Undergraduate studies: I teach courses on Children, youth and sexuality in school, and on Social relations in school, as well as supervise theses at different levels.

Postgraduate studies: Every few years, I give a Ph.D. course on Critical Perspectives on Men and Masculinity, organized by the Gender Academy at Stockholm University. I am also part of Ph.D. courses on contemporary theoretical debates and theory of science in child and youth studies.

I am co-supervisor for Noor Nassef at BUV and member of the doctoral committee for Rannveig Ágústa Gudjónsdóttir, University of Iceland.

Young men's violence against women

In recent years, I am interested in questions about youth intimate relationships. Young men's violence against women is in focus for the research I have conducted with Lucas Gottzén and Hanna Bornäs. The young men's processes of change are the subject of "It's not just dad who's got problems: Feminist phenomenology and young men's violence against women" (2023). In "Rethinking male peer support theory" (2022) we focus on how the social network responds to violence. The article "Queering desistance: Chrononormativity, afterwardsness and young men's sexual intimate partner violence" (2020) analyzes the role of temporality in perpetrator narratives. The chapters "Theorising masculinity and intimate partner violence" and "The rape capital or the most gender-equal country in the world?" are published in Men, masculinities and intimate partner violence (2021).  

 

Men and masculinity

A recurring theme in my research - from my first studies of hip hop to recent work on violence - concerns how we can understand questions about men and masculinity. "Sticky masculinity" (2014) and "Is everything compatible?" (2018) are contributions to the international theoretical discussion. Two articles in Swedish give overviews of different theoretical perspectives, "Masculinity theory in change" (2020) and "Young men: What's the problem?" (2021). The article "Ashamed of one's sexism, mourning one's friends" (2020) analyzes contemporary Swedish books about men and gender issues.

I am currently the Swedish represantative in the board of the Nordic Association for Research on Men and Masculinities (NORMAS).

 

Intersectionality and sociological theory

I am also interested in intersectional perspectives, most recently in the Swedish textbook Intersektionalitet (with Minoo Alinia, 2023). My chapter on Anna Julia Cooper in Sociologins klassiker (2022) is the first to introduce Cooper's black feminist and intersectional approach in Swedish. In the article "Who is theory?" (2018, in Swedish) I discuss the problem of the history of sociological theory being centered around white men, as well as how this can be addressed.

 

Hip hop

In my Ph.D. thesis and after, I have analyzed rap lyrics in Sweden from feminist, queer and intersectional perspectives. Publications on this theme: "No homo" (2012), "Degrees of intersectionality" (2013), "Hip hop feminism in Sweden" (2014), Reading Rap (2014), "Theorizing power, identity and hip hop" (2016) and "The dude thought he was cool..." (2016, in Swedish).

 

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• It’s not just dad who’s got problems: Feminist phenomenology and young men’s violence against women

  2023. Kalle Berggren, Lucas Gottzén. Men and Masculinities

  Article

  Research on men who have been violent against women has often shown how these men justify or excuse their violence, minimize their responsibility, as well as construct dominant forms of masculinity. However, as attitudes in support of intimate partner violence are declining around the world, we might expect perpetrators to become less self-righteous and more self-critical about their violence. This article reports data from a qualitative interview study with 14 young partner-violent men in Sweden. While our participants sometimes downplayed their responsibility, more often they condemned violence in intimate relationships, and reflected upon the place of violence in their lives. This included experiences of domestic violence as children, as well as their processes of moving away from violence. Drawing on feminist readings of phenomenology, particularly Heidegger, we suggest that phenomenological conceptualizations of embodiment, consciousness and practice are helpful in understanding the experiences of partner-violent men.

  Read more about It’s not just dad who’s got problems

• Intersektionalitet

  2023. Minoo Alinia, Kalle Berggren.

  Book

  Read more about Intersektionalitet

• Rethinking male peer support theory

  2022. Kalle Berggren, Lucas Gottzén. Journal of Men's Studies

  Article

  Male Peer Support Theory (MPST) is one of the few principal theories about masculinity and men’s violence against women. The theory foregrounds the role of social networks in encouraging violence. This article offers a critical discussion of MPST, particularly the assumption that social networks primarily support violence. Drawing on a qualitative study of young men perpetrators in Sweden, we suggest that the concept of response is better suited than support in capturing the diversity of social network responses to violence. In our data, there were few stories about unmitigated pro-abuse support. Instead, we found responses that unequivocally condemned violence, as well as ambiguous and transformative responses. We suggest that such responses be understood in relation to changing attitudes concerning violence.

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• Anna Julia Cooper

  2022. Kalle Berggren. Sociologins klassiker, 135-149

  Chapter

  Anna Julia Cooper skrev den första boken i vad som i dag kallas den svarta feministiska traditionen, A voice from the south, år 1892. Hon utvecklar ett perspektiv på social ojämlikhet utifrån svarta kvinnors erfarenhet. Cooper erbjuder en kritisk genusanalys av rasproblemet och samtidigt en kritisk rasanalys av kvinnofrågan. Svarta kvinnor konfronteras med bägge problemen, och därför behövs en kritisk samhällsanalys som länkar samman olika maktdimensioner i stället för att ställa dem mot varandra. Cooper var engagerad i olika organisationer som verkade för social rättvisa, särskilt i utbildningsfrågor. Hennes texter spänner över en rad områden, såsom litteratur, ekonomi och kolonialism, teman som hon analyserar med utgångspunkt i frågor om ras, kön och klass. Coopers arbete visar hur denna typ av sociologiska analyser, som i dag ofta går under namnet intersektionalitet, har funnits sedan slutet av 1800-talet.

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• Killar: Vad är problemet?

  2021. Kalle Berggren. Tidskrift för Genusvetenskap 42 (2-3), 91-108

  Article

  This article explores different problematizations of young men in masculinity research. It looks at research on young men in school, young men and sports, and young men and violence, as well as the place of young men in more general discussions about masculinity. It is argued that four main problematizations can be identified in this research, depending on whether the focus is on the structure, the group, the experience, or the categorization. Differentiating between different problematizations, it is suggested, may be a helpful way of understanding key differences in research on, as well as in interventions directed at, young men. 

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• Att lyssna på hiphop som en sociolog

  2021. Kalle Berggren. Ikaros 17 (1), 5-7

  Article

  Read more about Att lyssna på hiphop som en sociolog

Show all publications by Kalle Berggren at Stockholm University