The aim of this text is to introduce perspectives, questions and empirical examples regarding children's identity construction in play with dolls and figures that represent women and men in both gender-typed and non gender-typed ways. Videotaped play of two 4-year old boys and three 5-year-old girls in a preschool setting is analyzed from complementary interactionistic and socio-cultural perspectives. The level of plasticity in the toyplay is interpreted. The results suggest ways in wich the gender-plastic character of toy play can be founded in children's intentions as well as in the toys' character as mediating tools. The analysis is based on whether children play with, through, in or beside their toy gestalts. These and other similar distinctions help to differentiate identity consequences in play.

Kapitlets syfte är att beskriva och analysera aktuella politiska tendenser och ideologiska strömningar, vilka på ett eller annat sätt förespråkar ett "återupprättande" av traditionella förhållanden mellan kategorierna "barn" och "vuxna", men också att lyfta fram några av de motsägelser och paradoxer som ryms inom och mellan dessa diskurser.

Texten innehåller några reflektioner på Säkerhets- och sårbarhetskonferensen vid Högskolan i Halmstad den 17 april 2008. Syftet är att lyfta fram och diskutera en aspekt av problematiken i forsknings- och utvecklingsarbetet kring krisberedskap och krishantering; nämligen de diffusa och komplexa gränserna mellan å ena sidan en moralisk och å andra sidan en konstruktiv form av kritik.

Rapporten redovisar resultatet från en utvärdering av projektet "Regional samverkan för distansstudier i Entreprenörsregionen" som, med stöd av Nationellt Centrum för Flexibelt Lärande (CFL), pågick mellan våren 2003 och våren 2005. Utvärderingen genomfördes inom ramen för ämnet Statsvetenskap vid Sektionen för Hälsa och Samhälle på Högskolan i Halmstad, på uppdrag av projektets ledare vid Entreprenörsregionen.

Syftet med detta paper är att diskutera Dorothy Smiths kunskapsteoretiska ställningstagande och dess relation till Emilé Durkheims klassiska tes om sociala fakta. Vid en första betraktelse kan det förefalla som om Smiths uppfattning innebär ett definitivt avståndstagande från den samhällsvetenskapliga syn som Durkheim på sin tid stod för. Vi menar dock att kunskapssyn som Dorothy Smith företräder mycket väl går att förena med Durkheims "sociala fakta".

Synen på familjen och familjelivets former förändras ständigt. Trenden som sedan länge gått mot ökad självständighet och jämlikhet bryts ibland och ett slags nostalgisk längtan efter förment trygghet i svunna tiders föreställda familjegemenskaper inställer sig. Det är inte en pendelrörelse fram och tillbaka över tid utan utvecklingen innebär snarare en rörelse som på samma gång går både fram och tillbaka. Författarna menar att vi idag befinner oss i en tid med en bakåtblickande rörelse och ett sökande efter lösningar på våra problem i det förflutna. Att sådana lösningar riskerar att väcka till liv traditionella över- och underordnings­förhållanden döljs ofta, i såväl människors familjeromantiska drömmar som i det offentliga samtalet. Ett samhällsvetenskapligt perspektiv innebär att betrakta familjen inte bara som något oomtvistat positivt att sträva efter, utan även som en social form av villkorad gemenskap, med fördelar och nackdelar, möjligheter och hinder för medlemmarna. I boken diskuteras vad nyfamilistiska trender i tiden kan innebära för individen, hennes frihet och livsval. 

Dagens leksaker är tydligt könsmärkta och alla - även barnen - bidrar till att vidmakthålla föreställningen om vad en flicka eller pojke ska leka med. Därmed begränsas barnens möjligheter till en mångsidig utveckling. Vems ansvar är det?

This article reports on a study of gender differences in course experiences and achievement of students taking the introductory educational sciences course at Halmstad University in Sweden. Male and female students' completion rates and grades were analysed in relation to the students' grade point averages (GPAs) from upper secondary school and their experiences of the conditions for learning provided by the teachers as well as their own actorship in the course. Based on the idea that the subject of educational sciences and the characteristics of the educational context and setting are more feminine than masculine, the male students were expected to have lower completion rates and grades. A gender difference in completion rates was confirmed, in that 65% of the male and 80% of the female students completed the whole course. Male students also rated the conditions for learning provided by the teacher as well as their own actorship in the course lower than did their female peers. In order to reduce the drop-out of male students, it is suggested that the department/teachers should pay more attention to any gendered aspects of the teaching/learning practices as well as to the educational context in general.

Leksaker uttrycker avstånd mellan barn och vuxna

Konsumtionssamhället är påtagligt i barns leksaksinnehav. En treåring har i genomsnitt 409 leksaker och en femåring 617, enligt det forskningsprojekt som redovisas i artikeln. Leksakerna berättar dock mindre om de enskilda barnen än om vuxenvärldens värderingar och om synen på barndom, menar Anders Nelson och Mattias Nilsson. Ofta antas leksaker vara en länk till vuxenvärlden, men tvärtom gestaltar leksakerna ett särskiljande av barns respektive vuxnas tillvaro.

Dagens barn är storkonsumenter av leksaker, och i denna bok belyser författaren ur ett praktisk pedagogiskt perspektiv leksakens roll i barns lek och lärande i ljuset av samhällsutvecklingen.

Leksaksvärlden bågnar av våld och förlegade kvinnobilder. Det kommersiella trycket är enormt och få föräldrar orkar stå emot. För barnen vill ju ha det här...

In recent years there has been a tendency for Swedish higher education students to choose to study degree programmes rather than single subject courses. Due to the decreasing number of students taking for example sociology, Halmstad University in Sweden has constructed a degree programme, Sociologi och socialt utvecklingsarbete, with focus on community development and social action, with Sociology as the main specific subject. In the autumn of 2007 ninety-five percent of the 61 students were female, compared to the seventy-five percent of female students in sociology degree courses that Sweden has had in the past seven years. An increased gender division previously related to specific professional fields such as technology/engineering and care/nursing, seems to come into academic disciplines that earlier have not had problems with such a skewed gender representation. I look upon gender division in all its shapes as problematic.

The paper is based on a lager study on students at Halmstad University in which the students’ motives for taking the sociology programme and their expectations on sociology as well as the programme are investigated. The importance of equal gender representation in sociology is discussed in this paper and its consequences for educational practices in sociology as well as the contents and status of the discipline in the future will be illuminated.

In spite of engagement and efforts to bring about gender equality in Swedish universities, gender division paradoxically appears in both old and new degree programs and academic disciplines. In recent years there has been a tendency for higher education students to enrol in degree programmes rather than in single subject courses. Due to the decreasing number of students taking subjects like sociology, Halmstad University College has constructed a degree programme, Sociologi och socialt utvecklingsarbete [Sociology and social development], focused on community development and social action; sociology is the main specific subject here. In the autumn of 2007, 95% of the 61 students were female, compared to the 75% of female students in sociology degree courses that Sweden has had in the past seven years. The problem of skewed gender representation in sociology is discussed here, and its consequences for educational practices in sociology as well as for the contents and status of the discipline in the future.

In order to reflect about methods that can generate social justice and democratization, this article emphasises on practical implementations, connected to gender pedagogy. Gender pedagogy aims at overcoming the myth of objectivity, and by questioning through teaching what is considered as common sense and ‘normal’. Studying gender in the classroom entails therefore, acting and reflecting on breakthroughs, for example about an understanding of how gender codes influence everyday instances as well as working life. The collected data is based on narratives from alumni students who were asked to memorise and reflect on their gender studies and particularly about how useful this type of knowledge is in connection with everyday and working life - as politician, lecturer, IT-manager, doctoral student etc. The aim of this article is to focus on how teachers support students to be gender confident and as a consequence of that, becoming gender actors outside the university, in working life. Some central questions are: how are gender issues represented and integrated in the different areas of studies; what can teachers do in order to generate equality in the classroom; in what way and how are students given possibilities of understanding, internalizing and discussing gender issues. Our experiences as lectors, especially in gender studies, play a central role.

Higher education (HE) has changed from elite to mass education (HSV 2006:26R, Leathwood & Read 2009). In the last few decades, the number of women in higher education has increased substantially in most OECD countries. Sweden’s reform of HE in 1993 encourages university institu- tions to develop new degree programs (SFS 1993:100). This opened opportunities for the development of programs designed to attract women & men in equal numbers but the result was disappointing. According to a Swedish study, an increasing number of new degree programs attract almost exclusively one gender (Witt 2009, Nelson et al 2009). It is a well- established fact that technical educations are male-dominated while care- related educations are predominantly chosen by women. This paper inves- tigates the motivations for choice reported by 620 students in 17 programs. We have categorized these motives as follows: knowledge seeking; work- ing life orientation; shoulder responsibility for society; program design; second choice and “follow the map”. Moreover, the paper discusses how gender-segregated educational choices may affect the future opportunities of student in terms of professional careers, income development and, con- sequently, social standing & life styles. To study gender segregation within HE is like looking at a three dimensional picture. We can focus at different parts or images a one image shows the gender division among the students, another show the genderized division between program choices, while the third image is about the vertical gender division among teachers and researchers & their career opportunities. This paper deals with the first two.

Higher education (HE) has changed from elite to mass education (HSV 2006:26R, Leathwood & Read 2009). In the last few decades, the number of women in higher education has increased substantially in most OECD countries. Sweden ́s reform of HE in 1993 encourages university institutions to develop new degree programs (SFS 1993:100). This opened opportunities for the development of programs designed to attract women and men in equal numbers but the result was disappointing. According to a Swedish study, an increasing number of new degree programs attract almost exclusively one gender (Witt 2009, Nelson et al 2009). It is a well- established fact that technical educations are male-dominated while care-related educations are predominantly chosen by women. This paper investigates the motivations for choice reported by 620 students in 17 programs. We have categorized these motives as follows: knowledge seeking; working life orientation; shoulder responsibility for society; program design; second choice and “follow the map”. Moreover, the paper discusses how gender-segregated educational choices may affect the future opportunities of student in terms of professional careers, income development and, consequently, social standing and life styles. To study gender segregation within HE is like looking at a three dimensional picture. We can focus at different parts or images – one image shows the gender division among the students, another show the genderized division between program choices, while the third image is about the vertical gender division among teachers and researchers and their career opportunities. This paper deals with the first two.