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Existing research has found heterogeneity in the implementation of Lean and its outcomes in terms of employee involvement across countries. This article explores the potential role of labour–management relations. It relies on in-depth company case studies carried out in the aerospace industry in France and Sweden. The study finds significant variations in employee involvement – higher in the Swedish than in the French cases. Managerial orientations did play a role, as the ‘technocratic’ form of Lean in France echoed a more unilateral top-down conception of management, while Swedish managers appeared more receptive to the ‘involvement-enhancing’ paradigm. But the attitudes and behaviours of unions were also a crucial factor, as Swedish unions were very effective in impinging on the implementation of Lean at workplace level, while their French counterparts, often divided, adopted a more defensive stance, lacking expertise and implication in the promotion of high-involvement work organisations.

The right-wing Swedish Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) is increasingly active on social media. Using discursive psychology, this text explores the rhetorical organization of text and rhetorical resources used on the Swedish online forum Flashback. The aim is to reveal and problematize truth claims about NRM made by antagonists and protagonists. Questions are (1) how and what do NRM antagonists and protagonists convey in Flashback posts about NRM, and its ideology and members? (2) how do NRM antagonists and protagonists make truth claims about NRM in Flashback posts? The empirical material consisting of 1546 Flashback posts analyzed to identify typical discussions on “NMR’s true nature”; accomplished social actions stemming from the posts. Findings show that the Flashback thread can be understood as being a rhetorical battle that concerns the “truth” about NRM, where a variety of rhetorical resources are used to render statements credibility and those involved legitimacy.

Social capital theory states that civic engagement generates positive outcomes, such as social trust and political interest. Likewise, studies show that those involved in civic engagement generally report higher levels of social trust and political interest. It is still unclear, however, whether these differences are the result of socialization or selection. We used between-effects and fixed-effects regressions to examine the development of political orientations in a three-wave longitudinal sample of 1,050 adolescents. From our results, volunteering seemed to have no socialization effect whatsoever on political interest and potentially a weak enhancing effect on social trust. Associational membership did not predict social trust over time, but it seemed to socialize members into increased political interest over time. The results are discussed in light of the social capital debate about how civic engagemend in associational life and volunteering do - or do not - function as schools of democracy.

It is important to identify factors associated with loneliness in older people if effective policies and strategies to prevent and reduce loneliness are to be developed. In this presentation two studies that identify factors associated with loneliness in old age are reported. Strengths and weaknesses of the studies, which differ in design and focus, shed light on issues of importance for future studies on loneliness.

The first study was based on data from two waves of SWEOLD, a Swedish longitudinal national survey study (N=613). It aimed to examine the extent to which older people (70+) report feelings of loneliness with a focus on changes in loneliness over time, and on factors predicting loneliness in women and men, respectively. This study showed that older people moved in and out of loneliness over time, but there was a general increase in loneliness as they aged. It also identified gender differences in both incidence and risk factors.

The second study was based on data from the Barnsley Social Exclusion in Old Age Study, an English cross-sectional community survey (N=1255), and aimed to identify risk factors for social and emotional loneliness in older people (65+). This study identified different, as well as shared, risk factors for social and emotional loneliness, thereby providing further empirical support for the conceptual separation of emotional and social loneliness.

Taken together, these studies demonstrate the importance of: 1) longitudinal research in order to determine risk factors for loneliness; 2) considering women and men separately; and 3) looking at social and emotional loneliness separately. These approaches in combination will aid the development of effective interventions to reduce loneliness in the older population and to ensure those interventions are targeted at the appropriate groups.

Objectives: Longitudinal research on loneliness in old age has rarely considered loneliness separately for men and women, despite gender differences in life experiences. The objective of this study was to examine the extent to which older women and men (70C) report feelings of loneliness with a focus on: (a) changes in reported loneliness as people age, and (b) which factors predict loneliness.

Method: Data from the 2004 and 2011 waves of SWEOLD, a longitudinal national survey, was used (n D 587). The prediction of loneliness in 2011 by variables measured in 2004 and 20042011 variable change scores was examined in three logistic regression models: total sample, women and men. Variables in the models included: gender, age, education, mobility problems, depression, widowhood and social contacts.

Results: Older people moved into and out of frequent loneliness over time, although there was a general increase in loneliness with age. Loneliness at baseline, depression increment and recent widowhood were significant predictors of loneliness in all three multivariable models. Widowhood, depression, mobility problems and mobility reduction predicted loneliness uniquely in the model for women; while low level of social contacts and social contact reduction predicted loneliness uniquely in the model for men.

Conclusion: This study challenges the notion that feelings of loneliness in old age are stable. It also identifies important gender differences in prevalence and predictors of loneliness. Knowledge about such differences is crucial for the development of effective policy and interventions to combat loneliness in later life.

Objectives: Loneliness is an important influence on quality of life in old age, and has been conceptualised as consisting of two dimensions, social and emotional. This paper describes analyses that sought to produce models of social and emotional loneliness in older people, using demographic, psychological and health, and social variables.

Method: Older people (aged 65+, N=1255) from the Barnsley metropolitan area of the United Kingdom were recruited randomly from within a stratified sampling frame, and received a questionnaire-based interview (response rate: 68.1%). The questionnaire contained items and scales on demographic, psychological and health and social characteristics, and a validated measure of loneliness that assesses both social and emotional loneliness.

Results: Of the respondents, 7.7% were found to be severely or very severely lonely, while another 38.3% were moderately lonely. Social and Emotional Loneliness shared 19.36% variance. Being male, being widowed, low well-being, low self-esteem, low income comfort, low contact with family, low contact with friends, low Activity, low Perceived Community Integration, and receipt of community care were significant predictors of Social Loneliness (R=.50, R²=.25, F(18, 979)=18.17, p<.001). Being widowed, low well-being, low self-esteem, high activity restriction, low income comfort, and non-receipt of informal care were significant predictors of Emotional Loneliness (R=.55, R²=.30, F(18, 973)=23.00, p<.001).

Conclusion:  This study provides further empirical support for the conceptual separation of emotional and social loneliness. Consequently, policy on loneliness in older people should be directed to developing a range of divergent intervention strategies if both emotional and social loneliness are to be reduced.

On the 15th of April, 2012, The Modern Museum (Modernamuseet) in Stockholm celebrated the World Art Day by having a reception with the Swedish cultural minister present, at which an artwork in the form of a cake made in the likeness of the body of a caricatured black woman was served, cut up and eaten, while the artist, masked as the cakes head, screamed. This conceptual, relational, and contextualizing artwork, which leads to a much heated debate in Sweden and which was also internationally picked up on, was made by the explicitly anti-racist artist Makode Linde. In this article, we explore the problem of this event in terms of its sociocultural significance. How did we react upon the drama that we were following from a distance? What did it make us see? What questions did the incident raise about the Swedish society of today? These are examples of the questions we as gender researchers working in Sweden will discuss in the form of a triptych. We use the triptych metaphor as a tool for opening dialogue. By opening its panels it becomes possible to decommodify the single image of the artwork and make relations between agents traceable, visible, and readable.

Detta bidrag har sin grund i ett nyligen avslutat forskningsprojekt om kulturellt entreprenörskap med Hultsfredsfestivalen som empiriskt exempel (Trondman et al., 2022). Intresset för entreprenörskap har under de senaste decennierna ökat markant. Men när forskningsfältet formerades under den första delen av 1900-talet var det primärt en form av entreprenörskap som stod i fokus, det ekonomiska eller kommersiella entreprenörskapet. Under de senaste decennierna har begreppet dock vidgats och omfattar idag även så kallat socialt och kulturellt entreprenörskap. Detta bidrag syftar till att utmana föreställningen om att entreprenörskap antingen är av det ena eller andra slaget. I stället argumenteras för att entreprenörskap inte är statiskt utan föränderligt och dynamiskt, det kan röra sig från ett kulturellt entreprenörskap till ett socialt och/eller ekonomiskt entreprenörskap. Detta resonemang kommer presenteras i vad jag kallar för entreprenörskapets värdetriangel. Jag kommer även argumentera för att dessa tre former av entreprenörskap inte är uteslutande utan komplementära. I forskning och teoribildning om de tre formerna av entreprenörskap uppfattas dessa i sin tur förbundna med i huvudsak tre värden, kulturellt, socialt och ekonomiskt värde. Men entreprenörskapets värdetriangel utmanar denna dikotomisering. Med grund i projektet om Hultsfredsfestivalen och värdetriangeln går det på god grund hävda att entreprenörskap inte endast kan generera ett fåtal värden utan ofta en mängd värden vilket gör det mer rättvisande att tala i termer om kluster av mervärden. Ambitionen är därmed även att föreslå alternativa sätt att värdera entreprenörskap, med tyngdpunkt på kulturellt entreprenörskap, utöver ekonomiska termer. Det teoretiska ramverket bygger dels på teorier om entreprenörskap med företrädare som Joseph Shumpeter och Israel Kirtzner. Dels bygger det på organisationssociologiska teoribildning med företrädare som Max Weber, Göran Ahrne, Mark Grannovetter.

Detta är den unika och välkända Hultsfredsfestivalens osannolika och skiftande historia. Här får läsaren en livfull och helt ovanlig berättelse från hundratals inblandade: förhistoria, tillblivelse, utveckling och fall liksom skildringar av vad man gjort efter tiden med festivalen.

Boken är ett stycke musikhistoria till festivalen kom en rad världsartister liksom inhemska stjärnor, men också nybörjare - liksom musikälskare från hela landet och från grannländerna. Här finns såväl ungdomskultur som musikhistoria och platsen i sig: Hultsfred i Småland. Man gick mer eller mindre man ur huse och arbetade på olika sätt med och för festivalen. I spetsen en grupp ungdomar utan erfarenhet men med en oförskräckt vilja som kunde försätta berg.

Mats Trondman är professor och projektledare, författare och berömd redan för sin doktorsavhandling Bilden av en klassresa. De övriga i redaktionskommittén och bland författarna är alla forskare vid olika universitet.

In our ongoing project Searching for Sophia in Music Production, we explore factors that have been of great significance for the Swedish music wonder. In this paper, the aim is to identify important individuals in various genres that have paved the way for Sweden’s international success in music. One hypothesis we are working with is that a few innovative individuals who acted as "icebreakers" created smaller "clusters" centered around record companies that were highly influential. We present aselection of musical icebreakers and clusters that have successfully contributed to the Swedish music wonder: Stig "Stikkan" Anderson and Polar Music International AB, Bert Karlsson and Mariann Records, Ola Håkansson with Sonet and Ten Music Group, Robert von Bahr with BIS Records, Per-Olof "Pelle" Karlsson with Prim Records and Dag Volle "Denniz PoP" with Cheiron Studios. The study is methodologically based on literature studies and an inventory of source material as well as interviews with key people in Swedish music life. Theoretical perspectives include Jennifer Lena’s and Richard Peterson's (2008) model for the life cycles of genres, with stages of creation, development, conservation and stagnation, Paul Thompson's model for creativity in record production (2019) and Mats Trondman's theories of folk musical expression (1999). In addition, the analysis also uses theories in motivational research (Deci & Ryan, 2000) and entrepreneurial research with relevance to music and music industry development (Tschmuck, 2006; Östman 2018). Our analysis clearly shows that single theories cannot explain all essential parts of the Swedish music wonder. A combination of several theories and explanatory models is therefore needed. In our presentation, core issues around this are discussed.

 Inom vårt pågående projekt Searching for Sophia in Music Production utforskas faktorer som varit av stor betydelse för det svenska musikundret. I detta sammanhang åsyftas att identifiera viktiga aktörer inom olika genrer som banat väg för svenska internationella musikframgångar. En hypotes vi arbetat med är att ett fåtal mindre ”kluster” centrerade kring skivbolag med några enstaka personer som agerat som ”isbrytare” varit av stor betydelse. Här presenteras analyser av klustren Polar Music International AB, Mariann Records, Prim Records och Cheiron med isbrytare som Stig ”Stikkan” Anderson (1931-1997), Bert Karlsson (f. 1945), Svante Bengtsson (f. 1944) och Dag Volle ”Denniz PoP” (1963-1998). Studien bygger metodologiskt på litteraturstudier och inventering av källmaterial samt intervjuer med nyckelpersoner inom svenskt musikliv. Teoretiska perspektiv inkluderar Jennifer Lena och Richard Petersons (2008) modell för genrers livscykler med skapelse, utveckling, konservering och stagnation, Paul Thompsons modell för kreativitet vid skivproduktion (2019) och Mats Trondmans teorier om folkliga musikaliska uttryck (1999). Dessutom används i analysen även teorier inom motivationsforskning (Deci & Ryan, 2000) och entreprenörsforskning med relevans för musik och musikbranschutveckling (Tschmuck, 2006; Östman 2018). Resultat och slutsatser Vår analys visar tydligt att enskilda teorier inte kan förklara alla väsentliga delar i det svenska musikundret. Det behövs därför en kombination av flera teorier och förklaringsmodeller. I vår panel diskuteras kärnfrågor kring just detta. 

Detta är den unika och välkända Hultsfredsfestivalens osannolika och skiftande historia. Här får läsaren en livfull och helt ovanlig berättelse från hundratals inblandade: förhistoria, tillblivelse, utveckling och fall liksom skildringar av vad man gjort efter tiden med festivalen.

Boken är ett stycke musikhistoria till festivalen kom en rad världsartister liksom inhemska stjärnor, men också nybörjare - liksom musikälskare från hela landet och från grannländerna. Här finns såväl ungdomskultur som musikhistoria och platsen i sig: Hultsfred i Småland. Man gick mer eller mindre man ur huse och arbetade på olika sätt med och för festivalen. I spetsen en grupp ungdomar utan erfarenhet men med en oförskräckt vilja som kunde försätta berg.

Mats Trondman är professor och projektledare, författare och berömd redan för sin doktorsavhandling Bilden av en klassresa. De övriga i redaktionskommittén och bland författarna är alla forskare vid olika universitet.

Detta är den unika och välkända Hultsfredsfestivalens osannolika och skiftande historia. Här får läsaren en livfull och helt ovanlig berättelse från hundratals inblandade: förhistoria, tillblivelse, utveckling och fall liksom skildringar av vad man gjort efter tiden med festivalen.

Boken är ett stycke musikhistoria till festivalen kom en rad världsartister liksom inhemska stjärnor, men också nybörjare - liksom musikälskare från hela landet och från grannländerna. Här finns såväl ungdomskultur som musikhistoria och platsen i sig: Hultsfred i Småland. Man gick mer eller mindre man ur huse och arbetade på olika sätt med och för festivalen. I spetsen en grupp ungdomar utan erfarenhet men med en oförskräckt vilja som kunde försätta berg.

Mats Trondman är professor och projektledare, författare och berömd redan för sin doktorsavhandling Bilden av en klassresa. De övriga i redaktionskommittén och bland författarna är alla forskare vid olika universitet.

Detta är den unika och välkända Hultsfredsfestivalens osannolika och skiftande historia. Här får läsaren en livfull och helt ovanlig berättelse från hundratals inblandade: förhistoria, tillblivelse, utveckling och fall liksom skildringar av vad man gjort efter tiden med festivalen.

Boken är ett stycke musikhistoria till festivalen kom en rad världsartister liksom inhemska stjärnor, men också nybörjare - liksom musikälskare från hela landet och från grannländerna. Här finns såväl ungdomskultur som musikhistoria och platsen i sig: Hultsfred i Småland. Man gick mer eller mindre man ur huse och arbetade på olika sätt med och för festivalen. I spetsen en grupp ungdomar utan erfarenhet men med en oförskräckt vilja som kunde försätta berg.

Mats Trondman är professor och projektledare, författare och berömd redan för sin doktorsavhandling Bilden av en klassresa. De övriga i redaktionskommittén och bland författarna är alla forskare vid olika universitet.

This article aims to contribute knowledge on how access to hierarchical networks of communication is constructed through organizational contexts associated with the gendered nature of feminized, caring work and masculinized, technical work, respectively. The article is based on interviews with 43 middle managers. Both men and women in male-dominated technical occupations and female-dominated caring occupations were interviewed. Eight interviews with politicians and strategic managers were also carried out. The results show that middle managers' access to hierarchical networks differs between feminized and masculinized contexts; hierarchical networks between organizational levels are common in male-dominated technical jobs, while such networks are almost non-existent in female-dominated caring occupations. The results illustrate how organizational conditions follow the gender segregation in organizations and the labour market and, further, how these contexts shape men's and women's access to hierarchical networks. The results also illustrate how the patterns of networks create and reproduce inequalities in sex-segregated organizations.

Since Sweden has a reputation for having a pragmatic, technocratic approach to solving social problems, the question arises as to why the country uses different methods at the national and the local level for treating violent men. If studies show that one method is superior to others, we would expect both levels of government to use similar treatment methods. Despite the emphasis on pragmatic solutions, ideology plays an important role, as the Swedish government in recent decades has largely accepted the New Public Management approach to governance. However, because of differences in institutional arrangements, it becomes logically appropriate for the national level to utilize a different type of therapy (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) than the local level (Psycho Dynamic Therapy among others). Thus, a combination of an ideological shift to New Public Management and institutional differences can explain the differences in therapeutic approaches, rather than reliance on scientific studies.

The aim of this chapter is to empirically explore, understand, and discuss the digitalization of society as part of the shared and negotiated experience among older non-and seldom-users of networked technologies (ICT). More specifically, it focuses on how older people reflect upon social change brought by the so-called waves of mediatization, with a particular focus on digitalization (Couldry and Hepp, 2017). Digitalization is understood here as the third wave of mediatization that relates to the computer, internet, and mobile phone. Of particular interest here is the internet, namely the contemporary infrastructure that links media devices with computers and large data centers. It is also an infrastructure that has undergone rather fast transformation from a “closed, publicly funded and publicly oriented network for specialist communication into a deeply commercialized, increasingly banal space for the conduct of social life itself”(Couldry and Hepp, 2017, 50, emphasis in the original). Mediation and the communicative organization of time are usually approached in terms of clocks, calendars, and timetables. However, being an older person is a specific position in the life course, which allows people to reflect back upon the social change prompted by technological development. It also offers a perspective on the lived experience of different waves of mediatization, including digitalization. This chapter departs from the idea that there is not one universal and straightforward experience of time, speed, and technology but rather assumes multiple temporal landscapes, which come into play in different contexts and situations.

Critical Internet and media scholarship has primarily focused on contributing to theoretical debates within the field of media and communications but few empirical studies have applied this theoretical approach. This article uses data on older active ICT users’ understandings of digitisation. It draws inspiration from Boltanski’s pragmatist sociology of critique and the notion that people’s own take on their situation are fruitful sources of information in the quest for emancipation. It employs the notions of ideology, power and inclusion – which are central to critical scholarship – to make sense of older active ICT users’ understandings of digitisation. In doing so, it explores the fruitfulness of the critical lens for studies of ICT users while bringing attention to older active ICT users’ critical capacities.

This paper builds on an on-going project that aims to contribute to the scholarly debate on the “digital divide” by bringing to fore the complexities of older people’s understandings and usage of digital technologies.  Most scholarly debates on age and digital technologies, both within social gerontology and media and communication studies and within social gerontology, depart from the idea that the “digital divide” pertains mostly to the lack of access and/or skills to use the internet. From this point of view, older people are described not only as a particularly vulnerable group but also as a homogeneous group prone to exclusion. As such, they are believed to be at risk of ending up on the “disconnected” side of the divide.  Although research into older people’s Internet usage patterns is rapidly growing, their understandings of digital technologies, particularly in relation to how these are informed by their understandings of aging and old age, remain unexplored. 

This paper is based on the analysis of focus group interviews with 30 older adults (65+) who are active Internet users. In this presentation we focus on the relationship between patterns of the everyday Internet usage and how this usage relates to the informants’ understandings of aging and old age. The analysis suggests that the debate on the digital divide fails to address the divide that older people themselves create as they discursively position themselves against non-users when describing when, how and why they engage with digital technologies.

Den här artikeln, som bygger på data insamlade under följeforskning av projektet BoomTown, syftar till att beskriva och problematisera möjligheten att projekt kan fungera som en klustermotor för att skapa ett regionalt populärmusikkluster. Flera på varandra följande ”BoomTown-projekt” har med stöd av medel från nationella, regionala och lokala offentliga organ bedrivits i detta syfte. Resultatet visar att det är en komplex och svårgenomförbar uppgift med många hinder att passera.

Inspired by recent epistemological and ontological debates aimed at unsettling and reshaping conceptions of language, this essay discusses how mainstream sociolinguistics offers notions meaningful for studying contexts of the South. Based on empirical studies of youth in two African cities, Yaoundé in Cameroon and Maputo in Mozambique, the essay engages with ‘fluid modernity’ and ‘enregisterment’ to unravel the role that fluid multilingual practices play in the social lives of urban youth. The empirically grounded theoretical discussion shows how recent epistemologies and ontologies offer inroads to more pluriversal knowledge production. The essay foregrounds: i) the role of language in the socio-political battles of control over resources, and ii) speakers’ reflexivity and metapragmatic awareness of register formations of fluid multilingual practices. Moreover, it shows how bundles of localized meanings construct belongings and counterhegemonic discourses, as well as demonstrating speakers’ differential valuations and perceptions of boundaries and transgressions across social space.  

This thesis focuses on issues around reflexivity and highly skilled migration. Reflexivity has been an underused concept in migration studies and incurporating it has been long overdue. By reflexivity this thesis understands the capacity of an actor to evaluate his or her position in relation to social structures, to take action in managing those structures and, finally, to critically revise both the position and action taken.

There are multiple reasons as to why incorporating reflexivity is a useful endeavor to migration studies. On one hand, using reflexive types in order to understand different migration motivations offers an alternative to otherwise mainly class based explanations behind migration objectives. Migration research has long relied on the idea that migration motivations can be coupled with societal and class background. Similarly, return migration has been described almost unanimously as a result of a homing desire. Both positions, as claimed in this thesis, are oversimplifications. On the other hand, I argue that, reflexivity helps to analyze the importance of class or even society on migration in 21th century. This is why I suggest to analyze all three in concurrence – migration, reflexivity and class.

In the following pages I analyze how reflexivity can be operationalized for studying migration. So far, reflexivity has been either used as background concept – mobility studies or for explaining particular kind of migration – lifestyle migration. I argue, that with careful operationalization reflexivity could be useful tool for explaining wide-variety of migrations – family, labour, lifestyle etc. Three articles in this thesis focus on providing such operationalizations, analyzing the relationship between migration motivations and reflexivity. Finally, the first article in this thesis analyzes the background of my particular group of migrants – Estonian highly skilled migrants and positions them in relation to other groups in Estonian society. Moreover, the article also underlines that self-development and lifestyle, if you will, is an important motivation for Eastern European migrants as well.