AbstractSweden is a country with good reputation when it comes to questions aboutequality. The definition of equality is not always explicit though. The aim of thisthesis is to examine what Swedish equality is and what it should be. By studyingdescriptions of equality and discrimination in the political programs of the partiesof the Swedish parliament from the sixties until today, I examine which groupsare included and excluded from the concept of equality. The analyse shows thatthe concept initially was only referring to class matters.

Youth unemployement in Sweden is at an all-time high, a fifth of all university and college students live in poverty and the number of young on welfare is increasing. This study attempts to answer the question of how youth deprivation has been made possible as a consequence of political action, focusing on youth unemployment.I critically examine the role of the Swedish government, the Swedish Labour Organisation (LO), and the various government departments through text analysis, in order to answer the question of how the current Discourse on youth position in the labor market. Because youth unemployment is not an isolated phenomena the analysis covers several policy areas, such as education policy, labor market regulation and housing policy. I use Discourse theories drawn from Laclau and Mouffe to expose how language is used as an instrument of political power.I conclude that the current situation is a result of policy choices where the young have fallen behind due to lack of political organization. Their situation is not problematized to the required degree and is often explained on an individual level rather than on a structural level..

The way society categorize different people into groups is problematic in the sense that the categorization can seem stigmatizing and have social consequences for those being categorized. Immigrants are one of those problematic categories.The following essay studies this categorization of ?immigrants? based on a governmental investigation of structural discrimination that took place in 2002-2008. The aim is to study the use of the category ?immigrant? and the consequences that follows such a categorization.

This study focuses on single peoples construction of their lifes in relation to normative heterosexual coupledom. It is based on five interviews made with single women and men at the age of 24 to 51 who live by themselves. The queer theory which puts the heteronormativity in question is used as a theoretical framework. Discourse psychology functions as an analytic approach. It focuses on the use of language in the construction of reality in a world of determinant Discourses.

My own experiences as an upper secondary school teacher and the increase in research on masculinity in educational settings that occurred during the late 1990 emphasizing on the gender gap in achievement and grades is the point of departure for this thesis. The aim is to investigate how boys in upper secondary school are constituted and constitute themselves as motivated and achieving learning subjects. Another aim is to see what possibilities there are to form different teaching practices to create other possible positions for me and the pupils. The research questions are 1) How does boys´ construction of masculinity constitute how they see their own ability to be motivated and achieve in school 2) What significance do my shifting approaches and expectations on the pupils as well as teaching have on the boys constitution as learning subjects? To answer these questions I use a theoretical framework of feminist poststructuralist.

The aim of this study is to examine the existence of norms in three Spanish textbooks intended for upper secondary school in Sweden. One category of norms, gender norms, is selected for analysis. The focus of the analysis is on how gender norms are represented in the textbooks. The concept of gender also includes - in addition to the relation between man och woman - ethnicity, sexuality and disability. The three analysed textbooks are Caminando 3, Vistas 3 and El Sur paso 3.

This study aims to delineate the Discourse of the canonical issue of the defectus natalium, the defect of birth, ascribed to medieval Catholic clergy of illegitimate birth, which prevented ordination to the Holy Orders or advancement to higher monastic offices. Using papal dispensations directed to Swedish clerics, monks and nuns during the period 1255-1372, the essay attempts to outline the official attitude of the papal authority towards illegitimate birth among its servants and how such a defect could be compensated by the individual. The study argues that various circumstances and personal qualities could be addressed to support the case of the supplicant. The main themes include an observance of clerical celibacy, scholarly learning, pilgrimage permeated by hardship, intervention of a third party, loyalty to the Church and overall practical circumstances that demanded a dispensation for the benefit of the ecclesiastical institutions. Drawing some inspiration from Michel Foucault?s conception of Discourse, the essay argues that a polarizing Discourse had by the 13th century been formed within the Catholic Church, which focused on a dichotomy of the legitimate and illegitimate cleric.

Based upon theories founded on social constructionism, and criticism raised against these theories, this study aims to present a more complex perspective on non-heterosexuality from what has earlier been presented in Swedish lesbian, gay, bisexuality and transsexuality research. Fourteen semi-structured interviews with non-heterosexual women were analyzed using a Discourse analytic approach. Four Discourses about sexuality were described: "definition, preferably as either-or (heterosexual or homo-sexual)", "normality", "sexuality as constant and unchangeable", "sexuality as homogenous". Different ways of relating to and challenging the positions offered through these Discourses were discussed. In conclusion, the study discussed which implications these findings have for psychologists working with non-heterosexual women, and how discursive positioning can be understood from within a psychological framework..

In Sweden prostitution is by many considered to be a social problem that primarily affects women. To counteract prostitution is a political priority and as a result the purchase of sexual services is prohibited by law. Since the law that prohibits the purchase of sexual services entered into force it has been continuously debated and widely disputed. The aim of this thesis is to compare the image of prostitution found in the travaux préparatoires of the law with four sex workers? view of the phenomenon.

Social control in different forms has existed in all known societies. This control has taken different shapes and expressions. In older smaller communities there was a collective control among the citizens. In modern societies the state is trying to control the lives of the citizens. These control mechanisms can be seen as both freedom-reducing and freedom inducing depending on which concept of freedom one upholds.

The aim of this study was to shed light on how journalists describe the child?s world and what gender labels are used in their descriptions. We wanted to get a better understanding of what happens when gender is constructed.In order to study how gender is constructed, we chose to examine how the children?s magazine Kamratposten describes children?s spare time. We chose Kamratposten because it turns to both girls and boys.

The purpose of this study is to examine discussions on the Swedish internet forum ?Flashback? regarding female body hair and the cultural norms that surround it. The discussion is centered around a broadcasted event in which a woman?s hairy armpit was incidentally shown, with a lot of viral hate as a result. Our purpose with this study is to get a deeper insight into viral hate towards women who challenge gender norms.

This study explores the notion of class and social inequality as expressed in the Swedish election campaign of 2006 and in the reception of the Swedish conservative party as a "worker's party". Inspired by Fairclough's critical Discourse analysis I have carried through an investigation of the debate. My sources consists in a collection of articles, mainly leader columns and contributions to the debate, from a selected number of Swedish newspapers.I found that an explicit discussion about class, or use of the concept as such, was largely absent. In cases where the concept occurred it was often used in a purely descriptive sense or dismissed as outdated. Furthermore, I have drawn the conclusion that the traditional understanding of class is being challenged by a Discourse which aims at establishing a new understanding of social inequality as lack of paid work.I take my point of departure in the belief that class continues to be one of the most important bases of social inequality.

The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which the Swedish lifestyle magazine VeckoRevyn construct the sex and love relations of bi- and homosexuals. We analyzed 22 unique texts in magazines, from 2009 to 2014, in order to get a result as current as possible.To represent the magazine overall we have selected texts from various parts of the magazine. With a critical Discourse analysis and through relevant and significant theories and perspectives such as social constructionism and heteronormativity, we found that VeckoRevyn represent sex and love relations of bi- and homosexuals through four Discourses.The outcome of our study shows that VeckoRevyn only represent a limited part of bi- and homosexuals sex and love relations. In the analysed texts bi- and homosexuals are forced to ?come out of the closet? repeatedly and their sexual relations are rarely represented.

In this essay my aim is to examine how the term utanförskap is constructed and defined as a social problem in the public arena of the Swedish Parliament. The term utanförskap was widely used in the election-campaign prior to the Swedish Parliament election in the year 2006. The term, mainly articulated by the Right-wing Alliance, was used to describe indi-viduals and groups that were depicted as being outside the Swedish society. In the political debate, work and benefit dependency were constructed as binary opposites, with the latter describing the individuals in utanförskap. Translated to English the term utanförskap would be something like ?the state of being outside? or ?outsidership?.