This master thesis is based on the sociocultural perspective. A qualitative research study was conducted to investigate children's attitudes towards reading, texts and libraries.The theoretical background is constituted by ideas from the new sociology of childhood, literacy-studies and reader-response theory.The study was conducted with 23 children, 13 girls and 10 boys, participating in focus groups.The results of the study reveal that children's literacy-activities in school are strongly influenced and limited by adults. Children's interest in pictures and non-fiction-reading do not correspond to the school institution that favors traditional media and fiction. The study also reveals a gender division between children's literacy-activities that tends to grow with age. All the children in the study regard libraries as book-houses and wished for libraries that combine activity and serenity.The thesis shows the importance of being aware of, and engage in, children's reading-interests and reading-practices if the reading stimulating activities in schools and libraries are to be successful.

The study investigates questions and considerations emerging when stone in historic buildings needs to be replaced. The focus is on the surface treatment of stone in sandstone façades in pre-industrial buildings. That means buildings constructed by traditional methods and craftsmanship without the use of modern technology.The research issue originates from the extensive stonework that is planned for the façades of the Stockholm Palace. The project includes the replacement of large quantities of damaged stone to newly cut stone. This raises the questions about the use of modern and rational methods for surface treatment on the replacement stone.

The purpose of this study is to determine which approach preschool teachers from a Reggio Emilia inspired preschool and a traditional preschool have on children, knowledge, learning and their own role in children?s learning. The two pedagogical approaches have different basic visions; Reggio Emilia follows the thoughts of Lori Malaguzzi and the traditional preschool follows the Swedish curriculum Lpfö 98. The main research questions asked were:What view on children, learning and knowledge does the preschool teacher from a Reggio Emilia inspired preschool have in comparison with a traditional preschool?Which role does the teacher believe that they should take regarding children?s learning?What differences and similarities can be identified in the teachers' perceptions?To carry out this study, I used a qualitative research method.

The aim of our study was to examine how homosexual and heterosexual men and women are represented in the Swedish magazine QX, a magazine for gay, bisexual and transgender people. We wanted to find out what kind of roles the persons in QX appears in, and inquire the relationships that exist between them.We analyzed the texts in twelve magazines, from December 2008 to November 2009, in order to get the most current results as possible. We used a discourse analysis, with focus on identities, relationships and the representation of the world. Representations, gender, hegemonic masculinity and stereotypes have been significant theories to analyze our results.The results showed that the successful gay man is the most important person in QX. He is the perfect masculine macho fagot, who is highest in rank.

This master's thesis analyses the concept of equality between men and women in parts ofRegion Västra Götaland's area of operation. With critical policy analysis I analyse how theproblem of inequality is represented in the European charter for equality of women and men inlocal life (CEMR) and the Region Västra Götaland's plan of action for the charter. Throughinterviews with people responsible for gender equality in different areas I analyse, withdiscourse theory, the ways in which the concept of gender equality is articulated in differentareas of Region Västra Götaland, and what kind of politics these articulations enables.In the analysis I show that a discursive struggle of how equality is to be defined canbetter be understood as a discursive negotiation. Equality between men and women isunderstood in several ways at the same time, as antidiscrimination and basic human rights, asbalance between the sexes, and as an approach critical of norms and stereotypes. Within thesenegotiations certain understandings of gender are made possible or impossible.

This study aims to examine attitudes and conceptions of staff who work with mentally disabled persons, concerning normalization and gender. Six qualitative interviews with such professionals were performed and subsequently analyzed. Since the method of this study is qualitative, no claim of generalizability is made. The interview material has been categorized into themes by means of coding. The result of the study is presented according to those themes.

This study aims to examine attitudes and conceptions of staff who work with mentally disabled persons, concerning normalization and gender. Six qualitative interviews with such professionals were performed and subsequently analyzed. Since the method of this study is qualitative, no claim of generalizability is made. The interview material has been categorized into themes by means of coding. The result of the study is presented according to those themes.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the researcher experiences its role in real life in relation to the field of education and adult learning. The context of the study is the academic department of education and adult learning in Swedish institutions. This is a qualitative study, inspired by Grounded Theory. Data consist of interviews, texts from policy documents and reports. Both the aspects gender and context have been taken into consideration.

The overall aim of this study is to examine how Swedish women?s youth- magazines describes women. Through a social constructivist perspective, this essay particularly focuses on how the magazines deals with issues of gender and sexuality and what norms they reproduce. The magazine?s image of the young Swedish woman is a somewhat complex one, although one thing is strikingly clear: she is very different from men.

AbstractIn this essay I am examining the representation of popmusic with particular focus on gender and identity in two youth magazines called Kamratposten and Julia. Using the method of Norman Faircloughs critical discourse analysis I have studied ten interviews with popmusicians from each magazine based on the theorys of representations, discourses within popularmusic and queer theory. The intention with this study was to examine how popularmusic is represented in youth magazines. If the magazines were reproducing femininity and masculinity in the interviews with the musicians, and in the representation of popmusic in the magazines. And also if there were any differences and similarities between the magazines regarding the representation of popmusicians.The analysis lead to the conclusions that how popmusic is represented in the magazines depends on what the magazines wan´t to represent on the basis of their target groups and ideologies.

This study aims to examine attitudes and conceptions of staff who work with mentally disabled persons, concerning normalization and gender. Six qualitative interviews with such professionals were performed and subsequently analyzed. Since the method of this study is qualitative, no claim of generalizability is made. The interview material has been categorized into themes by means of coding. The result of the study is presented according to those themes.

The aim of this essay was to describe and analyse the use of snuff as a social activity. By accomplishing eight qualitative interviews with snuff-users I wanted to get a glimpse into their relationship to the snuff and find out in which situations and frames of mind the snuff-use alter. I also wanted to find out if age, class or gender has any affect in snuff-using. The interviews were analysed in a sociological perspective with help from Erving Goffmans and Joseph Gusfields ideas, among others. I found out that each snuff-user creates his own rituals and routines, but there are factors in daily life, which can change the use of snuff.

 Prostitution has been intensely debated in Sweden for nearly four decades. Two major investigations have so far been initiated by the government and numerous propositions have been put forward in the Swedish parliament resulting in the sexköpslag from 1999 that criminalizes purchase of sexual services. The law aims at punishing the buyer and protecting the women in prostitution, thus making it possible for women to be helped by various social interventions rather than punished. Swedish society has undergone major changes in these decades. Globalization, the internet and the membership in the EU have changed the Swedish society and influenced the discourse on prostitution.This paper has a twofold aim, on the one hand investigating if and how these changes have had an impact on the prostitution discourse in texts produced by the government and analyze how female and male sexuality in connection to prostitution is constructed.

 An analysis in the work of Martin Kellermans comic ?Rocky? of the interaction between the male and female characters and of how each of their gender are portrayed. We are going to find out if it is probable for young adults to be affected by any eventual gender-stereotypes that we can find in ?Rocky? or if ?Rocky? consolidates a stereotypical image of men and women that young adults might have developed through different media. We conduct this analys by first reading through random seleceted ?Rocky? books and present some of the comic strips where men and women interact with each other or discuss the opposite sex..

The purpose of this masters thesis is to examine outlines of literary history for students at upper secondary school from a gender studies perspective. Earlier theoretical work concerning outlines of literary history is sparse. There are three dissertations, but none with an explicit gender perspective. The theoretical approach comes mainly from theories in literary historiography and gender research. Also discussed are the following concepts: canon, literary field and literary valuation.