Visions and politics in the making of Stockholm's House of Culture: Institutional complexity within extraordinary projects

The aim of the article is to analyse and comprehend the interplay of institutional logics in the realisation of Stockholm's House of Culture, Kulturhuset, hereby beginning to answer the question of what role cultural logics play in cultural development projects. Based on an in-depth case study of the process leading up to the creation of Kulturhuset, the article explores the interplay of a politico-bureaucratic logic and a cultural–professional logic governing the evolution of the project. Following a Scandinavian tradition of interpretative studies of complex development projects, the making of Kulturhuset is framed as an extraordinary project involving a complicated development process. The process dynamics are explored and analysed through the lens of institutional complexity. The article's main contribution lies in its highlighting the interplay of – and nuancing the relation between – institutional logics. It also serves as a reminder of the power of bureaucratic ordering in urban development projects.     

Elements of Capacity in Youth Development Nonprofits: An Exploratory Study of Urban Sport for Development and Peace Organizations

Organizational capacity is often discussed among nonprofit practitioners and scholars. Yet, empirical research employing a multidimensional capacity framework remains scarce in the nonprofit literature (Andersson et al. in VOLUNTAS Int J Volunt Nonprofit Organ 27(6):2860–2888, 2016). Using a qualitative research approach, we explored capacity in a specific segment of youth development nonprofits—sport for development and peace (SDP). We were guided by three research questions: (1) what are critical capacity elements of SDP nonprofits? (2) how do these capacity elements influence the ability of SDP nonprofits to achieve their desired goals and objectives? and (3) what are the capacity needs of SDP nonprofits in the USA? Findings from in-depth interviews with leaders of 29 organizations contribute to the development of theory on nonprofit capacity by providing a more nuanced understanding of capacity strengths and challenges related to broader nonprofit goal achievement. For example, paid staff, revenue generation, and internal infrastructure emerged as critically more important for capacity in this context. Practical and theoretical implications are further discussed.     

Health and Social Policy Responses to Unemployment in Europe

This paper analyzes health policy development in Europe in response to economic instability, and describes agreements and declarations at a European level as well as commitments in some selected countries. One significant example is the European Health for All Strategy, which encompasses 38 operational targets agreed upon by all 32 member states of the European region. The Council of Europe and the Commission of the European Communities have instituted study groups on psychosocial and health effects of long-term unemployment, and on intervention measures taken or contemplated. This paper discusses interventions such as psychological and socio-pedagogic training schemes, measures for long-term unemployed, and a "social guarantee" of employment or training, as well as prevention of unemployment and empowerment of the unemployed. A local approach in a region of the Federal Republic of Germany illustrates the need for political involvement and strategies.     

Predictors of gambling problems among male adolescents

The study concerns prediction of gambling problems in 178 male adolescents (aged 16 and 18 years) who completed a questionnaire, which included the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), a version of the Temperament and Character Inventory and a number of questions concerning social background, emotional and life-style factors. About 27% of the boys gamble at least weekly. As many as 16% qualify as probable pathological gamblers according to the SOGS. Another 7% are at risk. None of the social background factors are related to severity of gambling problems. The only significant family factor is parental substance misuse. The optimal multivariate model predicts about 30% of the variance in gambling problems. The strongest factor is frequency of alcohol drinking. Several factors indicate a personality with problems in relations to others. Another factor indicates a dreamy personality. Unexpectedly, impulsiveness is not related to gambling. In conclusion, problem gambling among male adolescents is related to life-style and personality, especially in relation to others, but not to usual social background factors. Gamblers are asocial rather than impulsive. The nature of this finding should be further explored, since an asocial personality may point at genetics as well as to early social influences, as may the finding on the relation between gambling and parental drinking.     

Emotional Empathy as Related to Mimicry Reactions at Different Levels of Information Processing

The hypotheses of this investigation were based on conceiving of facial mimicry reactions in face-to-face interactions as an early automatic component in the process of emotional empathy. Differences between individuals high and low in emotional empathy were investigated. The parameters compared were facial mimicry reactions, as represented by electromyographic (EMG) activity, when individuals were exposed to pictures of angry or happy faces. The present study distinguished between spontaneous facial reactions and facial expressions associated with more controlled or modulated emotions at different information processing levels, first at a preattentive level and then consecutively at more consciously controlled levels: 61 participants were exposed to pictures at three different exposure times (17, 56, and 2350 ms). A significant difference in facial mimicry reactions between high- and low-empathy participants emerged at short exposure times (56 ms), representing automatic, spontaneous reactions, with high-empathy participants showing a significant mimicking reaction. The low-empathy participants did not display mimicking at any exposure time. On the contrary, the low-empathy participants showed, in response to angry faces, a tendency to an elevated activation in the cheek region, which often is associated with smiling.     

Queue allocation of indivisible goods

A model with a finite number of indivisible goods (houses) and the same number of individuals is considered. The allocation of houses among the individuals according to a queue order is analysed. First an allocation mechanism is constructed where it is a dominant strategy for the individuals to truthfully report their preferences. Second it is demonstrated that in order to obtain the desired allocation, the individuals must not in general report their complete ranking of the houses, but only their maximal elements in recursively defined choice sets.Financial support from Jan Wallander's Foundation for Research in the Social Sciences is gratefully acknowledged.A first version of this paper was presented at ESEM in Cambridge 1991.     

Ill health and social conditions amongst migrants and refugees—the case of Sweden

The present article delineates the state of health and socioeconomic situation of migrants and refugees in Sweden. Special attention is given to refugees. Migrants appear to have more extensive health problems and a shorter longevity span than native Swedes. The refugees constitute an especially exposed group of migrants. Experiences in the home country that relate to organised violence is a specific problem for this group. It has been estimated that 20 to 25 per cent of all adult refugees who have arrived to Sweden during the recent years have experienced torture in their native countries. Swedish migrant and refugee policy operates according to a model of decentralisation, aiming to avoid ethnic segregation in the big city areas. However, the integration policy seems, in many instances, to have had a negative affect on the situation of the refugees. During the period of time, in which the refugees wait for a residence permit, they are not permitted to work. The long period of forced inactivity—in some instances up to a couple of years—seems frequently to have aggravated the health of the refugees. In addition it appears to contribute to the ever increasing animosity towards them.     

Mortality and economic fluctuations

Using wavelet methods, this paper analyzes the relationship between the age-adjusted, infant, and cause-specific mortality rates and the business cycle in Sweden over the period 1800–2000 (1911–1996 for cause-specific mortality). For the period 1800–2000, an increase in GDP by 1% decreased mortality by 0.7%. This overall relationship is due to a strong counter-cyclical relationship in the nineteenth century, which disappeared in the twentieth century. In contrast, in the twentieth century higher mortality in economic upturns is found for mortality caused by circulatory diseases (including stroke) and accidents.     

Adolescents' Lifetime Experience of Selling Sex: Development Over Five Years

Lifetime experience of selling sex among adolescents was investigated together with sociodemographic correlates, parent–child relationship, and the existence of people to confide in. Changes over time regarding the selling of sex were investigated through a comparison of data from 2004 and 2009. This study was carried out using 3,498 adolescents from a representative sample of Swedish high school students with a mean age 18.3 years. Of these adolescents, 1.5% stated that they had given sexual services for reimbursement and both male and female buyers existed. The adolescents who had sold sex had a poorer parent–child relationship during childhood and had fewer people to confide in about problems and worries. Changes over time were found especially regarding the Internet as a contact source and also immigrant background.