Sociala hierarkier - Fördelaktigt eller skadligt?

Sammanfattning: The purpose of the study was to examine the connection between experienced social hierarchies and the psychosocial work environment aspects demands, control, social interaction and social capital among high school teachers in Sweden. The two research questions were: 1. Does the presence and level within perceived social hierarchies interact with the self-assessed aspects of the psychosocial work environment among high school teachers? 2. Does a subjective ranking of teachers' main subjects based on how valuable they are interact with experienced social hierarchy? A survey based on the COPSOQ questionnaire was used for data collection, 98 responses were obtained. One of the main findings of the study was that the presence of experienced social hierarchies correlated positively with self-assessed values for the psychosocial work environment aspects control, social interaction and social capital and negatively with the aspect demands. The second main finding was that perceived social hierarchies interact in a positive direction with the presence of subjective ranking of teachers' main subjects based on how valuable they are. The conclusion of the study was that the results are partly in line with previous research and can possibly show that social hierarchies have a positive influence on psychological well-being in workplaces. It is also possible that differences in the perceived level or value of knowledge help create these social hierarchies. Future studies with more respondents, additional psychosocial work environment aspects and alternative workplaces are recommended in order to develop the research area.