Social identity and alcohol in young adolescence: the perceived difference between youthful and adult drinking

This paper examines the evolving social identities of young adolescents in regard to alcohol and drinking culture in Norway. Detailed analysis of 29 focus group interviews and 32 individual interviews with 12–13-year-olds reveal a thorough negative attitude towards alcohol, especially when enjoyed by young people. Young adolescents found young people to be too irresponsible and immature to drink, while adults were portrayed as capable of enjoying alcohol without losing control or experiencing other negative effects. Through symbolic boundary work, they distanced themselves from adolescents who drank. The young adolescents rejected the idea that drinking alcohol was a sign of maturity; instead, they exhibited maturity by distancing themselves from drunk adolescents. We discuss how these findings reflect the participants’ socio-cognitive development, and how symbolic boundaries are often drawn against those closest in social distance. We conclude that boundaries between ‘adolescents’ and ‘adults’ are fundamental when understanding emerging adolescent social identities, especially when it comes to drinking and drinking culture.     

Welfare municipalities: economic resources or party politics? Norwegian local government social programs of the 1920s

This article analyses the introduction of Norwegian local government social security programs for the elderly, disabled persons, widows and single mothers in the 1920s. The role of local government as an agent and initiator of welfare state development has been for the most part neglected within the welfare state literature. Indeed, the first social security programs in Norway were introduced by local governments, affecting nearly half of the population. Even if these programs were not very generous compared with the social security programs of our time, many of them were equal to, or even more generous than, the national pension scheme introduced in 1936. This article examines what distinguished the social security municipalities from those that did not implement such programs, and the variation in generosity profiles. The conclusion is that the main determinant regarding the implementation and generosity of the local social security programs is the political strength of the two Norwegian socialist parties at the time – the Social democratic party and the Labour party – both being too impatient to wait for a national social security plan, and both being willing to mobilise economic resources through taxation and borrowing.     

A Study of Shame from Sexual Abuse Within the Context of a Norwegian Incest Center

Working with those who have experienced sexual abuse is a complicated matter because such abuse not only involves the violation of the victim's body, but it often generates shame in those involved. This article is based on empirical data from 26 hours of videotaped focus group interviews with 19 adult men and women in a Norwegian incest center who spoke openly of the shame they experienced from sexual abuse as children, parents, and employees. Findings from this study show that shame from sexual abuse can be grouped into seven major categories: (a) family, (b) emotions, (c) body, (d) food, (e) self-image, (f) sex, and (g) therapy.     

Developing criteria for healthy organizational change

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify criteria for healthy change in organizations and to develop practical guidelines for intended change. We aimed to explore how change processes at the shop floor level can be better informed by consultants and labour inspectors. A total of 180 interviews were conducted with managers and employees in 90 units of public and private organizations in Norway. The interviews were analysed through four steps representing an expansion of grounded theory, and converted to qualitative analysis using QSR and N6 software. We found that organizational change processes were better managed by more attention to awareness of the local norms and diversity among employees in the perception and reactions to change efforts. An inspector or consultant should be aware of these phenomena in any change effort and tell the organization how to deal with them. The other three factors identified were early role clarification, manager availability, and using constructive conflicts to deal with change. They are all important coping mechanisms at the organizational level that will bring change processes onto a more optimal track if correctly managed. A healthy process empowers individuals instead of making them insecure and defensive in times of change. This will help them restore perceived control and promote job security, which benefits both them and the organization.     

Return Migration Intentions in the Integration–Transnationalism Matrix

This article asks how return migration intentions are shaped by ties to the country of residence on the one hand, and ties to the country of origin on the other. We discuss these two sets of ties in terms of immigrant integration and transnationalism, respectively. A central tenet of the study is that, at the individual level, integration and transnationalism are neither related in a predictable way nor independent of each other. In our analysis we take methodological steps that reflect this argument, and introduce an integration–transnationalism matrix. In the empirical analysis we use quantitative survey data (N = 3,053) on ten large immigrant groups in Norway, collected by Statistics Norway in 2005–06. We find that it is the relative strength of integration and transnationalism that is decisive for return migration intentions.     

Longitudinal Pathways From Shyness in Early Childhood to Personality in Adolescence: Do Peers Matter?

Temperamental shyness in childhood is theorized to be an important contributor for adolescent personality. However, empirical evidence for such pathways is scarce. Using longitudinal data (N = 939 children, 51% boys) across 17 years, the aim of this study was to examine how shyness development throughout childhood predicted personality traits in adolescence, and the role of peers in these associations. Results from piecewise latent growth curve modeling showed early shyness levels to predict lower emotional stability and openness in adolescence, whereas early shyness levels and growth across childhood predicted lower extraversion. Peer problems in early adolescence accounted for these associations. This study is the first to demonstrate the role of childhood shyness and peer relations for adolescents’ personality development.     

Frontline workers' competency in activation work

Frontline workers play a crucial role in implementing activation policies. Nevertheless, research on what competencies are required for activation work is limited. We explored activation competency based on a survey of 1,735 frontline workers in the Norwegian labour and welfare administration. Factor analysis revealed two distinct underlying dimensions in activation competency: market competency and user‐oriented competency. We found that the social workers in the study viewed themselves as having significantly less market competency and slightly more user‐oriented competency than non‐social workers have, but the differences were small. The results also indicate that these effects are partially mediated by attitudes towards conditionality. The results give reason to treat activation competencies as twofold and raise the question of whether social work education improves frontline workers' competency in activation work compared with frontline workers with other educational backgrounds.     

Characteristics of the mass media's coverage of nuclear energy and its risk: A literature review

Media coverage of nuclear energy is a crucial source of information about the risk of nuclear energy for the general public. As a result, scholars of communication science are very interested in the media's coverage of the nuclear energy risk. This literature review provides an overview of the state of research in this field. This article will describe the findings of empirical research and focus on how much attention the nuclear energy issue receives from the media, the tone in which it is communicated, how it is framed, and how the media depict the risk of this technology. It also argues that empirical risk‐coverage studies would be more informative if they took a broader perspective on risk. Finally, it will discuss areas for future research.