regulations, annual work was set to a fixed value for each type of machinery and year simulated, thus eliminating any potential changes of the state of the market. The result of the baseline scenario "Business as usual" (BAU), i.e. only taking account to the impact of European regulation, is presented in table S2 for four different years Both fuel consumption and emissions of CO2 remains fairly constant as an effect of the assumption that the annual work was set at a fixed value. However, emissions of especially NOx and PM showed a major reduction due to the tighter and tighter regulations. All programs simulated were able to reduce the emissions compared with the BAU scenario with exceptions for emissions of nitrogen oxides, which increased in some of the alternative fuel programs. Both the absolute reduction and cost varied significantly between and within the various programs. Reduction of NOx varied from an accumulated increase in emissions of 25 000 tonne to an accumulated reduction of 22 000 tonne for the studied period from 2006 to 2020. At the same time the accumulated cost for the programs varied from a few hundred million SEK to more than 60 000 million SEK. In table S3, specific reduction cost for each pollutant in SEK kg-1 for eight typical emission reduction programs are presented. The results showed that the most economically favourable alternative for reducing emissions from non-road mobile machinery was the voluntary emissions regulation program, i.e. early introduction of machinery fulfilling coming emission limits. Another important result was that the introduction of alternative fuels as a mean of emissions reduction was associated with rather high costs compared to the actual reduction in emissions. For emissions of nitrogen oxides the specific reduction cost varied from almost 100 SEK kg-1 up to a few hundreds of SEK kg-1 except for the alternative fuel programs, which resulted in a considerable higher cost.