?Den stojande hopen?
Diskurser om ungdomar i två bibliotekstidskrifter 2005?2010
Discourse analysisLibrariesYouthIntersectionalitySocial normsDiskursanalysBibliotekUngdomarIntersektionalitetNormer
The aim of this thesis is to examine discourses about the user category young people in two well-established Swedish library journals between the years 2005 and 2010.The empirical material consists of 65 texts derived from the library journals Biblioteksbladet and Bibliotek i samhälle. By using discourse theory and methodology I discover several different ways in which young people are categorized in the library context. As a complementary theory I have analyzed the material from an intersectional perspective. The result shows that young people most of the times are defined by adults. Several characteristics such as creativity, interest in modern technology, messiness and need for support are repeated in the descriptions of the young, suggesting that there is clear idea of how young people are. Young people are categorized both in relation to the adult clientele and a normative youthfulness.One conclusion drawn from the study is that social positions are likely to be too blunt as categorizing principles. A possible way to get around this problem might be to emanate from the library users subjective interests and needs instead of social positions like age.This is a two years master´s thesis in library and information science.