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Reports on findings from a research project, which has been examining the development of the New Public Management (NPM), a managerial reform movement for change in public sectors worldwide, and reports on a series of semi‐structured interviews with academics in Sweden and England as elements of NPM are introduced into the daily routines of university work. The findings suggest that, despite evidence of common elements of the NPM appearing in Higher Education in the two countries in question, as well as many similarities of experience and response among those subjected to change, there are differences ‐ with academics in England reporting longer hours and increased monitoring of their work than their Swedish counterparts. The article explores the nature of these similarities and differences.

The paper seeks to offer a consideration of the adequacy of the concept of abeyance in accounting for women's movement processes in non‐social movement organisations in periods characterised by quiescence rather than insurgence.

The article is primarily conceptual.

By extending the political process school of social movement theory, which relies heavily on visible activism to explain movement success, to include the new social movement approach, it is contended that underlying processes of change, associated with the values and affiliations of those involved in non‐social movement organisations, become clearer. Less visible processes are identified through the variable rhythms and multiple, discontinuous experiences of women's movement supporters characterised as concealed adherents, informal networkers, and fellow travellers who can include male supporters.

Limitations: as the paper is primarily conceptual, there is a need to develop the practical implications beyond those mentioned below. Implications: there is a need to reorient research into organisational change to take fuller account of social movement processes.

It is recognised that the literature on organisational and managerial change in non‐social movement organisations needs to take account of the differing experiences and potential strategies of those likely to be affected.

Originality of the paper lies in the use of insights drawn from the field of political sociology to enrich understanding of gender and organisational change.

Considers the changes which occurred during the 1990s in Swedish universities focusing on the way in which these have affected the work situation for lecturers from a gender, management and organization perspective. Uses in‐depth interviews with male and female lecturers in junior and middle‐management positions at one particular university. Explores the way in which women and men conform to the stereotype of “abstract worker” on which the new public management appears to rely. Suggests that this stereotype has loyalty to the employer as the most important priority with children and family commitments counting heavily against those with career aspirations.

This paper aims to explore the issues for middle‐level social work managers arising from the development of the new public management, with its emphasis on the intensification of work, the measurement of performance in service delivery, and cost efficiencies. This is commonly thought to have affected those working in human services such as social work adversely. This paper explores the nature of these consequences, from the point of view of those centrally placed in its implementation.

The methodology adopted in this paper is designed to acknowledge and explore the perceptions of middle‐level social work managers as they contribute to the social construction of the new public management. This is accomplished through in‐depth interviews with a sample of their number in Sweden and England.

The findings reveal that social work managers are not only comfortable dealing with budgets but also enjoy the autonomy this affords them in their relationship with their subordinates. The findings also reveal that they appreciate the benefits of the more generalised knowledges of management, used in their work with junior colleagues, who they attempted to lead rather than manage and who they respected as colleagues. This has further implications: the possibility of new career opportunities for these predominantly women managers.

The managers in social work see the knowledges gained from their position as managers as transferable to other areas of the public and private sectors, thereby opening up new career opportunities. They were also found to enjoy dealing with budget issues, contrary to earlier studies.

This article aims to focus attention on users of information technology (IT), especially mobile telephony. It focuses on what people actually say about mobile technology but also aims to pay attention to what they do not talk about, what is found in the silence, especially with new technology when much can be taken for granted. This latter is, according to Foucault, even more important to understand.

The research draws on empirical research through 11 semi‐structured interviews and interviews with five focus groups, comprising between four and eight care assistants in each group. The interviews were with three women and three men between 25‐70 years old, five female public sector middle managers and care assistants from five focus groups at social services departments in the north of Sweden. A Foucauldian approach is adopted to interpret the findings and explore how their locations within the circuits of socio‐technical networks engender uncertainty with mobile technology. The present spread of IT reinforces a belief that people are integrated into the circuits of socio‐technical networks.

The findings suggest, on the one hand, that new technologies like mobile communication can be used to organise our everyday lives, whilst, on the other, there are risks with the new technologies, which can discipline discourses.

These issues are discussed from a sociological and informatics perspective.

This paper sets out to explore the relationship between gender, New Public Management (NPM), citizenship and professional and user group identities and relationships within child care social work practice.

The paper utilises findings from a major comparative survey undertaken in Denmark and the UK as part of Doctoral research. In addition the paper draws upon more recent empirical research carried out by the author in Sweden.

Paradigms imported from the private sector have led to the adoption of NPM, fiscal austerity and the reorganisation of childcare social work throughout Europe. This paper illustrates the connectivities between NPM, gender, citizenship and the contested terrains within which professional and user group relationships and identities are being forged. The paper offers a unique insight into the operationalisation of NPM and gender within childcare professional social work practice in different European settings.

The paper's findings may be used to contribute to existing theoretical and empirical knowledge within the field of professional childcare social work and practice.

The paper offers a unique insight into the operationalisation of gender equality as a normative ideal premised on the development of organisational and legal settings which embrace an awareness of the duality of public and private spheres and the impact of different European welfare settings on the articulations of notions of gender and citizenship, which in turn operationalise processes of inclusion and exclusion of women as citizens, workers and parents.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the attitudes of women and men in relation to gender‐appropriate domestic responsibilities and equal opportunities in the changing context of neo‐liberalism.

The authors draw on results from an empirical investigation involving 1,731 questionnaires investigating the attitudes of women and men in a town in the north of Sweden.

The tentative conclusions suggest that even if they appear to co‐exist in contradictory ways, ideas of gender‐appropriate domestic responsibilities and equality of opportunity are in the respondents' minds, alongside neo‐liberal notions of individualisation. The prevailing attitudes in respect of gender suggest that women and men make apparently free “choices”; the influence of age on attitudes to gender issues is also considered.

This paper considers neo‐liberalisation and its impact on gender equity in Sweden, a country with a strong reputation for gender equity and a tradition of collective, inclusive social democracy, somewhere we would be unlikely to find its embedded presence. Using a quantitative self‐reporting approach to attitudes relevant to the choices made by men and women, the study raises questions about gender‐appropriate domestic responsibilities and equality of opportunity in a country that has been and continues to be regarded as one of the most gender‐friendly in the world and likely to be resistant to the influence of neo‐liberalism. The implications are explored, with the evidence indicating the presence of neo‐liberalism co‐existing, albeit perhaps uneasily, with traditions of equality of opportunity and attitudes to gender.