Uppsatsen syftar till att uppmärksamma hur karaktären Leif i Åsa Linderborgs bok Mig äger ingen (2007) förhåller sig till olika förväntningar som finns på honom utifrån det som värderas som manligt och kvinnligt. Närläsning som metod har använts för att uppmärksamma manliga och kvinnliga egenskaper. Nikolajevas (2017) motsatsschema ligger som grund för att synliggöra hur genus skildras i litteratur utifrån traditionella könsstereotyper och genusperspektivet utgår från Hirdman (1988). Olika perspektiv och förhållningsätt presenteras i analysen i relation till tidigare forskning. Till hjälp används Goffmans (2014) perspektiv om roller och Lykkes (2003) definition av intersektionalitet för att visa Leifs komplexitet. Slutsatsen visar att det finns en utmaning i att fastställa egenskaper då en och samma karaktär både kan följa och bryta mot traditionella könsnormer. Boken Mig äger ingen, kan användas i svenskundervisningen för att uppmärksamma och ifrågasätta hur genus förmedlas i litteratur. Nyckelord: Åsa

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to examine the portrayals of class in four Swedish contemporary novels that have been mentioned as working class literature in the literary public sphere. During the 20th century, society has undergone vast changes due to globalization and technology development. The rise in standards of living for most people in the Western societies has led to changed consumption patterns. In consequence, there has been increased emphasis given to cultural rather than materialist explanations of social stratification. The theoretical approach of this study is based on class theories that emphasize either materialist or cultural explanations of social stratification. The methodology used is based on the analysis of ideas. In order to examine the portrayals of class in the four novels, an analysis scheme has been constructed on the bases of theories of Marx, Weber, Bourdieu and Giddens. The ideal types used are as follows: Economic capital, Cultural capital, Class in itself – class for itself, Production, exploitation, profit, Consumption, lifestyles, taste, Status and Societal change. The study argues that in spite of the fact that cultural conditions such as cultural capital and consumption patterns are evident markers of class belonging, the determining factor for class belonging is economic conditions, especially for the underclass. It also argues that the main purpose of contemporary working class literature is to criticize the class society and social inequity. Another central theme is societal change and how this affects working life and social stratification. The novels are permeated with the dichotomies we – they and power – powerlessness. There is a pessimistic picture of society that appears in the novels, where solidarity has disappeared and the characters express feelings of resignation and despair. / Uppsatsnivå: D

During the 21st century, Society has again begun to focus its attention on working class literature and on issues related to social class. In the media contemporary working class literature is often mentioned as a distinct phenomenon. I my view, the meaning of this phenomenon have not been adequately formulated. The aim of this Master’s Thesis is to reconstruct, using a discourse oriented text analysis, a picture of how the contemporary working class literature is described in today’s society. This approach falls therefore within the framework of the Sociology of Literature and is based on the assumption that the discourse of working class literature is undergoing change. Utilizing an established definition of working class literature, I have created five nodal points around which I believe the discourse is mainly formed and changed. Links are then made to these points from chains of equivalence, based on essential ideas concerning the identities that have been ascribed to different subjects and objects. In order to show how the discourse is contextually constructed, the results are seen in relation to a discussion in contemporary research and literature about class society and the welfare state. My empirical data consists mainly of reviews and interviews in leading daily newspapers in Sweden concerning five writers who have published novels between 1999 and 2007 and who have been associated with contemporary working class literature. These writers are Lena Andersson, Torbjörn Flygt, Tony Samuelsson, Susanna Alakoski and Åsa Linderborg. The results show that the working class writer is a “class traveller”, who today holds a prominent position within the literary public sphere. The main purpose of the literature is to criticize the class society of today and to make it more visible. The novels reflects findings from social science research showing that the modern welfare state is a segregated and unequal society where the losers mainly consist of the unemployed and immigrants who often live in suburbs that were built during the million dwellings program. They also show today’s working class that primarily consist of people within the caring and service sectors and therefore largely are women. / Uppsatsnivå: D