The Streets of Emmaboda. A field study on young people’s needs and aspirations and how these are...

Peace and Development Work, Master Program

The Streets of Emmaboda

A field study on young people’s needs and aspirations and how these are met

in Emmaboda Kommun, Sweden

In collaboration with

Marco De Cave 19900624-T294 md222ik@student.lnu.se Manja Elstner 19920627-T125 me222st@student.lnu.se

Stefanie Lenz 19840821-T384 sl222rq@student.lnu.se Kerel Verwaerde 19900811-5272 vk222bq@student.lnu.se

4FU412 Methods of Field Work Teacher: Gunilla Åkesson

Spring 2014

“Emmaboda is like a Bruce Springsteen song.”

(An interviewee, 2014)

“I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand

Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man

I’d sit on his lap in that big old Buick and steer as we drove through town

He’d tousle my hair and say son take a good look around

This is your hometown, this is your hometown

In `65 tension was running high at my high school

There was a lot of fights between the black and white

There was nothing you could do

Two cars at a light on a Saturday night in the back seat there was a gun

Words were passed in a shotgun blast

Troubled times had come to my hometown

My hometown, my hometown, my hometown

Now main streets whitewashed windows and vacant stores

Seems like there ain’t nobody wants to come down here no more

They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks

Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain’t coming back to

Your hometown, your hometown, your hometown, your hometown

Last night me and Kate we laid in bed talking about getting out

Packing up our bags maybe heading south

I’m thirty-five we got a boy of our own now

Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good

Look around

This is your hometown”

(Bruce Springsteen, My Hometown, 1984)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to understand the aspirations of young people in Emmaboda and how

far the Municipality and employers can and do live up to them. Therefore, this report studies

the view of the youth in the town of Emmaboda, their perceptions of the town and of job

opportunities and their education. Youth perceptions are related to the different actors in

Emmaboda, for instance the Kommun, local enterprises and the numerous social actors there.

Throughout this paper, the views of the different actors are compiled and analysed to answer

to the research questions. Personal opinions and understandings have not been considered as

facts per se, but they have been taken into consideration to depict the overall perceived picture

of Emmaboda. The lens of the analysis is the Friedmann’s (dis)empowerment model, which

distinguishes eight bases of social power. At the end of the study it was noticed that the

tendency of young people in leaving Emmaboda is persistent, also connected to the pursuit of

anonymity and to establishing wider networks. This is also connected to the access of

information in the town of Emmaboda, which is fragmented and limited, hence rendering

possible conditions of disempowerment. Furthermore, an ineffective cooperation between

public officials and young people provides little improvements of a youth-friendly

environment.

Keywords: Emmaboda, youth, (Dis) empowerment model, employment, urbanization.

Sammanfattning

Syftet med denna studie är att förstå ungdomars förväntningar i Emmaboda och hur mycket

kommunen och arbetsgivare kan, och gör, leva upp till de. Därför studerar denna rapport

bilden av ungdomarna i Emmabodas stad, deras uppfattning om staden och om arbetstillfällen

och deras utbildning. Ungdoms uppfattningar är relaterade till de olika aktörerna i

Emmaboda, till exempel Kommun, lokala företag och de många samhällsaktörer där. Under

hela denna uppsats, är synpunkter från olika aktörer sammanställs och analyseras för att svara

på forskningsfrågorna. Personliga åsikter och uppfattningar har inte räknats som fakta per se,

men har tagits i åtanke för att öka förståelsen för den generella bilden av hur Emmaboda

uppfattas. Linsen av analysen är Friedmanns (dis)empowerment modell som skiljer åtta baser

av social makt.

Vid slutet av studien var det märkt att tendensen hos ungdomar lämnar Emmaboda är

långlivade, även kopplad till strävan efter anonymitet och att upprättandet bredare nätverk.

Detta är också kopplat till tillgången på information i staden Emmaboda, som är splittrad och

begränsad, därför gör möjliga villkor för maktlöshet. Dessutom ger ett ineffektivt samarbete

mellan offentliga tjänstemän och ungdomar små förbättringar i en ungdomsvänlig miljö.

Nyckelord: Emmaboda, ungdom, (dis)empowrment modell, arbete, urbanisering.

Acknowledgements

We as a group are grateful for those who made it possible to carry out this project.

Foremost we would like to thank the young people of Emmaboda, Emmaboda Municipality

and the local employers for providing us with the chance to undertake this study, which gave

us not only a valuable experience but also a deep insight into Emmaboda Kommun.

Moreover, we would especially like to thank Gunilla Åkesson and Anders Nilsson from

Linnæus University Växjö for her steady support within the tutoring sessions and for guiding

us throughout this research. Furthermore, we want to thank Tommy Persson, Ann-Christine

Torgnyson and Bo Eddie Rossbol for helping and guiding us towards the best sources and

information.

We would also like to thank each and every one that helped us during this study, by being

interviewed, presenting new contacts to us and for their valuable insights. We appreciate the

time and openness that were offered to us and we hope to be able to give something back to

community with this report.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 6

1.1 Methods ............................................................................................................................ 7

1.2 Interviewees ..................................................................................................................... 7

1.3 Ethical considerations ....................................................................................................... 8

1.4 Tool for analysis ............................................................................................................... 9

2. Background .......................................................................................................................... 11

2.1About Emmaboda ............................................................................................................ 11

2.2 Swedish youth policies ................................................................................................... 11

3. The people´s opinions – Findings and Analysis ................................................................... 12

3.1 Emmaboda as a home – Defensible life space ............................................................... 12

3.2 Free time in Emmaboda - Surplus time .......................................................................... 15

3.3 Education and experience of the young people of Emmaboda – Knowledge and skills 16

3.4 Communication in Emmaboda- Appropriate Information ............................................. 17

3.5 Associations for and with young people in Emmaboda – Social Organization ............. 19

3.6 The role of families and friends in Emmaboda – Social Networks ................................ 20

3.7 Everyday tools for living in Emmaboda – Instruments of livelihood and work ............ 22

3.8 The importance of money for young people in Emmaboda – Financial Resources ....... 22

3.9 Politics and political participation in Emmaboda – public policy action ..................... 24

3.10 Summary of the analysis ............................................................................................... 25

4. Proposals from the interviewees .......................................................................................... 27

5. Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 28

6. Our Recommendations ......................................................................................................... 32

References ................................................................................................................................ 34

Annexes .................................................................................................................................... 36

1. Introduction

The small town of Emmaboda has been ranked as the best town in Sweden for young people

to live in for the two last consecutive years (KFUM, 2014). However, it faces a global

problem: many of the young leave the idyllic small town life behind to live in bigger cities

while the Kommun struggles to grow. To understand what draws the youth away from their

hometown and what could be done to make them stay, four international students from

Linnaeus University in Växjö carried out a field study in Emmaboda in March 2014.

The aim of this study was to understand the aspirations of young people in Emmaboda and

how far the Municipality and employers can and do live up to them. In addition, we looked at

the demands and expectations of the Municipality and local employers towards the young

people of Emmaboda, to see if there is a divergence in interest and to support the municipality

in extending the dialogue towards integrating local demands into policymaking. We found out

that several factors are drawing young people away from Emmaboda, and that the

municipality seems to have accepted the fact that many are leaving. Instead of trying to keep

those in town who wish to leave, public officials are focussing on ways to make them come

back after studying, travelling or working abroad for a while. We analysed what it is that

makes so many of the young thrive for bigger cities in order to foster a better understanding

within the municipality, local employers and inhabitants of the town to facilitate actions

aimed at reversing the current trend.

The field study is partially based on two LUPP reports about quantitative research that were

previously done on young people in Kalmar County, and whose results form one of the bases

of the municipality’s youth policies. Furthermore, two reports were written by former students

of Linnaeus University and commissioned by the municipality, which serve as a background

for this report.

The aforementioned goals are operationalised through the research questions below. The

research questions will later be answered in the conclusions chapter.

1. What are the young people’s visions and perceived possibilities in regards to living,

employment and education in Emmaboda?

2. What are the expectations of employers towards and experiences with young people as

employees?

3. What does the municipality do to keep young people in Emmaboda?

1.1 Methods

To explore the correlation between young people’s needs and the expectations that employers

and the municipality have about them, we interviewed a wide range of actors who influence

life in Emmaboda (see Chapter 1.2 Interviewees; Annex 1) and applied several methods of

participatory research, namely ranking and mind-mapping to get an inside-view of the young

people’s perceptions. We have been using semi-structured interviews with open-ended

questions in both individual and group interviews. Through observations, we tried to deepen

our understanding of the local life. Before engaging in the field study, we pursued a literature

review.

We were repeating the interview questions in several contexts to assure reliability of the

study, and tried to interview as many actors as possible to increase its validity, although it is

obviously not possible to include each and every relevant stakeholder.

Due to the fact that we had to face several limitations such as a limited time or language

barriers - to just mention a few - we are aware that this research is not free of bias and errors.

Moreover, as we are just slightly older than most of our young interviewees, and younger than

many of the employers and public officials, this could have influenced some of the answers of

our interviewees. Especially the officials and employers we were interviewing might have

seen us as just a segment of our target group. This can also be seen in the fact, that there were

some institutions we were not able to interview at all, as there was no reaction to our

communication attempts with them. Group pressure may have limited some person’s ability to

answer freely. This might have been solved if we would have undertaken a larger amount of

individual interviews.

1.2 Interviewees

By talking about young people, we focussed on those between the age of 15 and 25, as people

in that age have to make crucial decisions regarding their following course of education,

employment and living space. Moreover, the majority of them are experiencing employment

for the first time. However, we also talked to people who were younger than 15 to get a

broader view about childhood in Emmaboda and to some who were older than 25 but

currently entering the employment market. We were talking to people who live in Emmaboda,

who consider themselves coming from there, who have the centre of their daily activities there

(such as students who commute to Emmaboda), those who work there and those who are

unemployed, those who go to school there and those who commute from there, those who

take part in the social life of the town and those who, for various reasons, are excluded from

it. We tried to gain a very broad picture of the young people of Emmaboda to reflect the

diversity of this group and its heterogeneous needs.

To enable young people’s empowerment, the role of the other key stakeholders, the

municipality and local employers, is crucial, as they are the ones who possess power and

influence to help the young empower themselves. Public officials are all those working for the

municipality, from teachers and guidance counsellors to headmasters, from bureaucrats in

charge of youth issues to mayors, from the school commission to the social workers. We

talked to big and small companies and entrepreneurs, those hiring and those who are not,

employers with good and bad experiences and others who offer programmes to improve their

young workers’ skills. By interviewing a wide range of people, we learned the common views

that public officials share, but also their diverging opinions on the young people of their town.

Aside from the municipality and local employers, further secondary stakeholders in

improving young people’s lives are the parents, siblings and other relatives who may

influence their children’s opinions and dreams, friends who live in bigger cities or other

countries and may function as role models, other inhabitants of the town who influence

opinions, livelihood and politics, as well as the global media, to which young people have

access and whose promotion of different kind of lifestyles may also affect the young people’s

choices. We identified also different kinds of local associations, like free time and sports

clubs and political associations, but also the places that young people said they spend their

free time at, like cultural and sports institutions and cafés. All these can help us understanding

how information is transmitted and how it influences young people in their knowledge about

the mechanisms of politics, the job and education markets. As far as possible, we included

secondary stakeholders into our research (for a detailed list of interviews, see Annex 1).

1.3 Ethical considerations

Since some of the issues discussed were rather delicate, such as questions of inclusion and

exclusion, tolerance, acceptance and unemployment, we had to be sensitive towards our

interviewees. During a group discussion on bullying, one person’s feelings were aroused

sincerely and we had to stop the discussion. More than anything, this shows how gravely

some issues are perceived by some members of the society. We are also aware of the fact that

we might have influenced some people’s way of thinking through our research. This might be

due to the fact that we as international students seem to be living the dream of some of the

young interviewees that feel the need to leave Emmaboda. Furthermore, we may have

intruded the people’s daily routines, working hours and class lectures through taking their

time to talk to us, although none of the interviewees expressed concern about it. We

acknowledged when people said they had no time for us and did not pressure them further to

meet us for an interview.

1.4 Tool for analysis

In order to frame the analysis, we applied the (dis)empowerment model of Friedmann (1992,

see figure 1), as it enables us to understand the different perspectives of young people by

relating their living situations to eight bases of social power. The (dis)empowerment model

associates to the concept of poverty as a multidimensional issue, rather than a merely financial

one. Friedman identifies eight bases of social power, which are distinct but strongly

interrelated. Six of them can be influenced through state action1, namely a defensible life

space, surplus time, knowledge and skills, appropriate information, instruments of work and

livelihood and financial resources. Social organizations and social networks themselves can

affect the other bases of social power.

Figure 1 – The (dis)empowerment model of Friedmann

1 Instead of looking at the influence of state action, we will focus on public policy action and issues of political

participation, as we found an immediate link to the situation of young people in Emmaboda.

When we talk about access to a defensible life space, we look at Emmaboda as a ‘home’. This

includes questions of safety, comfort and feeling welcome in your surroundings. In the

surplus time section, we discuss how much free time young people have and what they do for

leisure. Knowledge and skills refers to the education young people can gain in Emmaboda and

how well they are prepared for the job market. In the subchapter about appropriate

information, we ask how well young people are informed about leisure and job opportunities

and in which ways they acquire this information. Whereas we look at the importance of

friends and families in the social networks section, the social organization part focuses on

more institutionalized forms of getting together, like sports and culture clubs or political

parties. Young people mainly referred to means of transportation when talking about

instruments of work and livelihood, so we will focus our analysis on issues around this. In the

financial resources part, we look at what young people are looking for in a job and what they

do with their money. Friedmann describes it as a “model of collective self-empowerment.”,

relating to the desire of people to take part in this process through participation and

negotiation with public officials (“agents of state”), a process which he calls “transformation

of social to political power.” With the (dis)empowerment model, multidimensional poverty

can be measured in terms of “relative access” to the bases of social power, meaning the

possibility to get access to and being able to use them. The perception of access to the bases

of social power is always subjective and individual, in relation to the individual’s needs, and

desires.

Applying the model to the situation of young people in Emmaboda, we look at the aspects of

poverty they are facing, which cause them to leave the town. It may seem strange to think of

poverty in such a well-developed community in one of the richest countries on earth, but by

understanding poverty as a multidimensional issue, we are looking at the needs and

aspirations of young people which are not satisfied, and therefore create a lack of access to

social powers, for example of political participation or access to information. This report

therefore tries to identify the aspects of poverty young people experience and to understand

what can be done to empower the young to break out of this poverty.

2. Background

2.1 About Emmaboda

Emmaboda is a small municipality in Kalmar Län, situated in the south east of Sweden.

Emmaboda was founded in 1930 as a politico-administrative unit and grew significantly in

1971 during the fusion with the surrounding towns of Vissefjärde, Långasjö and Johansfors,

and others villages later on. Its population counts approximately 9.000 inhabitants and it is

situated in a strategic location between the municipalities of Kalmar, Karlskrona and Växjö,

which allows commuting and easy access to a variety of services and goods within less than

an hour, while conserving a country environment. Emmaboda Kommun provides a range of

services for young beyond the basic responsibilities of municipalities in Sweden (Swedish

Government, 2004), fostering employment skills and experience for young people, as well as

trying to increase civil participation in local policy making.

The Kommun still strongly relies on its industrial sector and especially a branch of the global

water technology provider Xylem, which employs about 1.100 people of the region and is

strongly engaged in the industrial programme of Vilhelm Mobergsgymnasiet, the upper

secondary high school in Emmaboda. Other big employers are Emmaboda glass, AMB

industry and Södra Timber. In that sense, Emmaboda is still an industrial municipality,

although the town hall showed initiatives to diversify the employment sector and even within

the industrial employers, many jobs as such are non-industrial. With post-industrialist

developments hitting many Swedish Kommuns’ economy hard, an increasing part of the

young generation of Emmaboda, too, is looking for jobs outside the industrial sector, mostly

in service.

Emmaboda also reflects a global trend which many small towns experience: urbanization. The

term is used to describe the global phenomenon of significant population growth of big cities,

as people leave the countryside in search for jobs and access to infrastructure and leisure

activities. Emmaboda is affected by this phenomenon as well, with about half of the young

population leaving the town to live in bigger cities, public officials said, significantly

decreasing the number of inhabitants in Emmaboda (see also Annex 2).

2.2 Swedish youth policies

Youth policies in Sweden have appeared for the first time in the 1990’s, relating to a vast

range of phenomena regarding youth, without defining it appropriately (SNBYA, 2010). The

Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs (2010) defines youth policies as “an expressed

political ambition for the living conditions of young people” affecting their livelihood in any

possible way, considering a group aged between 13 and 25 years. The fundamental concept of

youth policies is to see young people as a resource rather than a problem or matter of

economic burden for the society (SNBYA, 2010). Swedish youth policies aim to support the

process of youth development focusing on youth needs, empowering their capacities of

deciding their own lives. The dependency of youth on adults should not only be considered in

the financial sense, but it should also indicate the acquisition of non-material items (SNBYA,

2010). Swedish policy-makers have established perspectives of bettering youth conditions

regarding four fields: resources, finances, rights and diversity (COE, 2008), as presented in

the Country Sheet on Youth Policy in Sweden. As the document underlines, the living

conditions of young people cannot be formulated in goals (ibid.) unless a thorough

understanding of their needs has been achieved (ibid.). This is relevant when looking at local

youth policies in Emmaboda, as several public officials referred to this concept.

3. The people’s opinions - Findings & Analysis

In this chapter, we will look at the different answers we received throughout our interviews,

sorting them by Friedmann’s social powers concept (the (dis)empowerment model, see

Chapter 1.4 Tool for analysis). This allows us to analyse which powers the young people of

Emmaboda feel they lack access to. In addition, we will explore how the municipality and

local employers look at these issues and how well they understand and meet the young

people’s needs.

3.1 Emmaboda as a home - Defensible life space

When we asked young people what they think about Emmaboda as a home, all of them said it

was a safe, calm and comfortable place to live. Crime is perceived low, which is seen in the

absence of a permanent police station in the town, as this is not needed. The small number of

inhabitants enables one to know everyone around, which was not necessarily perceived as a

positive thing by all. Some of the young complained that they wished to meet new people

while others longed for the anonymity that bigger cities offer. Being exposed to the eyes and

opinions of everyone they know limited their ability to ‘be who you want to be’, some of the

young said. During the rankings, the wish to extend networks was also identified as one of the

most important factors to leave Emmaboda.

Although most of the students claimed that, at school, everyone was really accepting and

tolerant and an atmosphere of friendship persisted, a few young people confronted us with a

different reality. Whereas most of the students explained that bullying was not an issue at all

(but that merely a few people would prefer to be alone or had not found ‘people that share

their interests’ yet), others described the feeling of being victims of persisting rumours and

lies about them. Some said they were called names (also relating to their nationality) and got

into physical fights, and that the teachers had not supported them with their problems. We

could observe that, although many of the young with an immigration background said they

felt well integrated, they were amongst themselves or sitting alone. Surprisingly, the same

young people that praised the accepting atmosphere in town also complained about the habit

of talking behind each other’s backs.

Most of the young people we talked to expressed that there was nothing to do in their leisure

time and that Emmaboda was a boring place to spend your youth in. Mainly the older students

and those who had left school said it would be nice to have a pub or other things to go to at

weekend nights, although some of them said they would probably still go to the bigger cities

regularly to meet new people (See Chapter 3.6 The role of families and friends in Emmaboda

– Social Networks). Many realised that Emmaboda was too small to offer what they wished

for, so going away is a common solution, if for Saturday nights, for studying or forever. Since

many young people said they spent a lot of time at their friends’ homes, most of them wanted

to have other places to ‘hang out’ that did not require spending money.

Almost all young people said they think Emmaboda is a good place to raise a family and

many consider coming back for this if they were to leave the town. Many public officials

expressed the same thought, and we assume that the expression may relate to one of the

findings in the LUPP report, and that its content has been internalised by the people

interviewed in Emmaboda.

Contrary to what most young people said, public officials stated that there is a lot to do for

young people and that the list of free time and leisure activities offered is continually

extended. They listed many sports activities, associations and clubs, Fritidsgården and other

places where young people could spend their time. They explained they are doing a lot for

young people while trying to include them into the decision-making process (see also chapter

3.9 Politics and political participation in Emmaboda –influence of state action).

The quality of schooling was perceived well by students, employers and public officials alike,

although some young people, some public officials working in schools and some employers

raised that the range of programmes was too narrow to meet the student’s and local

employers’ demands. None of the public officials we asked said they knew about bullying

problems in the schools, although unfortunately due to the limited time frame we did not have

a chance to talk to the counsellors, which may have more insight into the issue.

Talking about jobs, the views among both young people and public officials were very

diverse. Whereas some people believed there are hardly jobs available, others were not

worried about the job market at all, and many said the range of jobs available is too narrow.

The employers themselves presented a very broad picture of jobs available in Emmaboda,

although only a few said they are hiring at the moment.

Analysing the findings from our interviews and observations regarding Emmaboda as a living

space, we can say that many young people showed an awareness of the limitations that the

size of Emmaboda meets. Young people in diverse contexts expressed that they have to leave

the town if they want to meet new people and if they wish for anonymity, since this is nothing

that can be changed in the town. We saw that the population size is not necessarily something

young people want to change about Emmaboda, because this contributes to the perception of

it as a safe and cosy living space. Therefore, young people show the ability to embrace the

limitations of small-town life and see the pros and cons that living there includes. However,

when striving for something different, they leave town. In that sense, there does not seem to

be anything that can or should be changed about Emmaboda in this regard. Rather, as many of

the public officials we talked to said, the focus should be on offering young people a good

experience growing up in order to attract them back when raising a family themselves. We

can see how a ‘norm’ has grown around the idea of young people leaving the small town in

order to ‘see the world’, if only for a while, many public officials, employers, relatives and

young alike expressed that.

In how much discrimination, exclusion and bullying are issues at the local schools should be

the topic of an own study. We came across several cases where students felt harassed and

strongly expressed the desire to go to bigger cities, where they hope to meet more openness

and acceptance, less gossiping and the possibility to hide in anonymity.

Further below, we will look at where this perception of life in big cities comes from, as it does

not necessarily reflect reality. We will also try to find out why young people perceive

Emmaboda as a boring place.

3.2 Free time in Emmaboda - Surplus time

The youth expressed the availability of surplus time as either being too much of it due to an

absence of several activities, notably regarding nighttime, creating a sense of boredom. The

use of surplus time was also limited by the knowledge they had of possible activities, by the

expectations other actors in the society such as friends, family and officials may have of them,

or simply by the sheer absence or long distance to some of the activities they might wish to

undertake, such as kickboxing. The expectations of others seems to dictate, according to some

of the young people, the use of surplus time in the sense that they should undertake the same

activities as their friends do, or as they were taught to look up to. Some of the youth explained

they stay up late to party, to surf the internet or play computer games and hence prefer to

wake up late in the day.

Concerning the views of the municipality towards the surplus time of young people, many

expressed the idea that the range of activities available is satisfactory and that any activities,

such as shopping or nightlife, are made available by public transportation to bigger cities like

Växjö. Some of the municipality officials as well as companies have expressed that the young

people’s use of surplus time may be detrimental to their non-surplus time activities such as

school or work, because staying up late leaves them too tired to pay attention at school or

work efficiently. Furthermore, the use of smartphones during working hours and at school

was criticised, but could easily be dealt with, interviewees said.

Similarly, most public officials agreed on the advantageous geographical location of the town,

which allows commuting to and from three bigger cities within less than an hour each,

whereas some of the young who commute to and from school and for leisure activities said

they would prefer being closer to one of the cities to reduce travel time.

We could see that across and among different actors, diverse perspectives on the possible use

of surplus time in Emmaboda persist. We assume that information channels of the Kommun

do not reach many young people, who seem unaware of the range of opportunities offered in

the town. Public officials seem unaware of this issue and therefore fail to improve

communication strategies. Although providing information on leisure activities is beyond the

responsibilities of the Kommun, the failure to address this issue seems to contribute to young

people’s misconception of Emmaboda and its politics.

3.3 Education and experience of the young people of Emmaboda - Knowledge and skills

Our findings express a general satisfaction by young people with the school programmes and

the education received. Some of the students would appreciate the possibility of having an IT

or a language programme, but school officials explained that resources were limited. In fact,

around half of the students from Emmaboda go to study somewhere else. As seen above, his

is not only due to the programmes, but also for the necessity of enlarging their networks and

to follow their friends in some programmes (see Chapter 3.6 The role of families and friends

in Emmaboda – Social Networks).

Students and employers affirmed the importance of school for a future job, but it is not the

only relevant factor – social skills (“being serious”, “being dedicated”), contacts and families

are perceived as decisive factors to find a job (primary networks). The town-hall summer job

programme seem to be the primary way through which young people of Emmaboda have

gained their first working experiences, even though some of the 1st grade of high school were

not satisfied because their work was felt not to be connected to the “real work” of the

companies.

Regarding their future careers, there was a general trend of “not knowing” and “not having

thought” about it. On the other hand, students of the 3rd

grade or people with extra-European

background had a broader view of their future, often expressing a plan ‘A’ (dreams: “being a

vet”) and a plan ‘B’ (a closer-to-the-job-market objective: “being a teacher”). What is more, a

further differentiation among young can be found referring to gender. Boys often talked about

experiencing a gap year or working, while girls were generally keen on studying. Such a

gender line was present also for the acquired skills in internships. Girls were generally more

active in the service sector, while most boys were trained in industrial activities. Public

officials also confirmed this and it is in line with the establishment of the under-nursery

programme aimed specifically to keep more girls in Emmaboda and to address the growing

demands in the health sector. On the other hand, the industrial programme seems to attract

mainly boys, having a direct connection with Xylem. Some officials have discouraged the

opening of new programmes referred to humanities or arts because their territory presents an

industrial vocation – such programmes would only be a cost for the community.

The Kommun has also provided jobs and entrepreneurship programmes to support young

people in acquiring experience and gaining money. In general, to gain further skills, public

officials and companies encourage young people to go abroad, while the main concern is

referred to guarantee a turn-over for the future, once young people who left have ‘completed’

their experiences outside of Emmaboda. This is much connected to the general need that some

young people have expressed to “see new things” and experience “more”.

Evidently, there seems to be a trend of misinterpretation by young people with reference to

job opportunities, expectations from the future and from new possible scenarios where to live,

of course with different degrees of intensity and exceptions. Knowledge about the job market

in Sweden seems mainly constructed through the primary networks or through general

cultural trends referred to post-industrial jobs. However, there seems to be a discrepancy with

the skills developed in Emmaboda and the actual needs of the industries as, for instance, 60%

of employees in Xylem are not from Emmaboda, as a responsible confirmed. Young people,

in particular, have often shown a limited knowledge on the different departments of local

companies - many think of Xylem, Södra Timber and AMB (just to mention a few) were just

constituted of their working departments, depicted as male-dominated and requiring a

significant physical strength.

3.4 Communication in Emmaboda - Appropriate Information

Acquisition of appropriate information seems to be the most controversial subject of the

present study, not only between different but also within the same group of actors. We cannot

generalise affirming that there is a lack of communication per se, but there is a clear weakness

in the liaisons between different societal actors regarding a variety of aspects, namely: job

opportunities are not directed in a specific way to young people coming out from school,

events taken in the school seem to have a low impact with regards to the knowledge of jobs,

informative sessions from town-hall officials seem concentrated in school, excluding

unemployed young people and others who are not in school. A vast majority of young seem to

show a strong lack of information in different social fields, namely: job opportunities, local

youth policies, democratic participatory mechanisms and the types of associations and offices

present in the town. The ones who did not experience a lack of information explained that was

because they were either already involved (in the youth councils, for instance) or because they

had heard of it through their social networks. Only a few actually saw the news on the

Emmaboda’s website; the others, when asked why not using the online tools, they said that

they would rely on “what everyone knows”. Therefore, this lack of appropriate information

limits the possibilities young people have to participate in social and democratic life of

Emmaboda (see Chapter 3.9 Politics and political participation in Emmaboda – influence of

state action).

There was also a an observable lack of communication among interviewed students, both

within the youth council and representatives, but also in between friends regarding certain

subjects, not knowing how to file a complaint to the town-hall or how to find possible job

opportunities outside of their networks, for instance. What is more, the majority of the

students could name only two or three companies in the region.

A strong concern for “seeing the world” was presented, perceived through the media and

social networks, but such a desire was sometimes not very clear in how, where, when and

what to do, showing just a big expectation of change. This idea of leaving Emmaboda at least

for a period seems to be shared by the parents, many public officials and even employers,

creating a strong collective pressure for young people. However, people deciding to stay have

sometimes been described by younger students as “losers”, while 17-18-year-old were more

understanding. The ones deciding to stay after high school (approximately one third of the

sample), were mainly males and dedicated to industrial activities. Relying on our findings,

young people still studying receive information mainly from their fellows and families and

not from online social networks. Only a small part of young people (mainly with an extra-

European background and those unemployed) seem to gather information from

Arbetsförmedlingen or from companies’ websites, sharing concern about their future with

friends, families and organisations.

The municipality expressed a motivation in getting to know the youth needs and wants, in the

forms of meetings and discussions between different actors of the municipality and the young

people, however it was observed that those meetings principally targets the students and not

the other parts of the young population such as immigrants and/or unemployed people.

Follow-ups of the meetings were also not necessarily always present resulting in a loss of

available information. Communication weaknesses between actors within the municipality

further hindered successful follow-up. At the same time, the information policy of Emmaboda

Kommun seems to rely mainly on the internet, but it does not seem to be specialised on youth.

For instance, the pamphlets and the web pages were not designed specifically for young

people. This became obvious when many young people said that they often ignore the flyers

that the town hall provides because they think they do not regard them.

Local companies mostly seemed to use their own private website to advertise for job

opportunities, which generates a sufficient amount of applications. However, this is outside of

usual information channels for many young people.

Concerning appropriate information, it seems that communication among different actors is

one of the keys of analysing the misinterpretations and misunderstanding presented above. In

fact, weakness of communication seems to be the basis of youth disempowerment.

Misinformation leads to different expectations and perceptions that may lead to a

misrepresentation of reality. Information, in this sense, is the ‘glue of the society’, shown

even more clearly in a town like Emmaboda, where the access to information can be

fundamental in a reality with a relatively limited offer of opportunities. Practically, an

unsuccessful transmission of information between young people and the town hall can create

the perception that the Kommun is not doing enough or that young people seem generally

‘passive’.

3.5 Associations for and with young people in Emmaboda - Social Organization

On the website of Emmaboda, it says that there are around 200 clubs and associations with a

total affiliation of 7,500 people (Emmaboda, 2014). From the interviews, it results that there

is massive adherence to popular sports organisations (football, dance, gym), while a smaller

part is instead compelled to leave Emmaboda to do different kinds of activities (fencing,

kickboxing, kung-fu, for instance). While sports seem popular among young people,

engagement in cultural activities is lower – both the municipality officials and young people

confirmed this. However, the town hall emphasised its expenditure in cultural activities, being

the second city in Sweden in per-capita spending in the sector (KFUM, 2014).

Only a few cultural associations were widely known among young people, for instance the

one organizing Emmabodafestivalen and one for “Du och jag”, the latter one run mostly by

young people who seem quite engaged in Emmaboda’s life. One young person of the former

organisation expressed his personal disappointment for the general behaviour of young people

who are always keen on criticising how boring Emmaboda is, but when it comes to

engagement, “most of them simply wait for something to do, sitting and watching”.

Two youth organisations, which have an important democratic function for youth, are the two

youth boards in the primary and lower secondary school. However, institutionalisation of

these structures is low and limits political influence. For instance, mechanisms of choosing

class representatives have been described in different ways: co-optation, consensus-based

choice, choice by the professor and elections. The local school committee also confirmed this.

However, young people participating in it or whom the youth board represents have affirmed

that they do not exactly know about the different committees involved and who the members

are. What is more, in the primary school, youth board (Elevråd), the representatives we talked

to said that they were trying to advocate for a better quality of food in the canteen, but there

was no follow-up on that. This has led many of the students of both primary and secondary

school to say that they prefer to talk directly to professors or to the headmaster.

Important to mention is Idébanken, an organisation aimed at all ages with the goal to be an

incubator for ideas. It is not well known among the youth, probably for the fact of being

newly created in 2013. Most of the young people interviewed preferred to refrain from

political activities. Only few of them said to be active in political life. Many described parties

as dominated by old people with divergent interests (See chapter 3.9 Politics and political

participation in Emmaboda – influence of state action). Officials of municipality have

expressed a positive image of youth in Emmaboda, described as involved in many

associations, as also claimed on the website.

The paucity of participation-oriented organisations, in a sense of political engagement, is

challenging the perceptions that young people have towards citizen involvement. The

dominant perception of participating in organisations is seen as individualistic and not as

groups of interests, e.g. in sports associations with hundreds of members which did not use its

manpower to press for further support in the municipality. Even though the town hall is

presenting goodwill in supporting organisations, this could vice versa be interpreted as a

conservative top-down approach at the local level, because it maintains the status quo of

public control without intervening in the imbalance of participation found in the ground level.

In fact, the general discouragement of young people from joining participation-oriented

organisations seems at the odds with the importance of “influencing” the society, as presented

also in Swedish policy documents (SNBYA, 2010).

3.6 The role of families and friends in Emmaboda - Social Networks

Social networks are a recurrent topic in youth’s discourses as they are associated to how they

can spend their free time and their social life, even though there are some differentiations. The

most engaged young people have shown a more varied view of networks, in particular with

relation to jobs. Networks are also important in the moment of choosing a school for a

relevant number of interviewees (and colleagues are considered as one of the most important

factors to be in a company).

For young people, online networks are situated mainly in the sphere of amusement. They have

not been described as a tool of job search or for sharing practical information. Offline

networks are usually described as families and friends and rarely associations. They have

been described as helpful to finding a job in the local market and they are crucial in the choice

of the school or for the quality of social life. Many have said that without friends “there is no

point to stay”, considering relations as one of the most important factors for staying in

Emmaboda. Due to the absence of places to go to, many young people spend their time at

friends’ houses.

What is more, relying on our findings, social networks constitute the bases of how young

people access information about Emmaboda. In fact, depending on their background (e.g. how

much the family is known in the city and which job position the parents have), young people

have shown a more complex view of Emmaboda. However, chances like parties and

Emmabodafestivalen are seen as a good tool to extend their networks. In fact, young people

have often described their networks as too limited. Public officials also expect young people

to leave Emmaboda to extend their networks, while, as already said (See chapter: 3.1

Emmaboda as a home – Defensible life space), their main concern is how to attract those

young people back after they have left. When talking about networks for students, they seem

to determine an amplification of everyday happenings in a place where “everyone knows

everyone”. In fact, group pressure is associated first of all to phenomena of exclusion,

bullying and power relations between some groups of people (as already explained in chapter

3.1 Emmaboda as a home – Defensible life space).

An interesting theme raised up by the majority of the students is the concept of “lagom”. They

said that they would not act until somebody else does, because they feel they should not act as

individuals. This hints to the importance of group pressure and the sociological need of

conformity. Some students have confirmed that, if you make proposals to improve a situation,

you can be seen as a different, “trying to bother the private life of others”. In fact, the

horizontality of the networks seems predominant and young people rarely relate themselves to

the social hierarchy or local authorities.

Some initiatives (entrepreneurship programme, for instance) are known only by a few people.

The knowledge of some vacancies proceeds through families’ and acquaintances’ networks. It

seems that mainly unemployed young people or those with extra-European background

consult Arbetsförmedlingen, while young people still studying have affirmed that they have

never been there and “it is a place for unpleasant jobs.”

3.7 Everyday tools for living in Emmaboda - Instruments of livelihood and work

The instruments of work and livelihood did not seem, according to the perspective of young

people that were gathered, to be an issue in Emmaboda. However, some concern was raised

concerning two topics, firstly the access to some of the ‘latest’ products such as electronics

and clothes, which are not available in Emmaboda through a limited range of shops, hence

requiring the use of public transportation, which was deemed to be the second issue. While

young people were happy to have access to a train system, they felt that its reliability and

frequency could be improved.

The municipality showed content with the situation in Emmaboda, as basic services are

assured and a modern public transportation system allows for easy commuting. Nevertheless,

some public officials stated that projects to solve issues of reliability, travel time and

frequency of public transportation were and are underway. Companies showed the same

concerns over the frequency and reliability of public transportation.

The situation in Emmaboda does not present any particular disturbances concerning the tools

of work and livelihood; there actually is a considerably large number of amenities for such a

small municipality. The major concern found across the population of Emmaboda is the train

frequency and reliability, which is continually improved.

3.8 The importance of money for young people in Emmaboda - Financial Resources

In most of the interviews with young people, money was not perceived as a central issue,

although many stated that they need to earn money themselves to be independent. For those

who are unemployed, money of course was a bigger issue. Some of those said they would

move to wherever they can find any kind of job. Especially young immigrants with extra-

European backgrounds said money was important, though not for themselves as some had to

send a part of their earnings to support their families abroad. They tried to finish school as

soon as possible to earn money, without limiting which jobs they would do and where.

Most of the young people said they worked in summer or part time jobs. When we asked them

why they work there, most said they mainly want to earn some spare money, and many said

they do it also to gain working experience. A few persons explained that summer jobs are a

good way to spend the summer and make use of the days. This may relate to the perception of

“having nothing to do” (see chapter 3.2 Free time in Emmaboda - Surplus time).

When we asked the young people, what they are looking for in a job, the vast majority of

them said they want to have ‘fun’, although this was not present among the young with an

extra-European background we talked to. The concept of having ‘fun’ at work was not a naïve

concept of work, but rather explained as not being bored, being able to make use of their

potentials and to develop themselves while not having to do the same thing every day.

Summer jobs, on the contrary, were often perceived as being rather boring. The young people

were not so much worried about not earning enough money if they found a job after finishing

school, because “in Sweden you earn good money whatever you do”, although many said the

summer jobs are not paid enough.

When we asked the young people, what they spend their money on, most of them said they

were saving it for their future, by which most said they meant going away to study. Since

living in Emmaboda was understood as being relatively cheap and many still lived with their

parents, not much of the income had to be spend on basic living expenditures. Expenditures

went into going to bigger cities on weekend nights, shopping or smartphones. We could

observe that most of the young people had expensive phones and many were dressed

fashionably. Furthermore, we could count 18 mopeds at the lower secondary school, where

only few people were 16 and older, the legal age to drive those (See Annex 3). The free-time

activities (mainly referring to cafés) in Emmaboda were perceived by many young people as

too expensive to spend much time there, especially for those unemployed or with an extra-

European background, as there was no place to “hang around” for free, they claimed.

Most public officials had a good understanding of the young people’s financial situation and

expectations and only a few said the young people dream too big and have unrealistic

expectations of working life, that too many wanted to work in media jobs or become famous.

The employers we talked to said they paid good money to their workers, but did not think the

young people worked for money alone, but also to gain experience. One employer explained

that the current generation of young people entering the job market has different expectations

than those before. They were not accepting the first offer given to them, but negotiated for

extras like more holidays, a computer, a phone or a company car. The employer said they

were doing special human resources training to deal with these demands in his company. We

found that those employers who took into considerations the young people’s potentials and

needs had made the best experiences with them. For example, since many young people

dislike getting up early, they worked more successfully in night shifts, whereas those with

families could spend the evenings at home and work in the mornings instead. Young people

who worked in environments where their suggestions were heard and whose needs were

regarded kept coming back to the jobs even when moving to other cities.

Although young people claimed the most important factor in working life was fun, most of

them accepted that summer jobs often provided little fun to them. We could assume that the

experiences many young people made with the job market in Emmaboda drove them to bigger

cities, where they expect a greater variety of jobs and therefore a chance to do something

more ‘fun’. This is in line with the fact that those that enjoyed their work tried to work there

even after leaving Emmaboda. The concept of ‘fun’, as presented by the young, seems a more

important motivational factor than money for those young people who do not experience

economic pressures due to the financial support of their families. However, this post-

materialist concept of working life is not necessarily an unrealistic understanding of how

work can or should be, but stems rather from a lack of knowledge about what many jobs

actually look like. The industrialist concept of working in factories in physically demanding

jobs seems to still be apparent in many young people’s ideas of jobs in Emmaboda. The range

of jobs available and what activities they actually imply is not clear to many young people.

We have looked at the reasons for this in chapter 3.4 Communication in Emmaboda-

Appropriate Information.

3. 9 Politics and political participation in Emmaboda – public policy action

Many of those working for the Kommun expressed great motivation to include young people

in political processes and wanted to listen to their needs and demands. They said that they

were trying to live up to the wishes that the youth had expressed, like making the city centre

more attractive, offering more leisure activities and events or further improving public

transportation. At the same time, public officials mourned the lack of interest of young people

in politics. Some of those we talked to expressed the belief that young people did not want to

take responsibility and preferred leaving tasks to ‘professionals’ at the municipality, an maybe

were uninterested or lazy.

However, many of the young people expressed to us that they lacked trust towards local

politics, some of them claiming that politicians were mainly interested in their own profits,

they were too old and had no sense for or interest in young people’s issues and made empty

promises. The structures of political engagement that were created by the municipality are

perceived as merely a formality without any actual influence. Proposals towards enhancing

life for young people remained mostly ignored, consequences or follow-up were rare, so they

said. Furthermore, many of the possibilities of political participation were unknown to them.

The structures of political participation that young people knew about were described as

lacking institutionalisation, access to political decision-making and consequences.

We assume that the motivation that the town-hall officials expressed could not be met by the

actual power, financial and human resources and/or influence that the town hall has. It can be

concluded that public officials themselves may raise expectations, which they cannot meet,

stemming from their strong will to meet young people’s demands. For example, some public

officials actually did listen to young people, but did not pursue their wishes, because they

were not responsible for these specific tasks or had forgotten about it, and the issues remained

unsolved. We conclude that this impression of being let down may have caused moroseness

towards engaging in politics among many young people. The direct effect of these negative

experiences may be a lack of interest to further engage into the political life of the town. Only

a few young people decided to further engage in politics.

Although there are many structures for political participation, communication about (see also:

chapter 3.3 Education and experience of the young people of Emmaboda – Knowledge and

skills) and within them seems insufficient. A major shortcoming is the lack of implementation

and follow-up of political engagement of young people, and unrealistic expectations of what

the town hall can actually do, which leads to their withdrawal from and loss of trust in

politics. This is particularly tragic, as political participation of Emmaboda’s youth seems to be

in the interest of the Kommun, too, as was explained to us, and because political reluctance

can have grave consequences in a democratic state.

3.10 Summary of the analysis

The young people’s perception of Emmaboda has two faces. Whereas they perceive it as a

great place to be a kid or to grow old, it seems they find too little that meets the demands of

their age group. The narrowness of small town life does not reflect their desires and

aspirations. Regarding free time activities, some of the young people were complaining that

the municipality focuses too much on sports and offers too little cultural activities for their

age group. Overall, the young were pursuing different interests in their free time. We could

not find a general trend of having too much or too little surplus time.

The young people of Emmaboda seem to be well prepared for the job market through the

special programmes at gymnasiet. Their expectations and demands towards employers do not

seem notably high or unrealistic. Most employers seemed confident with the performance of

young people as well, especially when taking into account their needs. It is however most

remarkable that not only employers expect young people to leave Emmaboda to gain some

experiences in bigger cities, but also public officials and relatives expressed that view. Most

young people seem to have incorporated that demand and seem to feel obliged to leave

Emmaboda at least for a while.

We could find a critical weakness regarding the communication between different actors in

Emmaboda. Most crucially, the majority of students were not aware of many of the free-time

activities offered, the range of jobs that was available and how to participate politically in the

town. We identified this as a major hindrance to increasing the young people’s social power.

Institutionalized social organizations seem to play a rather small role for young people in

Emmaboda, mainly because they are not aware of the broad range of opportunities and

because they perceive many of the organizations as directed toward other age groups.

Whereas, in the view of young people, the municipality seems to overestimate the role of

online networks for young people, the very limited extend of ‘offline’ social networks in a

small town as Emmaboda is a major factor that drives them into bigger town. Group pressures

further limit what young people perceive as their options in life.

A topic that was raised by many of the young people was the insufficient infrastructure of

train services. Trains were too old, too slow and going too rarely, the young said, and

especially on the weekend nights, it was hard to get to and from the bigger cities. Since most

actors expressed the advantages of Emmaboda’s geographical situation, commuting issues

seem not to have been given the appropriate attention. Access to finances is an issue for a

smaller part of the young people of Emmaboda. Although many worked to gain money over

the summer, most explained they wished to pursue a career that brings them joy.

The motivation that many public officials expressed towards including young people in the

political process was met by a reluctance to engage politically due to the bad experiences

young people had previously made. Where their opinions were heard, a lack of consequences

and follow-up led to a deep mistrust towards local politics. This alarming development needs

to be worked on in the Kommun in order to avoid anti-democratic trends amongst young

people. The above findings also show the strong interrelation of the bases of social power and

the particular influence of state action and social networks.

4. Proposals from the interviewees

In order to better the current situation, we have tried to get an insight from locals to gather

many thoughts that together could establish a roadmap for making Emmaboda a place where

people feel welcome and want to stay. For that, we tried to be as little intrusive as possible to

not influence their thoughts and personal understanding. Therefore, the proposals below do

not necessarily reflect our own opinions, nor are all of the proposals within the responsibility

and possibilities of the municipality. For our own recommendations, see chapter 6.

Recommendations.

We grouped the proposals in different themes: first, with regards to improving the exchange

of information between actors, many of our interviewees expect the town hall to increase the

quality of the coordination of communication facilities and to make them easier to reach. In

that context, more flyers and an appropriate place where to inform young people have been

mentioned to enhance the situation. Besides that, regular information sessions from public

officials for youth in the schools could take place. This could be supportive in talking about

different topics, fostering a will for political participation and not just informing about already

taken decisions. Young people have also expressed their desire to be better informed about the

variety of industries and companies during their studying career in Emmaboda.

With reference to participation, some young people and especially representatives of the

youth council have expressed the eagerness to be more involved in the decisions, not just at

the level of the school. The problem of not having follow-ups has been considered as one of

the main reasons of the lack of participation: The town-hall structure and functioning for

youth seem both inserted in a 'black box', discouraging a more structured form of

participation. As it is not possible for young people around 15 to vote for political decisions,

they at least wish to be more listened to when it comes to discussions about youth policies.

Unfortunately, this political moroseness can be found in older age groups as well, because

young people sometimes seem not to be aware of what they can reach with raising their voice,

especially as a whole group of young people.

When talking about a more varied life in Emmaboda, different suggestions were put forward.

First of all, many young people as well as some public officials have suggested to make the

centre more colourful and nice (rather described as depressive), advertise the comparably

cheap living in Emmaboda better (see Annex 4) in order to attract more people and favouring

the turn-over of people living there. The colour-factor does not as such mean the colour of

houses as these are privately owned and are therefore not within the responsibility of the

municipality, but moreover the creation of more green spaces with a variety of flowers or

similar strategies. More informative signs about Emmaboda would also make it more

welcoming for tourists as many interviewees claim.

The concept of 'variety' was also encouraged by many interviewees with reference to sports,

culture and associations. This would permit young people to train without going to other

places. For instance, the town hall could give preferred conditions or financial support to

young people to initiate different sports. This would enhance the use of surplus time and the

feeling of living in a surrounding that allows them to develop their interests and friendships.

As there are already a lot of existing associations in Emmaboda (200 for around 9000

inhabitants; Emmaboda, 2014), this reflects that a lot of the inhabitants – especially young

people – seem not to be aware of this variety or feel that there is nothing that suits their needs.

Nevertheless, this can be because young people maybe simply do not know where to check on

these activities or are to some extend too lazy to find this out on their own.

The call for more activities is closely connected to improving the local system of

transportation. Some young people said that especially on weekend nights, transportation

between Emmaboda and its surrounding towns as well as the bigger cities Växjö, Kalmar and

Karlskrona could help the young to enjoy their free time better, especially for the ones who do

not possess access to a car. Unfortunately, this is a complicated process for the municipality

as the transportation system is run privately and the responsible not just need to be

approached but also to be convinced of improving the transportation level in Emmaboda.

Widening the possibilities in the local job market has also been perceived by different actors

as a solution to make Emmaboda more dynamic. For instance, more investments in the

service sector could help young people to develop new business activities (e.g. internet-

based), complementing the industrial sector. Nevertheless, young people are not sure by

whom this investments should be made, which creates a problematic uninformed picture of

them. Employers and school officials have expressed the need of having a more differentiated

industrial school program, to guarantee better adaptations and flexibility regarding the local

market. This could be connected, as some have proposed, to prioritize youth jobs in local

policies.

5. Conclusions

In this chapter, we look at the main aspects influencing young people towards leaving

Emmaboda: a norm that was created around the subject and a mentality of passiveness we

have found among many young people. Afterwards, we will return to our initial research

questions and answer them with the help of our findings and analysis from chapter 3.

Considering our findings, it would be naïve to present young people of Emmaboda as only

one group of interest as the present work has shown how needs and experiences vary. At the

same time, our role is to understand how the grassroots tendencies could be connected to the

vaster picture of Swedish and overall global trends.

As explained in the introduction, urbanisation as a social and economic process is playing a

massive role in Sweden. Data affirm that Sweden is the region in Europe with the highest rate

of urbanisation (17,3 per thousand), with 139 small urban centres witnessing a population

decrease in 2010 (Eurostat, 2012). This has been connected to the phenomenon of de-

industrialisation, which could be witnessed in Emmaboda as well. However, Swedish

industries still show economic growth in financial share of the economy, but not in

employment numbers due to mechanisation and production efficiency (Lind, 2010). The

process of post-industrialisation is determined by the growth of the service sector over the

industry and higher material standards, which then favour the pursuit of different values based

on “self-esteem” or environmental and democratic issues (Delhey, 2009). In other words, the

assurance of existential security has shifted the focus from “materialist scarcity values” to

values more focused on the self-development (Inglehart, 1997; Delhey, 2009). This process

has started in the 70’s (Delhey, 2009) and constitutes what Inglehart (1997) has defined as

post-materialism. Following our findings, we can see that the vast majority of young people

seem to adhere to such a change and express the desire to have ‘fun’ at work.

The concept of ‘fun’, in the words of young people, refers to the desire for a job that does not

only fulfil material expectations, but offers opportunities for growth and development and

prevents boredom. The perception of jobs in Emmaboda, as being boring or monotonous,

must be understood in the context of expectations of many young people who are not fully

aware of the complexity of the job market. Therefore, in accordance with a post-materialist

interpretation, the importance of jobs with economic security does not seem a priority for a

large part of the young unless it is connected to the satisfaction of ‘new’ values.

We could identify a ‘norm’ that young people should leave Emmaboda in order to gain

experience and extend their networks – a collective idea that seems to be a contradiction

towards the efforts of the municipality to keep young people in the town. However, public

officials have adapted to this norm and focus more on offering Emmaboda’s inhabitants a

good experience growing up in order to attract young people back after ‘experiencing the

world’. Since this expectation towards young people was raised from employers, public

officials and parents alike (“it is good for young people to go”/”they should go”), we assume a

strong influence on the young people from their networks.

In this sense, a further reflection on how young people perceive bigger towns is necessary.

Many expressed the idea that in big cities, it is easier to meet new people or engage in

activities and clubs, and that these would be located closer, in this way avoiding commuting.

Such a simplified image of bigger or smaller cities could be attributed to the role of the media

in influencing large part of young people (mainly school students in Emmaboda said they

watched English-speaking soap operas) and also to how information at local level is grasped.

In fact, communication plays a crucial role with reference to how young people acquire

information. We found that the municipality’s and employers’ transmission mechanisms

(mainly their websites) do not reach many young people and therefore determine a burden for

those, as many do not possess a sufficient knowledge on the job market, on support and

funding for their ideas or on possibilities of democratic involvement. We saw that the

majority of young people claimed to not know about many events, activities and possibilities

in the city. Misinformation must be understood as a fundamental factor in a post-materialist

society, as it limits the pursuit of individualism. Information could be seen as the decisive

factor to build a more integrated society and create a better picture of Emmaboda. In fact, if

financial resources do not seem a hindering factor for the personal development in a

prosperous society, communication takes over a more fundamental role.

The information issue includes the perceived failure of different mechanisms of feedback and

citizen inclusion in political structures. In spite of the goodwill of many public officials to

include young people in decision-making processes, many of the young show a limited

engagement. We could find a political moroseness among many young people that seems to

stem from the perception of disappointment and mistrust towards local politics. Through the

diverse inclusion mechanisms, like the elevråd, expectations from the youth in the

municipality were raised high, sometimes beyond the possibilities of the Kommun.

Frustration over unsatisfied demands and disappointed expectations seem to have led to

withdrawal from political participation towards a mentality of passiveness.

This mentality may also explain the wish to move to bigger cities, where young people seem

to expect to find what they cannot have in a small town such as Emmaboda, especially

regarding leisure activities. Instead of engaging to create what is missing, many prefer moving

to a place where they expect things to be ‘served on a silver platter’. That appropriate

information does not seem to reach many young people and the passivism of youth create a

situation of misrepresentation of the reality in Emmaboda, and nurtures the idea that bigger

cities may ‘mechanically’ satisfy their expectations. This shows how the weakness of

communication can lead, in accordance with Friedmann’s model, to dis-empowerment of

many young people in Emmaboda.

1. What are the young people’s visions and perceived possibilities in regards to living,

employment and education in Emmaboda?

Although a majority of the young people we talked to said that Emmaboda constitutes a safe

and welcoming living environment for them, many want to leave the Kommun for studies,

leisure, to gain experiences and to meet new people, at least for a while. We could identify a

norm that was created around young people having to go ‘away’ to see the world, that was

expressed by actors from diverse groups. Furthermore, ideas on what big city life looks like

do not necessarily reflect reality. Both findings show the importance of networks that

influence young people’s decisions. Another crucial issue seems to be a mentality of

passiveness among many young people that prevents them from actively searching for

information and taking action towards shaping Emmaboda in their interests. This, of course,

does not count for all young people. Some of those we interviewed were very active and

politically engaged, but more so, this contrasted to the inactiveness of many others.

Misinformation causes misconceptions of what life in Emmaboda does and could look like

and nurtures the false idea that in big cities, life was easier. We found that norms, a mentality

of passiveness and misinformation are major factors driving young people to bigger cities.

2. What are the expectations of employers towards and experiences with young people as

employees?

We could find that young people’s education and training do not always meet employers’

demands. The range of special programmes at gymnasiet is perceived as too narrow to reflect

the spectrum of jobs in Emmaboda. However, for most employers we talked to, this did not

seem to pose a major problem, as they offered the necessary training themselves. We saw that

those employers that took into consideration young people’s needs and used their creative

potentials were most satisfied with their young employees. In that sense, these employers

successfully implemented the town hall’s guideline of perceiving young people ‘as a resource,

rather than a problem’.

3. What does the municipality do to keep young people in Emmaboda?

The municipality seems to have accepted the fact that many young people want to leave

Emmaboda and puts focus on offering its inhabitants a good experience growing up to

strengthen the bonds to their hometown and make people come back in a later phase of life.

For this, the Kommun offers a range of activities, structures and programmes to meet young

people’s demands. We believe the reasons for young people’s apathy regarding political

action lie in exaggerated expectations from and misinformation about what the town hall can

and should do, which, at least for a part seem to be created by public officials themselves,

whose enthusiasm may fail to meet their possibilities. The disappointment over unfulfilled

promises and a focus on top-down approaches of citizen input seems to have caused mistrust

towards local politics.

6. Our recommendations

The purpose of this chapter is to present what we have learned within this research from

talking to the people of Emmaboda about how matters of young people could be enhanced.

The mismatch witnessed between the goodwill of the Kommun and the political moroseness

of many young people could be diminished through providing more power to the youth. It

might be possible to improve the functions of the youth council, taking as an example the

democratic devices for young people living in similar conditions, with reference to advisory

and consultative functions towards the Kommun. This would allow a more formal and

recognised participation. At the same time, it would establish an effective understanding of

participatory democratic mechanisms.

Having identified information channels as one of the critical points, we would encourage a

wider communication in the schools on a regular basis. As it was observed that youth are

partially aware of the local job market, we would recommend the creation of a job fair to be

held in the schools and to be opened to all of Emmaboda’s youth. In many cases, young

people did not know about the different positions in the local companies or having a restricted

opinion on them. To solve this problem, more visits to companies could support a wider view

on the sectors, in particular enabling youth to distinguish different productive fields. The

inhibition of going to Arbetsförmedlingen is high. To change this perception,

Arbetsförmedlingen could run or at least participate in these informative events.

Besides that, the Kommun should improve the communication strategies relying more on vis-

a-vis meetings. This could enhance the sympathy between different actors, establishing more

favourable conditions for participating and reducing the perceived 'distance' between youth

and politicians. For instance, youth could be encouraged more to visit sessions of the local

Parliament to have an insight of how discussions are and also to express themselves in a

public space as most of them are not aware that they are allowed to visit these sessions.

To improve the use of surplus time, we would encourage first of all the introduction of more

effective school schedules that avoid long breaks between classes. At the same time, we

would recommend the extension of reductions for leisure activities that are now limited to the

gym and swimming pool (for instance encouraging the use of the cinema, the bowling and the

go-cart circuit) and by cooperating with the schools to offer group reductions.

Moreover, collective trips for youth could be organized in order to satisfy their need of

travelling. This could be also strengthened through more efforts in using European funds for

youth exchanges with other towns, and the instrument of town twinning. This could even be

extended throughout cooperation with schools in other European countries to offer exchange

weeks where young people could go abroad and in return, students from the partner school

visit Emmaboda later on as well.

Resuming, the position of Emmaboda and its policies have so far shown a strong resilience in

the time, but global changes and new needs pose important challenges to be discussed through

the widest democratic inclusion. Citizens and in particular young people need to be aware of

local decisions and mechanisms in order to be able to contribute to the material and spiritual

growth of the society.

References

Bergstrand Fastighetsmärklare (2014). Till salu. Available from:

< http://www.maklare-bergstrand.se/till-salu> [24.03.2014]

COE (2008). Country Sheet on youth policy in Sweden. Youth Partnership, Council of

Europe, European Commission. Available from:

<http://youth-partnership-eu.coe.int/youth-

partnership/documents/Questionnaires/Country/2007/Sweden.pdf> [22.03.2014]

Delhey (2009). From Materialist to Postmaterialist Happiness? National Affluence

and Determinants of Life Satisfaction in Cross-national Perspective. World Values

Research 2(2):30-54. Available from:

<http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs/articles/folder_published/paperseries_30/file

s/WVR0202> [22.03.2014]

Ekonomifakta (2014). Invånare i kommunen, Emmaboda. Available from:

<http://www.ekonomifakta.se/sv/Fakta/Regional-statistik/Alla-lan/Kalmar-

lan/Emmaboda/?var=17246> [22.03.2014]

Emmaboda (2014). FRITID OCH IDROTT. Available from:

http://www.emmaboda.se/For-invanaren/Fritid-och-idrott/ [22.03.2014]

Emmaboda Fastighetsförmedling (2014). Villor & Gårdar. Available from: <

http://www.eff.se/bostader.asp> [24.03.2014]

Eurostat (2012). News Release. Urban-intermediate-rural regions. Available from:

<http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/1-30032012-BP/EN/1-

30032012-BP-EN.PDF> [22.03.2014]

Friedmann, J. (1992). Empowerment. The politics of alternative development. Malden:

Blackwell Publishers Inc.

Inglehart (1997). Modernization and Postmodernization. Cultural, Economic, and

Political Change in 43 Societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

KFUM (2013). KFUMs #UKR13. Kristliga Föreningen av Unga Män Available from:

<http://kfum.se/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/KFUMs-Ungdomskommunranking-

2013.pdf> [22.03.2014]

Lind (2010). The Myths and Reality of Deindustrialization in Sweden: the Role of

Productivity. Journal of the Swedish Economic Association. Stockholm. Available

from: <http://www.csls.ca/ipm/22/IPM-22-Lind.pdf> [22.03.2014]

SNBYA (2010). Introduction to Youth Policy – Swedish and Turkish Perspectives.

The Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs.

Swedish Government (2004). Swedish Government Act. Swedish Government.

Available from:

<http://www.government.se/content/1/c6/02/95/35/ca584fee.pdf> [22.03.2014]

Annex 1

List of interviews

As we guaranteed confidentiality to each of our interviewees, the names of them will not be

mentioned here, except for some concrete officials.

Some of the group interviews have been divided in several smaller group interviews. To make

it easier, these are indicated as one interview here.

Explanation:

F = female; M = male;

n.r. = age not relevant

Nr Interviewees Location Sex Age Date Additional

Information

1 3 Municipality

Officials

Emmaboda Kommun F, 2 M n.r. 27.02. Introduction meeting

2 Meeting of the local

parliament,

Bromboda

Bygdegard,

Vissefjärda

03.03. meeting basically

used for networking;

to get a view on

actual situation in E

3 Ann-Christine

Torgnyson

Emmaboda Kommun F n.r. 04.03.

4 3 young persons Café Fenix F 17-18 04.03.

5 1 mother Fritidsgården F n.r. 04.03.

6 4 young persons Driving school 3 F, 1 M 17-18 04.03.

7 Tommy Persson,

secretary of

Municipality

Emmaboda Kommun M n.r. 06.03.

8 3 young persons Idébanken M 20-26 06.03.

9 Per Elgborn, Xylem

workshop manager

Växjö M n.r. 06.03.

10 1 young person Simhallen F 24 06.03.

11 1 young person Arbetsförmedlingen M 22 06.03. from Thailand

12 Headmaster Vilhelm

Mobergsgymnasiet

M n.r. 07.03.

13 Former Headmaster Vilhelm

Mobergsgymnasiet

M n.r. 07.03.

14 Folkshuset Manager

Hans Nilsson

Folkshuset M n.r. 07.03.

15 3 young persons Vilhelm

Mobergsgymnasiet

M 18-19 07.03. two of them:

immigrants

Afghanistan

Mobergsgymnasiet

1 M, 2 F 17-18 07.03.

17 1 teacher Bjurbäckskolan M n.r. 07.03.

18 5 young persons Café Fenix F, 1 M 17-18 08.03.

19 2 young persons Coop Konsum M 16, 25 08.03.

Colour of Interviewee Numbers:

black = Municipality officials; red = youth; green

= companies; orange = other

20 16 young persons Bjurbäckskolan F,M 15-16 10.03. English class

21 1 young person Vilhelm

Mobergsgymnasiet

F 24 10.03. German

22 1 young person Vilhelm

Mobergsgymnasiet

M 17 10.03.

Mobergsgymnasiet

F,M 17-18 10.03. English class

24 Employee Handelsbanken F n.r. 10.03.

25 5 young persons Möjligheternas Hus F, M 17-18 10.03. 4 immigrants

Mobergsgymnasiet

F, M 17-18 11.03. English class

Mobergsgymnasiet

F, M 16-17 11.03. English class

28 20 young persons Bjurbäckskolan F, M 14-16 11.03. Spanish Class

29 4 young persons Möjligheternas Hus 3 F, 1 M 21-24 12.03.

30 Official

Möjligheternas Hus

Möjligheternas Hus F n.r. 12.03.

31 2 Officials from the

school board

Emma Café F n.r. 12.03.

32 1 young person Café Fenix F 16 12.03.

33 Mona Westman

(manager)

ICA F n.r. 12.03.

34 8 young persons Kulturskolan Drama

F 9-18 12.03.

35 Ann-Marie

Fagerström,

Kommunalråd

Emmaboda Kommun F n.r. 13.03.

36 Elisabeth Arvidsson

(manager)

Hotel Amigo F n.r. 13.03.

37 Counsellor Bjurbäckskolan F n.r. 14.03.

38 Counsellor Vilhelm

Mobergsgymnasiet

F n.r. 14.03.

39 Municipality Official Emmaboda Kommun F n.r. 14.03.

40 Ann-Helen

Alexandersson

Södra Timber F n.r. 14.03.

41 1 University student LNU Växjö M 19 17.03. Works in

Emmaboda

42 1 University student LNU Växjö M 21 17.03. From Emmaboda

Annex 2

Inhabitants Emmaboda 2006-2012

(Ekonomifakta, 2014)

Inhabitants Emmaboda in comparison to Växjö 1968-2008

(Ibid., 2014)

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Emmaboda 9436 9383 9331 9223 9187 9039 8991

Sweden

medium

31425 31665 31918 32209 32467 32700 32951

Annex 3

Observations in the parking area outside the primary school

First observation

(04/03/14)

Second observation

(05/03/14)

Third observation

(07/03/14)

Mopeds 18 20 19

Bicycles 30 35 32[12]

Annex 4

Comparison house prices Emmaboda and Växjö

(Bergstrand Fastighetsmärklare (2014); Emmaboda Fastighetsförmedling (2014))

Växjö Emmaboda

size price (k)

69,3 1050

60 595

71,5 875

83 360

101 2778

89 475

112 2250

90 480

115 1100

95 520

135 2550

96 500

140 850

100 550

160 4450

105 900

180 3175

105 350

438 5850

108 295

109 625

114 350

120 495

128 850

138 495

145 495

148 500

150 850

153 395

159 1100

167 675

Average/ 16380,6 4815,191

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