Normbildningsprocess genom brukarsamverkan

The dissertation shows two different means or directions for creating civic participation: the collective and the individual way. The collective way is characterized by the citizen's ability to participate only through elected representatives while the individual way makes it possible for inhabitants to participate face to face with politicians and local civil servants.

Two different theories have been used: Talcott Parson's theory of the social system and Håkan Hydén's theory of norms. Parson's theory is used to point out where in the social system the interaction between the actors takes place, whereas Hydén's theory structures the dissertation and provides the project with a tool to analyse the process of norm creation.

The conclusions of this dissertation are that democracy through elected representatives is not replaced by different forms of organized collaboration between consumers, politicians and local government employees. The two models, or directions, co- operate with each other in a way that provides a possibility for the consumer to make her/his voice heard between elections and for the politicians and local government employees to secure the quality of the municipality services. Thus the paradigm change from industrial to information society is not a question of representative democracy or civic participation by collaboration with actors in the local municipality organization; it is a question of collaboration between representative democracy and civic participation. In this way the collaboration groups become the converging points that make it possible for the actors in the two norm environments to intervene.