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Is there a distinctly Swedish national character? Are Swedes truly shy, unemotional, conflict-avoiding, melancholy, and dour? Swedish Mentality, the English translation of the hugely successful book published in Sweden in 1989, considers the reality behind the myth. The author, Åke Daun, is a respected ethnologist who is sometimes referred to as the "guru" of Swedish character. In recent years, it has become popular to discuss Swedishness and Swedish identity. The advent of the European Union and the increasing presence of immigrant refugees in Sweden have fueled public debate on the distinctiveness of Swedish culture. Daun, however, goes beyond stereotype, drawing upon statistics gathered ...
What is a border? This seemingly simple question is here answered via a multidisciplinary study of the cultural, geographic and historic existence of borders, and the ways that they have shaped our world. Using the Danish-Swedish border to illustrate the actions of groups and individuals engaged in bordering since the 1600s, this richly theoretical discussion highlights the complexities of political and cultural identity processes. Comparative perspectives are brought together to produce a thoughtful analysis of how such processes function, and of how borders work on both an imagined nationhood and experiential personal level. The author also examines how throughout history people have lived with and influenced or been influenced by borders, why some borders remain uncontested while others repeatedly provoke cross-border conflicts, and how today's bordering processes may be deliberately manipulated.
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Disturbing the Nest assesses the future of the family as an institution through an historical and comparative analysis of the nature, causes, and social implications of family change in advanced western societies such as the United States, New Zealand, and Switzerland by focusing on the one society in which family decline is found to be the greatest, Sweden. The founding of the modern Swedish welfare state was based in large part on the belief that it was necessary for the state to intervene in society in order to improve the situation of the family. Of great concern was the low birthrate, which was seen as a threat to the very survival of Swedes as a national population group. The Social De...
Offers a large array of approaches to studying children and the media, including views from communication theory and history, with methodologies such as quantitative analysis, ethnographic studies and theoretical inferences.
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Crime and punishment are social and cultural manifestations; they are closely bound up with people's perceptions of morality, norms and values. In this book, Nils Christie argues that crime is a fluid and shallow concept - acts that could be construed as criminal are unlimited and crime is therefore in endless supply. It should not be forgotten that there are alternatives, both in the definition of crime, and in responses to it. A Suitable Amount of Crime looks at the great variations between countries over what are considered 'unwanted acts', how many are constructed as criminal and how many are punished. It explains the differences between eastern and western Europe, between the USA and the rest of the world. The author laments the size of prison populations in countries with large penal sectors, and asks whether the international community has a moral obligation to 'shame' states that are punitive in the extreme. The book is written in an engaging and easily accessible style that will appeal to anyone interested in understanding contemporary problems of crime and punishment.
Regardless of age, social background, or education, keeping a journal enables you to begin wherever you are and move at your own tempo, recording whatever goes through your mind. It is an instrument that can be used in privacy, giving you a wealth of feedback to crystallize decisions and help create meaning in your life. Communicating With Myself: A Journal has been created by Jacquelyn B. Carr to accompany her text, Communicating and Relating. Both the book and the journal offer a wealth of exercises and activities designed to encourage self-discovery and personal growth, and effective communication skills.
During decades much empirical research has been devoted to the study of values in relation to work. Many studies have treated work-related values as expressions of more general life values, and interpreted the differences between groups an cultures in terms of broader cultural patterns, historical trends, and adaptation to changing economic and technical environments. Work values have also been investigated at the level of occupations and the individual. In this case they have been related to interests and other motivational notions, and used to explain differences in people's occupational behavior, in particular vocational choice. A general assumption underlying most of the research and the...
This book brings together 14 studies of the history of European anthropology from the 17th century onwards, each of which have great relevance for current debates within the discipline.