The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine the ideological currents that have influenced the swedish school system since the 1990's. The background of my interest is the lively debate in schools and media about the new School reform 2011. My hypothesis is that education in 2011 largely will be influenced by neoliberal and neoconservative values. The method I`ve used is discourse and ideology critique, which examines the relationship between Rhetoric and power. These concepts are useful to explain the ideological change in different policy documents and in curricula, for example Lpf 94 and School 2001. The theoretical framework is based primarily on the neoliberal and the neoconservative agenda, which are two distinct political rationalities in the contemporary postmodern world.

The public libraries in Sweden has an obligation to serve all of its citizens, but despite of this they often fail to include their LGBTQ-patrons. Since the year of 2008 RFSL (the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights) have arranged a specially designed certification-process based on normcritical criterias that a chosen institution should fulfill to make their work more inclusive for LGBTQ-people. Sollentuna is the first municipal in Sweden to certificate all of their libraries. This study aims to examine what the certification have meant for the public library in Sollentuna and how a normcritical view can contribute to include LGBTQ-patrons at the library. As a method we used a qualitative interview-study to get a full picture of the certification-process and its influence on the public library of Sollentuna.

Det här är en vetenskapsteoretisk uppsats med problemformuleringen hur kan vi förstå nytänkande, mänskligt resonerande och vetenskaplig utveckling ur ett retorikvetenskapligt perspektiv? Arbetet sker utifrån temat det nya, som i ny förståelse av tillvaron. Jag motiverar retorikens relevans i uppsatsen genom att definiera retoriken som en lära om och förmågan att förstå tillvaron. Retorikvetenskapens plats och relevans för problemformuleringen tydliggörs genom att visa hur retoriken kan förstås i relation till några kända och betydelsefulla fysiska teorier och tankar från Einstein och Galileo. Jag inleder min studie med Gärdenfors kognitionsforskning och Castoriadis förståelse av skapandet av nya idéer.

Under flera decennier har svensk media fascinerats av politiska skandaler. Våra svenska politiker har blivit hårt kritiserade och varje steg de tagit har blivit granskat. Jag har studerat fyra stycken svenska politiker som har skapat skandaler enligt svensk media. Den här uppsatsens syfte var att undersöka vilka strategier dessa fyra politiker använt sig av för att försvara sig själva eller sin politik. Detta är intressant ur ett retoriskt perspektiv då jag studerat hur dessa politiker agerat för att återuppta förtroendet hos svenska folket.

Det övergripande syftet var att ta reda på genren genus demonstrativums betydelse i politisk kriskommunikation och frågeställningarna var:  ? Hur använder Göran Persson genren genus demonstrativum för att bearbeta den politiska kris som ett ministermord innebär? ? Vad vill Göran Persson uppnå med sina tal och med vilka retoriska medel försöker han skapa mening kring mordet? ? Vilka attityder försöker Göran Persson få åhörarna att inta och hur gör han det?  Materialet bestod av fyra tal och den övergripande metoden var strukturell och stödmetoderna stil-, ideologkritisk-, och retorisk analys. Jag lutade mig bland annat mot teorier av Elmelund Kjeldsen och Johannesson. Studien visar att genren genus demonstrativum stärkte och enade medborgarna i ett krisdrabbat samhälle. Istället för att fokusera på dådet hyllade Göran Persson Anna Lindh och använde henne som symbol för det demokratiska samhället.

Samernas första politiska rörelse runt sekelskiftet i Sverige var startskottet, inte bara för samernas egen politiska organisation, utan också för en debatt kring samernas rasifierade identitet. Debatten kretsade kring rätten till land, och huruvida den skulle förbehållas endast nomadiserande renskötande samer, eller om rätten skulle inkludera alla samer oavsett levnadsuppehälle. Samtidens argumentativa klassificeringssystem satte samernas yrkesutövning främst, men med rasifierade premisser kring samernas temporala och spatiala tillhörighet. En av premisserna för argumentationen, samernas temporala tillhörighet, präglades ur svensk medias synvinkel av en stark tro på att samerna riskerade att försvinna. Jag argumenterar för att detta hade en rasbaserad logik i form av en anakronistisk tillhörighet utanför en (svensk) evolutionistisk tidslinje.

In this study the book talk is examined as a communicative act with a purpose to convince according to an under-lying intention to promote reading. I follow the book talk?s way from an idea of the book talker (and the library) to the reception of the audience, with the aim to understand how to talk about books in an engaging manner. More specifically, the Rhetorical situation and the purpose of a book talk, the performance and the means to arouse and retain interest in the book talk as a speech and in the books themselves are examined and the impact of the book talk on the audience.The empirical material consists of observations of two different book talks (both directed to children) and interviews with the two different book talking librarians and a few of the children from the audiences to both book talks. The theoretical framework consists of Rhetorical theories from both antique and modern times and I perform a Rhetorical analysis of both book talks.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the public libraries work towards SFI (Swedish For Immigrants) based on the views of the overseeing librarians. To study this we have asked the following research questions:What distinguishes the public libraries? work towards SFI according to the responsible librarians? What distinguishes the communication between SFI teachers and the librarians according to the responsible librarians? What opinions are held by the librarians in regards to their work with SFI?We have used a semi structured interview method with seven librarians in charge of the activities with SFI at small and medium sized public libraries in a rural area of Sweden. The theoretical framework is composed of Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen?s model for analysis of the local public library profile and the authors? definition of collaboration.

This essay examines the poetry of the Swedish writer Ivar Conradson (1885-1968). Itanalyzes his work in the context of the European literary scene of the late 19th century, inparticular symbolism and impressionism. Conradson has been considered a symbolist and amysticist by critics and scholars, who claim that his poetry expresses a strong religious ethos,influenced by biblical Rhetoric as regards style.While this study does not refute the common view of Conradson, it argues that his earlyworks differ from his later works, where indeed religious and mystical themes can be found.This difference can thus be seen both on stylistic and thematic levels. Using the structuralistmethod of Roman Jakobson and Jurij Lotman, and a phenomenological analysis based on thephilosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Hannah Arendt, this study examines bothsymbolist and impressionist stylistic devices and themes in Conradson?s literary debutSkyarne (1906).

Since the 1970`s the Non Governmental Organisations, NGO:s, have taken an increasing responsibility in the development cooperation work. Apart from an increase in resources delivered through the NGO:s it is also obvious in various official documents that the idea of NGO:s in regards to; reaching and involving poor people in the work and as capable of delivering aid resources to a low cost, is very widely spread and commonly accepted among political decision makers and aid agencies. In addition it?s very seldom that those positive statements about the NGO:s abilities, are backed by any kind of scientific study. This study argues that the ascribed abilities are more the Rhetoric of a political idea than an empirical reality.

The economic policy of the Swedish Social Democrats has undergone major changes during the last thirty years. From using a so-called Keynesian policy to promote full employment in the economy, the Social Democrats have switched to a more monetaristic policy to promote low inflation instead. What I intend to do with this study is to see if the policy change also can be noticed in how the party describe their own policy. Have the Social Democrats been open and transparent with their change in priorities, or have they tried to hide this in their Rhetoric?The purpose of this thesis is to examine if one can notice a change from a Keynesian to a monetaristic policy in the Social Democrat?s descriptions of their economic policy.

The purpose of this study was to examine the political party ?Feministiskt initiativ? (Fi) and their communication during the election campaign 2006. We wanted to find out what the intention was and how the communication was received by the public. We also looked for signs of congruence between those two sides.Fi is the first political party with a feministic ideology to candidate for the parliament in Sweden. The party is rather new and their political standpoints and internal affairs have often been subject of for debate in the media.We wanted to investigate people?s individual opinions of the matter, and therefore we chose to personally interview a number of people.

A qualitative study of the Swedish Instagram account Kvinnohat´s framing of media criticism. The Instagram account Kvinnohat is an example when citizens with a feminist agenda participate in a public debate. With a critical point of view Kvinnohat approach society; which media is a part of. Social network with photo-sharing implement such as Instagram is a quite new type of social media. Instagram has quickly become a part of many peoples everyday life, especially among adolescents.

There is an ongoing discussion amongst Swedish politicians about how the Swedish police will be able to handle increased organised criminality represented in the growing threats of terrorism. In May 2006 representatives from the seven parties of the Swedish parliament debated the question whether the Swedish security service and Swedish police should be permitted to use increased surveillance with the purpose of preventing severe criminality.The question of increased surveillance is a matter often connected to matters of personal privacy. The aim of this master?s thesis is to study which arguments are being used for and against the proposed law that would permit surveillance with the purpose of preventing crime, as well as examine members of Parliaments view on privacy.The methodology used in this thesis is both argumentation analysis and Rhetoric analysis. These two tools are used to examine the minutes from a parliamentary debate about the bill mentioned earlier.

This essay examines the poetry of the Swedish writer Ivar Conradson (1885-1968). Itanalyzes his work in the context of the European literary scene of the late 19th century, inparticular symbolism and impressionism. Conradson has been considered a symbolist and amysticist by critics and scholars, who claim that his poetry expresses a strong religious ethos,influenced by biblical Rhetoric as regards style.While this study does not refute the common view of Conradson, it argues that his earlyworks differ from his later works, where indeed religious and mystical themes can be found.This difference can thus be seen both on stylistic and thematic levels. Using the structuralistmethod of Roman Jakobson and Jurij Lotman, and a phenomenological analysis based on thephilosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Hannah Arendt, this study examines bothsymbolist and impressionist stylistic devices and themes in Conradson?s literary debutSkyarne (1906).