Research news - Page 3

This PhD course explores the relationship between adaptation and transformation, two concepts that are key to understanding societal responses to climate change. 

- Many people believe that major social change must start from above. But historically we see that such changes have often started small, says Karen O'Brien, professor of Human Geography at the Department of Sociology and Human Geography.

The havoc wreaked by the terrorist organization Boko Haram is one example of the unrest that starts in remote areas with weak local institutions. Peace workers increasingly must look at the local conditions, according to a new doctoral thesis.

The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet has large deficits and is entirely dependent on state aid. To show that they deserve the money, they work purposefully to bring classical music down to Earth.

China's enormous economic growth has lifted millions out of poverty and raised citizens' standard of living. The other side of the picture is growing income inequality.

Children of immigrants are better educated, and earn far more, than their parents.

While Palestinians see the Israeli occupation as the core of the conflict, Israelis defend the occupation in terms of their security.

Providing care for ageing parents can corrode your health more than raising your children, according to a new study. But while the state has generous welfare schemes for parents, there is little work leave to be had when it's mum or dad that needs your help

Immigrant women who bring a spouse from their country of origin have poorer career prospects, according to a new doctoral thesis.

If you are a male immigrant and marry a woman from a country other than your own, you increase your chances of a good job and a high income. This applies whether the woman you marry is Norwegian or not.

Something happens to a society after a terrorist attack. Tore Witsø Rafoss has studied the reactions in the US and Norway after 11 September 2001 and 22 July 2011 and found some surprising similarities.

Despite the fact that both men have grown up in Norway and have the same education and work experience, Norwegian employers choose Knut more often than Muhammed.

Women have higher levels of sick leave than men, but it's not a higher work load that is to blame, according to new research. If we are to understand the causes of women's high levels of sick leave we must look beyond the workplace, says researcher Anne May Melsom.

Parents on Oslo’s East side have little reason to fear that a high proportion of immigrant pupils in schools in itself hampers student performance, according to new research.

Drugs are usually associated with vulnerable social groups. New research reveals that amphetamine, however, is used by some in physically demanding manual jobs - to sustain long working hours.

Fighting for the rights of migrant workers in China - without over-stepping the limits of what the authorities allow - is a difficult balancing act. But grassroots organizations are becoming increasingly brave, a new doctoral thesis shows.

Norwegian women who choose to have children say goodbye to exciting career opportunities. Men, on the other hand, work on.

People love to reminisce about a rosy past. In his PhD thesis Hans Erik Næss shows that nostalgic memories are not an obstacle, but an important tool to further develop rallying.

Karen O'Brien, one of the lead authors of the IPCC's next report, is an optimist. For it is we as a society that holds the key to making the changes that are needed.

World trade is increasingly dominated by the countries of the South. A recent study examines how the migration of people in the South enables the flow of goods.

Cohabitation, gay marriage and single parents, bonus children and bonus parents. These modern forms of cohabitation do not indicate that the family as an institution is about to disappear. The family lives on in the best of health, but in new ways, say the editors of a new book.

If only ten percent of us are able to change our thinking and lifestyle, we could change our society so much that we can stop climate change. So says Professor Karen O'Brien, who helped write a new UN report.

Ida Kvittingen has written her master’s thesis as part of the EUMARGINS project. The title of her thesis is "Equal or unique employee? 'Visible minorities' job seeking experiences" and is about visible minorities’ transition from higher education to the labour market. Her qualitative study is based on ten in-depth interviews with visible minorities who have recently finished their master degree in either social or natural sciences and are entering the job market.

Fredrik Engelstad and Hans Erik Næss discussed their new books with Thomas Hylland Eriksen at Akademika bookshop on wednesday 1st December. Neither of them would agree with the suggestion that there is a generation conflict within sociology.

- Doctors have not understood why cannabis is so dangerous, says professor of sociology Willy Pedersen. In collaboration with postdoc. Sveinung Sandberg he has written the book Cannabiskultur