2,443 research outputs found
article 3 vol IV is 3
No full textQu ua al li it ta at ti iv ve e S So oc ci io ol lo og gy y R Re ev vi ie ew w V Vo ol lu um me e I IV V I Is ss su ue e 3 3 w ww ww w. .q qu ua al li it ta at ti iv ve es so oc ci io ol lo og gy yr re ev vi ie ew w. .o or rg g 4 49 9 Q Qu ua al li it ta at ti iv ve e S So oc ci io ol lo og gy y R Re ev vi ie ew w Volume IV, Issue 3 -December 2008 Lars-Christer Hyden Linkoping University, Sweden Narratives in Illness: A Methodological Note Abstract As a result of the general growth in the interest in narratives different conception of what a story is and how to analyze has emerged. One especially interesting and methodological relevant difference is between the conception of narratives as textual objects and narratives as part of a storytelling event. The paper discusses the theoretical differences between these two analytical approaches to narratives. An example from my own research on Alzheimer's patients telling stories illustrate the possibilities of using a performative and micro ethnographic approach to the study of storytelling in order to understand the functions of narratives -especially in relation to identity work. If stories not only are thought of as representations of events it becomes possible to view stories and story telling as social action: social states are both established, negotiated and changed through stories. This is especially important in the field of health and illness where diseases almost always are embedded in conversations and the telling of why and how symptoms were discovered or traumas received. For many patients and persons with especially communicative disabilities story telling is a challenge, but also an opportunity to actually master, maintain and often transform their identities. Keywords Narrative; Methodology, Identity; Performance; Ethnography; Video analysis The number of books and articles with word "narrative" in its title or abstract has increased explosively during the last two decades. As a consequence a narrative research field has been established with the story, in all different guises and manifestations, as the focus The interest in narrative has historical roots going back to researchers like Sigmund Freud, William Thomas and Florian Znaniecki, and Claude Lévi-Strauss who all early on observed the centrality of the narrative form. To Freud the case story constituted a centre in his writings. Thomas and Znaniecki systematically collected stories from Polish immigrants in the US in the twentieth century. To Lévi-Strauss the myth constituted the motor of culture, determining ways of thinking and understanding the world. One explanation for this interest in stories may be linked with a changed conception of language and language use in the social sciences during the 1960's and 70's. To Freud and his contemporaries, language was conceived as being fully © ©2 20 00 05 5--2 20 00 08 8 Q Qu ua al li it ta at ti iv ve e S So oc ci io ol lo og gy y R Re ev vi ie ew w V Vo ol lu um me e I IV V I Is ss su ue e 3 3 w ww ww w. .q qu ua al li it ta at ti iv ve es so oc ci io ol lo og gy yr re ev vi ie ew w. .o or rg g 5 50
Bokrecensioner
No full textRecenserade böcker:
LARS-CHRISTER HYDEN (red): RESANDERUM. EN ANTOLOGI OM FORSKNING I SOCIALT ARBETE (FoU-rapport nr 105).JONSSON BRITT: En gång Skå-pojke JENS MODVIG och HENRIK SAELAN (redaktörer): Klinisk socialmedicin - en introduktio
Interpreting Wage Bargaining Norms
No full textFrom the mid-1990s onwards, Swedish wage bargaining has been characterised by informal co-ordination of the wage claims of big unions and bargaining cartels. In particular, it has been understood that the manufacturing sector should lead by first agreeing on a pay increase, whereafter the service sector and public sector unions choose a similar increase. We analyse his setup with two possible theoretical interpretations: (i) the manufacturing sector as a tackelberg leader and (ii) a normative role for the manufacturing sector’s pay increase, upported either by unmodelled social pressure or a modeled loss aversion (envy) of the heltered sector unions. The conclusion of the analysis is that the normative or leading role of one sector – in the Swedish case the manufacturing sector – can potentially bring big benefits for employment and output. Generalising an idea suggested by Lars Calmfors and Anna Larsson, our analysis also generates a rudimentary theory of why the wage increase norm sometimes binds and sometimes not. A comparison of the model predictions and the observed outcomes of the last five wage bargaining rounds in Sweden suggests that the model is generally consistent with the empirical observations: wage moderation and norm observance are stronger when the manufacturing industry’s initial relative wage is low.wage bargaining; bargaining co-ordination
Reptricket. Förord till Lars Gustafsson: Mot noll
No full textIntroduction to a collection of philosophical essays by Swedish author Lars Gustafsson (b. 1936)
Does remediation save lives? On the cost of cleaning up arsenic-contaminated sites in Sweden
No full textSwedish environmental policy is based on 16 environmental quality objectives (Gov. Bill 2000/01:130 and Gov.Bill 2004/05:150).1 One of the most challenging objectives,‘A non toxic environment’, has two interim targets that concern remediation of contaminated sites. In sum, they state that the highest priority should be given to sites posing the highest risks to human health and the environment.2 By eliminating pollutants in soil, groundwater and sediment, the interim targets aim to reduce risks to human health and the environment. In Sweden, 83,000 sites are potentially contaminated due to previous industrial activities. According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the administrator of the governmental funds for remediation, approximately 1500 of these sites contain contaminant concentrations that could seriously harm human health and the environment (Swedish EPA, 2008a). To reach the interim targets, all these sites need to be remediated by 2050. Remediation of contaminated sites has so far cost more than SEK 3,000 million.3 The approximated cost to mitigate the potential risks at the most harmful sites is estimated at SEK 60,000 million.4 The Swedish government’s funding for remediation presently comes in the form of a directed grant (sakanslag). The directed grant, administrated by the Swedish EPA, subsidises remediation of contaminated sites that were contaminated prior to modern environmental legislation (in 1969) or for which no liable party can be found. The directed grant amounts to approximately 455 millions annually, which corresponds to about 10 percent of the annual national funds for environmental protection (Gov. Bill 2007/08:1). To make it possible to prioritise among contaminated sites, the Swedish EPA has developed a method for risk assessment called the ‘MIFO’ (i.e. the Method for Inventory of Contaminated Sites). The risk assessment does not take into account the actual exposure at a contaminated site. Risk is instead assessed based on divergence from guideline values for acceptable concentrations given a standardised (i.e. worst case) exposure situation on an individual level. This means that a site can be remediated without any individuals actually being exposed. The expected risk reduction is consequently not quantified. This eliminates the possibility of valuing the risk reduction, which should be weighed against the remediation cost. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how health effects, in the form of cancer risks, from sites contaminated by arsenic are valued implicitly in remediation. By using an environmental medicine approach that takes exposure into account, and without underestimating the potential health consequences of arsenic exposure, our purpose is to place arsenic risk management in the overall picture of live-saving interventions. In the case of cancer prevention, it is necessary to recognise that focus on an environmental carcinogen like arsenic may draw public attention – and funding – away from mental health risks like ambient air pollution and indoor radon. Although environmental pollution accounts for less than ten percent of all cancer cases (Harvard Centre for Cancer Prevention, 1996; Saracci and Vineis, 2007), environmental factors are important to recognize since they may be preventable. We emphasise, however, the inefficiency in becoming overly concerned about small risks while, at the same time, losing sight of the large risks. If society’s spending on lifesaving measures with small effects (i.e. a small number of lives saved) crowds out spending on lifesaving measures with large effects, then remediation can, in fact, even be said to waste lives. By using data on 23 arsenic-contaminated sites in Sweden, we estimate the sitespecific cancer risks and calculate the cost per life saved by using the sites’ remediation costs. Our results show that the cost per life saved through remediation is much higher than that associated with other primary prevention measures, indicating that the ambition level of Swedish remediation may be too high.
Green Accounting, Air Pollution and Health
No full textHuman capital is an important component of economic growth. The article extends a theoretical model for comprehensive national accounting to the welfare effects of pollution on human capital. The model includes a production externality in the form of a flow of air pollutants that cause both direct disutility and indirect welfare effects by negatively affecting the productivity of labor. We show that defensive medical expenditures or healthcare costs allocated to mitigating the disutility of air pollution should not be deducted from conventional net national product (NNP), whereas the value of the percieved disutility of illness episodes caused by pollution should be subtracted from NNP. We derive a marginal cost-benefit rule for an optimal level of pollution given its negative health effects. The rule can be used for determining an optimal tax on harmful emissions. Finally, we outline a scheme for empirical comprehensive accounting and for estimation of an emissions tax.
The Role of High-Tech Capital Formation for Swedish Productivity Growth
No full textWhile using new data and standard growth-accounting techniques, this paper takes a closer look at the Swedish productivity revival in the second half of the 1990s. In particular, I find large total factor productivity growth in high-tech producing sectors and capital deepening associated with high-tech equipment elsewhere. In addition, for high-tech producers, high-tech capital deepening has as a rule contributed negatively to labor productivity growth - a result above all driven by large increases in hours worked in this sector. I also find that in the business sector, the contribution from high-tech capital deepening to labor productivity growth increased from about 1 percent 1994 to 9 percent 1999.
Storying stories to represent the lived experience of Deaf people with dementia in research.
No full textStorying stories to represent the lived experience of Deaf people with dementia in research.
No full textStorying stories to represent the lived experience of Deaf people with dementia in research.
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