Arbete i förvärvslivet sker inom avgränsade yrken. Det modernasamhälletskomplexa arbetsdelning har gett upphov till ett omfattande antalyrken (Hughes 2008). Yrken är summan av en uppsättning arbetsuppgifter, denetymologiska betydelsen av yrke är just ”att arbeta” (Svensson 2003). Yrke avseralltså förvärvsarbete som ger möjligheter till försörjning. Så definierar ocksåMax Weber (1983: 95) yrke: ”den specificering, specialisering och kombinationav en individs prestationer som utgör grunden för hans möjligheter till enkontinuerlig försörjning”. Yrken har olika kvalifikationskrav, som beskriverde kunskaper och kompetenser yrkesutövare behöver ha (kap. 13), vilka bidrartill att bestämma yrkets värde – ett värde som kommer till uttryck i lön (kap. 3)och status, vilket är ett symboliskt värde som diskuteras i detta kapitel. Yrkenpositionerar därför individer i såväl ekonomiska ordningar (klass, kap. 15) ochi sociala ordningar i form av status (Weber 2009; jfr Ulfsdotter Eriksson&Larsson2024). På så sätt är yrken en förbindelselänk mellan samhälle, organisationoch individ. Denna bredd fångas i en definition av Richard Hall (1969: 5f,min översättning): ”Ett yrke är den sociala roll som utövas av vuxna samhällsmedborgareoch som direkt och/eller indirekt medför sociala och finansiellakonsekvenser och som utgör en mycket viktig del av vuxenlivet.” Beroende påperspektiv och syfte kan olika definitioner av yrke lämpa sig, vilket kommeratt synliggöras i detta kapitel som behandlar olika sätt att klassificera yrken,relationen mellan status och erkännande samt innebörden av yrkesidentitet.

This report aims to contribute knowledge about the challenges faced by welfare organizationsregarding competence supply management. It is based on three theoretical perspectives:attractive work, gendered professions and organizations, and matching theory between person-occupational fit, person-job fit, and person-organization fit. The report focuses on intra-organizational processes and employees' perceptions of their occupation and work.The aim is to identify factors that may contribute to or hinder employees from considering workin functional support as an attractive job for both women and men. The report addresses thefollowing questions, paying particular attention to similarities and differences between men andwomen:1) How well do employees' self-assessed characteristics match those they consideressential for occupations within functional support?2) How do employees experience and perceive their work in terms of work content andconditions, and how does this contribute to their desire to stay or change jobs?3) How do employees perceive the workplace in terms of inclusion/discrimination and thegendered workplace climate?

The study was based on two sub-studies. First, a survey was sent to around 3900 employeesworking within functional support in the municipality of Gothenburg. The response rate was16,3 percent (645 employees answered the questionnaire). Second, focus group interviews wereperformed with 16 employees, divided into four groups (two groups included men only and twogroups included women only).The results indicate a significant match between job requirements and self-assessedcharacteristics. However, there seems to be a mismatch in person-job fit for both men andwomen regarding preferences for working hours and pay. There is a good person-job fit in termsof tasks and work community, as both men and women find the tasks meaningful and the workcommunity positive. In terms of person-organization fit, the study shows that employeesperceive the organizational culture as gendered and unfair in some respects. Focus groupinterviews revealed that women perceive that men have better salaries and working hours, thelatter due to organizational differences. According to the interviews, both women and menexperience horizontal gender division: Women feel that men can opt out of certain tasks basedon gendered perceptions of what women are expected to do. Men perceive that women oftenquit positions where users were outgoing. Men feel excluded from certain tasks due tocolleagues' gendered perceptions and users' demands. Furthermore, according to the survey,men perceive the organizational climate as more gendered than women do. In addition toperceived horizontal gender segregation, men were more likely than women to experience thatrelationships were gendered and that the organizational culture included stereotypical views ofmen and women. Finally, based on focus group interviews, men perceived that society viewsthe occupation as not suitable for men, which is potentially a problem for recruiting men.

This report examines the processes of building and maintaining trust, as well as the sources of trust and distrust between social partners across different levels in Sweden. It exploresthe role of trust in industrial relations, focusing on how social partners perceive its impact onsocial dialogue and collective bargaining. We analyse various dimensions of trust, key obstacles to its development, and the broader implications for industrial relations. The findings are based on interviews with stakeholders and experts at national, sectoral, and company levels in three sectors. The report is part of the TRUE EUROPE research project, which investigates the determinants and outcomes of trust in social partner relations. Interviews were conducted in eight countries, focusing on the metal, transport, and banking and finance sectors. We explored trust levels across different social dialogue topics - from core issues like wages to less contentious areas such as digitalisation, skills and training, and health and safety.

Background: little is known about associations between occupational prestige, that is, the symbolic evaluation and socialpositioning of occupations, and sickness absence (SA) or disability pension (DP). We explored whether occupational prestigewas associated with future SA or DP among women and men. Methods: A Swedish 4-year prospective cohort study of allthose in paid work and aged 25–59 in 2010 (N = 2,605,227; 47% women), using linked microdata from three nationwideregisters and Standard International Occupational Prestige Scale values, categorised as ‘very low’, ‘low’, ‘medium’, ‘high’,or ‘very high’. Odds ratios (Ors), 95% confidence intervals (CIs), crude and adjusted for several sociodemographic factors,were calculated for three outcomes: at least one SA spell (>14 days), >90 SA days, or DP occurrence, during follow-up(2011–2013). Results: The mean number of SA days in 2010 varied by occupational prestige group, for example, ‘very high’:3.0, ‘very low’: 6.5. Compared to those in occupations with ‘very high’ prestige, all other groups had higher adjusted Orsfor all three outcomes. Among men, those with ‘very low’ occupational prestige had the highest Or for at least one SA spell:Or 1.51 (95% CI 1.47–1.56); among women, the ‘medium’ group had the highest Or: 1.30 (1.27–1.32). The results weresimilar for SA >90 days. Or for DP among women with ‘very low’ occupational prestige was 2.01 (1.84–2.19), and 3.55(3.15–4.01) for men. Conclusions: Working in lower occupational prestige occupations was generally associatedwith higher odds of future SA/DP than working in higher prestige occupations; these associations were strongerfor men than for women.

I detta kapitel argumenterar jag för att teoretiska begrepp och resonemang inte är begränsade till ett särskilt teorikapitel, utan något som genomsyrar hela det vetenskapliga arbetet. Genom att analysera en vetenskaplig artikel konkretiserar jag teorins olika funktioner i det vetenskapliga arbetets olika delar – från introduktionen, med syfte och frågeställningar, till avslutningens syntetiserande slutsatser. Teorier och begrepp förstås alltså som verktyg för att formulera problem, analysera empiri och skapa abstraktion i slutsatser. Kapitlet visar att teoretisering är en kontinuerlig praktik snarare än en isolerad aktivitet. Teori framhålls som en resurs för att abstrahera, relatera och förklara. Ambitionen är att visa att sociologisk forskning i praktiken är teoriimpregnerad från början till slut.

Denna text handlar om den symboliska värderingen avyrken. Inledningsvis diskuterar jag begreppet yrkesstatus ochhur det förhåller sig till det mer övergripande begreppet socialstatus och det närliggande begreppet klass. Därefter följer ettavsnitt om yrkestatusforskningens framväxt som för över tillett avsnitt om yrkesstatus i Sverige. Sedan för jag en fördjupaddiskussion av just läraryrket, då det varit omdebatterat underlång tid och då flera politiska reformer genomförts just i syfteatt öka dess status. Avslutningsvis säger jag något om yrkesstatussom samhällsfenomen och huruvida det är viktigt eller ej attstudera yrkens status.

Occupations are at the core of the restructuring of labour markets. It is occupations that, due to technologisation, stand the risk of being fundamentally changed or even eliminated. Occupations are the ‘backbone’ of social stratification. Financial rewards, like wages and other benefits, and symbolic rewards in terms of recognition and prestige, define the ranking of occupations in the social order. This chapter explores polarisation based on changes in how employees are distributed across the occupational prestige hierarchy, as well as how changes in the labour market have affected the prestige of occupations. Drawing on quantitative data, the chapter shows some alterations and that, despite a narrowing of the occupational prestige range, the occupational prestige score stands strong. However, there are some upgrading tendencies for women’s employment, while there are signs of polarisation for men. The increase of women in high-prestige occupations seems to have affected the prestige scores, as the negative effect from the share of women has increased over time.

Polarisation, both in and of society, has been discussed not only in relation to outcomes in the labour market, but also in relation to opinions and attitudes. This chapter examines whether, and how, perceptions of occupational prestige have changed over time. Although perceptions of the prestige of occupations have proven to be a stable phenomenon, differences in perceptions may have increased in connection with technological changes in the labour market. Drawing on two survey studies conducted in Sweden in 2002 and 2018, this chapter scrutinises polarisation in perceptions of occupational prestige. The analysis showed only small dispersions in prestige perceptions over time and between social categories (sex, age and social class). The differences are too small and scattered to talk of any kind of polarisation. The main conclusion is that when it comes to perceptions of occupational status, we see no tendencies of either value polarisation or bi-polarisation.