An ethnographic study was conducted of initial encounters in a class participating in Swedish municipal adult education. The class was composed mostly of immigrants and some native school dropouts, and the courses studied (through field observation) were equivalent to the senior level of the compulsory comprehensive school. The study focused on decision making and the power play between students and teachers, viewed as negotiation. Qualitative analysis resulted in a conceptual system for describing the negotiations. Using this system, characteristics of the decision-making process were described. One of the findings was that uniform explicit rules for decision making were lacking. Another finding was that students did influence decisions on certain topics, not because they were invited to do so, but at their own initiative. Students tried to influence the allocation of time and space for their studies, but they left the use of time for the teachers to decide. One conclusion of the study was that the students' subordination was conditional. (29 references) (Author/KC)