Den goda läsningen. En problematisering av begreppet läsning i Bokpriskommissionens slutrapport med utgångspunkt i Michel Foucaults diskursteori.
Books and reading are important elements in cultural policy. On 1 January 2002 VAT on books and magazines was reduced from 25 per cent to 6 per cent. The purpose was to increase reading in all sections of the population. A special Book Price Commission was appointed to follow and examine price trends and to work for an enhancement of reading in all groups of the Swedish population. But what form of reading are the BPC talking about?
With a theoretical point of departure in the theory of power and discourse by Michel Foucault the aim of this thesis is to explore if there is an existing discourse about reading and, if so, how this discourse is operating in the BPC reports. A chapter on the history of reading is also included. When studying how the history of reading is described and then analyzing the material that was published by the Book Price Commission under the years of 2002-2005 it becomes clear that the discourse of reading includes certain forms of reading and excludes (or devalues) other forms of reading. One way that the discourse is operating in is by connecting the concept of reading with values like democracy and both personal and social change. The BPC material can thus be seen as producing and reproducing the dominating discourse of reading, one form of reading that values the reading of printed books higher than other forms of reading.