The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the user service discourses in the field of public libraries that can be identified in four Swedish library journals. Also which underlying causes that control the discourses and the consequences of them are examined. Questions in this study are: which discourses can be found, what characterises them, what kind of different discourses concerning technology in society control the user service discourses and what are the consequences of them. The theoretical starting-point is Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes discourse theory. The method is text analytic.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the adult world is produced in the books of Martin Widmark about LasseMajas detektivbyrå from a gender perspective.I wanted to answer questions concerning the appearance, personal characteristics, occupations and activities, and the relationship between children and adults to do my analysis.I decided to make a qualitative content analysis to answer my questions.I used the gender theories that describe how stereotypes excel. I related these gender theories to the books that I have studied.I also used previous research on gender roles in other children's books to compare their results with mine.After reading, analyzing and comparing the books I have come to the conclusion that gender roles in books about LasseMajas detektivbyrå is very gender stereotyped..

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the librarian discourses that can be identified in the job advertisements of today, to examine how the discourses differ and also how these discourses might influence the librarian profession and its status. The method of investigation is a qualitative analysis of printed sources, using Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes discourse theory as well as the theory of professions as a theoretical base. The thesis shows that two discourses can be identified in job advertisements for 2004, one public librarian discourse and one scientific librarian discourse. The major difference between the two discourses are work tasks where the public librarian discourse very often contains areas of responsibility and development work, whereas the scientific librarian discourse often contains administrative work tasks. Other differences include a great demand for driving licences and an interest in children and youth in the public librarian discourse, something which is not asked for at all in the scientific librarian discourse where there is a great demand for knowledge of languages instead.

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 aim of this Masters thesis is to identify discourses within the school library field and to analyse which professional identities the discourses result in for school librarians. The empirical data consist of 71 articles from Swedish journals concerning school libraries and school librarians, between the years 2000-2003. The theory and method used is a discourse analysis which is inspired by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. This form of discourse analysis was chosen since it was useful when identity was the focus of study. The analysis is accomplished in three steps.

The concept of domestic violence pertains to different definitions of violence, one of which is the concept of honour related violence and oppression. This paper looks at honour related violence and oppression, as defined in policy documents at a central political level, and how various discourses stand in relation to social categories and power relations. Consequently, the theoretical and methodological premise of the paper has been based on discourse analysis and an intersectional perspective has been applied to gain further depth and breadth in the analysis of the material. The intersectional perspective houses various approaches to the understanding of specific phenomena based on factors of gender, ethnicity, sexuality and class. The analysis concludes that the concept of honour related violence and oppression is a concept without a single scientific definition. There is, however, a general consensus in the political context that honour related violence and oppression is a collective force that can be directed at both sexes.

The aim of this essay is to analyze the discursive production of Food, within the Slow food movement, by its members. Through a discourse analysis inspired, theoretically and methodically, by Michel Foucault, this essay examines how the idea of food ? that is ?what should be eaten? ? in opposite to what can be eaten, is constructed within by Slow Food members in the Gothenburg area. The essay analysis how Slow Food?s food discourse is structured and what results this formation has on food within this discourse.

This study is about gender in classroom situations. The purpose is to examine if gender still exist although the government has educated gender teachers. I have been observing students during lessons and taken notes on teacher´s comments, which analysed. I have come to the conclusion that the students are awase of the power roles conserning gender and gender. In this classroom the heteronormativity still is a common phenomenon.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to study opinions about the Swedish hospital libraries and their activities for the patients, in a selection of Swedish library journal articles. The theoretical starting point is grounded in Laclau and Mouffes discourse theory. The empirical material consists of 43 articles from three library journals; Biblioteksbladet, Blänkaren and DIK-forum, published between 1990 and 2004. These are analysed through a reading scheme in four levels. In the empirical material two themes appear; the culture theme and the patient information theme.

This study aims at using discourse analysis to analyze SFI students attitudes to religion and religiosity in an SFI-context. The questions are: How is the discourse constructed and maintained by religion and religiosity of SFI students in an SFI context? How do SFI participants experience that their religion has affected their time at SFI?Using a case study approach, interviews were conducted with a group of SFI students. The results show that the religious discourse in SFI is influenced by the SFI-context and affected based on the current education discourse that exists there. Furthermore, the discourse is designed and maintained by the participants private religious beliefs and the religion of the majority of the group, One canhere speak of a strong social unit forming a plausibility structure The power structure that emerges is that the majority has the power to define the significance of religion and place within the SFI context. In the SFI-context the participants view is that religion is something private that should not be expressed in the school environment.

This Masters thesis concerns difficulties experienced by Gender Studies researchers in an information seeking context. The aim is to identify, and study the cause of, these potential difficulties by asking the following questions: How do researchers in Gender Studies seek information? What difficulties may arise when information seeking is carried out in Gender Studies? What may be the cause of these difficulties? What does Gender Studies consist of? In order to find feasible answers to these questions, particular attention is paid to the context in which the researchers exist and work. The database KVINNSAM serves as an example of how libraries have tried to overcome barriers in information seeking in Gender Studies. The method used is a qualitative one based on interviews and literature studies.

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.

How do men who define themselves as feminists create and maintain an identity as men? In this qualitative study four men involved in feminist organizations were interviewed about their views on women, men, sex and feminism. Theories of language, psychoanalysis and ethics were utilized to further our understanding of the material these men produce in their effort to define themselves. Our object of study is the text, which we believe holds the key to understanding how an individual shapes his world and himself. The result is our interpretation of the text and its underlying mechanics.

This Mag. thesis discusses how a gender perspective could be implemented in themanagement of cultural heritage focusing on the built environments in Sweden.The thesis further argues for the need of a gender perspective on the conservationof cultural heritage.The two main approaches, additive through the perspective of the women?s part inhistory and integrated gender perspective, are thoroughly presented in the thesis.In the additive gender approach built objects that represent women?s experiencesand lives are added to a history that traditionally represents men and theirexperiences. The integrated gender perspective includes a gender in all activitiesas an instrument in a historic analysis. The gender perspective illustrates therelation between the sexes.

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.