Är brottsoffret ett subjekt eller ett objekt?
En diskursanalys av brottsofferbegreppet
The purpose of this essay is to define the meaning of the concept of crime victim and how the crime victim as a concept is constructed. The question is answered through an investigation of the discourse that constructs and reproduces the crime victim. Furthermore the purpose is to open a theoretical discussion which aims to clarify whether or not the crime victim is a subject or an object through an examination of how the individual is constructed as a crime victim by the crime victim discourse.The essay takes a theoretical point of view based on a mixture of Michel Foucault?s and Ernesto Laclau & Chantal Mouffe?s discourse theories. The method used to organize the research ? regarding the meaning of the concept of crime victim ? is Laclau & Mouffe?s discourse analysis which is an extension and a part of the theory mentioned above.The discourse analysis creates a model of the crime victim discourse which answers the question of how the concept of crime victim is constructed, and how this concept should be understood. By observing the construction closely ? of the individual as a crime victim ? a discussion concerning the crime victim as a subject or an object is elaborated upon. Throughout the discussion the view of the subject as a construction is questioned and another theoretical complementary addition is being made ? to the discourse theory ? to solve the questions that otherwise would have been left unsolved. The theory which is brought in to complement the discourse theory at this point is Emma Engdahl?s theory about the elementary forms of social life.The essay ends in five conclusions which together answer the essays questions in order to fulfil its purpose. The conclusions are: (1) The concept of crime victim is defined by two statements: (a) A crime victim is a person who has been subjected to a crime and has suffered pain. (b) All crime victims are in need of redress. (2) A crime victim who has been constructed exactly like the pattern of the concept of crime victim is an object. (3) The crime victim is a construction of an individual with innate capability to create a subject. (4) The discourse of the crime victim is trying to construct an object of a subject. (5) Whether the crime victim is a subject or an object depends on how the individual chooses to conduct himself in relation to the concept of crime victim used in the discourse.