This paper is a critique of the hegemonic democracy ideal in France today, the myth of the Republic. Based on critical theory, the paper also contains a normative attempt giving the chance to subaltern groups to tell their, less often heard, version of the "truth".The theoretical foundation is the ontological narrative perspective, where identities and actions are understood as being constructed by the telling of stories. The interdependent relations of different narrative dimensions are analyzed. The power over who gets to tell the story of the "truth" is understood as decided in the interaction by dimensions of metanarrativity, public narratives, ontological narratives and conceptual narrativity. The author argues, inspired by Chantal Mouffe, that consensus is an illusion based on exclusion of those that differ.

This is a study of the way power relationships change when women start to play candombe in Montevideo, Uruguay. Candombe is a type of music, which is traditionally played by men within the black minority in the country. This study has been done with an intersectional point of view, taking the social categories gender, class and ethnicity in account. The method used was participatory observation in a field study made in Montevideo between November 2008 and February 2009.This study?s main conclusions are that the power relationships change with the participation of women in candombe in several important ways: The women legitimize an alternative way to be a woman when they take the men?s role as a drum player.

In the following essay I have read the drama Natten är dagens mor (The Night is the Day's Mother) by Lars Norén. My main focus has been on the older brother Georg. By using post structuralist gender theories I have sought answers to the following two questions: How is Georg's masculinity constructed and maintained, when seen from a gender perspective? What power structures arise between Georg's and the other men's masculinities? In my analysis I have approached Georg via three perspectives. First, I have by the help of Judith Butler's theory concerning gender performative actions tried to define the men's gender codes.

Abstract:Title: ?Solo has got a little sister! ? A study how the form and content differ between the magazines Solo and Solo G(Solo har fått en lillasyster! ? En studie om hur formen och innehållet skiljer sig emellan tidningarna Solo och Solo G)Number of pages: 37 pagesAuthor: Johanna LaurellTutor: Göran SvenssonCourse: Media and communication studies CPeriod: Autumn term 2005University: Division of Media and Communication, Departement of Information Science, Uppsala University.Pupose/Aim: This essay aims to investigate how the form and content in the magazine Solo G, which direct to a younger target group, differ from the magazine Solo which directs to an older target group. In this analyse of form and content have I also chose to study how the magazine present femininity and how this affect the female identity.Material/Method: The material consists of 4 magazines from Solo and Solo G during 2005. A qualitative text analysis has then been used as a method of analysing the material.Main results: Solo G focuses a lot more on celebrities than Solo. Solo G uses the celebrities as role models to the youth to look up to.

This study indicates that research about men and masculinity does not appear to have advanced as far as research about women and femininity. Similarly to attitudes concerning women and femininity, clear norms and attitudes regarding men and masculinity pervade society. Hence, there is a clear need for further research within this field to be carried out. This study, with the support of previous research, looks at gender norms which exist in educational material and the impact it might have on students. Against this backdrop, the author has focused the analysis on one textbook as educational material at upper secondary level with particular emphasis on masculinity and its associated norms.

ABSTRACTTitle: Cultural dimensions? and their relevance in the interpretation of TV commercialsThe purpose of this study has been to explain the cultural dimensions masculinity versus femininityand individualism versus collectivism and see what their impacts on interpreting commercials are.We also wanted to see if there are any other important aspects to consider when looking at theinterpretation of TV-commercials. To fulfill this purpose we also used this research question:?How are the cultural dimensions relevant when it comes to interpreting TV-commercials?We used a qualitative approach when conducting this study. We found that the dimensionindividualism versus collectivism seemed the most applicable, while the respondents? answers fittedthe best to the highlighted theories.

Title: Women's best beautiful will never be good enough: a rethoric and semiotic analysis of four advertisements for beauty products.Because of the medias central role in peoples lives in the modern society we today live in, they have become a reference in peoples processes of making sence of their subsistences and environments. Commercial companies also want to present an as good image as possible of them towards the recipients through their marketing. Both parts can lead to a distorted picture of the real och everyday and norms and ideals easily form, for example about the correct way a woman should act and be, as the media affect which references should be made available for society.The purpose of this thesis is to examine how four advertisements for beauty products produce ideals and norms of beauty as well as construct and reconstruct femininity through the ways women are represented. The study will also contain the question about how rethoric and semiotic tools are used to strengthen the messages and sell the products. The following questions will be answered within this study:How is femininity being represented in the advertisements?How can the advertisements contribute to the creation of ideals and norms of beauty? How do the companies use rethoric and semiotic tools in the four advertisements to sell their products and/or strengthen their brands?The study will be executed with a qualitative rethoric and semiotic analysis and the theories applied to it are Mediatization theory, Envisionment theory as well as a theory about gender and femininity.   The foremost results of this study has been that women are represented as constantly striving towards a better beauty to be able to also feel better about themselves, gain better self-esteem and to have more fulfilled and successful lives.

The purpose of this study is to examine the changes in law and other types of politicialregulation regarding unauthorized absence during the reformation of the Swedish schoolsystem in 2010. How was this ?new? approach on unauthorized absence established; whatmade it possible and which view on ?unauthorized absence? does it implicate? The study hasa discourse analytic approach in which it examines central policy documents regarding thetopic of inquiry. The study has found that the alliance-government?s education policy onunauthorized absence is pervaded by one hegemonic discourse termed the mono-culturaldisciplinary discourse.

During the spring of 2014, I have investigated the visual culture of Lolita as practiced in Sweden and Japan. My focus has been on the performative aspect of Lolita. By looking and participating in this colorful subculture, I have met people who are living the Lolita lifestyle on a daily basis as well as former Lolita practitioners. My main concern has been how does one use Lolita.I?ve tried to investigate if it is possible to look at Lolita as being more than just a clothing style.

The purpose of this study is that through a discourse theoretical perspective, analyze young girls 'statements about living with self-injuring by sexual behavior. The aim is to locate the discourses that surround them, visualize how discursive constructions affect these young girls' identity as victims and/or actors in relation to self-injury, the sexual violence and in meetings with the professionals within the health authorities. In addition discourse theory as an analyze method, the authors also use Nils Christie's (2001) theory of the ideal victim and Ingrid Landers (2003) theoretical perspectives on normative femininity. The authors of the study show a diversity of discourses that surround the young girls. All discourses contain normative actor- and victim?s positions that young girls constantly are obliged to relate to, which partially conflict with social constructions of the idea of victim and femininity.

AbstractTitle: Vecko-Revyn, A study of how a women?s youth-magazine speaks to its readers, the content of the articles and interviews and the papers definition of femininity during the years1984-2004. (Vecko-Revyn En studie av en ungdomstidnings tilltal till läsaren, dess reportage och intervjuer samt definition av kvinnlighet under en period av 20 år.)Number of pages: 63Author: Anna WidénTutor: Göran SvenssonCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: Spring 2006University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/aim: The purpose is to see how the women´s youth-magazine Vecko-Revyn speaks to its readers, what the content of the articles are with a special view at the articles that contains interviews and articles with the theme sex and relationships. The study will also see how the magazine Vecko-Revyn defines femininity and how that difference through the years. The investigation will study those different subjects over a timeperiod of 20 years, 1984 ? 2004.Material/method: The study is done with a combined qualitative and quantitative text analysis using five numbers of the magazine Vecko-Revyn from each of the years 1984, 1994 and 2004.Main results: The magazine Vecko-Revyn has a very open text to it?s readers.

The aim of our study was to examine how homosexual and heterosexual men and women are represented in the Swedish magazine QX, a magazine for gay, bisexual and transgender people. We wanted to find out what kind of roles the persons in QX appears in, and inquire the relationships that exist between them.We analyzed the texts in twelve magazines, from December 2008 to November 2009, in order to get the most current results as possible. We used a discourse analysis, with focus on identities, relationships and the representation of the world. Representations, gender, hegemonic masculinity and stereotypes have been significant theories to analyze our results.The results showed that the successful gay man is the most important person in QX. He is the perfect masculine macho fagot, who is highest in rank.

The purpose of this study is, based on theories of gender and hegemonic masculinity, to studyhow masculinity and femininity is constructed and reproduced in one of the most popularSwedish podcast: Filip & Fredriks podcast. The main theory in this study is that gender issocially created and sustained by humans through language and interaction with others.The study's research questions is: How are gender roles/gender portrayed in Filip & Fredrik'spodcast? What characteristics are attributed to men and women in Filip & Fredrik's podcast?How does Filip & Fredrik's podcast represents conditions and power relations between menand women?Through an linguistic textual analysis, which is an application of discourse analysis, I seek toget beneath the surface meanings of texts and examine more implicit social meanings andideologies regarding gender. It includes an analysis of metaphors, word choices and syntax.The analysis shows underlying values and ideologies that indicates gender structures in abroader societal context. Choice of words and metaphores in Filip & Fredriks's podcastexpresses symbolism where men and male-typical attributes are highly valued, whilst womanand female-typical attributes is being devalued and representative of the opposite.Masculinities and femininities are also constructed and represented in various ways throughsentence constructions that guides the listeners in certain directions.

ABSTRACTTitle: Cultural dimensions? and their relevance in the interpretation of TV commercialsThe purpose of this study has been to explain the cultural dimensions masculinity versus femininityand individualism versus collectivism and see what their impacts on interpreting commercials are.We also wanted to see if there are any other important aspects to consider when looking at theinterpretation of TV-commercials. To fulfill this purpose we also used this research question:?How are the cultural dimensions relevant when it comes to interpreting TV-commercials?We used a qualitative approach when conducting this study. We found that the dimensionindividualism versus collectivism seemed the most applicable, while the respondents? answers fittedthe best to the highlighted theories.

The purpose of this study was to find out whether young women´s conceptions on femininity are based on school culture or other possible factors. The theory chosen for this study is the sociological perspective. A theory where sociologists such as Emile Drukheim, Talcott Parsons and Pierre Bourdieu are all prominent. The discussion links to Habitus and their theories on social, cultural and collective groups. A qualitative method has been used.