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The essay To negotiate truth is a cultural analytical study of the boundary work that takes place in the comment sections, more specifically in relations to the climate change debate and Greta Thunberg’s climate activism. This paper deals with empirical material in the form of comments obtained from the Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet’s and Expressen’s comment field on Facebook. The data-gathering method used for this paper is digital ethnography. This study aims to create an understanding of how argumentation is presented in open social arenas such as Expressen and Aftonbladet's comments field. The purpose of the study has been to show how the contested claims and facts are legitimized and negotiated in the comment fields. The theoretical framework has consisted of discourse theory and Boundary objects theory. The questions to be answered in the study is: In what way is truth constructed in the debate? How are the various claims of truth legitimized? In what way are facts and science used in the legitimization of the different claims of truths? The analysis shows that truth is constructed in many different ways, partly through what i choose to call denial and distrust discourse. The analysis also showed how climate research and the climate can be seen as a boundary object and be used to stabilize the denial discourse further. The result also showed that scientific evidence can be used in a variety of ways in the legitimization of the different claims of truth. On the one hand, there is a demand for more nuanced research to be presented in the media, this creates an image that there are two sides of climate science that are of equal importance. The analysis also showed how mistrust and doubt against established media, political processes and science in general can be used in the legitimization of various statements of truth. I also claim that Greta can be seen as a boundary object in the ongoing negotiation. The use of religious metaphors also proves to be of great importance in trying to undermine the climate issue and climate research in general.

The restructuring of Swedish newspapers due to technological and economic changes in the last decade has hit journalists, and especially photojournalists, very hard. In 2017, Sweden's 165 daily newspapers only employed a total of 60 photojournalists combined, with 70 newspapers left with no photojournalist on staff at all. However, during the same time period the use of images in Swedish newspapers increased. Using Bourdieu’s field theory, the purpose of this dissertation is to analyse the positions of photojournalism and photojournalists in the Swedish journalistic field during a crucial and important time for the media industry, through 40 interviews with respondents in swedish newspaper as well as with freelancers in the field. The actors varied in age, gender and number of years in the field, and most importantly through different amounts of symbolic capital, in accordance with Bourdieu’s theory. The study shows that Swedish photojournalists’ ideal was to document the world and produce in-depth visual news stories. However, these time-consuming ideals comes into conflict with emerging market-oriented ideals described by other actors in the Swedish journalistic field. This also meant that although photojournalism itself is described as having an increased importance in the field, the photojournalists hadn’t received a correspondingly higher status. The study concludes that the commercial importance of photojournalism to the market-oriented journalistic field, as described by actors in the field, shows how it has become a professional boundary object which in turn exposes an on-going professional boundary work and symbolic power struggles between, on the one side, media managers, reporters and multi-skilled journalists and on the other side, photojournalists, concerning the doxa and ethos of photojournalism which in turn is affecting the professional position of photojournalists in the Swedish journalistic field.

The focus of this thesis is to analyze the monthly magazine Tidskrift för svensk skolfilm och bildningsfilm (magazine for Swedish Educational Movies and Learning Movies) in the startup years of the magazine from 1924-1926. I use three theoretical concepts from sociology professor Tomas Gieryn called epistemic authority, credibility contest and the larger sum of the two - boundary work - to examine how the magazine argues for educational movies. My line of questioning is firstly: How does the magazine argue for and describe educational movies, and secondly: How does the magazine argue to be a part of the advancement of society? In my historically interpretation of the source material I find six themes. The first is movies seen as the foremost form of visually pedagogy (åskådningspedagogik), which was a highly rated educational phenomenon in the early 20th century. In short, the magazine argues that no other educational material such as books or oral learning affected the students as much as movies. Therefore, the school should use educational (nonfiction) movies on a broader scale. The second theme is that movies make the school subjects more interested, and therefore the students will be more motivated to learn. The third theme of arguing I have found in the magazine is that movies can be used as a historical time capsule for later generations. These three themes are especially aiming to answer my first question in the thesis. The other three highlights my second question. As the fourth theme I see Gustaf Berg, the publisher and headman of the magazine, and the magazine itself as pioneers for the mission of greater use of educational movies. In addition, the magazine also argues that the biggest Swedish movie company Svensk Filmindustri (SF), should be seen as an ally to the cause of spreading the educational movies. The fifth theme I have found is that a group Bildningsfilmens vänner (The Friends of Educational Movies) appear frequently in the magazine. They act both as writers and audience and are described in the magazine with utmost positive metaphors. I see the group as a created and imagined society that help the cause gaining credibility. The last theme is that the magazine describes itself and its writers as international versed, which is used to further improve the image and credibility of the magazine and the boundary work it does. My conclusion is that all six themes show that the magazine use itself and its headman Berg as a rhetorical platform to argue from, to gain higher credibility for educational movies.

Psykisk ohälsa i arbetslivet är ett stort och växande problem i välfärdssamhället. Problemet har flera bottnar och väcker många frågor om vem som har ansvar, vad det egentligen är för ett slags fenomen och hur det bör hanteras. Den här studien undersöker hur arbetsrelaterad psykisk ohälsa hanteras av yrkesverksamma inom vården, med fokus på företagshälsovård och primärvård. Intresse riktas mot hur yrkesverksamma personerna resonerar kring arbetsrelaterad psykisk ohälsa, vilka dilemman de ställs inför och de strategier de har för att hantera dessa. Den söker också svar på ansvarsfrågan kring detta komplexa problem, inte minst i ljuset av privatiseringen av företagshälsovården. I studien används ett tvärvetenskapligt perspektiv, där begrepp från teknik- och vetenskapsstudier (STS), professionssociologi och organisationsteori kombineras för att analysera olika aspekter av vårdens hantering av arbetsrelaterad psykisk ohälsa. Det empiriska materialet bygger i huvudsak på intervjuer med läkare, psykoterapeuter, kuratorer, arbetsterapeuter, psykologer, rehabiliteringskoordinatorer och beteendevetare, men inkluderar även observationer inom primärvård och företagshälsovård. Hanteringen av arbetsrelaterad psykisk ohälsa i vårdens vardag präglas av att orsaksbilden till problemet är komplext, ansvarsfördelningen otydlig och att psykosociala orsaker till sjukdom är kontroversiellt. I studien diskuteras utmaningarna och möjligheterna kring hanteringen av detta komplexa problem i bred bemärkelse. I analyserna uppmärksammas de yrkesverksammas gränsdragningar kring både ansvar och fenomenet arbetsrelaterad psykisk ohälsa. Begreppet kunskapsinfrastruktur används för att förklara och förstå den kunskapsmässiga och materiella struktur som de yrkesverksamma verkar inom. Analyserna visar att de yrkesverksamma har ett pragmatiskt förhållningssätt och använder olika strategier för att skapa sig handlingsutrymme i hur de hanterar arbetsrelaterad psykisk ohälsa. Mental ill health in working life is a major and growing problem in the welfare society. The problem is multifaceted and raises many questions about who is responsible, what kind of phenomenon it is and how it should be managed. This study examines how care professionals manage work-related mental ill health. Focusing on occupational healthcare and primary care, interest is directed towards how care professionals argue about workrelated mental illness, what dilemmas they face and the strategies they rely on in managing them. It also seeks to answer the question of responsibility regarding this complex problem, not least in the light of the privatization of occupational healthcare. The study uses a multidisciplinary perspective, combining concepts from technology and science studies (STS), sociology of professions and organizational theory in order to analyze various aspects of care management of work-related mental ill health. The empirical material is mainly based on interviews with physicians, psychotherapists, counsellors, occupational therapists, psychologists, rehabilitation coordinators and behavioral scientists, but also includes observations in primary care and occupational health care. The management of work-related mental ill health in everyday healthcare practice is characterized by the fact that the cause of the problem is complex, the division of responsibility unclear and that psychosocial causes of disease are controversial. The study discusses the challenges and possibilities of managing this complex problem in a broad sense. The analysis pays attention to the drawing of boundaries by the care professionals regarding both responsibility and the phenomenon of work-related mental illness. The concept of knowledge infrastructure is used to explain and understand the knowledge and material structures that the care professionals work within. The analysis shows that the care professionals have a pragmatic approach and use different strategies to create scope for dealing with work-related mental health.

Enlightenment and boundary work: a study of the first-generation Swedish analytical philosophers from a sociology-of-philosophy perspective The history of Swedish analytical philosophy begins with the writings of Ingemar Hedenius, Anders Wedberg, and Konrad Marc-Wogau, who introduced the country to a new style of thinking that was to become the dominant mode of academic philosophizing in it from the mid-1940s to the late 1960s. The article presents a sociological analysis of how that hegemonic position was claimed and established for it in Swedish philosophy departments. In particular, the critique that Hedenius, Wedberg, and Marc-Wogau levelled in their popular writings against continental philosophy is looked upon in detail. Drawing upon Thomas Gieryn’s theory of boundary work, it is shown how the three strove for epistemic authority by demarcating their own ‘scientific’ enterprise from the ‘unscientific’ philosophy of their competitors. This quest for authority, however, was pursued not solely for its own sake: Hedenius, Wedberg, and Marc-Wogau were also all firmly committed to the ideals of enlightenment and cultural radicalism shaping the Swedish society of their time. Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka utbildning och forskning inom fysik- och teknikämnena vid Uppsala universitet mellan åren 1955 och 1975. Här studeras dels växelverkan mellan två olika verksamheter; utbildning och forskning, och dels den lokala utvecklingen av, och gränsdragningsarbetet mellan, två vetenskapliga discipliner; fysik och teknik. Förändringarna tolkas som resultat av interaktion mellan forskning och utbildning å ena sidan, och utbildning och andra samhälleliga arenor å andra. Uppsatsen diskuterar Thomas Gieryns teori om att epistemisk auktoritet hos en vetenskap uppkommer nedströms, i en samhällelig arena utanför forskningen där den uppkom. I uppsatsen drivs tesen att lärogång inte enbart kan räknas som nedströms i relation till forskning utan som uppströms, nedströms och mer därtill. Teknikämnet i Uppsala fick sin epistemiska auktoritet vid inrättandet av universitetsingenjörsutbildningen snarare än i samband med den forskningsverksamhet som följde. Gieryn hävdar också att vetenskap definieras och förstås genom att avgränsas från sådant som det inte är. Fysik och teknik har exempelvis länge ställts mot varandra och jämförts i egenskap av skilda discipliner. Undersökningen visar dock att lärogången i fysik inte entydigt speglade distinkta fysikvetenskapliga områden, utan medvetet inkorporerade övning i både ingenjörskap och undervisning. Den tekniska utbildningen drog å andra sidan nytta av den befintliga lärogången i fysik. Detta utmanade de vetenskapliga gränserna för skolämnena fysik och teknik.

Brandmän arbetar i situationer av stark osäkerhet och risk. Ett fungerande lagarbete är en förutsättning för att de ska kunna hantera de faror som förekommer vid olyckor, samordna sin verksamhet, rädda byggnader och fordon, ta hand om drabbade människor och även undvika att själva bli skadade. Blivande brandmän måste alltså lära sig arbetssätt som inbegriper både samordning, interaktion och individuella insatser i en mycket speciell och krävande arbetsmiljö. Denna studie bygger på deltagande observationer och intervjuer inom den tvååriga yrkesutbildningen Skydd Mot Olyckor. I fokus står hur studenterna i komplexa insatsövningar lär sig en praktisk förståelse av lagarbetet i sitt kommande yrke. Studien analyserar hur övningarna organiseras som en samtidig rekonstruktion och simulering av operativa arbetsuppgifter. Skolans övningsverksamhet ses alltså som en del av ett bredare lärandefält och med nära relationer till räddningstjänstens operativa verksamhet. I studien ges en detaljerad bild av hur övningarna genomförs samt av hur studenterna lär sig skapa kontroll. Det gäller såväl över arbetets materiella villkor och tekniska utrustning som över sociala interaktioner i arbetslaget och emotionella reaktioner på osäkerhet och risk. Studien bygger på ett sociokulturellt lärandeperspektiv med emfas på praktik och lärande av praktisk förståelse. I studien kombineras perspektiv från sociologi och från Science-and-Technology-Studies (STS) för att fånga praktikens sociomateriella dimensioner av teknik, social koordinering och emotioner. Firefighters work in situations of strong uncertainty and risk. A functional teamwork is a precondition in order for them to handle dangers occurring at accidents, coordinate their activity, saving buildings and vehicles, take care of victims and avoid being hurt themselves. Potential firefighters must learn working methods that involve bringing together efforts, interaction and individual achievements in a very special and demanding work environment. The study investigates how students, through their participation in complex reallife simulations of operational work, learn a practical understanding of firefighting practice. The study draws on participant observations and interviews within the two-year firefighter’s vocational training program, Skydd mot olyckor. The study analyzes how exercises are organized simultaneously as reconstruction and simulation of operational tasks. The training program is seen as part of a larger learning field with close ties to firefighting practice. The study gives a detailed account of how exercises are conducted and of how students learn to achieve control in and through work. That includes material conditions and equipment as well as social interaction within the team and emotional reactions on uncertainty and risk. The study uses a socio-cultural learning perspective with an emphasis on practice and practical understanding. Perspectives from sociology and Science-and-Technology-Studies (STS) are combined to capture the socio-material dimensions of the specific practice studied, including technology, social coordination and emotions.

Den polska forskningspolitiken har efter statssocialismens fall 1989 stått inför omfattande förändringar. Transformationen från den sovjetiska modellen för forskningspolitiskt styre, till formuleringen och implementeringen av en ny forskningspolitisk modell, innebar att KBN (Komitet Badan Naukowych, ”Forskningskommittén”) blev huvudansvarig för utformningen av den nya forskningspolitiken och organiseringen av forskningssystemet. Kommittén skulle fungera som en mer eller mindre autonom instans i förhållande till den polska regeringen, och hade inte bara hand om ansökningsprocesser om forskningsanslag, utan även forskningspolitiken på makronivå för att försäkra vetenskapens ”frihet” i förhållande till den politiska styrningen. Politikens relation till den vetenskapliga kunskapsproduktionen gick därmed på kort tid från att vila på ideal och värden som handlade om hur vetenskapen i första hand skulle bidra till samhällsnyttan, till ideal som snarare erkände dess egenvärde, allt formulerat och utarbetat i just det forskningspolitiska sammanhanget. Detta ideal hade dessutom stark förankring i den politiska historien, och de strukturer och kultur den ”gamla” forskningssystemen, forskningspolitiken och intelligentian i Polen präglades av. Snart började dock omfattande reformer av den polska forskningspolitiken ta form. Det tidiga nittiotalets sönderfallande ekonomi, där behovet av mobilisering av offentliga resurser för uppbyggnaden av marknadsekonomin upplevdes som angeläget, och efter det, förberedelserna inför EU-inträdet 2004, bidrog till omfattande omförhandlingar och omtolkningar av den anti-politiskt orienterade forskningspolitiska modellen med akademisk självorganisering som grundval. Dessa omfattande omförhandlingar och omtolkningar är också utgångspunkten för den här studien. Fokus i analysen ligger på hur förändringsdynamiken tog sig uttryck i omtolkningarna och omförhandlingarna av idéer om och förväntningar och krav på, vetenskapens roll i den polska forskningspolitiken mellan 1989-2011. Det empiriska material som ligger till grund för studien består av dels den tidskrift som KBN utgav månatligen och som kom att bli arenan för forskningspolitisk diskussion i landet, dels styrningsdokument från hela den studerade perioden. Med hjälp av en socialkonstruktionistisk ansats visar studien att idéer om och förväntningar och krav på vetenskapens roll omförhandlats och omtolkats dramatiskt under den studerade perioden, men också hur omförhandlingarna och omtolkningarna gått till. In 1989, Polish research policy underwent transformation in the context of a broader societal transition from state socialism to democracy. KBN, Komitet Badan Naukowych (”The State Committee for Scientific Research”) was primarily responsible for the design of a new research policy and organization of the research system. In order to allay concerns about lingering state control, the Committee was to operate as a more or less autonomous body in relation to the workings of the Polish government. The Committee not only had responsibility for administering research grants, but also for research policy at the macro level to ensure academic freedom from political control. As a result the ambition of science policy was rather abruptly transformed from an instrumental view of science tied closely to societal progress under the Soviet regime to one recognising the intrinsic value of scientific knowledge. This transformed view of the role of science was not entirely new. It had strong roots in the political history and the structures and culture of the "old" research system, and more broadly among the Polish intelligentsia. However, several contextual factors acted to undermine the heralded ambition of autonomous scientific governance. In the 1990s, economic conditions in Poland worsened. In response mobilisation of public resources for the development of the market economy became an urgent imperative as did planning and preparation for the Poland’s accession to EU in 2004. These factors contributed to a yet another comprehensive reinterpretation and renegotiation of the role of science in Poland. The empirical material that forms the basis for the study consists of both KBN’s periodical journal Sprawy Nauki that became the arena of science policy debate in the country and various governance documents from the study period. Using a social constructionist approach, this study analyses these transformational moments by focusing on how the dynamics of change found expression in the reinterpretations and renegotiations of the role of science in Polish research policy between 1989 and 2011.

During Sweden's economic crisis in the early 1990s a governmental committe of prominent economic and political experts were gathered to produce an analysis of and suggestions to the solution of that crisis. The committe produced a report that became widely commented in the media and in parliment. The report anc the reception of it gives us insights in how the boundaries between social science and politics are created an how new fields of expertise is added to a science. This thesis uses a constructivist approach to explore how the techniques of the economic science were made into credible means of knowöedge production outside of the field where it traditionally holds epistemological authority. Working from the assumption that language does things to the objects that it describes I claim that the episode investigated in this thesis was shaped by the committee's ability to define the economic crissi and thus making it into a knowable object. The cultural space of the episode was shaped by the actor's moves to enrol the committiee's report rather than examining it, making the credibility contest stacked in favour of the committee's concept of the social order.

Det övergripande transportpolitiska målet i Sverige har sedan 1998 varit att säkerställa en samhällsekonomiskt effektiv och långsiktigt hållbar transportförsörjning för medborgarna och näringslivet i hela landet. Under perioden fram till 2010 har samhällsekonomiska underlag fått en allt tyngre roll i den formulerade transportpolitiken och den statliga styrningen av den långsiktiga planeringen som ett verktyg för att prioritera mellan investeringar i nya vägar och järnvägslänkar. I studien utforskades den samhällsekonomiska analysens roll i den formulerade transportpolitiken och dess styrning av den regionala infrastrukturplaneringen. Studien utgår ifrån ett konstruktivistiskt angreppssätt och en syn på relationen mellan vetenskap/expertis och politik som samproducerad. Det empiriska material som ligger till grund för analysen består av dokument och intervjutranskriptioner. De dokument som har analyserats är publikationer om den samhällsekonomiska analysmetoden, utgivna av myndigheten Statens institut för kommunikationsanalys (SIKA) och dels olika typer av transportpolitiska dokument. Intervjuerna genomfördes med tretton regionala beslutsfattare och en tjänsteman, vilka varit delaktiga i upprättandet av en regional infrastrukturplan i Västra Götaland. Studien visar att samhällsekonomisk analys är en värderingsmetod med stort inflytande i den formulerade transportpolitiken. Trots att den framställs som ett objektivt sätt att utvärdera den samhällsekonomiska effektiviteten hos väg- och järnvägsobjekt, och i förlängningen deras bidrag till det övergripande målet, utgör metodens grunder till stor del en svart låda i den transportpolitiska diskussionen. Detta gäller även hos de intervjuade beslutsfattarna, men de konstruerar den enskilde politikerns omdöme som den viktigaste grunden för beslut. The study deals with applied cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and the significant role this method has acquired in transport policy in Sweden since 1998. It is a study of a valuation method at the intersection between neoclassical economics, expertise, Swedish transport policy, long term planning and regional decision makers. Specifically, it focuses on the co-production of expertise and politics and how boundaries are drawn between them in relation to valuation. Departing from a constructionist approach to science and expertise, the study is concerned with how CBA and valuation is depicted in various contexts. The empirical foundation of the study concists of documents dealing with CBA, several kinds of transport policy documents and interview transcripts resulting from interviews with thirteen regional decision makers and one regional official. The analysis shows the significant influence of CBA on transport policy. While this valuation method is depicted as an objective valuation tool in planning, its conceptual foundation tends to be black-boxed outside the domain of expertise. This applies also to the interviewed regional decision makers. However, they delimit the space for CBA as a sufficient decision support. In addition, they construct judgment as the most important basis for decisions on infrastructure. Still, it is argued, the black-boxing of CBA in transport policy affect the political landscape negatively: it entails a risk that important political issues are made more inaccessible for public debate.

Under 1990-talet uppmärksammade politiker och tekniskt näringsliv att antaletelever på teknisk gymnasieutbildning hade minskat kraftigt. Detta befarades kunna leda till brist på utbildade tekniker och ingenjörer och i förlängningen äventyra landets ekonomi. För att åter öka elevantalet inom teknisk gymnasieutbildning infördes höstterminen 2000 det nya Teknikprogrammet. I denna avhandling analyseras tankarna bakom Teknikprogrammet och hur detkom att utformas på tre olika samhälleliga nivåer. Avhandlingen undersöker hur teknikprogrammets syfte och innehåll förändrades från det politiska initiativet via Skolverkets operationalisering till hur programmet tolkats av lärare på skolnivå. I fokus för analysen står frågor om vad teknisk utbildning skulle innehålla och hur den skulle utformas för att kunna locka fler flickor till tekniken. Detta var nämligen en central tanke bakom reformen. Med hjälp av analys av utredningsmaterial, regeringsbeslut och dokument från Skolverket samt intervjuer av lärare från två gymnasieskolor, diskuteras i avhandlingen hur relationen mellan genus och teknik förstås och uttrycks på de olika nivåerna och vad det innebär för hur man ser på den tekniska utbildningens karaktär. Avhandlingen visar att en traditionellt tudelad bild av pojkar och flickor och deras respektive intressen dominerar berättelserna på den politiska nivån och skolverksnivån, men att en mer differentierad syn på genus framträder på skolnivån. Teoretiska begrepp, som gränsarbete och översättningar används för att visa på de komplexa översättningar av intentioner och perspektiv som sker inom och mellan nivåerna. Genus och teknik samkonstrueras på olika sätt på de olika nivåerna. During the 1990s a drastic decline occurred in the numberof students at the technology orientation of Swedish upper secondary school. Politicians and representatives of industry reacted strongly and feared a potential lack of technicians and engineers, something which in the long run would threaten economic growth. A new Technology programme was therefore introduced in 2000 to increase the number of students oriented towards a technical education in upper secondary school. This thesis analyses the thoughts behind the Technology programme, and how it was framed as different stories of technology, gender and education at three different levels of society. It examines how the aims and contents of the Technology programme were translated and transformed from the political initiative to the operationalisation of the Swedish National Agency for Education, and finally in the teachers’ interpretations of the programme at the school level. In focus are issues of what kind of technology was relevant within a technical education, and how it should be framed and taught, in order to attract more girls to technology. This was one of the central objectives of the reform. With the help of documentary analysis and interviews with teachers in two upper secondary schools, the thesis discusses how relations between gender and technology were understood and constructed at the three different levels, and what this implied for how the character of the technology programme was interpreted. The dissertation shows that a traditional, dichotomized understanding of boys and girls and their respective interests dominates the stories given at the political level and the level of the Swedish National Agency for Education. At the school level, however, a more differentiated view on gender appears. Using the concepts of boundary work and translation, the analysis shows that complex transformations of intentions and perspectives took place between and within the different levels. Gender and technology were co-constructed in different ways at the different levels.

Under 1990-talet uppmärksammade politiker och tekniskt näringsliv att antaletelever på teknisk gymnasieutbildning hade minskat kraftigt. Detta befarades kunna leda till brist på utbildade tekniker och ingenjörer och i förlängningen äventyra landets ekonomi. För att åter öka elevantalet inom teknisk gymnasieutbildning infördes höstterminen 2000 det nya Teknikprogrammet. I denna avhandling analyseras tankarna bakom Teknikprogrammet och hur detkom att utformas på tre olika samhälleliga nivåer. Avhandlingen undersöker hur teknikprogrammets syfte och innehåll förändrades från det politiska initiativet via Skolverkets operationalisering till hur programmet tolkats av lärare på skolnivå. I fokus för analysen står frågor om vad teknisk utbildning skulle innehålla och hur den skulle utformas för att kunna locka fler flickor till tekniken. Detta var nämligen en central tanke bakom reformen. Med hjälp av analys av utredningsmaterial, regeringsbeslut och dokument från Skolverket samt intervjuer av lärare från två gymnasieskolor, diskuteras i avhandlingen hur relationen mellan genus och teknik förstås och uttrycks på de olika nivåerna och vad det innebär för hur man ser på den tekniska utbildningens karaktär. Avhandlingen visar att en traditionellt tudelad bild av pojkar och flickor och deras respektive intressen dominerar berättelserna på den politiska nivån och skolverksnivån, men att en mer differentierad syn på genus framträder på skolnivån. Teoretiska begrepp, som gränsarbete och översättningar används för att visa på de komplexa översättningar av intentioner och perspektiv som sker inom och mellan nivåerna. Genus och teknik samkonstrueras på olika sätt på de olika nivåerna. During the 1990s a drastic decline occurred in the numberof students at the technology orientation of Swedish upper secondary school. Politicians and representatives of industry reacted strongly and feared a potential lack of technicians and engineers, something which in the long run would threaten economic growth. A new Technology programme was therefore introduced in 2000 to increase the number of students oriented towards a technical education in upper secondary school. This thesis analyses the thoughts behind the Technology programme, and how it was framed as different stories of technology, gender and education at three different levels of society. It examines how the aims and contents of the Technology programme were translated and transformed from the political initiative to the operationalisation of the Swedish National Agency for Education, and finally in the teachers’ interpretations of the programme at the school level. In focus are issues of what kind of technology was relevant within a technical education, and how it should be framed and taught, in order to attract more girls to technology. This was one of the central objectives of the reform. With the help of documentary analysis and interviews with teachers in two upper secondary schools, the thesis discusses how relations between gender and technology were understood and constructed at the three different levels, and what this implied for how the character of the technology programme was interpreted. The dissertation shows that a traditional, dichotomized understanding of boys and girls and their respective interests dominates the stories given at the political level and the level of the Swedish National Agency for Education. At the school level, however, a more differentiated view on gender appears. Using the concepts of boundary work and translation, the analysis shows that complex transformations of intentions and perspectives took place between and within the different levels. Gender and technology were co-constructed in different ways at the different levels.

Journalists´ role in society has traditionally been of representative nature with a task to distribute news and scrutinize those in power. But technological changes have created a new publishing world outside the traditional media institutions. In today’s redactional society anyone can become a publisher in a blog or through other channels on online. This process can be seen as contributing to increased democratization giving everyone the opportunity to publish. However for those used to having monopoly on distributing news and scrutinizing society these changes are forcing journalists to adapt to a new competitive environment. There have been several previous studies of how this new digital milieu is affecting journalism from societal, organizational and news room perspectives. Little or no focus has been on how journalists themselves experience their changing professional status as a result of this new media world. Journalists employed by the public service broadcasters have got the most specified and explicitly expressed task with their responsibilities for contributing to a democratic society and an active citizenship, as stipulated by the government. How do these journalists deal with citizens now challenging the journalists´ previous well-guarded access to publishing? This essay examines the affect of these changes on journalists within two public service organizations in Sweden, asking journalists to reflect on the impact on their professional roles. The study is based on ten interviews with regional journalists employed by the Swedish public service radio and television corporations: Sveriges Radio and Sveriges Television. The analyze is based on theories on public service, professionalism and boundary maintenance. The study shows that the interviewed journalists identify more strongly with being a part of a public service ethos than being a journalist as such. They value the relationship with the audience and express a wish for even more contact with listeners and viewers. At the same time they want to continue to keep the in-house control over the journalistic process where they are the producers of the content. It is clear that the journalists appreciate publishing initiative allowing the general public to ‘be journalists’ but they warn against mixing the citizen reports with journalism. Citizen contribution in terms of user generated content or citizen journalism, is considered as something to satisfy people’s “creativity and wish to express themselves” – not a valuable contribution to journalism. Boundary maintenance mechanisms can be clearly observed among the journalists in an attempt to keep their journalistic authority and the arguments used refer to the “other´s” lack of credibility, accountability and impartiality. A similar role hierarchy can also be identified within the occupational group, where some characteristics and qualities are considered to contribute to a more “genuine” journalism than other. Nevertheless, a journalistic “us” always appears when boundaries are marked against what is looked on as non-journalism, for example user generated content and grass root journalism.

The focus of this thesis is on boundary work both as a phenomenon and a theoretical tool, and consists of the manuscripts of four articles and an introduction. One way of perceiving professions is in terms of a landscape metaphor. In this perception of professions, boundaries and boundary work define and separate professional groups by means of dividing social space into sections, over which different groups struggle to establish and maintain control. Different actors make claims on a specific set of boundaries and, in this way, boundary work can be described as either an implicit or an explicit claim-staking activity. The first article, Key metaphors in the sociology of professions: Occupations as hierarchies and landscapes is written in English and offers a comparison between the landscape metaphor and another way of perceiving professions, that of the hierarchy metaphor. If boundaries and boundary work are the most central concepts in the landscape metaphor, closure plays a similar role in the imagery of hierarchies. One conclusion drawn in relation to the two metaphors is that, whilst the landscape provides a finer-tuned theoretical tool, an advantage with the hierarchy metaphor is that it has stronger rhetorical clout. The focus of the second article, which is written in Swedish, is on professional boundary work conducted in a Swedish social welfare department between two groups of qualified social workers, and analyses a specific example of intra-professional boundary work. Among 2 3 the conclusions is that both groups make different claims in the conduct of relational and motivational work carried out from a holistic perspective. The third article, Pragmatic professionalism: Micro level discourse in social work, focuses on boundary work in relation to two ideal types of logic; occupational and organizational professionalism. Perhaps the most important difference between these logics is that, in occupational professionalism, authority is built on trust in the professionals’ education and ethics, whilst in organizational professionalism it is grounded in regulation and control expressed, for example, in rules, regulations and routines. The article deals with how two groups of social workers in Swedish welfare departments position themselves in relation to these logics. Among the conclusions is that the groups relate to the logics in a pragmatic way, making claims on the occupational professionalism but, at times, falling back on organizational professionalism. The fourth and final article, The heroine and the capitalist: The professions´ debate about privatization of Swedish social work, analyzes boundary work conducted in four professional social work journals in the context of debate about privatization. The debate can be described as a struggle with a professional ambivalence towards privatization. This ambivalence is, for instance, evidenced in the metaphorical descriptions of those involved as either heroines or capitalists. Distribution: University of Gothenburg, Department of Social Work, P. O. Box 720, S – 405 30 Göteborg

Preschool is a central part of Swedish family life. The manner in which the state regulates preschool through laws, ordinances, and various kinds of written objectives has an impact on many people in the Swedish society. The thesis examines the development of preschool state regulation from the 1940s until 2008. The starting point of the study is a draft for a new Education Act, put forward in 2003, which proposed that preschool should be integrated into the school system as a new form of school. The purpose of the study is to generate knowledge about the state regulation of Swedish preschool, and how it has contributed to the shaping of preschool as a societal institution. Questions considered in the analysis are how regulation delimits preschool as a social category, what role this regulation assigns preschool in relation to other actors and societal institutions involved in early childhood education and care, and what principles this regulation is based on. The study has evolved within the research tradition of curriculum theory as developed in studies in educational politics. The analysis is carried out as a text analysis, where the concepts of boundary work, official classification and activity system serve as important analytical tools. Texts produced within the formal chain of decision and legislation: directives for committees, government white papers, ministerial task forces, bills, legislative texts etc., form the empirical foundation for the study. The analysis shows that economic as well as legal and ideological governing instruments are used in the shaping of the framework of preschool. These frameworks are indicated in the form of different boundary markers that delimit preschool as a specific category and arrange it in relation to other categories. The boundaries indicated by these boundary markers have been subject to extensive discussion during the formulation process. Through this boundary work, preschool has been constructed as a full time preschool, commissioned to provide both education and care. The boundaries of this commission are in some respects indistinct and contain several overlapping elements with regards to family, social services and school. At the same time, preschool holds a fixed core with more distinct boundaries, in the form of a part time public preschool delimited by time and age and regulated by far-reaching legislation regarding the rights of children to attend. Owing to this construction, preschool may balance several different and partly contradictory demands placed on it by other institutions and by different interest groups, while at the same time maintaining a core of identity of its own. In that sense, preschool may be described as a boundary object. Thus, when it is suggested that preschool should constitute a form of school and be placed in the more formal regulation structures of the school system, the balance of this construction is challenged.

Preschool is a central part of Swedish family life. The manner in which the state regulates preschool through laws, ordinances, and various kinds of written objectives has an impact on many people in the Swedish society. The thesis examines the development of preschool state regulation from the 1940s until 2008. The starting point of the study is a draft for a new Education Act, put forward in 2003, which proposed that preschool should be integrated into the school system as a new form of school. The purpose of the study is to generate knowledge about the state regulation of Swedish preschool, and how it has contributed to the shaping of preschool as a societal institution. Questions considered in the analysis are how regulation delimits preschool as a social category, what role this regulation assigns preschool in relation to other actors and societal institutions involved in early childhood education and care, and what principles this regulation is based on. The study has evolved within the research tradition of curriculum theory as developed in studies in educational politics. The analysis is carried out as a text analysis, where the concepts of boundary work, official classification and activity system serve as important analytical tools. Texts produced within the formal chain of decision and legislation: directives for committees, government white papers, ministerial task forces, bills, legislative texts etc., form the empirical foundation for the study. The analysis shows that economic as well as legal and ideological governing instruments are used in the shaping of the framework of preschool. These frameworks are indicated in the form of different boundary markers that delimit preschool as a specific category and arrange it in relation to other categories. The boundaries indicated by these boundary markers have been subject to extensive discussion during the formulation process. Through this boundary work, preschool has been constructed as a full time preschool, commissioned to provide both education and care. The boundaries of this commission are in some respects indistinct and contain several overlapping elements with regards to family, social services and school. At the same time, preschool holds a fixed core with more distinct boundaries, in the form of a part time public preschool delimited by time and age and regulated by far-reaching legislation regarding the rights of children to attend. Owing to this construction, preschool may balance several different and partly contradictory demands placed on it by other institutions and by different interest groups, while at the same time maintaining a core of identity of its own. In that sense, preschool may be described as a boundary object. Thus, when it is suggested that preschool should constitute a form of school and be placed in the more formal regulation structures of the school system, the balance of this construction is challenged.

This dissertation aims at describing the worldview and the ontological boundary work that descriptions of ”the information society” presuppose as well as understanding how these relate to technocratic descriptions of the world. The theoretical point of origin of this work is that worldviews are communicated, and that when this transpires, three worlds are related to (the objective, the social, and the subjective) which contain ideological components that make them plausible. The material that has been studied is public documents from 1994 – 2004. These materials have been analysed with the help of text analysis, where a reconstruction of the ideological components of the worldview is the objective. The results of the analysis show that these descriptions, first of all, presuppose an objective world where an ontological boundary between technology and values is drawn. Technology is driven by one form of logic and values are driven by another. Technology does not in itself contain values, but when put to use, only certain types of value can be created. The subsequent theoretical consequences are that these values (for instance effectiveness) are presented as objective, independent of value conflicts in society. Second, the analysis shows that descriptions partly presuppose a social world that is divided into a normative centre and a normative periphery, and partly a historicist description of historical development. These two ideological components provide a logical consequence, that in the social world, identifiable groups who live according to lifestyle patterns of the future can already be found today. Third, results show that descriptions presuppose a subjective world that is possible to change and direct. Man is to be made responsive to certain aspects of his existence and unresponsive toward others. This requires causing him to be responsive to change and unresponsive to that which hinders change. The logical consequences become a description of a system integrated information society where the individual is to adapt himself to changes on the system level. All in all, the three results of the study show that the world view which the descriptions presuppose have clear elements of technocracy and the art of social engineering.