I approach the subject of adult readers of young adult fiction through an analytical framework influenced by Cultural Studies, implicating that young adult fiction is caught up in a system of distinction between popular literature and high literature. I contrast this with theories that suggest that there has been a loosening of this hierarchy and that they now coexist, even borrowing features from one another. I also examine questions of ideology, namely the ideology of mass culture, the ironical attitude and the ideology of populism. I also use Andreas Huyssen?s theory of mass culture as a woman, seeing as popular literature often tends to be categorized with feminine traits.

The following study is a discourse analysis of the concept of critical thinking within pre-school teacher education. It considers the following questions: how does the concept of critical thinking appear in policy documents, central to the pre-school teacher education, and which possible conceptions of critical thinking are conveyed by students and teachers active within the education. Additionally, the study seeks to discuss, as well as suggest a possible relation, between the findings of those two questions. In reviewing the material (consisting of five semi-structured interviews with students and teachers, and of a selection of policy documents central to the education), I argue the existence of a sort of project within the education, which presents critical thinking as a higher value. At the same time, I argue that the concept is not defined or concretized. This project, however, as I suggest while drawing upon Foucault?s ideas of discourse and government, involves a rather high degree of control.

Abstract:The aim of this study is to critically analyse the discourse of linkworkers, a integration project in a ?multicultural? school in Malmö. In the project, four persons with different ethnic / cultural background where employed to work as a link between the school and the parents, and between the Swedish culture and the children's and the parent's ?original? culture. My material consists of evaluations of the project and interviews with school staff.

Sweden  has  been  characterized  as  one  of  the world?s most  secular  countries, even though  it is  becoming  increasingly more multicultural.  This,  combined  with  the fact that pupils do  not  feel  they  have  enough  time  in  school  for  Religious  Education and that the requirements are increasing made me interested in how they talk about religion in upper secondary school. The aim of this study is to see if there are any differences between how pupils in vocational programs and academic programs are talking about religion and Religious Education. The main questions that were raised revolved around 1)  how  pupils  talk  about  what  religion  is,  2)  how  they  talk  about  religion  in  the Swedish  society  and  3) how  they  talk  about  Religious  Education  in  upper  secondary school. The questions were also about what similarities and differences I could find in the way they talked about these subjects.

The aim of this paper is to analyse how the term attractiveness is interpreted in Swedish contemporary urban planning. The focus is to analyse how the term is discursively constructed and by this highlight the conceptions that exist around what makes a city attractive. We want to emphasize the importance of a deeper understanding of how attractiveness is used in urban planning and how the term is a part of the development of our cities. Given the use of attractiveness as a part of visionary goals for Malmö´s and other Swedish cities future development, our intention, therefore, is to enhance the understanding of what the use of attractiveness means in respect of the creation and construction of power relations in time and place. The framework of our analysis is based on the discourse theory approach and used as a way of understanding how urban ideals is discursively constructed.

In this thesis I based on Fowler?s method of syntax analysis construct a flow scheme which I then use to make a syntax analysis of former State Secretary Lars Danielsson?s statements, in his autobiography, regarding his responsibility in the Swedish government?s management of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster. The focus of the flow scheme is how grammatical constructions can be used in the interest of rhetoric?s to on the syntax (non-explicit) level of the text indicate and place responsibility with or outside of involved individuals. The main conclusion of the syntax analysis performed is that Danielsson in his autobiography in fact does not use very many of the constructions described in the flow scheme, whereby it can be concluded that the syntax analysis in this case wasn?t so ?revealing?.

This paper intends to examine how two newspapers, one local and one national newspaper, reported the gang-related homicides in Malmo in 2011, and compares these two news reports to see if there are any similarities and differences. Another aspect of this study is to elucidate how these two newspapers constitute Malmo as a city. Fairclough?s critical discourse analysis is applied in this study, where I analyze the two newspapers? news coverage based on their content. The content is analyzed by studying the text?s vocabulary, grammar, cohesion, structure, transitivity and modality. One similarity is the use of objective modalities, where both newspapers have a tendency to make interpretations and speculations as fact.

Media has the power to influences society. Some call them the third power of a state. Through amongst others, the agenda setting theory and the framing theory, this report seeks to understand how media describes the swine influenza and how it uses its power to influence people to vaccinate. As this report will show, there is no doubt that media has had an impact on the Swedish population of which 60 per cent followed through with the vaccination. Media used an information discourse and attempted to present its articles in an impartial manner and used governmental authorities and experts to support its arguments.

This essay contains a comparative analysis of Erik Olin Wrights Marxist class analysis and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negris post-Marxist class analysis as presented in their books ?Empire? and ?Multitude: War and democracy in the age of Empire?. I discuss the shift in analytical focus from state level to global level that Hardt and Negri's analysis represent and the ensuing relevance of this for contemporary class analysis. The essay also address the challenge and implications posed to class analysis by the ever increasing economic globalization, from a material production to an ever growing immaterial service economy and the decrease in state power in controlling capital and labor movement. I propose that analytical understanding of class conflict help us to a better understanding of the mechanisms and dynamics that generate social and economical inequalities and that an updated Marxist class analysis still have much to contribute to our understanding to how these issues not only shape our society but also our capacity to counteract them..

This essay set out to propose a problematic interpretation of the socio-cultural perspective on learning. Its purpose is to show how the socio-cultural perspective on learning defines the concept of knowledge in an incomplete way. The aim becomes then that of giving a more comprehensive description of this concept, and, to this end, to construct a new, broader pedagogic discourse. The investigation starts with a deconstructive analysis of Roger Säljö?s socio-cultural text in order to point out the incompleteness of the concept of knowledge.

Our purpose has been to review and analyse the representation of rape, as well as discussions concerning rehabilitation, present in texts targeted at professionals and/or female victims of rape. We wish to investigate whether female victims of rape themselves are given the opportunity of individual positioning with regard to the crimes they have been exposed to. We consider it to be of relevance that female victims of rape themselves are given the opportunity to act, react and feel individually in the context in which they find themselves, without judgement or certain expectations on how to act being dealt to them from their surroundings. Our research questions have been as follows; what views of the phenomenon that is rape are presented in the texts? Do the texts apply any specific theoretical analysis aimed at the possible explanations of the phenomenon that is rape? In what ways do the texts present the significance of rape for the female rape victim? How are the victims feelings of disgrace, guilt and disgust with regard to rape explained, are these reactions linked to the understanding of female sexuality? How are methods of the rehabilitation of female rape victims presented in the texts? Do the texts render possible any other/varying subject positions as a female rape victim? To answer these research questions we have applied a critical discourse analysis on our selection of texts and thereafter made a connection to relevant theory.

The Barbie doll is an icon filled with meanings; this thesis discusses the Barbie doll and herfeministic potentials and subject positions using a discourse analysis. The thesis analyzeswhat sort of femininity Barbie portraits in magazines, web series and films about her.Theories being used originate mainly from gender and queer studies, where the focus is on theperformative constructions of gender and femininity. Since the material mostly consists ofmoving images some influence is taken from feminist film theorists and semiotic theory,which focuses on signs and their meaning. The thesis centres around the questions: how isBarbie?s femininity challenged, strengthened and constructed in different types of mediaabout her produced by Mattel? And is there any feminist potential in Barbie?s subjectpositions in these media forms?.

Denna studie syftar till att studera hur genuspedagogik framställs i den svenska dags- och kvällspressen under åren 2012-2013.  Jag har använt mig av kvalitativ textanalytisk metod och har utifrån en diskursanalytisk ansats analyserat tio artiklar som på olika sätt förhåller sig till genuspedagogik i förskolan. Artiklarna är publicerade av de fyra upplagemässigt största dags-och kväll tidningarna i Sverige dvs. Aftonbladet, Expressen, Svenska Dagbladet och Dagens Nyheter. I resultatet framträder två distinkta diskurser om genuspedagogik i förskolorna: I artiklarna skrivs det om genuspedagogik som att pedagogiken ?går emot? biologi/natur men även att genuspedagogiken är en demokratisk rättighet. De hinder som lyfts fram om genuspedagogik är att pedagogiken är en könsneutralisering av barnet, att genuspedagogiken endast är uppbyggd av en ?ideologi? och att det är ett experimenterande med barnet i förskolan som vissa genuspedagoger ägnar sig åt.

Social sustainability is often regarded as a solution to social problems in general. In this study, on the contrary, social sustainability is conceived as a socially constructed concept and the result of a certain way of looking at the world, the human being and the ideal society. The study centers around Kinda municipality in the southern region of Östergötland and a few of its elder inhabitants. What meaning and substance social sustainability is contained with as well as the effects that are produced by these conceptualizations is explored and analyzed. Also, the study examines the encounter between political policy?s and judgments on the one hand and the experiences and preferences held by the municipality?s elder inhabitants on the other..

In the autumn of 2012 the fictional character ?Lilla Hjärtat? created by the Swedish authorand illustrator Stina Wirsén, became a much-discussed topic in Swedish media. Thisfollowing the premiere of the children?s film ?Liten Skär och alla små brokiga?.Stina Wirsén is an established and well-acclaimed name in children?s literature. ?LillaHjärtat?, a jet-black doll, had become one of many popular characters in her books.