Jenny Alsarve
Position: Senior Lecturer School/office: School of Humanities, Education and Social SciencesEmail: jenny.alsarve@oru.se
Phone: +46 19 301399
Room: F3271
About Jenny Alsarve
Research
Jenny is associate professor in Sociology. Her research is focused on family, work, care and gender with a particular interest for how parents reconcile labor work and family life. Thus, her research interest focuses the intersection of work and family life.
Her previous studies have investigated family practices after divorce, the transition to parenthood among heterosexual couples as well as lone mothers’ everyday life. Since January 2020 she is the project leader of a research project (After the early childhood years) where parents’ division of paid and unpaid work is studied, and a central question is how the division has come about, how it is reproduced and/or challenged and renegotiated during the early childhood years and the first years as parents of school-age children (i.e. the study follows the parents for more than 10 years). This study takes its departure in different theories, mainly from family sociology and gender studies.
Durin 2019 Jenny was the research leader of the research group ‘Work, family and intimate relations’ (WFIR), a group of about 12 researchers and doctoral students in Sociology. Since 2020 she is Head of subject for Sociology.
Teaching and supervision
She is assistant supervisor for two doctoral students in Sociology. She has also supervised a doctoral student who defended her doctoral thesis in april 2023 (Hanna Samzelius). Her teaching experience is large, and she has been teaching in all levels, in sociological theory, gender equality and discrimination, methods, globalization and individualization, and has supervised a large number of bachelor essays in sociology.
Publications
In 2014 Jenny was awarded the Torgny T. Segerstedts (the younger) price for best article in Sociologisk forskning 2012-2013 for the article ‘Inte bara jämställdhet. Beslutet om föräldraledighet, moderskaps- och faderskapsideal och idéer om barns bästa’. [’Not only gender equality. The decision about parental leave, motherhood and fatherhood ideals, and ideas on what is in the best interest of the child’]. Her recent publications has studied lone mothers’ relationships with friends, how couples’ negotiations about care and work are embedded in other social relationships, and what happens in families where the mother gets sick because of ’burnout’. Other recent publications concern parents' division of labour during Covid-19 and parents' online activities.
Collaborations
In addition to the research group WFIR Jenny has had an research collaboration with Katarina Boye, associate professor in Sociology in Stockholm University. Another ongoing research collaboration is with Terese Glatz, associate professor in psychology in Örebro University. She is also part of a international research collaboration, TransParent, since the former research project ‘Between dram and reality’. She was earlier part of Social Impact Lab, at Örebro University, and had during 2018-2019 cooperation with the study organization Bilda about an integration project.
Research projects
Active projects
Completed projects
Research groups
Publications
Articles in journals
- Alsarve, J. , Boye, K. & Sandström, L. (2023). New practices during the pandemic? A qualitative study of parents’ work, care and housework during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Family Studies, 29 (5), 2248-2267.
- Glatz, T. , Daneback, K. , Alsarve, J. & Sorbring, E. (2023). Parents' Feelings, Distress, and Self-Efficacy in Response to Social Comparisons on Social Media. Journal of Child and Family Studies.
- Alsarve, J. (2021). Parental leave and then what? A study of new parents’ negotiations about work, care and parental leave. Families, Relationships and Societies, 10 (1), 83-98.
- Alsarve, J. (2020). Friendship, reciprocity and similarity: Lone mothers and their relationships with friends. Community, Work and Family, 23 (4), 401-418.
- Alsarve, J. (2017). Working it out: strategies to reconcile work and family among Swedish lone mothers. Families, Relationships and Societies, 6 (3), 325-340.
- Alsarve [Ahlberg], J. & Boye, K. (2012). Inte bara jämställdhet: beslutet om föräldraledighet, moderskaps- och faderskapsideal och idéer om barns bästa. Sociologisk forskning, 49 (2), 103-128.
- Ahlberg [Alsarve], J. (2010). Familjekonstruktioner efter skilsmässa. Locus (4), 17-29.
- Ahlberg [Alsarve], J. , Roman, C. & Duncan, S. (2008). Actualizing the 'democratic family'?: Swedish policy rhetoric versus family practices. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society, 15 (1), 79-100.
Articles, book reviews
- Alsarve, J. (2020). Caitlyn Collins, Making motherhood work. How women manage careers and caregiving. Princeton University Press, 2019. Sociologisk forskning, 57 (1), 83-85.
Books
- Alsarve, J. , Lundqvist, Å. & Roman, C. (2017). Ensamma mammor: Dilemman, resurser, strategier (1ed.). Malmö: Gleerups Utbildning AB.
Chapters in books
- Peterson, H. & Alsarve, J. (2022). Den minimalistiska familjen: mellan dröm och verklighet. In: Rolf Lidskog; Erik Löfmarck, En mänsklig natur: Risker, reglering och representationer (pp. 133-153). Örebro: Örebro universitet, sociologiämnet.
- Alsarve, J. (2019). Förhandlade relationer i kölvattnet efter en mammas sjukskrivning. In: Jenny Alsarve & Erik Löfmarck, Samhälle i förhandling: Villkor, processer, konsekvenser: festskrift till Christine Roman (pp. 89-102). Örebro: Örebro universitet.
- Alsarve, J. , Boye, K. & Roman, C. (2019). Realized plans or revised dreams? Swedish parents’ experiences of care, parental leave and paid work after childbirth. In: Daniela Grunow, Marie Evertsson, New parents in Europe: work-care practices, gender norms and family policies (pp. 68-86). . Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Alsarve, J. , Lundqvist, Å. & Roman, C. (2016). Dilemman, resurser, strategier. In: J. Alsarve, Å. Lundqvist, C. Roman, Ensamma mammor: Dilemman, resurser, strategier (pp. 147-161). Malmö: Gleerups Utbildning AB.
- Alsarve, J. , Lundqvist, Å. & Roman, C. (2016). Inledning. In: J. Alsarve, Å. Lundqvist, C. Roman, Ensamma mammor: Dilemman, resurser, strategier (pp. 9-16). Malmö: Gleerups Utbildning AB.
- Alsarve, J. & Roman, C. (2016). Metod och metodologiska överväganden. In: J. Alsarve, Å. Lundqvist, C. Roman, Ensamma mammor: Dilemman, resurser, strategier (pp. 179-185). Malmö: Gleerups Utbildning AB.
- Alsarve, J. , Boye, K. & Roman, C. (2016). The crossroads of equality and biology: The child’s best interests and constructions of motherhood and fatherhood in Sweden. In: D. Grunow, M. Evertsson, Couples' Transition to Parenthood: Analysing Gender and Work in Europe (pp. 79-100). . Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Ahlberg [Alsarve], J. & Roman, C. (2006). Uppkomsten av en demokratisk familj?: Teori, politik, praktik. In: Mats Ekström ..., Om demokratins villkor: 2 (pp. 77-109). Örebro: Örebro universitet.
Conference papers
- Alsarve, J. (2018). Friendship, reciprocity, solidarity: Lone mothers and their relationships with friends. Paper presented at Sociologidagarna 2018, Lund, Sweden, March 8-9, 2018.
- Alsarve, J. (2018). Lone mothers: Work-care dilemmas and strategies. Paper presented at A Research Conference on Parenting and Parent-Child Relationship, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden, June 4-5, 2018.
- Alsarve, J. (2015). Lone but not alone?: lone mothers’ need of social support networks in order to attain work-family balance. In: DIFFERENCES INEQUALITIES AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION. ESA 2015 PRAGUE BOOK OF ABSTRACTS. Paper presented at 12th Conference of the European Sociological Association (ESA), Prague, Czech Republic, August 25-28, 2015. (pp. 651-652).
- Roman, C. & Alsarve [Ahlberg], J. (2014). Lone mothers and long hours: work-family conflict in the everyday lives of lone mothers in Sweden. Paper presented at XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology: Yokohama Research Committee: Work, Women, Class and Care: Working Women in Contemporary European Cities, Yokohama, Japan, July 13-19 July, 2014.
- Alsarve [Ahlberg], J. & Roman, C. (2013). Working it out: strategies to reconcile paid work and family among Swedish lone mothers. Paper presented at Rethinking agency: Acting in practice, acting together, Bradford, UK, November 14-15, 2013.
- Alsarve [Ahlberg], J. & Boye, K. (2012). Inte bara jämställdhet. Paper presented at Sociologidagarna, Stockholms universitet 15-17 mars 2012.
- Ahlberg [Alsarve], J. (2008). Post-divorce families: family practices from a child perspective. Paper presented at CFR Conference Family Diversity and Gender vid Institute of Social and Political Sciences of Lisbon Technical University, 9-13 september 2008.
- Ahlberg [Alsarve], J. (2006). Barn som relation. Paper presented at Nordiska Sociologikongressen Åbo universitet, 18-20 augusti 2006.
- Ahlberg Alsarve], J. (2006). Mamma, pappa, barn i nya skepnader: hur konstrueras familjer efter 'kärnfamiljen'?. Paper presented at Sociologiförbundets årsmöte Södertörns högskola, 9-10 februari 2006.
Doctoral theses, monographs
- Ahlberg [Alsarve], J. (2008). Efter kärnfamiljen: familjepraktiker efter skilsmässa. (Doctoral dissertation). Örebro: Örebro universitet.
Manuscripts
- Tuncer, M. , Alsarve, J. & Peterson, H. Knowing and Finding Your Place : Turkish-born women in Sweden doing and undoing gender.
Reports
- Alsarve, J. (2020). Familjekompis – att skapa mötesplatser för nya och etablerade svenska familjer: En utvärdering av Familjekompis första år. Örebro: Department of Social Sciences, Örebro University (Arbetsrapport i sociologi 21).
- Alsarve [Ahlberg], J. & Boye, K. (2011). Man vill ha det lite jämställt sådär: planer för föräldraledighet och arbetsdelning bland blivande föräldrar. Örebro: Örebro universitet (Arbetsrapport i sociologi 14).
- Alsarve [Ahlberg], J. & Svenning, M. (2005). Introduktionen i Örebro län. Individualiserad? Jämställd? Effektiv?: rapport för Utvecklingsrådets integrationsgrupp i Örebro län. Örebro: Utvecklingsrådet Örebro län (Publikation / Länsstyrelsen Örebro län 2005:56 ).