Elev, lintott eller bara barn? Synen på barn i tre kulturpublikationer ? en diskursanalys
The aim of this Master's thesis is to examine and analyze what discourses about children that can be found in three Swedish culture publications, and also to identify the different social roles that are attributed to children in these publications. The theoretical and methodological background is discourse theory, as described by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Additional theory used is social constructionism and Norman Fairclough?s critical discourse theory. Three questions are asked: What discourse/s can be found in these publications? What do these discourses tell us about the view on children within the library domain? What social roles are attributed to the children in the texts and what consequences do these have for the power configuration between children and adults? Furthermore there is a discussion concerning what effects these discourses might have on the direct and indirect reception of children in the library. 84 articles from three publications - Biblioteksbladet, DIK-forum and Barn & unga ? are analyzed, and four discourses concerning children are identified: the discourse of the idyllic child, the discourse of the indigent child, the discourse of the resource receiving child and the discourse of the equal child. Four social roles are also identified: groups in exposed positions, babies and small children, gender and pupils. The analysis shows that the unequal balance of power between children and adults is maintained and reproduced within the discourses, and is very rarely challenged.