Äntligen kvinnan i centrum! Eller?
En studie av nyandlighet och genus i läroböcker i religionsvetenskap för gymnasiet
The aim of this essay is to examine how gender is described in pictures in textbooks used in swedish upper secondary school. The research question is: How is gender being potrayed in the pictures of new age in the textbook in relation to traditional dichothomy, hierarchy and detraditionalization? The material used in this study consists of five textbooks in religion used for education in upper secondary schools in Sweden. In total, 18 pictures from these books that describe new age, constitutes the subject of analysis. The method used is picture analysis. The questions used for analysis has further been developed with Yvonne Hirdmans theory of gender and Erving Goffmans study of gender in advertisements pictures. The result is also discussed according to Hirdmans theory of gender and the theory of detraditionalization. Is the process of detraditonalization visible in the pictures of new age in the textbooks? Or is it still a traditional picture of women and men that?s being depicted? The result shows that there is more women than men in the pictures. The pictures also illustrate a traditional dichotomy and a traditional hierarchy between women and men. Nevertheless detraditionalized characteristics and detraditionalized hierarchy is visible in the pictures.