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In this article, we explore methodological considerations of using the car as space for ethnographic research on police work. With a socio-material perspective, we are concerned about how the car’s particular materiality and mobility shapes social interaction that takes place within it. We argue that this affects the researcher role, and that the researcher’s spatial position in the car affects the researcher role further. The position’s impact on interaction is made evident when the researcher is ‘riding shotgun’, rather than being placed in the back seat. We argue that this front-seat role comes with increased reciprocity towards the driver/officer, demanding a more (inter) active research practice. Hence, the riding shotgun position potentially increases the empirical input with the closer interaction between the researched and the researcher. More generally, the case illustrates the very delicate considerations of researcher positioning within ethnography on the move.

Kunstskapte fellesskap inviterer til en samtale om hva fellesskap i og rundt kunsten er og kan være. Hvilke former for samvær og samhørighet preger ulike kunst- og kulturoffentligheter, og hva slags offentligheter bidrar til at det dannes nye kunstskapte fellesskap? Hva skjer når kunst skaper friksjon ved å utfordre etablerte virkelighetsoppfatninger? Hvilke begreper og teorier tas i bruk for å forstå hva fellesskap kan innebære i en kunstnerisk sammenheng? Gjennom 12 artikler undersøker boka slike spørsmål i en nordisk kontekst. Den begrenser seg imidlertid ikke til profesjonell kunstutøvelse og kunstfeltets egne arenaer, men retter også blikket mot estetiske praksiser som utfolder seg innenfor kulturen i en bredere forstand. Boka er delt inn i tre tematiske deler: fellesskap som ambisjon, fellesskap som praksis og fellesskap under forhandling. Kunstskapte fellesskap springer ut av forskningsprogrammet «Kunst og sosiale fellesskap», som er et samarbeid mellom Statens Kunstfond i Danmark og Kulturrådet i Norge. Boka presenterer bidrag fra prosjekter som mottok finansiering fra den første fasen av forskningsprogrammet, i tillegg til bestilte artikler.

I denne artikkelen undersøker vi hvilke muligheter et bydelsfellesskap vil kunne ha som boligsosialt grep. Vi tar utgangspunkt i en studie av bydelen Svartlamon i Trondheim basert på dybdeintervjuer og surveymetodikk, gjennomført i 2019 av Sosiologisk Poliklinikk, på oppdrag fra Husbanken. Bydelen er kategorisert som et byøkologisk forsøksområde med en beboermasse som rommer mennesker med økonomiske og/eller sosiale utfordringer (såkalte vanskeligstilte) og mennesker som har betydelige ressurser, og studien undersøker de sosiale mekanismene i en slik sammensatt konstellasjon. Gjennom analysen har vi identifisert fire sentrale dimensjoner for nabolagsfellesskap, alle knyttet til tid: (1) møteplasser og aktiviteter – tid til å gjøre noe sammen, (2) relasjoner og samhandling – tid til å bli sett, (3) den langsomme tida – for medvirkning og selvbestemmelse og (4) muligheten til å leie på lang sikt. I mer konseptuell forstand peker vi på hvordan Svartlamon formes sosialt av det vi kan kalle «langvarig midlertidighet», hvor beboerne får eierskap til bydelen via samskaping av miljø og aktiviteter uten at det ligger en økonomisk investeringstanke i bunnen. Tid og tempo blir sentrale aspekter i analysen, siden ulike former for langsomhet synes å være viktige for bydelens boligsosiale relevans. Selv om Svartlamon er en særegen bydel som et byøkologisk eksperiment, diskuterer vi avslutningsvis hvordan en forståelse av sosiale prosesser i bydelen er relevant for å få bedre innsikt i mulighetene for bydelsbasert integreringsarbeid mer generelt.

This article is motivated by the excessive success of Apple’s iPad, introduced in 2010, questioning the motives for acquiring the product at the time of launch. The purpose is to understand the decision to buy an expensive product that had a fairly undefined use. On the basis of in-depth interviews of ‘early-buyers’ (‘early adopters’) of the iPad, we examine, in this article, justifications for the acquisition of such an ‘open technology’ use. Using theories of consumer society (Veblen, Bauman, Debord), Protestant ethics (Weber), impression management (Goffman, Leary) and group identity (Maffesoli), we develop, in the analysis, the concept of shameful technological impertinence concerning the ambiguity between frugality as value and consumer-based identity related to the latest technology. A reflection on this concept contributes to an understanding of how excessive technology consumption, on the one hand is followed by an unashamed desire to show off new ‘gadgets’ and on the other hand, a more shameful self-presentation defending the purchase. Today, just over ten years after the launch of the iPad and our interviews, the iPad is taken for granted as a central platform for a number of applications, for everything from personal entertainment to work- and school-related use. In light of this, we conclude with a reflection on how shameful technological impertinence as a more generic concept will be relevant in some phases rather than others, as new innovations are brought into use. The project is limited to the first iPad and its users, and further research could investigate a larger array of consumer electronics and how attitudes towards buying could be increasingly influenced by a growing concern about the abuse of natural resources.

High quality health services for psychiatric emergencies are difficult to maintain 24 h a day in sparsely populated areas, where the availability of specialists are limited. To overcome this challenge, the University Hospital of North Norway implemented an on-call system in psychiatric emergencies, by which psychiatrists are accessible 24/7 for telephone and videoconferencing consultations with patients and nurses at three regional psychiatric centers. The purpose of this study was to explore the usefulness of videoconferencing consultations in psychiatric emergencies. The on-call psychiatrists and nurses at the regional psychiatric centers who participated in at least one videoconferencing consultation were recruited for semi-structured interviews: 5 psychiatrists and 19 nurses for a total of 24 participants. The interviews were performed from July of 2012 to June of 2013. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using a stepwise-deductive-inductive approach supported by the HyperRESEARCH analysis software. After the introduction of the videoconferencing system, telephone consultations were still used for straightforward situations when further treatment or admission decisions were obvious. Videoconferencing consultations, during which patients were present, were useful for challenging situations when there was 1) uncertainty regarding the degree of illness or the level of treatment, 2) a need to clarify the severity of the patient condition, 3) a need to build an alliance with the patient, and 4) disagreement either between health personnel or between the patient and health personnel. Videoconferencing is useful for challenging and complex psychiatric emergencies and is a suitable tool for building high quality, decentralized psychiatric services.

This study explores how young adults with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health issues experience the challenges of belonging to their local communities. The data were generated through qualitative in-depth interviews with seven young adult service users, six of whom were interviewed twice. The qualitative data analysis resulted in three overarching themes: the need to accept one’s own life and the structures surrounding it; being caught between conflicting social worlds; and moral fumbling in choices and actions. Using an empirical study, we suggest that a process of ‘communal invalidation’ operates through which young adults in the community are socially defined as inadequate. This invalidation serves as a formidable barrier to their recovery.

Artikkelen undersøker hvordan ideen bak et arbeidsrettet rehabiliteringstiltak samsvarer med rehabiliteringsdeltakernes utfordringer i hverdagslivet. Den tar utgangspunkt i et tiltak for personer som har vært langtidssykemeldte med helseplager knyttet til muskel- og skjelettlidelser, allmenne psykiske lidelser og/eller uspesifiserte lidelser. Vi undersøker hvordan deltakerne opplever helseplagenes innvirkning på forpliktelser og ansvar i arbeids- og familieliv, og diskuterer hvordan informantene tolker helseplagene som individuelt ansvar, og hvordan de bruker strategier for å skjerme omgivelsene fra plagene de opplever. Ved en sosiologisk tilnærming til helseplager og fravær som er knyttet til mer enn lønnsarbeid, konkluderer vi med at kronisk sykdom, fravær fra arbeid, forebygging og rehabilitering må knyttes til et større mangfold av sosiale forhold og forpliktelser. Open Access CC-BY-NC

This article explores collaborative aspects of clinical decision-making, based on a focused ethnography and video recordings of meetings in clinical practices in two wards for gastro-intestinal diseases at the surgical department of a large Norwegian university hospital. By studying clinicians’ communication during patient introduction, handling uncertainties and surprises, collecting information, and negotiating acceptance, we elaborate on how collaborative teamwork in the hospital ward is developed. Further, by drawing on detailed studies of meetings, in which patients are not physically represented, we explore ways in which a ‘collective clinical gaze’ of each patient is constructed on the basis of documents, memory, and a consensus-directed discussion among clinicians who are present. Although electronic patient record systems and the like are expected to produce firm bases for clinical decision-making, our analysis suggests that more emphasis should be put on how clinicians in their daily practice establish collectively based validity of any decision being made.

Given the pervasiveness of free Wi-Fi zones in cafes, use of laptops, tablets and smart phones supports the transformation of cafes from social spaces to work spaces for many customers. In this article we analyse, on the basis of an ethnographic study of individuals’ laptop work in urban cafes in Norway and the UK, (1) what it is about cafes that makes people visit them for working purposes, and (2) how individual laptop work changes the social life of such venues. By linking our analysis to theories of communal processes and the domestication of technologies, we put forward the concept of ‘situational domestication’, encompassing the aspects of socially embedded individual working. Consequently, the close study of how cafe spaces are being used for work offers insights into how progressively technologised work and work habits influence not only work itself, but also public space at a broader level. © 2016. This is the authors' accepted and refereed manuscript to the article. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0038038516674663

On the basis of observational studies in a number of rock music festivals during the period 2004–2012, I ask the following question in this paper: how does the music festival community arise and how is it maintained? With the help of perspectives from interactionist sociology and organisational studies I develop an analysis of how rock music festival ‘skills’ are collectively produced. A communally acknowledged competence is negotiated and made explicit by means, among other things, of the synchronisation of a daily rhythm that becomes common to many festivals. The present analysis will employ a close description of this rhythm's phases, and how transitions between them are interactively negotiated. While rock music festivals certainly celebrate fandom, this paper draws attention to processes that build strong senses of community between participants while joining together in the camping site, outside stage areas. The social rhythm, as it is interactively and artfully produced between participants, makes the festival recognisableas a festival, and attractive as a social event. A profound sense of connectedness between participants is to be found between the tents in the festival camp.

Festivaler har blitt viktige for formidling av levende populærmusikk og andre kulturuttrykk idet de trekker horder av publikum til byer og bygder hver eneste sommer. I denne artikkelen søker vi å forstå denne populariteten, og samtidig utnytte etablerte sosiologiske teorier for å utvikle en sosiologisk tilnærming til festivalfenomenet. På bakgrunn av deltakerintervjuer på Pstereofestivalen i Trondheim sommeren 2015, identifiserer vi «festivalstemning» som et sentralt sosiologisk tema hvor faktorer som åpenhet, toleranse, å kunne snakke med hvem som helst, innenfor spesielle fysiske rammer, danner utgangspunktet for å oppleve fellesskapet som spesielt. Via en sosiologisk analyse av denne stemningen, med utgangspunkt i Emile Durkheims og Edith og Victor Turners analyser av kollektive bevegelser, samt Erving Goffmans, Harold Garfinkels og Anselm Strauss’ interaksjonisme, utvikler vi en mer generisk forståelse av hvordan stemning skapes og søker å gi ny relevans til Durkheims begrep «kollektiv effervesens». This article is downloaded from www.idunn.no. © 2017 Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Although implications of parental mental illness are well documented, most children of mentally ill parents are left to manage their family situation with limited information and support. We explored the role of a Norwegian online self-help group for adolescents (aged 15 to 18) with a mentally ill parent. Through in-depth interviews with 13 participants, we found that the online self-help group provided “communal normalization” by which participants, through communication in the forum, made sense of everyday experiences and emotions arising from having a mentally ill parent. We identified three main aspects of this process—recognizability, openness, and agency—all of which were important for the adolescents’ efforts to obtain support, to be supportive, and to handle everyday life situations better. Communal normalization might provide resources for significantly improving the participants’ life situations, and could demonstrate similar potential for users in other situations characterized by stigma, loneliness, silence, and health worries.

It has been suggested that community, social cohesion and territorial ties in neighbourhoods may be characterised by three directions: the lost, the saved and the transformed. On the basis of a number of case studies in a Norwegian city, it is found that these three trends exist together, on the basis of various local interactive practices. The concept of an interaction pretext is developed to answer in a more nuanced way how various forms of social ties are developed, maintained and/or altered. By combining this concept with local activity, four community types are specified that may characterise different neighbourhoods and that may also exist in parallel at one place: the passing-by community, the tight community, the weak community, and the split community. Demonstrating the potential of a more detailed empirical approach to the community question, the paper warns against too analytically shallow suggestions about their development. By understanding how neighbourhoods develop socially in different ways, it may be possible to increase the probability of better community planning.