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The aim of the article is to analyze and to critically examine use of the concept of heteronormativity. We find it important to adjust the concept to some extent in order to analyze, for example, changes occurring in homosexual families, contemporary gender-equal families, or the progressive youth culture. We find two approaches when using the concept. One minimizes the importance of how sexual practices are embedded in social institutions. The first approach becomes too idealistic, whereas the second approach often is based on a structural view of society. This approach makes it hard to imagine a transformation of the family that could lead to more equal and democratic relations in contemporary families. We suggest a third approach, and the possibility of finding creative ways of analyzing actual change and contestations of heteronormativity. An approach containing a space of reflexivity and aiming at political change both involving subjects as well as structures.

To cite this article: Marcus Herz (2018) A debate on masculinity and immigration rose across Europe in 2015 after an incident with sexual harassments taking place in Cologne, Germany. The incident refuelled a debate positioning unaccompanied young men as a possible threat. This article is based on a research project where we during this time ethnographically followed 20 young men, having arrived in Sweden as 'unaccompanied' minors. The aim is to examine how the young men themselves talk about, reflect on and negotiate masculinity and gender during this period. The article concludes that masculinity cannot be approached as something stable easily being inherited or transferred from one's origins. One difference for 'unaccompanied' young men is how conflicts or tensions emerging in relation to issues of gender and masculinity tend to be interpreted differently, and publicly, putting the young men in a 'gendered situation of questioning'.

Social work is often described as socially oriented, politically sensitive and as taking a critical approach to ‘social problems’. However, recently we have seen how this self-image has lost ground. In the present article, we have discussed how demands for evidence and scientific evaluations of social work have gradually pushed the discipline and practice in the direction of psychological measurements and methods. Here, we will identify a problematic development within the social and theoretical practice of social work, and make some suggestions regarding how to start discussing, analysing and dealing with this changing social landscape. We will identify some critical points and issues and present models of how to think about and develop a critical social work practice. KEYWORDS: Evidence, psychologization, social work practice, meta-theory, discursive-narrative

The purpose of the present article was to investigate social psychological processes leading to complex patterns of inclusion and exclusion. Following Sarah Ahmed’s theory of the phenomenology of ‘being stopped’, we explored young adults’ experiences of coming to or living in Sweden. The empirical material used consists of four strategically selected case studies. Living in the new Europe can be described as an experience of having to constantly deal with patterns of exclusion/inclusion. These patterns of exclusion/inclusion vary over time. They create new social bonds, strategies used to cope with prejudices and discrimination, and new identities. The four cases illustrated more or less successful attempts to deal with exclusion. Discrimination and the feeling of being different clearly affected young people’s self-esteem and life plans. Lack of integration is not only related to ethnicity and language, but also to connectedness to social and institutional structures.