In this thesis the construction of identity within the EU is discussed. A thesis problem in three dimensions is used to explain the purpose of the construction, its realization and the consequences of such identity. These aspects show the complexity of the problems related to identity construction on a structural level.By using a post-modern and a social constructivist theoretical approach identity is presented as socially constructed by Discourse. The theory of Discourse makes it possible to analyze the development of an identity forming Discourse within the EU and its status today.With an approach inspired by critical theory, we use Discourse analysis as a methodological tool to illustrate the ideas that govern Discourse, and in what way it is related to the social reality.The analysis states that the purpose of identity constructing is the striving for legitimacy. Without identification, the legitimacy is threatened.

The environmental situation is becoming increasingly critical. The energy sector and other industries have a big impact on our climate and the public is raising their voice for companies to admit their responsibility towards the environment and society. Companies engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and happily disclose their responsible performance in annual reports. But what messages are they conveying in their CSR-reporting, and what attitudes towards CSR can be found underneath the explicit content? The aim of this study is to discover which Discourses exist in CSR-reports from Swedish energy companies, and how these Discourses operate.

This study puts emphasis on an international Discourse describing how cities frequently compete against each other, and also describing factors that cities should enhance to make themselves more competitive. The Discourse in this study has therefore been used to seek understanding how three different municipalities Borlänge, Karlstad and Malmö strive for growth by applying central factors from the Discourse on the municipalities strategic documents. What the study shows is that the central factors from the Discourse strongly imprints the strategic documents, but the presence of the factors varies between the municipalities and also to what meaning that lies behind the strategic goals..

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the Swedish municipal welfare system, in their capacity as Discourse makers, construct Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in the relationships of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people. A Discourse analysis of their official plans of action regarding IPV and the information directed towards their citizens through their webpages showed that the Discourse surrounding IPV revealed a gender dichotomy, where the victim was mainly constructed as being female and the perpetrator as male. As a consequence of this, gay and bisexual men were rendered invisible from the Discourse surrounding victims of IPV, although they could be included in the construction of perpetrators of it. Lesbian and bisexual women were often included in the understanding of victims of IPV, but in the Discourse surrounding perpetrators of it they were made invisible. The Discourse about IPV also excluded the experiences and vulnerability of people who identify as being transgendered.

This thesis is a qualitative study of a new law that was applied in December 2010. The law is called Lagen om etableringsinsatser fo?r vissa nyanla?nda invandrare, and is meant to help newly arrived immigrants that come to Sweden to establish themselves in the Swedish society. The aim of the study is to see what Discourses the Swedish government produces as a result of this new law. Interesting for the study is to see what happens in the implementation stage at a local level, in this case in the municipality of O?rnsko?ldsvik.Theoretically and methodologically I emanate from critical Discourse theory and institutional theory.

The purpose of the thesis Masculinities ? Gender and its Impact on the Social conditions of individuals is to perform a critical study of how gendered norms influence the social conditions of individuals. This has been done by a problematization and the attempt to answer the question of how the hegemonical masculinity can be analyzed as a Discourse, and how the structural aspects of this Discourse inflict on the social conditions of masculinities.The question was divided into the analytical themes: the boarders of the Discourse, the institutionalization of the Discourse, the actuation of the Discourse and the agents of the Discourse. The theoretical frame is constituted by the theory of Discourse by Michel Foucault, the theory of the hegemonical masculinity by R.W. Connell and a subversive identity theory by Judith Butler.

There are several typical ideas about the suburb. The suburb is often associated with criminality and other social problems such as segregation. The purpose of this essay is to study the picture of how the suburb is constructed in a media context. The method used to answer the purpose of this study is critical Discourse analysis, based on the thoughts of Norman Fairclough. The central theoretical ideas for this study are representation, stereotypes and racialization.

In Jaunuary 1995 Sweden became part of the European Union. Consequently Sweden agreed upon beeing part of a greater integration project with influences of federalism. However, many argue that the Discourse that has been been dominant in Sweden is the Discourse where we focus on the national state instead of the EU. In my essay I question whether the Discourse about ?nationalstatslogiken? is found in the daily press in Sweden.

This paper focuses on the Swedish migration Discourse and investigates if and to what extent it is dominated by a security perspective. Analysing a number of official texts and documents I want to show how the Discourse describes migrants and what implications this carries with it for the migrants and for the Swedish migration politics. Through Discourse analysis I have analysed whose security that is prioritised, the Swedish or the refugees, who is the refugee and the asylum seeker, and who is the illegal migrant in the Swedish official migration Discourse. As a theoretical frame for the analysis I have used theories on migration and security. These include theories on the securitisation of politics, the globalisation and the creation of political identity from the nation state perspective and theories on the connection between migration and security.My results show that a security Discourse is dominating the Swedish official migration Discourse and is therefore defining our reality and the identities of refugees, asylum seekers and illegal migrants.

The aim of this study was to identify and analyze the dominating Discourse in the preliminary work of the Sex Purchase Act. In order to achieve the aim of this study we selected preliminary work of the Sex Purchase Act that was produced between 1977 and 1999. The selection is based on the fact that prostitution began to be recognized as a social problem and a gender equality issue between men and women in society. The ongoing debate during the chosen years resulted in the Sex Purchase Act, which was passed in 1999. By using Discourse analysis as a methodological and theoretical approach, we have empirically studied and theoretically analyzed the dominating Discourse in the preliminary work of the Sex Purchase Act.

The purpose of this article is to describe the Discourse in which public-private partnership (PPP) resides, within the Swedish parliament, in the field of infrastructure. I have chosen to look at the latest three years deliberation where PPP appears in parliament bills.This case study is based upon Discourse as a qualitative method. Five indicator signs which is history, comparison, geographic location, vision of growth potential and solution controls the context of PPPThe result of the analysis was that a clear Discourse was unravelled. A first rather surprising conclusion shows that it is possible to disconnect the Discourse from PPP. PPP is not important by itself, the result shows that it only play the part of possible solution to the problems related to the Discourse and does not have any value in its own.This result lead the conclusion that PPP is no more than a tool for politicians to get as much out of their infrastructural aims as possible, as rational vote-maximizing actors.

The fact that we apprehend certain phenomena as more convenient than others generate questions about what constitute and decide what we think of as normal and appropriate. The aim of this thesis is to explore the immense conception of power and authority through a narrower approach that focuses on the EU.With this in mind I examine the penetration of the neo-liberal ideology in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe to see if there are any implications for hegemony. This is achieved through a Discourse analysis which is strengthened with empirical cases of EU policies.The result of the Discourse analysis of selected parts of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe reveals that there are in fact tendencies which indicate that our society and reality is dominated by a neo-liberal hegemonic Discourse. Subsequently the contemporary Discourse broadly infiltrates the entire European Union, and therefore also its member states..

The discussion about high culture and popular culture in our society has been going on for decades. In few places is it as loud as within culture journalism and the critics? society, where the question of what is good taste and what is dumb entertainment constantly gets brought to the surface. Film is a particularly vulnerable area, since it is such a universally appealing and rather young medium. In America and England several studies have been performed of the reviewing society and reveiwers? use of high and low art-Discourse in their writing.

AbstraktThe purpose of this study is to examine how Swedish politicians and textbooks in social science choose to describe communism, this in order to see if there is a main Discourse that controls what communism is associated with. The study is structured by the following question: How does Swedish politicians and textbooks choose to describe communism, is there a main Discourse that controls how language is used? The method chosen for the analysis is Discourse analysis. Chain analogy is used to structure the studied texts discursive content. Four textbooks in social science are analyzed and a number of public government documents that contains discussions about communism and the agency Forum för levande historia.The analysis shows that there is a clear Discourse among leading politicians that dictates that communism is to be associated with a spectrum of negative words and concepts, but when it comes to the textbooks there isn?t an equally clear Discourse and the textbooks differ among themselves in general content.

AbstractTITLE Birdflu in the press ? a critical Discourse analysis on the tabloidnewspaper ExpressenAUTHOR Per VågebrantSUPERVISOR Malin SveningssonPURPOSE The purpose of this essay is to find out how the Swedish tabloid newspaper Expressen writes about the birdflu H5N1. To be more precise the purpose is to find out how the Discourse is constructed. The Birdflu or H5N1 witch is its real name is something that could affect us all, yet very few people know a lot about it. To achieve this purpose I constructed one primary research question:o How has Expressen, in the public media Discourse, treated the phenomena we know as the birdflu?This primary research question holds three more specified research questions:o What does Expressens Discourse about the birdflu look like?o What actors are participating in the articles?o Why does the Discourse look like this?THEORY The theory chapter of the essay contains four different parts.