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Feelings behind the facade; A social psychological study of masculinity and emotional coping with grief
No full textYoung People's Mobile Phone Habits
No full textThis study explores the phone habits of young people by examining their usage behaviour through their own experiences. Drawing on four qualitative interviews, we investigate how young people experience and relate to their mobile phones, with a particular focus on the underlying influences shaping their usage and how this affects their everyday lives. Using a multi-theoretical framework, we apply social identity theory to explore how mobile phones contribute to identity and group belonging, and Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field, and doxa to understand the social structures shaping usage. Kahneman’s systems 1 and 2 clarify the automatic versus reflective aspects of usage, while Festinger’s cognitive dissonance highlights the ambivalence young people feel when habits clash with personal values. Furthermore, we discuss why mobile phone usage cannot simply be categorized as positive or negative, but rather a complex and ambivalent practice. We examine how mobile phone habits can resemble addiction-like behaviour where our informants use persists despite an awareness of the negative consequences. The discussion proceeds to argue young people's agency regarding mobile phone usage as limited because they are embedded in social and cultural structures and controlled by unconscious cognitive habit-forming mechanisms that strongly support and sustain mobile use as a natural part of their life. Findings from this project contribute to a deeper level of understanding young people's mobile phone habits and how they emerge from a complex interaction of processes originating from social, cognitive, and cultural dimensions. Young people's mobile phone practices cannot be understood as mere individual choices. Instead, they are shaped by a dynamic interplay between social structures, cultural norms, and individual cognitive processes, reflecting both the individual's agency and the social forces of their environment
Conditions regarding social psychiatric institution: practical research regarding recovery and standardization
No full textSportwashing and Reputational Risk: The Impact of Celebrity Endorsements in Controversial Regimes
No full text"Guinness is good for you": The framing and meaning-making of 'Goodness' in the Digital Age
No full textThis paper investigates how Guinness frames the concept of ‘goodness’ in its advertising, with a particular focus on the 2021 ‘Welcome Back | Guinness GB’ video campaign released on their YouTube Channel. Drawing on framing theory (Entman, 1993; Goffman, 1974), Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) visual grammar, and strategic communication theory (Hallahan et al., 2007), the paper explores how meaning is constructed and communicated through multimodal strategies. Historically anchored in the slogan “Guinness is good for you”, the brand has continually reshaped this idea to maintain cultural relevance in changing social and media environments. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the reopening of pubs in the UK, Guinness evokes emotional and symbolic meanings through narrative storytelling, visual design, and music.Using a multimethod qualitative approach, the analysis is based on thematic coding and semiotic analysis. The code ‘goodness’ is examined through three interpretative frames: celebration, nostalgia, and relief. These emotional frames are further unpacked into the sub-themes of community, resilience, and social responsibility. Each theme demonstrates how Guinness associates its product with ethical and emotional value. The semiotic analysis reveals how layout, colour, composition, motion, and audio work together to construct a cultural narrative that situates Guinness as a symbol of connection and recovery.Strategic communication theory provides insight into how the campaign is tailored for contemporary audiences, particularly Gen Z, by aligning brand messaging with moments of shared cultural meaning. This is extended through an original contribution video, in which semi-structured interviews with Gen Z Guinness drinkers offer practical insights into the audience’s perception of ‘goodness’ and brand identity
Power at Work Who Speaks, Who Falls Silent - A Study of Covert Processes and Human Reasoning
No full textThis project paper explores how shared responsibilities among employees in the service industry may be coordinated through subtle power dynamics and covert organizational processes, and how such dynamics might give rise to relational problems, particularly when they hinder sense-making, remain unspoken, or go unresolved. Drawing on qualitative interviews with workers within the service industry of Copenhagen, this project investigates how covert processes, silence, informal norms, recognition, and reason-giving shape workplace interaction and agency.Situated within a subject-focused and interpretive epistemology, the analysis is guided by a “zooming in and zooming out” strategy (Schraube & Højholt), which enables attention both to participants’ situated experiences and the broader cultural and normative contexts in which those experiences unfold. The theoretical framework integrates perspectives from organizational psychology, power theory, and conduct of life research, notably drawing on the work of Marshak, Semmer, Haugaard, Busch-Jensen, Holzkamp, Brinkmann, and Schraube.The analysis is divided into four parts, each applying different theoretical lenses to paired interviews. These parts seek to illuminate how power may be exercised not only through formal authority, but also through reasoning practices, emotional climates, and the symbolic structuring of legitimacy and participation. In cases where reasons are withheld or unacknowledged, possibilities for agency appear constrained. Conversely, environments where reasons are exchanged and discussed may support greater mutual recognition and participatory power.This project aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how the invisible can become impactful in everyday work life, and how small relational practices may have broader psychological and organizational consequences. By attending to what is often overlooked, the project seeks to open new paths for reflecting on the dynamics of voice, silence, and subtle negotiation in shared professional life
An X-istential Crisis?: A case study on CEO effects on organization identity and reputation
No full textThis project explores how celebrity CEO brands influence organizational identity and stakeholder trust during major corporate transformation. Using Elon Musk’s rebranding of Twitter to X as a case study, we examine how Musk’s personal brand shaped the organization’s strategic narrative and how the communication (or lack of) affected stakeholder perceptions and organizational reputation. Applying qualitative methods using CEO branding, stakeholder and crisis communication theory, we identify a significant misalignment between CEO and organization identities and communication practices which contend with stakeholder expectations. The findings show that the lack of narrative continuity, coupled with Musk’s controversial communicative practices, contributed to stakeholder disengagement and reputational decline. This highlights how misalignment between stakeholder expectations, organizational identity, and CEO communication can destabilize trust and fracture reputation when personal and corporate brands collapse into a single communicative entity. Based on these insights, we present a set of strategic recommendations for organizations navigating CEO-led transformations, emphasizing the need for clear boundaries between personal and corporate identity to protect long-term trust amongst stakeholders and build credible reputation
Life-phase-based working life An analysis of midwives' working conditions in the tension between care and control
No full textDette projekt undersøger, hvordan livsfasepolitikker kommer til udtryk i jordemødres arbejdsvilkår, og hvilke strukturelle betingelser der muliggør eller begrænser implementeringen af livsfasebaserede beskæftigelsespraksisser i spændingsfeltet mellem omsorg og styringslogikker. Forankret i et kritisk realistisk rammeværk udforsker studiet kløften mellem den formelle anerkendelse af medarbejderes livsfasebehov og det praktiske fravær af strukturel opbakning. Projektet bygger på en mixed methods-tilgang, der kombinerer kvalitative interviews med jordemødre, en leder og en tillidsrepræsentant, samt en spørgeskemaundersøgelse, der belyser adgang til fleksibilitet, informationsniveau og oplevede spændinger mellem arbejdsliv og privatliv.Teoretisk integrerer analysen Nancy Frasers (2016) begreb om institutionel fejlkodning, Katrin Hjorts (2012) arbejde med affektivt arbejde og styringsrationaler samt Susanne Ekmans (2022) begreber om toksisk gæld, moralsk økonomi og organisatorisk tvetydighed.Resultaterne viser, at livsfasepolitikker ofte fungerer som symbolske redskaber uden organisatorisk forankring. Fleksibilitet implementeres ikke som en kollektiv rettighed, men opstår som en moralsk økonomi præget af uformelle normer, relationelle dynamikker og personlige ofre. Ledelse befinder sig i en dobbeltbinding, hvor der forventes både driftsmæssig effektivitet og individuel hensyntagen – uden tilstrækkelige ressourcer. Dette skaber følelsesmæssige belastninger og forstærker ulig adgang til fleksibilitet.Projektet bidrager med nye indsigter ved at vise, hvordan omsorgsarbejde strukturelt marginaliseres i velfærdsinstitutioner, hvordan fleksibilitet medfører affektive omkostninger såsom skyld og stress, og hvordan lokale demografier og ledelseskulturer skaber skjulte uligheder. Det konkluderes, at meningsfulde livsfasepolitikker forudsætter strukturelle investeringer, kollektive rettigheder og organisatorisk gennemsigtighed – uden dette risikerer politikkerne at reproducere den udbrændthed og ulighed, de netop har til hensigt at forebygge.This project investigates how life-phase policies are expressed in the working conditions of midwives, and which structural conditions enable or constrain the implementation of life-phasebased employment practices within the tension between care and managerial logics. Anchored in a critical realist framework, the study explores the gap between the formal recognition of employees' life-phase needs and the practical absence of structural support. The project draws on a mixed methods approach, combining qualitative interviews with midwives, a manager, and a union representative, as well as a survey examining access to flexibility, information levels, and perceived work-life tensions. Theoretically, the analysis integrates Nancy Fraser’s (2016) concept of institutional misframing, Katrin Hjort’s (2012) work on affective labour and governance rationalities, and Susanne Ekman’s (2022) concepts of toxic debt, moral economy, and organizational ambiguity. Findings show that life-phase policies often operate as symbolic tools lacking organizational anchoring. Flexibility is not implemented as a collective right but emerges as a moral economy shaped by informal norms, relational dynamics, and personal sacrifice. Leadership is caught in a double bind, expected to ensure both operational efficiency and individual consideration without sufficient resources. This creates emotional burden and reinforces unequal access to flexibility. The project contributes new insights by showing how care work is structurally marginalized in welfare institutions, how flexibility generates affective costs such as guilt and stress, and how local demographics and leadership cultures produce hidden inequalities. It concludes that meaningful life-phase policies require structural investment, collective entitlements, and organizational transparency, without which, such policies risk reproducing the very burnout and inequity they aim to prevent
Masculine Identity in negotiation: Boys in conversation about the manosphere
No full textIn this semester project, we investigate how young boys in danish schools negotiate masculine identity through conversations about masculinity and content from the manosphere.This research question will be explored through three focus groups in danish school contexts, which will be analysed using subject positioning theory and a cohesive exploration of research literature covering masculine identity and the manosphere respectively.Our analysis shows how the boys construct their masculine identity through varying positioning actions: Evaluation, correction, legitimation, delegitimation and provocation through humor are employed as tools to navigate conversation and negotiation. Here we find that the boys position themselves and each other within a masculine hierarchy in interaction with manosphere content and amongst themselves, where legitimate masculine identity is constructed as heterosexual, defensive, mature, strong, disciplined and robust through subordination of the feminine, homosexual, childish, fat, weak willed and soft subject positions
Decolonial Feminism in Practice: Women's Struggle and Resistance in Argentina
No full textThis project explores how decolonial feminism in South America contributes to the struggle for women´s rights, with a specific focus on the feminist movement Ni Una Menos in Argentina. The analysis combines theories of decolonial feminism and intersectionality to examine how gender, race, class and colonial legacies shape the experiences of marginalized women in the region. Through a comparative and qualitative textual analysis, the project contrasts Ni Una Menos´ approach with dominant strands of Western feminism. The theoretical framework draws in Kimberlé Crenshaw´s concept of intersectionality, adapted to a Latin American context, and María Lugones ´ theory of the colonial/modern gender system. These perspectives reveal how Ni Una Menos incorporates a collective, intersectional resistance that goes beyond gender to include indigenous, migrant and LGBTQ+ rights. The study concludes that decolonial feminism offers a more context sensitive and inclusive approach to gender justice than many Western feminist models, which often center individual empowerment and universal solutions. While the analysis is limited by geographic focus and source access, it provides valuable insights into how feminist movements in the Global South challenge structural oppression and reframe the concept of liberation