Through discourse analysis of twelve Library and Information Science theses, covering the period between 1975 and 2007, this thesis examines representations of homosexuality and homosexual identities. By using queer theory as a point of reference aspects such as essence/construct, equality/difference, notions of gender and views on the historical and contemporary situation of homosexuals are brought to the fore in the analysis. It is shown how the material unequivocally posits the contemporary situation of homosexuals favourably in comparison to a past signified by prejudices and oppression. This can be seen as an implicit essentialism in the texts, though ambivalences open up the possibility that it in some cases may be only strategically used while explicitly adhering to constructionist views. In linking concepts of a homosexual difference to prejudices, frequently involving notions of inverted gender performances or sexual ?extremes?, the discourse of progression posits normalcy and assimilation as positive values.

This thesis examines conceptions of gender revealed by people when assessing texts. The research questions are: What associations can be discerned between gender conceptions and ideas about the quality of texts? What features of content and style are perceived as female or male? The study seeks to develop a method for comparing different people?s assessments of the same text. The material was collected by means of questionnaires in which 114 informants were asked to assess three anonymous student texts and then guess the sex of the writer. The material has been analysed quantitatively by correlating the assessments of the texts with the guesses about the sex of the author, and qualitatively, as the informants? freely worded assessments of the texts were analysed for content and form with the support of assumptions about how assessments are expressed in text.

The aim of this two years master?s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum Studies is to analyse how Swedish cultural history museums work to include LGBTQ-heritage (LGBT is the acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) in their collections. This work is articulated around three research questions. These interrogate museum practice about collecting and collection management, what it looks like in the already gathered collections as well as the implications such work implies on a broader level. The theoretical framework throughout the paper is gender and LGBT studies as well as queer theory.

This essay is a discourse and a feminist theoretical analysis that focuses on the alternative discourse that we consider Feminist Initiative to be constitutive of. Our theoretical stance, with base in Laclau and Mouffes discourse theory, builds on the notion that reality is characterised by conflicts between different competing discursive formations and that the social is an endless struggle over the preferential right of interpretation of meaning. More specifically, the essay focuses on the discursive struggle over the meaning of the term politics. It is our understanding that the dominant perception of politics necessarily excludes other understandings, which can according to Eduards, be explained as a consequence of a patriarchal distribution of power that renders the subordination of certain understandings of politics accordingly. Feminist Initiative, as an alternative discourse, can therefore be perceived as a threat to the dominating discourse of politics, which in order to maintain its preferential right of interpretation seek to illegitimatise and depoliticise the politics that the alternative discourse represents.

Introduction: Although life expectancy had increased in Sweden for many decades and several health problems had diminished over time, there was no change in men's risk behaviour regarding for instance high alcohol and tobacco consumption. Many of the gender differences in health that existed in society explained were due to power structures and beliefs about behaviour based on gender; a social construction that resulted in the relatively high valuation of men with a more masculine behaviour. Aim: This literature review aimed to study and identify the scientific knowledge regarding paternity leave and its impact on men's health. Method: A literature- based study design was used and the material consisted of peer-reviewed articles from which six themes were identified: alcohol, tobacco, stress, isolation, social support and mortality risk. Results: Divided into three parts, the results described the socioeconomic background of the men who took paternity leave, as well as the impact of paternity leave and masculinity as an impact on men's health.

In this study I have explored five parents reasoning about toys, from a gender perspective. During the interviews, we have reasoned about toys that are made for girls and for boys, what the differences are, and what advantages and disadvantages there might be for children to play with a variation of toys, made for both genders. The results of the study show that most of the participants are more accepting for girls playing with toys made for boys than the other way around, which indicates that boys? experience of the world might be somewhat limited, while girls have easier access to toys made for both genders..

This study aims to examine how social workers, in the Swedish social services, perceive and interpret LVU § 3 from a gender perspective. In total eight social workers participated in the study, attending interviews based on a vignette. From a gender perspective we wanted to found out how the social workers define "other socially destructive behaviour" and understand their thoughts about this subject. Moreover, we aimed to see if social workers perceive any differences between boys and girls behaviour. Based on several theories, two gender theories and concepts we have analysed our result from the interviews.

The aim of the study was to explore the psychological well-being of a group of adolescents in relation to how they regarded achieving in school, in a gender perspective. Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with students aged 17-19 at a high-achieving school in a big city in Sweden. The interviews were analyzed thematically and the results showed that the adolescents acted differently as well as regarded achieving in school differently depending on gender. The young women were driven by ambition, they were high-achieving and planning for the future. The young men cared less about achieving and thought more about the present.

The aim of this thesis is to study a job-searching process and elements that affects it. The elements I have focused on are gender, class and social network. The study is based on interviews and a survey study with students from the educational program of Social work (Socialomsorgsutbildningen), that graduated 3 years ago. Through the survey I have examined their social-background and their job-searching process. The interviews are the main focus in the study.

The aim of this study is to analyze Hinduism in upper secondary school textbooks using a gender-based perspective. The specific material used consists of four textbooks, whereof two are published prior to the curriculum Lgy 11 and two are published after Lgy 11. In order to analyze the textbooks the following methods are used: content analysis, picture analysis and comparative analysis. First, the contents and pictures of the textbooks are analyzed using theories on gender. After this analysis the results are compared to the relevant curriculum and its guidelines for the analyzed subject.

In this thesis swedish students? worldsviews, in relation to the theory of evolution, were studied. Thirty students from two different schools and cities took part in the survey and four students were later chosen for interviews. The results showed that there are many different types of students and categories in this matter. The study also showed that for some religious students, accepting the theory of evolution was not difficult thus showing that religious students can both believe in God and in the theory of evolution..

This paper deals with the question of neolithisation of Southern Scandinavia. The main goal is to give an overview of three theories regarding how agriculture and livestock breeding was introduced to the Southern Scandinavia. These are as follows: the immigration theory, the socio-economic theory and the historical explanation theory. Furthermore it is investigated which theory has the most probably support in material culture. There are obvious difficulties in interpreting the archaeological material.

During the last decade executive coaching has become an increasingly popular method of management development. Few studies have been conducted within this area, especially in Sweden, and little has been said about the construction of management in executive coaching. The purpose of this master?s thesis is to study executive coaching from a social constructionist perspective, focusing on the construction of management. The two research questions are: How is management constructed in executive coaching? How can we understand the construction of management in executive coaching? Additionally, we identify gender as a social construction of importance and thus include a gender perspective in our analysis.

The current paper compares the relations between different measures of activity and some common neuropsychological tests. One-hundred and fifty five healthy elderly, aged 55 - 85, living in Sweden were included. Gender-specific patterns were found for both activities and correlations between activities and cognitive measures. The main findings suggest that activities are associated with cognitive speed in men, whereas, for women, active and passive activities correlate, positively and negatively accordingly, with education. In comparison, complex models of activity outperform simpler ones and theory-driven measures just barely outperform intuitive models..

This essay has it purpose to view the assessment and grading in physical education in the Swedish school. Recently published reports from skolverket prove that boys have higher grades in the physical education than girls. Some mean that the reason of this is that the teachers don´t follow the curriculum. The problems we chose to examine are how much do teachers know how to use and connect the curriculum to their teaching? How much of the information and criterion in the curriculum do the teachers use to grade their pupils? And most importantly we wanted to examine why boys gets higher grades then girls, when the curriculum doesn?t seem to suit boys any better than girls.We have interviewed teachers in a certain district and our study shows that the teachers have good knowledge about the curriculum.