This essay aims to explore the philosophical meaning of the expression ?present and real? in Clara ? or, On Nature?s Connection to the Spirit World by F. W. J. Schelling.

Lately information- and communication technology (ICT) has been seen as an important tool to vitalize democracy. What kind of democracy it generates is however debateable. The objective with this thesis is therefore to examine what democratic Ideal that dominates the use of ICT in Region Skåne and Västra Götalandsregionen and what kind of citizenship it brings. The two case studies were chosen because the Swedish regional level is facing a reorganization with democratic ambitions which in relation to ICT is fairly unexplored. To fulfil the objective there are two perspectives; e-democracy and e-administration, which are defined and integrated with democratic theory including Premfors´ "Fast, Strong and Thin" democratic Ideals and Marshall´s three citizenship rights.

This essay is about democracy and how a democracy index can be used as a tool to illustratethe gap between reality and Ideal. The purpose of this study can be expressed by two researchquestions: Does the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) democracy index illustrate thedistance between reality and the Ideal of democracy presented by Dahl? and Can the EIU'sdemocracy index be modified by a) internal adjustments and b) using the variables includedin World Economic Forum?s (WEF) equality index?By using a combination of theories (Dahl?s theory of democracy, Rawls theory of justice andchosen theories critical to liberal democracy) as an analytical framework the following twoquestions have been answered:1) Which of the variables included in the EIU's democracy index have the potential to capturethe level of political equality?2) Which of the variables included in the WEF?s equality index have the potential to capturethe degree of political equality?By using a quantitative method the study?s third and last question has been answered:3) How strong is the rank correlation between the EIU?s democracy index and the WEF?sequality index, that is; how strong is the rank correlation coefficient (rho)?The data presented by the WEF?s equality index indicate that women are systematicallydiscriminated against as a group. From a democratic perspective the EIU may need tomeasure inequalities at a group level in order to capture the lack of political equality betweenindividuals. By reformulating some of the EIU?s variables, by revising the EIU?s point systemand by using the variables included in the WEF's equality index to extend EIU?s democracyindex, the chances of capturing the gap between reality and the Ideal of democracy presentedby Dahl would likely increase..

In Italy in 1528 the famous author Baldassare Castiglione published the book Il Cortegiano. In words Castiglione portraits the Ideal courtiers and provides a lot of advice on how to achieve the ultimate courtier manner. For example he introduces and explains the words sprezzatura and grazia. His advice spread from Italy and influenced the courts around Europe. My purpose with this study has been two folded. Firstly, I have analysed Castigliones Il Cortegiano in order to examine his vision of virtues and Ideals.

The aim of this study has been to examine, describe and analyze how masculinities can be represented and understood among boys in a Swedish primary school context. The study was conducted within a school located in a small community on the country side. Through the use of a qualitative research design we interviewed 13 boys from the fifth grade of this school, who all got to express and reason their perspectives of what it meant to them to be a boy in primary school and how that could impact their social life. For a wider understanding of the different dimensions of masculinity we used R.W. Connell's (2008) theoretical framework, hegemonic masculinity, which implies that there are multiple definitions of masculinities that are constructed in relation to each other in a hierarchical order.

Denna studie över likpredikningar från 1700-talets Stockholm har som mål att undersöka seklets Ideal, dödssyn samt samhällssyn hos överklassen. Vilka är de manliga och kvinnliga Idealen och skiljer de sig åt? Detta genomförs med en kvalitativ textanalys av källmaterialet. Under 1700-talet var dygden framstående hos både män och kvinnor, med den skillnaden att dygden hos kvinnorna sammankopplas med gudfruktighet. Ytterligare centrala Ideal är äkthet i sitt varande och plikttrogenhet.

Dagligen exponeras vi av information om hur vi bör träna, äta och leva för att må bra. Rådgivning står att finna överallt, via TV, Internet och veckotidningar där olika hälso- och skönhetsexperter ger tips och råd om hur vi bäst kan hålla kroppen i form. Antologin Skönhetens dimensioner behandlar ämnen som rör kroppen, utseendet och identitetsskapandet. Vårt syfte med denna studie är att belysa relationen mellan identitet och utseende i samhället utifrån olika perspektiv. Vi diskuterar positiva och negativa effekter utifrån tankar om hälso-, utseende- och kroppsIdeal samt vilken påverkan massmedia har på individen.

The aim of the essay was to describe what some young Swedish and Spanish people had to say about alcohol cultures. Some of the questions asked were: How are the alcohol cultures in Sweden and Spain described? What are the differences, and where do they come from? What would an Ideal alcohol culture look like? The investigation also had a comparing angle, as I was interested in what the people valued in their own culture and in the others´. The result was that there hardly exist a perfect alcohol culture, but that the stricter Sweden as well as the liberal Spain both have positive and negative aspects. Differences in politics and culture seem to create variations in a society´s drinking customs.

Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka hur en grupp unga, svenska kvinnor mellan 20-30 år upplever de kvinnliga skönhetsIdealen, samt att granska vad målgruppen anser om Doves Campaign for Real Beauty. Syftet är att studera om informanterna upplever kampanjen som ett steg i rätt riktning för att öka diskussionen och vidga begreppet skönhet. Med detta hoppas vi uppnå en större förståelse för hur unga svenska kvinnor ser på skönhetsIdealen idag och om kampanjer likt Doves, är rätt tillvägagångssätt för att nå ett förändrat Ideal.Teori: Delar av feministisk teori, receptionsstudier samt Stuart Halls teori om inkodning och avkodning.Metod: Två kvalitativt semistrukturerade fokusgruppsintervjuer med totalt sju kvinnor.Slutsatser: Informanterna skiljer på skönhet och skönhetsIdeal. De anser att Doves kampanj, Campaign for Real Beauty är ett steg i rätt riktning för ett förändrat Ideal. Däremot ifrågasätter de Doves uttalade budskap med kampanjen och menar att det huvudsakliga målet skulle vara att öka försäljningen och stärka varumärket, snarare än att öka kvinnors självförtroende..

Nordström är J, Waldesten, S. En studie om äldre kvinnor och hur de påverkas av samhällets Ideal skönhet. Examensarbete i socialt arbete 15 poäng. Malmö högskola. Hälsa och samhälle 2011. ABSTRAKT Syftet med denna uppsats är att utforska och fördjupa förståelsen av äldre kvinnors relationer till kroppsliga utseende.

Jag vill med min uppsats undersöka bilden av kvinnan i samtida iransk konst och besvara frågor om-        vilken kvinnobild som lyfts fram-        vilket kvinnoIdeal-        huruvida kvinnorna i bilderna är bundna till dessa Ideal eller om de är fria att bestämma själva-        om kvinnorna bryter mot sin egen kulturs Ideal, och i sådant fall, fastnar de då i någon annan kulturs kvinnoIdeal?För att kunna besvara frågorna har jag valt ut tre samtida kvinnliga iranska konstnärer och analyserar två verk var av dem. Konstnärerna är Shadi Ghadirian, Shirin Aliabadi och Sagher Daeeri, alla tre verksamma i Iran.Jag har i mina analyser använt mig av en semiotisk analysmetod och jag har en feministisk och kulturell infallsvinkel i mitt resonemang och använder mig av feministiska konstteorier..

This essay aims to explore the philosophical meaning of the expression ?present and real? in Clara ? or, On Nature?s Connection to the Spirit World by F. W. J. Schelling.

The foundation for this thesis lies in whether or not, and how, the body representation in printed commercials, specific products directed to the body (shampoo, body lotion etc.), has changed during the last fifty years. Four years have been chosen because of the changes in society that we believe might have had an impact. The commercials that have been picked out are the ones that best represent the general view of the body. We have found that the changes when it comes to body presentation has followed the social development to a certain degree, but it is difficult to say how much the society has had an affect on the body Ideal in advertising. Representations of the male body is something that has escalated since the early 70?s, fifteen years earlier few commercials was made with male models, and the few there were, never showed more than the face.

This thesis takes as its point of departure the Swedish governmental family policy and the debate on the proposed reform ?vårdnadsbidraget?. The supporters of the reform present it as something that will increase the freedom of choice for families and benefit the children, whereas the opponents warn for decreased equality and a return to the male breadwinner-model.From a constructivist perspective, language is closely related to power through defining and ascribing meaning to reality. By applying a feminist political theory on the debate within the Swedish national parliament 2007/2008 and conducting a discourse analysis, the aim of this paper is to analyse which concepts are used and how they construct to what makes a family within the political debate ? is there any difference or similarity between the view of the opponents and the supporters of ?vårdnadsbidraget??The main conclusion of this paper is that even though the political Ideal and rhetorical concepts differ between the supporters and the opponents, they still constitute the heterosexual nuclear family as an obvious norm in family politics.

Denna uppsats syfte har varit att att undersöka maskuliniteten i Karl Ove Knausgårds Min kamp andre bok med utgångspunkt i Judith Butlers performativitetsteori och R.W. Connells teori om hegemonisk maskulinitet. Här ovan har jag ställt konstnären mot familjefadern, det inre mot det yttre för att utforska splittringen av maskuliniteten, dess performativitet och dess underliggande Ideal. I samröre med familjelivet har jag upptäckt tydliga tendenser till en upplevelse av feminisering och en fruktan för detta. I sällskap med andra män infinner sig även en känsla av underlägsenhet.           Jag har med stöd av Jonas Frykman och Claes Ekenstams manlighetsstudier påvisat att Karl Oves maskulinitetsIdeal påminner om  den manssyn som uppstod i samband med borgerlighetens framväxt i slutet på 1800-talet, och den frigörelse från hemmen som männen genomgick.