Historically the library has owned more than silent, book-filled halls; it has been a center for learning and ideas, a source of both freedom and oppression, in other words, a medium for knowledge, truth, and power. Cultures have been divided into powerful and powerless through access to the library's content; those who have - and those who do not have - access to information determine which voices are heard and which are ignored, thus determining the outcome of the future. This thesis investigates how The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence portrays the relationship between knowledge and power using Michel Foucault's discourse theory. More specifically, how this relationship is manifested through the structures and norms of society, and how the library as a place and institution serves as the means by which this relationship plays out. An established classic like Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is placed as a contrasting reference point to help deepen its thematic message of information control and cencurship. Furthermore, the agency of one of the main characters is also examined in the light of Anthony Giddens' stratification model, as an actor with the potential to move beyond the confines of the power structure. The analysis demonstrate how knowledge, truth, and power remain continuously thematically relevant within literature, and how the reality of our time may be better understood through literary contributions.

In this report female farmers use of technical equipment is investigated. There is little research made on this subject in Sweden, therefore this report can be seen as an explorative study. Research makes it clear that machinery, throughout history and even today, has been seen as a male area. Heavy machines are often associated with the same attributes as masculinity. Force, power, efficiency and control are some examples.

Adoption är ett av många sätt att bilda familj på, dock är det inte så vanligt i vårt samhälle. Då adoption inte är vanligt förekommande finns det inte heller mycket kunskap kring adoptionsprocessen därför har vårt syfte varit att undersöka vilka emotioner som uppkommer i adoptionsprocessen och hur dessa bearbetas både inom individen och i en gemenskap. Vårt syfte var att undersöka hur paren och den enskilda individen hanterar emotionerna som uppkommer i adoptionsprocessen men även hur normerna påverkar synen på adoptivföräldrar. Därefter ville vi även se hur den enskilda individen kunde genomgå denna process och om föräldragruppen hade någon betydelse. För att ta reda på detta utförde vi fyra solidariska intervjuer med fyra olika par som ingick i samma föräldragrupp.

The aim of this study is to examine how the induction period for newly employed upper secondary school teachers is implemented in practice, in relation to the Swedish Education Act and the National Agency for Education?s general guidelines. Although this induction period has been legally mandated since 2010, both previous research and current statistics indicate significant shortcomings or wide variation in its practical execution. The study is based on a qualitative interview study involving 13 school leaders. The interview responses were analyzed using three complementary theoretical frameworks: Lipsky?s theory of street-level bureaucracy, Meyer and Rowan?s concept of decoupling, and Schein?s model of organizational culture.

Fairy tales are commonly considered to be both timeless and classless. Since the 17th century, when most of the tales we have access to today were first collected and published, the idea that fairy tales are part of an oral tradition, and therefore more or less uninfluenced by academic and literary trends, have been dominant amongst researchers, critics and readers. This idea needs to be revaluated. Even if the tales might have their roots in an oral tradition the history of the fairy tale ?is not primarily a history of oral transmission, but rather a history of print?, as Elizabeth Wanning Harries puts it (Wanning Harries, 2001:4).

The purpose of this thesis has been to explore in what ways Franz Kafka?s ?The Metamorphosis? can be read as a story of gender. By bringing together Judith Butler?s theory of materialization and Lennard J. Davis?s crip theory I have spoken of Dismodernity as the domain of abject bodies that have been repudiated by (post)modern societies as untintelligible and dysfunctional.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the ways in which the constructions of heterosexuality and gender in three Disney movies about princesses affect the power relations between men and women in the movies, and how discourses on gender and heterosexuality have changed over time. Research questions were:How do characters in the movies talk about gender and heterosexuality?How does the interplay between gender and heterosexuality affect the power relations between men and women in the movies?What are the likenesses and differences between movies from different time periods?Discourses were mapped out using a model based on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe?s political theories. These discourses were then analyzed with a theoretical framework consisting of Yvonne Hirdman?s concept of gender system and gender contracts, Judith Butler?s view on the heterosexual matrix and an understanding of power relations based on Michel Foucault.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the image of the Titanic disaster in two Swedish newspapers reports of the disaster. By analysing various newspapers reporting of the disaster, we wish to investigate whether there are differences in reporting of gender and class in order to say something about the contemporary outlook and the prevailing social beliefs.The source material that the study is based upon comes from the Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet and their reports from the 15 April to the 30 April 1912 and the reporting from the time of the sea-hearings completion (22 May and 31 July 1912).The study finds that news reporting follows the same standards, however, are different in style of performance because of the newspapers' differing positions.The study finds that a distinction is made between the reporting of men's and women's behaviour. Whether a man followed or violated norms leads him criticized or praised in the newspapers. Women's behaviour is hailed independent if they followed the standard of what was feminine or masculine behaviour in a disaster.The study also finds that a distinction is made between passengers of the various classes in the reporting. The majority of reports concerning individuals in the First Class are in positive terms.

New Age has often been described as a religion pertaining to women and studies has shown that women do indeed constitute the vast majority. A reversal of hierarchy between feminine and masculine attributes and values, common in a modern western society, has also been shown to occur.This study looks at how the feminine is visible in written text and pictures depicting people, more specifically in the periodical magazine Free that has a circulation of circa 25,000. The main bulk of the magazine is advertisements, and one reoccurring part is the article Frimodigt where several of the magazine?s advertisers take part in a short interview. Twelve of these interviews have been analyzed, along with depictions of 518 people from three issues.The theoretical framework that has been applied to the outcome of my analysis has been social constructivism, with particular emphasis on the paper Doing gender by the professors of sociology Candace West and Don Zimmerman.My findings indicate that the feminine, indeed, is thought of as very positive and sometimes contrasted with the masculine.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore whether male kindergarten teachers perceive additional expectations from their surroundings (such as co-workers and parents). Furthermore, we aim to understand and explain how these expectations are related to gender norms and hierarchies in society, that is social constructions concerning what men and women should do and be like. In addition, the thesis aspire to understand and explain how these constructions relate to more specific social constructions about sexual molestations in kindergarten contexts and explore how these discourses influence male kindergarten teachers in their work including which strategies they use in order to cope with them.How do male kindergarten teachers perceive additional expectations from their surroundings?How do male kindergarten teachers perceive the effects and consequences of the social constructions about sexual molestations in kindergarten contexts? Do they use coping strategies in order to attend to the expectations projected on them, and if so, what kind of strategies? The thesis is based on a phenomenological approach and conducted through interviews with six male kindergarten teachers. The interviews were directed with an interview guide in hand while allowing for spontaneous input from the interviewee.

The subject of this study is the ?work strategy? (arbetslinjen); the idea that work and active measures are preferred over cash benefits. The aim of the study is to investigate why the work strategy, which has been almost undisputed for nearly a century, has had widely changing contents over the years, what measures have been taken and which groups have been included. It also attempts to find out whether there is a correlation between unemployment rates, society and the different aspects of the work strategy. The study is conducted as an idea analysis, mainly of dissertations on the work strategy and public inquiries, and covers five time periods from the 1920?s until today.

Föreliggande studie syftar till att undersöka och analysera vilka utbildningsmässiga och organisatoriska förutsättningar som socialarbetarna upplever att det finns för att tillgodose stödbehoven för den som upplevt våld i en HBT-relation. Syftet är vidare att undersöka och analysera socialarbetarnas beskrivningar och föreställningar kring begreppen makt, normer och värderingar kopplat till det praktiska arbetet med våld i HBT-relationer. Studien har en fenomenografisk ansats och bygger på intervjuer med socialarbetare som arbetar med våld i nära relation. Maktperspektiv har använts som teoretisk referensram i studien. Av resultatet framkommer att både de egna och samhällets normer och värderingar har stor påverkan på bemötandet i det praktiska arbetet.

In this report female farmers use of technical equipment is investigated. There is little research made on this subject in Sweden, therefore this report can be seen as an explorative study. Research makes it clear that machinery, throughout history and even today, has been seen as a male area. Heavy machines are often associated with the same attributes as masculinity. Force, power, efficiency and control are some examples.

My main purpose with this paper of John Steinbecks Of mice and men is to both analyze the long-lived structures and the unique individual destinies of the novel. I employ the method of the historical Annales-movement and use three divided levels in my analysis to try to capture these high structures and low moments of humanity in Structure, Konjuncture and the Individuality. The first level, Structure, is used to see how long-lived almost invisible geographic structures set the human act of condition. The second level, Konjuncture, is easier to grasp in understanding of time and embraces for example economic structures as the industrialism. The last level of Individuality is the fastest in time and easiest to understand but in the long run also the least important.

The main focus of this master?s thesis concerns the relation between subject representation, power and gender. Classification systems and subject heading lists are products of their cultural and social context and some subjects and disciplines are given a greater value than others. Our aim in this thesis is twofold; to discuss and critically analyse the prevailing gender norms that are expressed trough classification systems and subject heading lists and to examine how they manage to represent gender studies as a multidisciplinary subject in theory as well as in practice. We are also discussing the particular problems with the representation of multidisciplinary subjects in general.