Uppsatsen är en diskursanalytisk undersökning av representation av nationell kultur och identitet i två läroböcker i italienska som används på gymnasienivå. Uppsatsens syfte är att analysera hur nationell kultur och identitet representeras, mot bakgrund av ett intresse att synliggöra diskursiva och samhälleliga strukturer som avspeglas i representationen. I analysen läggs särskild vikt vid att visa hur sociala maktrelationer mellan och inom nationella kulturer återspeglas i läroböckerna. Uppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkter är inspirerade av den brittiske sociolingvisten Norman Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys och av socialkonstruktionistisk kulturteori som till stor del utgår från kulturforskaren Stuart Halls resonemang. I uppsatsen används Faircloughs tredimensionella modell för kritisk diskursanalys som metodologisk utgångspunkt. I analysen klarläggs att läroböckerna avspeglar och reproducerar diskurser som speglar ojämlika maktförhållanden inom nationella kulturer och i viss mån även mellan nationella kulturer. I läroböckernas representation av italiensk, nationell identitet förekommer stereotyper om syditaliensk identitet som återger en ojämn maktbalans inom det italienska samhället mellan norra och södra Italien. Läroböckernas representation av italiensk kultur utgår stundtals från ett etnocentriskt svenskt perspektiv där diskurser som kan förbindas med turistpropaganda accentueras. I avslutningen diskuteras även tänkbara konsekvenser av resultaten och exempel ges på vidare forskning inom området..

This thesis explores the decisions behind swedish principals to permit or prohibit political parties from visiting schools. Through a series of semistructured qualitative interviews with five respondents from different high schools, insights were gathered into their motivations regarding political party visits to schools. The results indicate that principals view political party visits as significant for fostering civic engagement, aligned with the school's democratic mission. However, some principals opt to prohibit such visits due to concerns about non democratic values and potential disruptions. Practical considerations like safety, logistical issues, and conflict risks are also crucial in their decision-making, highlighting awareness of potential challenges posed by political visits.

According to the theory of elitist democracy civic political participation should be reduced to participation in the democratic elections. This essay examines whether a high rate of institutionalized political participation beyond the elections leads to: (a) that those who are included gets a more favourable treatment at the expense of the common interest, in other words that their self interest threatens the political equality, (b) reduced freedom of action for the politicians and the headmasters, (c) the emergence of vague conditions of responsibility. These hypotheses are examined in an empirical study of user-boards at four schools on three locations in southern Sweden. In these user-boards the parents are in majority and have the right of decision, which has been delegated to them from the local government and the headmaster. The main conclusion is that, based on this empirical investigation, there is no support in any of the hypotheses.

Abstract.

This thesis is about the effect of political efficacy on societal participation among youths aged 15 to 29. It takes a starting point in the gloomy view of the decline of political participation among citizens in the western world, especially pointing out youths as a threat to democracy. This is a broad subject to take on so my aim becomes a bit more specific. The aim of the thesis is therefore to investigate if belief in ones own capacity and in the responsiveness of the political system affects the actual participation among youths in Europe, independent of a set of alternative predictors. Moreover the thesis is divided into two sub-investigations, one qualitative and one quantitative.

This thesis is set out as a testing of the crosscutting cleavages theory on twocontemporary cases. The aim is to test the explanation process of the crosscutting theory applied to the political and social situations in Belgium and Switzerland and furthermore to examine potential conflicts in pluralistic states. Our main questionis: How can the crosscutting cleavages theory explain the different outcomes ofsocial coexistence, even with the states numerous similarities? We have examined the two federal states through their social divisions of language, region, religion and socio-economy. Our findings show that both Belgium and Switzerland possess divisions in the above mentioned variables, which in most cases are cumulative structured.

Marks do not only work as an acknowledge of the effort that has been made under a long period of time, but also as a receipt for eligibility to further studies. Within the political debate, marks have often caused a big discussion among the political parties. That is due to the obvious difference between the political parties on the left, and their counterparts on the right. However, there is one thing that they all have in common. Everyone of them have plans of measure within their political agenda, regarding the use of marks.The aim of this study has been to try to understand the way pupils think about marks.

In this essay i present a study on political learning of a minority ethnicity whose political history in the institutional form began in 1993. The ethnicity in question is the Sami?s and in 1993 the Sami Parliament was established. The establishment of the Sami parliament radically changed the preconditions for political work. Sami politics came to be pursued in an organized manner in the form of a public authority and democratically elected units.

Flera politiska teorier har under 1900-talet talat om hur moderna demokratiska partier riskerar bli mer lika varandra. Denna undersöknings syfte är att undersöka om detta förefaller vara fallet i Sverige mellan åren 1994 och 2014. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna består av två sätt att betrakta demokratisk politisk representation, samt de tre ideologierna liberalism, konservatism och socialism som används för att kategorisera partierna. Program, valmanifest och hemsidor från partierna har studerats med metoden etnografisk innehållsanalys. Resultaten tyder på att partierna var relativt ideologiskt utspridda år 1994 men har 2014 kommit att bli övervägande liberala.

New political parties are increasing as phenomena in Swedish politics. Some of these parties have gained much attention in the media, and recent examples are Junilistan, Feministiskt initiativ and Sjukvårdspartiet. Media plays an important role for political parties as it is a way for the parties to communicate with the citizens. Therefore this essay examines how these three new parties have been pictured in media lately, and with what arguments they are discussed. This is done by argument analysis of editorials in five Swedish newspapers.

AbstractMany pupils struggleto read. Teachers must therefore know how to motivate these pupils. In this qualitative study the aim is to investigate what some teachers do to motivate pupils to read. Data were collected through interviews with four teachers from two schools. The teachers said that the choice of book was extremely important for making pupils interested in reading, and that reading aloud and cooperation with parents and libraries are of great importance.

The purpose of this study is to examine political crimes in and women?s political activity in 18th century Sweden. The cases of political crimes which has been used range from 1700- 1789 and they form an outline of the patterns of political crime in this century. These cases contain different types of political crimes, but most common ar defamation of the royal family, defamatory writings, rumor-spreading and treason. To study women?s political activity, seven cases ranging from 1749 to 1758 have been more closely studied.

Swedes and Swedish Culture are controversial political subjects in Sweden. The definitions for Swedish culture are very vague and what is the answer to the question: Who can be called Swedes? It has been debated in Sweden more since Swedish Democrats crossed the four percent threshold necessary for representation in the Swedish parliament. Swedes or Swedish culture on a large internet forum with 2 million visitors per week called Flashback forum is material for this thesis.Flashback forum has currently more than 50 million posts published and has more than 970 000 users. Flashback forum is more and more often mentioned in Swedish media.

This thesis highlights the complex relationship between social movements and the mass media. The new social movements really have to struggle to get access to the media sphere, often enforced to use spectacular media strategies, and at the same time maintain their political messages. This struggle gives us reason to question the liberal notion of the media as a neutral arena for political communication and debate. In fact we argue that the media industry should be seen as a powerful actor and that the mass media serves to maintain and enforce an ideology that serves the political and economic elites in the liberal capitalist democracy. The Social movements that seek to question these elites and present an alternative, as they did during the EU-meeting in Gothenburg 2001, quite clearly gets far from neutral media image of the political actions taking place instead the are portrayed as violent or associated with violence and not presented as legitimate or believable political subjects..

This essay speaks about the medial coverage made by the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. The periods examined are the two weeks before the election day (5 September ? 19 September 2010). The purpose of our study is to find out if the newspaper was neutral and did not write in favour of any political party or political block in the newssection. After the elections in Sweden 2010 there have been discussions about the medias in the country being biased, and claims have been made that the news have been written in favour of a certain political party or a bloc.