Many of my studies revolve around human interaction, emotions, narratives, and institutions.

My research addresses seemingly very diverse phenomena, such as the sociology of violence and conflict, the sociology of gifts and corruption, the sociology of role-playing games, research ethics, and relations between youth and the police. These fields are connected through my interest in ethnographic material and interactions—particularly in the analytical work itself—even though each setting and phenomenon has its own specific characteristics.

In theory, morality, social order, and how people artfully create order are often at the core.

I have a strong interest in the sociology of war and cultural representations of war. I am currently involved in a project on Nordic volunteers in the war in Ukraine.

Additional areas of interest include the moral economy of foster care and online communities and online behavior. I am also interested in disability and accessibility. I have conducted several studies of secure youth care institutions (the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care, SiS), focusing on conflicts, incidents of violence, and schooling. At present, I am working on a study of specially reinforced units within SiS institutions. I find tightly controlled environments fascinating, but also freer and more imaginative forms of interaction in relatively loosely controlled settings.

I have a particular fondness for theoretically surprising research that captures glimpses of people’s lives. As I see it, people are constituted through interaction with others -- and with society at large -- and understanding this requires close engagement with people’s lived experiences. In the same move, we come close to society itself.

I teach in the Bachelor’s Programme in Criminology (SOCA74), including a theory course for criminologists and sociologists (SOCC01). I also teach courses on digital social life (SOCN23) and give individual guest lectures as well as supervise students in thesis courses. Previously, I have taught a wide range of theory and methodology courses, thematic courses, and courses within doctoral education. I serve as an examiner for theses in cultural criminology.

For example, I have lectured on violence; punishment and treatment; ethnographic observation and qualitative interviews; the history of sociological and criminological theory; and social psychological and interactionist theory.

I have developed several courses and contributed course literature in both theory and methodology. For example, I have created the course module SOCN23, Digital Social Life together with Lisa Flower. I was part of the group that established the Bachelor’s Programme in Criminology in Lund in 2009. 

I am deeply engaged in doctoral education and have supervised 13 PhD candidates to successful completion of their doctorates: