Understanding safety culture by visualization of scenarios--development and evaluation of an interactive prototype

To be able to disseminate knowledge about maritime safety culture and safety management to different actors in the Swedish maritime sector, a preliminary pedagogical concept was developed and evaluated. As a first user group, students at upper secondary maritime schools were chosen and the pedagogical concept was adapted for this group. The concept includes an interactive prototype and a teacher's guide and is based on a model for experience-based learning which connects theory and practice by a cyclic approach. The concept was tested in a classroom setting including interaction with the students and a follow-up one week later. A preliminary evaluation of the results shows a very positive response among the students as well as the lecturers. The educational material was successful in immediately creating a relevant discussion about safety culture, and one week later, students could remember many of the safety scenarios included in the pedagogical concept.     

Participative development of packages in the food industry--evaluation of ergonomics and productivity by objective measurements

Rationalizations generally have a negative effect on health and known risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders. These effects may be reduced by paying attention to modifiers as worker participation and a resonant management style. In this study a participatory approach was used in the food industry in order to improve ergonomics and productivity. The food industry shows a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, and repetitive manual work occurs extensively. Prototypes of new packaging solutions were developed in three cases, and compared in a simulated production to the existing production system through direct measurements of working postures and muscle activity, ratings of physical load, and general productivity data. Measured and rated ergonomic exposures showed that workload was significantly lower for the prototypes, in all three cases. In two cases, the number of handling operations included in the packaging operations were greatly reduced with the prototype package, as were production costs. The impact on disorders of the obtained load reductions is difficult to assess, but we believe that in "critical" situations like this, even small improvements may have an effect. This study shows that workloads during manual handling of packages as well as production costs can be reduced by applying participative development of packages.     

The AKKA-board – performing mobility,disability and innovation

This study involves a mobility device with relevance for health and well-being for severely disabled persons. The purpose of this study is to examine some of the geographical, innovative and existential implications of the performance of place through mobility that the AKKA-board produces for severely disabled people. What does mobility and place mean in terms of supporting human skills that are being performed with the help of the AKKA-board? It is concluded that mobility in terms of a self-controlled movement is connected to enabling individual decision-making, independence and well-being.     

Integration into the Social Democratic Welfare State

This article examines the assumption that the social democratic welfare state is better than others in integrating immigrants into society, or at least that the comprehensive welfare state should compensate for the problems of labour market entry. A number of key indicators from The Living Conditions Survey are used to show that this assumption is inherently wrong. Immigrants do not have the same possibilities to enter the labour market, which is shown to have severe affects on other important areas of social and political citizenship. It stands clear that the social democratic welfare state, built and expanded on grounds of homogeneity, is insufficient to deal with changing circumstances in a plural society.     

Changes in active ageing in a Nordic regional context: Results based on the GERDA study in 2005 and 2016

The study examined changes in active ageing among 65/66- and 75/76-year-olds in northern Sweden and western Finland. Data were retrieved from a repeated cross-sectional survey conducted in 2005 and 2016. Logistic regression was used to estimate the probability of ageing actively in terms of employment, social and political participation, confidence in healthcare, economic situation, self-rated health and social contacts. The results showed no significant changes in employment, social participation or economic situation. However, the level of political participation and self-rated good health was significantly higher in 2016 compared with 2005, whereas confidence in healthcare and social contacts was lower. Considering that the implementation of active ageing policies relies heavily on municipal and/or regional level in our study region, our results could be used as a framework for regional policymaking.     

Multiple Social Roles — a Resource or a Burden: Is it Possible for Men and Women to Combine Paid Work with Family Life in a Satisfactory Way?

The aim of this article is to study whether multiple social roles can be seen as a resource or a burden, or in other words, if a strong engagement in both paid work and family life is a positive or negative experience for men and women respectively. The main data used are a data set from Statistics Sweden, the so‐called ULF (the study of living conditions), in which nearly 30,000 randomly selected individuals were interviewed. When analysing how the combined family and labour market situation is related to the number of preferred working hours and psychological distress of individuals, the results show that it is primarily cohabiting women with children who work more than 40 hours per week, who want to reduce their working hours. However, the distress level is not relatively high for this category. Results indicate that many women, and some men, who have multiple social roles express a wish to reduce their working hours, but this does not necessarily mean that the levels of distress are higher for these groups. This may be a result of the fact that the alternative resources provided by multiple social roles in some sense outweigh the stressful effects that double demands have on psychological distress.     

Minority schooling and intercultural education: a comparison of recent developments in the old and new EU member states

Comparative reports conducted by the author show different educational approaches concerning the schooling of ethnic minorities in the EU Member States as well as differences in the handling of issues of cultural diversity. Minority schooling in the new EU Member States primarily focuses on the education of national or autochthonous minority groups, in contrast to the old EU Member States, where language and compensatory programs for migrant minority students have been of main concern. In addition, there are also different conceptions of intercultural education in the respective countries. Differences in school achievement of various ethnic groups can be identified despite limited differential data on educational attainment in many countries. This paper addresses two main questions: first, in which ways can different educational approaches be effective in raising the educational attainment of ethnic minorities? Second, in which ways could they be most suitable for preparing all students for living in a culturally diverse society and to encourage tolerance towards cultural differences?     

How to start to talk about money: developing clienthood in interaction in a social welfare office

The process of defining clienthood, in terms of real-time talk and the inherently local linguistic and interactive practices, which highlights the need for an explication of the interaction order, is analyzed in this article. The tracking of the objectives and patterns of actions of local interaction in a Finnish social welfare office between social workers and longterm clients reveals the ongoing negotiating about meaning, rights and social positions and the central role of institutional speech in the constitution of a social welfare office. Basic interactional solutions for managing the institutional task of dealing with the applicant's interested claims was found. The social workers could, using different practices, initiate the treatment of the question of benefits so that the participants, with mutual alignment, avoided representing the clients interested claims. Also the clients could initiate the treatment, but the social workers did not align with the initiations that could be classified as interested.     

Disability stigmatization as a barrier to employment equity for legally-blind Canadians

Canada has expressed a strong commitment to the rights of its citizens against discrimination, including those with disabilities. A question remains whether Canadians with disabilities are able to practice these rights. Our mixed-methods study sheds light on the situation of one important sub-group of people with disabilities – those who are legally blind. Our survey results show that the labour-force participation rate for this population is very low compared with those without disabilities, and also lower than the rate for persons with other disabilities. Legally-blind working-age Canadians have significantly higher rates of unemployment and underemployment, and perceive major barriers to employment. In-person interviews reveal the negative impact of one major barrier – disability stigmatization – on accessing meaningful employment and other societal assets. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest policy directions.     

Economics as symbolic capital: The consecration of elite business schools

Theory and Society - Ever since the first elite business schools were founded in Europe and the United States during the late 1800s and early 1900s, they have enjoyed an intimate relationship with...