Nils Hammarén

Hegemonic Masculinity and Pornography: Young People's Attitudes toward and Relations to Pornography

This article explores young peoples attitudes toward pornographic material. How do young people in general relate to and view pornography? Are there any clear gender differences? On the basis of empirical results from an extensive Swedish survey study, we discuss and analyze how gender differences are articulated. We are specifically interested in what kinds of attitudes young men and young women develop. A common conception of gender and the consumption of pornography is that men and boys are generally the consumers, whereas women dislike pornography. Results from the present study partly support these claims. However, we argue that it is important to analyze differences within the categories “men” and “women.” Here, we find that many young men are actually hold negative attitudes toward pornography, whereas some young women are positively disposed toward and enjoy pornography. These findings are discussed within the framework of gender theory and theories of masculinity.

Homosociality: In Between Power and Intimacy

The concept of homosociality describes and defines social bonds between persons of the same sex. It is, for example, frequently used in studies on men and masculinities, there defined as a mechanism and social dynamic that explains the maintenance of hegemonic masculinity. However, this common and somewhat overexploited use of the concept to refer to how men, through their relations to other men, uphold and maintain patriarchy tends to simplify and reduce homosociality to an almost descriptive term – one used to point at how men tend to bond, build closed teams, and defend their privileges and positions. The purpose of the present article is to investigate, explore, and discuss the concept of homosociality. We will introduce a distinction between vertical/hierarchical and horizontal homosociality. Hierarchical homosociality is similar to and has previously been described as a means of strengthening power and of creating close bonds between men and between women to maintain and defend hegemony. Horizontal homosociality, however, is used to point toward more inclusive relations between, for example, men that are based on emotional closeness, intimacy, and a nonprofitable form of friendship. Relating this distinction to the concept of and discussion on hegemonic masculinity, we will reconstruct and develop a more dynamic view on homosociality.The concept of homosociality describes and defines social bonds between persons of the same sex. It is, for example, frequently used in studies on men and masculinities, there defined as a mechanism and social dynamic that explains the maintenance of hegemonic masculinity. However, this common and somewhat overexploited use of the concept to refer to how men, through their relations to other men, uphold and maintain patriarchy tends to simplify and reduce homosociality to an almost descriptive term - one used to point at how men tend to bond, build closed teams, and defend their privileges and positions. The purpose of the present article is to investigate, explore, and discuss the concept of homosociality. We will introduce a distinction between vertical/hierarchical and horizontal homosociality. Hierarchical homosociality is similar to and has previously been described as a means of strengthening power and of creating close bonds between men and between women to maintain and defend hegemony. Horizontal homosociality, however, is used to point toward more inclusive relations between, for example, men that are based on emotional closeness, intimacy, and a nonprofitable form of friendship. Relating this distinction to the concept of and discussion on hegemonic masculinity, we will reconstruct and develop a more dynamic view on homosociality.

‘Imagine, just 16 years old and already a dad!’ The construction of young fatherhood on the Internet

Studies exploring young fatherhood have mainly looked at low-income and unemployed young men. The literature is thus focused on fathering at the margins of society and mechanisms of exclusion. This discourse of young, marginal, excluded and often fragile fatherhood is also strongly connected to discourses on young parenthood in general. There is, for example, an ongoing and parallel discussion in many countries on young teen mothers and social exclusion. In general, the discourse on young parenthood has focused to a greater extent on the mothers situation. In this article, we explore young fatherhood. In Sweden a new phenomenon has emerged: young fathers creating blogs and presenting themselves on the Internet. The images of young fatherhood constructed in these blogs are often positive and framed within a discourse of the caring father. Using a narrative approach, the article investigates how these young fathers present their self on the Internet. The results indicate the presence of a caring, present and reflexive young father.

The art of choosing the right tram: Schooling, segregation and youth culture

In this article, we study how young people with an immigrant background (first and second generation), which attend schools that can be considered more ‘Swedish’ experience the transition from a ‘multicultural district’ to the city centre. The empirical study was conducted in a large Swedish city, where the students attended two different programmes. In the analysis, we take a narrative approach, with student movements in time and space analysed in relation to concepts such as territorial stigmatization, alienation, bodily practices and identity positions. Findings show that the students often compare the city school with other schools — the city school described as a ‘white’ school, the other schools as ‘immigrant schools’. The different schools are clearly placed on a status hierarchy, with the city school at the top and other schools somewhere below. The students have confronted and succeeded in transgressing social and cultural boundaries. However, the feeling of otherness that originates in housing conditions, experiences of exclusion and the everyday life of many immigrants is transposed, so to speak, to the school area and transformed into strategies for handling exclusion and otherness.

Youth ‘at risk’: A critical discourse analysis of the European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network Collection of approaches and practices used in education:

The present article focuses on how the so-called War on terror discourse has merged into the educational system and brought about a securitization of education. As a part of efforts to prevent young people from becoming radicalized into terrorism, the educational system is expected to be able to detect individuals ‘at risk’ and deploy methods to prevent radicalization from happening. Through the critical discourse analysis of a collection of educational practices, sampled by the European Union working group Radicalisation Awareness Network, we have been able to generate knowledge about how the War on terror discourse tends to individualize and decontextualize tensions in society that may ultimately cause terrorism. With this individualized and decontextualized approach to preventing radicalization, it appears more important to control students rather than to develop their ability to analyse complex conflicts in society.

The school as crime scene: Discourses on degrading treatment in Swedish schools:

There is a strong case for stating that during the past decades there has been a shift in perspective when addressing questions of how to handle and preserve social order in Swedish schools. As an institution that has focused on social order and education since the 1990s, the Swedish school system has also become an institution that focuses on social order in terms of law and legal issues. The overall purpose of the article is to explore in which contexts and in what ways degrading treatment is articulated in policy documents that relate to social order in Swedish schools. Methodologically, the authors use a discourse analytical approach. They study how contexts and articulations identified in policy documents relate to discourses of degrading treatment, and thus contribute to an understanding of how degrading treatment as a concept is constituted. Articulated in different contexts and in different ways, the results show that degrading treatment is constituted as a somewhat ambiguous concept – for example, social psychological perspectives are sometimes articulated within a legal discourse. Articulations of degrading treatment in policy documents cannot be comprehended as totally mutually dependent events, but rather as multiple and partly mutually independent events. Accordingly, the authors believe that the significance of degrading treatment is best understood as a conjunction of different articulations, contexts and interests. Additionally, the tendency of schools to treat degrading treatment increasingly as a crime has resulted in changing subject positions. The previous position of ‘the bullied pupil’ is now instead increasingly interpellated and moulded as ‘a victim of crime’.

Youth victimisation, school and family support: schools’ strategies to handle abused children

This article explores and investigates school officials’ narratives about how schools involve and collaborate with families, social services, the police, and other agencies to support students who are suspected of being exposed to domestic violence. School officials’ describe their work as positioned within legal restrictions and official policies, and they express a strong wish to create good relationships with families and other authorities to support vulnerable students. The narratives also indicate that school officials construct different explanations for child abuse according to the familys background. Abuse and neglect of children by Swedish parents are understood and explained in terms of social, psychological, and psychiatric problems, whereas the same behavior in immigrant parent is framed and explained in terms of culture or ethnicity.

The Absent Victim: Schools’ Assessment of the “Victimization Process”

The present study examines how a number of Swedish schools define and categorize students who have been exposed to different forms of violent or abusive acts in school. The study will shed light on how categorizations and forms of explanation used in the schools by professionals emerge from central institutional and professional discourses. The data are gathered from interviews with key officials and observations from school health team meetings. The results indicate a tendency toward more and detailed legal regulations concerning how schools act and react in relation to violent behavior.

Identities at Stake: Young Adult Migrants and Strategies for Resisting Future Unemployment

Gaining employment in society is a critical stage in the lives of most young people, but statistics show that young migrants face greater barriers than do young people from the majority population. In the present article, I highlight how young adults of migrant background who live in Sweden handle and resist labour exclusion by focusing on how they try to improve their chances of getting a future occupation. The results show that the informants use various strategies to try to prevent future labour exclusion. Some of them are related to the construction of a ‘Swedish’ identity and dissociation from a migrant position, others to the importance of choosing the right education, struggling to find a job or adapting in different ways to societal and racialized discourses.

Presentation of an Analytical Framework

Migration has increased significantly during the past few decades. This can be largely accredited to the fall of the Iron Curtain, the end of fascism in Southern Europe and the wars in Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The growth of the European Union (EU) has also increased movement within Europe. The majority of those migrating are young people. Some are economic migrants, some are students and some are refugees. What they have in common is that they all hope for a better future. However, the financial crisis as well as growing anti-immigrant attitudes in Europe have significantly worsened the situation for these young people. In this book, we analyse how young migrants and descendants from a variety of different backgrounds cope with the barriers and opportunities they face within seven national contexts, namely Norway, Sweden, Estonia, France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy. The book is based on a three-year long qualitative, cross-national project, financed by the EU. Researchers from each of these countries have interviewed altogether 250 young migrants and descendants about their experiences of inclusion and exclusion in different arenas.