Title: Digital christmas greetings - the viral communicators, public sphere and democracy(Digitala julhälsningar - de virala kommuniktörerna, offentligheten och demokratin)Number of pages: 41Author : Anna-Sara TorgnysdotterTutor: Ylva EkströmCourse : Media and Communication Studies DPeriod: Spring, semester 2010University: Devision of Media and Communications, Department of Information Science,Uppsala UniversityPurpose: The purpose of this study is to see if social media could be an arena for the usersto increase democracy and the public sphere. Studying the role and possibilitys of the individual.Is there a space for any one to act and debate?Method: A qualitative analysis based on interviews with ten users of social media - viralcommunicators. They were discussing public and private sphere, democracy, norms andbehavior in social media.Theoretical platform: The theoretical basis has its roots in sociology: Ervin Goffman´sidea on self-presentation and social interaction, Manuel Castels´ theories of the networksociety and Jürgen Habermas idea of the public spehere.Main result: The viral communicators are ambivalent in their use of socialmedia. They are users because they want to be but also because they feel forced to - professionalor private.

By the same time as the recent enlargement of the European Union, where Poland became a member, it was officially stated that the gender mainstreaming-policy was to be integrated into every area of EU. NGO:s working as entrepreneurs for the gender mainstreaming norm in Poland supported the accession largely because they believed it would help spreading the norm also on a national level. Qualitatively analyzing the Polish case and the difficulties gender mainstreaming as a norm candidate meets with I contrast expectations with what could actually be EU:s role in this matter.Arguing that EU is a context with room for spreading norms by both bargaining and socialization, this paper takes a social constructivist approach. Gender mainstreaming as a norm is difficult for EU to apply on their members, and thus was not widely discussed during accession negotiations. In the same time.

The purpose of this study is to examine discourses about norms and norm criticism regarding sex/gender and sexuality in preschool teachers? and nursery nurses? speech using a post-structuralist perspective. My two research questions are:How do the educators describe norms in general and norms about sex/gender and sexuality in relation to their work?How do the educators describe their work with norm criticism in relation to norms about sex/gender and sexuality?The theoretical base of this thesis is feminist post-structuralism and queer theory. Qualitative interviews were used as method to gather material and then a form of discourse analysis was made based on the transcribed interviews.

This essay examines the visual art of Helena Blomqvist with theory of performativity from Judith Butler among others, with a focus on the potential of visual art to question and dislocate norms. It consists of an analysis of three works of art from three aspects: the work of art, the viewer and the situation, and eventuates in an analysis of how the works relate to representation and norms. The construction of the works is related to Butler's theory of identity construction..

The purpose of this study is to examine discussions on the Swedish internet forum ?Flashback? regarding female body hair and the cultural norms that surround it. The discussion is centered around a broadcasted event in which a woman?s hairy armpit was incidentally shown, with a lot of viral hate as a result. Our purpose with this study is to get a deeper insight into viral hate towards women who challenge gender norms.

We, the authors of this essay are both students at the Bachelor Programme in Social Work at Malmö Högskola. During our education we have been reflecting on the gender perspective that is suppose to permeate the education. This essay aim to examine how some students at the Bachelor Programme in Social Work at Malmö Högskola, who identify themselves as GLBT , experience how questions regarding sex/gender and sexuality are spoken about during their education. We have a discursive perspective on how we understand norms and power of words and language. From a queerteorethic point of view we explain sex/gender and sexuality.

In my thesis I have chosen to examine pre-school from a gender perspective, focusing on the current norms of society that are also influencing pre-school. My thesis is written in the form of an essay, which means that reflections are a substantial part, and writing has become a part of my process of learning. My thesis originates in three different situations that I have experienced during the years I have been working in the pre-school. These situations show how I, as a pre-school educator, unconsciously am a part of creating norms, patterns and gender. The curriculum of the pre-school has been the basis of this thesis, and an important part has been to interpret what the mission of pre-school is in practice.I start by explaining the concepts of sex, gender and norms, and continue by describing how preschool can be viewed as an institution preserving the norms.

The aim of this essay is to analyze six picture books from a gender perspective. Research and investigations shows that children's literature has a big influence on how young children understand norms and values related to gender identity. It is written in the Swedish curriculum for the non-compulsory school system that the pre-school should counteract traditional gender roles.In this essay, six picture books with stories that take place in a pre-school or a pre-school class are being analyzed. Two of them, according to their market strategy, challenges established gender norms. I have investigated if there are any differences between how the educator as a character and the pre-school are portrayed where a girl contra a boy has the leading role.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the everyday beliefs about mental illness surrounding the disease and how these are expressed and affects the sick life and identity. The focus is on the sick perspective, where a concept of norms, normalization and taboo forms a basis in the use of materials, which here consists of qualitative interviews and Internet forums. This is analyzed and then discussed with the help from structuralism and poststructuralism approach, where I mainly refer to the social anthropologist Mary Douglas, ethnologist Lars-Eric Jönsson and philosopher Michael Foucault. In the discussion vented even historical aspects of the subject and how these might have followed in our time and how beliefs about mental illness is created and maintained by the norms within a society / culture including the sick..

Pupil achievement and behaviour in schools was earlier seen as given by socioeconomic and biological factors. But since the late 1970s the school effectiveness research has come to give school factors a much greater role for pupils? attainments. Research has shown that schools´ pedagogical and social climate, which is to be seen as a complex product of deeply felt values and norms held by school principals and teachers and developed through practical actions, can explain variations in effectiveness between schools. Effectiveness is here to be seen as a higher mean cognitive and non cognitive student outcome than is expected with regard to initial attainment or family background.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate the subject field of male vegans and masculinities through empirical method interviews and narrative analysis. The starting-point for this essay is animal ethics, feminist ethic vegetarianism and theories that suggest that eating meat is one part of the social construction of masculinities. The problem formulation is such as follows:How do male vegans construct masculinity? In an attempt to answer such a question there are three problem formulations:What do male vegans think about the connection between manhood and eating meat?How do male vegans relate to the norms in society?What do male vegans think of stereotype conceptions about vegans?I will come to the conclusion that male vegans think that eating meat, as well as drinking beer, is one part of the social construction of masculinities. Male vegans are aware of norms in the surroundings and the strong attachment of meat normativity in the western culture.

The study´s purpose is to investigate the underlying norms of how the concepts of language development and learning, used in the preschool curriculum. Knowledge of the concepts underlying norms can help to make visible what approach preschool teacher is expected to have to children's language, in relation to development and learning. The results of the study may in turn provide a picture of societal norms on children in preschool and a deeper understanding of the importance of preschool to review and analyze the content of the curriculum, then it is not a foregone conclusion.Theoretical basis is curriculum theory, which involves studying curricula in order to create a knowledge of a society and its cultural, social and economic demands. Norman Faircloughs critical discourse analysis is used as a method, in order to achieve the study´s intention and answer the questions at issues in the study. The critical discourse analysis considers that the discourse is creating the social world through language.The results of the study show that there is a language in the curriculum as normatively may influence preschool teacher.

The essay is about pensioners who are working out at a gym. My starting point is the research program "Culture of ageing? and the theory that pensioners in the post- and late modern society conquer new potential areas. I am studying the meeting between pensioners and the gym. How the pensioners conquer the gym, relate to their training and what makes them stay after the first introduction.

This work has treated the subject of gender, with demarcation against the norms regarding appearance and beauty, conveyed by the media and how it affects society. This is expressed through social satire cartoons. This work has also led to an exploration of the importance of a personal drawing style and how it manifests itself..

The aim of our study is to explore which norms that exists in the home care service, who is sending those norms, how are they maintained and how do they affect the interactions between staff and manager? We want to deep en our knowledge about home care service as an organization and increase our understanding for the psychosocial work environment and also the importance of leadership. We mean to read the organizational culture that exists which allows us to deal with the values that influence the behavior in the organization.The study is based on a qualitative method. The data consists of two focus group interviews, one with managers from the home care service - organization and one with staff from the same organization. T he interview with the managers consisted of five participants and the corresponding figure for the second interview with the staff was eight participants.The theoretical viewpoints have been communication - theory, organizational theory and Foucault´s th eory of power.Our result indicate that norms are something that unconsciously controls us and that we have learned that there are consequences when you step out of what is normative for the group.