In March 2018 the Swedish Social Democratic Party presented the election promise to ban faith-based schools. This election promise evoked strong reactions and gave rise to a debate about the role of religion in Swedish schools in many Swedish newspapers. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to explore what arguments that have been utilized in the debate about faith-based schools. Debate articles are here examined using argumentation analysis: Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Expressen and Aftonbladet. The results conclude that the most common arguments in favor of a ban on faith-based schools are: segregation, religious indoctrination, and serious shortcomings in said schools. From the other side of the debate, in defense of faith-based schools, the most common arguments are the following: integration, freedom of religion and high-quality education. An additional aim is to study these arguments using Hjelm’s (2014) explanations of the “New Visibility of Religion”. The analysis reveals that the debate is informed by a secular norm where religion is viewed as something unwelcome in the public eye. The debate is informed by a conflict of how religion ought to be valued, and if it should be viewed as a resource or a problem. Advocates in favor of a ban on faith-based schools claim that these schools constitute a social problem in contemporary society. Defenders of faith-based school, on the other hand, view them as a resource and argue that there today is a great need for faith-based schools. Rather than discussing faith, this debate deals mainly with the question of what role religion should play in today’s society. Religion is visible because it can be good or bad, something that Hjelm (2014) refers to as the ”secular return of religion”. Neoliberal reforms have changed the Swedish School system, which in turn affects the debate. This debate ultimately reveals a conflict of aims regarding the purpose of the Swedish school system and where equality is put against freedom of choice.

We can see today that young adults use social media for mostly entertainment purposes. Because of this the political subjects gets overshadowed within social media. This is a problem both because young adults hold the majority of the consumption on social media and because young adults can be seen as the future. Therefore, it’s important to get the young adults more active in political subjects on social media. Former studies show that political subjects can be sensitive for young adults to talk about and this shows that this group of people are afraid of being in a minority position if they voice their political opinion. Furthermore, former studies show that young adults do not feel an obligation as a citizen compared to earlier generations. This study is conducted on ten young adults aged between 18-25, using a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews. The results from this study showed us that the young adults have a good attitude towards social media as a tool for political purposes. Even if they had a positive attitude, they also thought that it had to be used in the right way in order to make use of it.

The aim of this study is to investigate young adults’ perspectives on the increased shootings in their neighborhoods and how their perspectives relate to the public debate. This study also aims to inquire what measures young adults consider works against the increased shootings. The study is based on seven semi-structured interviews with young adults aged between 20 – 30 years from Järvaområdet. The empirical data was analyzed with inductive thematic analysis and resulted in four main themes. To describe and understand some of the themes we used labeling theory and the concepts of stigma and normalization. The research shows that the experience of the increased shootings has been normalized in the public debate and between the residents in the neighborhood. One of the findings indicates that the preventive measures doesn’t seems to match the needs in the neighborhoods. The overall conclusion shows that the shooting in the neighborhoods affects all in different levels and thus shows the importance to lift the different perspectives for instance future studies.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att studera hur våld mot kvinnor och våld i hemmet definieras och konstrueras i den parlamentariska diskursen i autonoma samhällen. För att besvara syftet har vi gjort en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av utvalda dokument från två ärenden som tagits upp i Ålands Lagting, “Godkännande av Europarådets konvention om förebyggande och bekämpning av våld mot kvinnor och av våld i hemmet” och “Skyddshem för personer som drabbats av våld i nära relationer”. Urvalet består av transkriberade parlamentsdebatter och ett lagförslag om skyddshem. Uppsatsens vetenskapliga förhållningssätt är socialkonstruktionism och Hydéns normvetenskap och normmodell samt Hirdmans genussystem används för att tolka materialet. Resultaten av studien visar att det finns normativa förväntningar gällande våld mot kvinnor och våld i hemmet. Våldet konstrueras som i första hand fysiskt och i andra hand psykiskt. Våldsutövaren framställs vara en man och den våldsutsatta framställs vara en kvinna eller ett barn. Våldet förväntas ske i en kärnfamilj där barn närvarar och bevittnar när pappan utövar våld mot mamman. Mamman och barnet ses som en enhet och då den våldsutsatta kvinnan söker skydd förväntas det finnas medföljande barn. Heteronormen befästs i materialet då fokus är på kärnfamiljen och den heterosexuella relationen. Normer som etableras i den parlamentariska diskursen speglas i samhället. Definitionen av vem som är våldsutsatt respektive våldsutövare, och vad som definieras som våld, leder till att resurser formas efter de normativa förväntningarna. Våldsutsatta och våldsutövare som inte passar in i konstruktionen riskerar att osynliggöras och att inte få den hjälp de behöver, eftersom hjälpen inte är utformad för dem.

There is a contradictive part of Swedish women's history that has been overlooked by too many historians. It is about the ways in which the women's movement viewed men in their arguments for citizenship. In this study I examine how man, men and masculinity were constructed as rhetorical objects of female emancipation in Kvinnornas tidning ('The Women's Magazine'). The magazine was published to educate women on civil matters after women's suffrage was granted in Sweden. By stuying the first publications from 1921-1922, I evaluate the obstacles that were connected to citizenship as a male prerogative, despite women's right to vote.  The magazine is characterized by its aim to aggregate women to inluence the male, public sphere and thereby be defined as citizens. By identifying an ideology of separate spheres in the magazine, I study how men were portrayed in each sphere. Here I use the feminist theory of sameness-difference to map where Kvinnornas tidning referred to men as defined by their sex, and where this conflicted with (male) citizenship. My argument is that the ideas of men in the magazine related to how emancipatory aims were subject to male and female normative positions in each sphere. I argue that in the female private sphere, it was easier to strengthen women's authority by rejecting men based on sex, but that in the public sphere, men were the citizens that women aspired to become. By using the contract theory of political theorist Carole Pateman, I illustrate how the contradictions inherent in the original citizenship led to conflicts in their aim for female citizenship, which are evidenced by their ambivalence towards masculinity. Since their definitions of men either reinforced womanhood or confirmed the masculinity of citizenship, they reproduced the patriarchal sexual contract.

Cette thèse concerne l’étude des débats argumentatifs entre plusieurs agents artificiels. Notre travail est motivé par les difficultés qui surgissent quand un nombre important d’utilisateurs interagissent et débattent sur le Web, en échangeant des arguments sur différents sujets. Ces difficultés se situent au niveau de la représentation des connaissances des agents impliqués dans le débat, de la représentation du débat, de la façon de tirer les conclusions du débat, de l'évaluation de la qualité du débat, de la définition des protocoles spécifiques d'interaction, et de l'étude des stratégies des agents qui souhaitent atteindre un but précis via le débat. La contribution de cette thèse consiste donc en: a) la modélisation d'un débat argumentatif entre plusieurs agents, la modélisation des expertises de ces derniers, et l'agrégation des opinions des différents experts sur différentes parties d'un débat; b) l'apport d'une aide à l'agent responsable de la gestion d'un débat donné, la proposition d'une méthode permettant d'évaluer la qualité des débats argumentatifs en fonction de la confiance que l'on peut avoir en leurs conclusions, ainsi que la proposition de solutions permettant d'améliorer la qualité des débats dont les conclusions ne sont pas clairement établies; c) l'apport d'une aide permettant aux agents qui participent à un débat argumentatif de déterminer quels arguments placer dans le débat, l'étude des systèmes argumentatifs munis d'une structure dynamique, l'étude des moyens disponibles permettant à un agent d'influencer un système dynamique afin d'atteindre son but, l'étude des modifications minimales permettant à un agent d’atteindre un objectif donné, l'étude des stratégies argumentatives basées sur ce changement minimal; d) la définition, l'étude et l'évaluation des protocoles argumentatifs multi-agents, ainsi que la définition de protocoles de différents types (1) basés sur une évaluation numérique d'arguments et (2) basés sur des extensions d'arguments, l'utilisation des différentes techniques pour assurer la cohérence d'un débat tout en laissant une liberté d'expression aux agents, et enfin un grand nombre d'expérimentations (sur des débats) permettant de tester différentes stratégies et de les évaluer en fonction de différents critères. / In this thesis multi-agent argumentation debates are studied. Our work is motivated by the issues which are raised when a large number of users interact and debate on the Web, by exchanging arguments on various topics. These issues are raised on the levels of representing the debating users' knowledge, representing the debate, computing the debate's conclusions, evaluating the debate's quality, defining specific protocols for user interaction, and studying debate strategies which users employ in order to achieve particular goals. This thesis' contribution consists in: a) proposing a way to model a multi-agent argumentation debate where the participants have different types of expertise, and proposing a way to aggregate their opinions; b) offering support to the agent who is arbitrating a debate, proposing a way to evaluate the quality of a debate on the basis of how confident we can be on its conclusions, and proposing solutions for improving the quality of a debate which lacks definite conclusions; c) offering support to the debating agents in order to determine which arguments they should put forward, studying dynamic argumentation systems, studying the potential ways in which an agent can influence a dynamic argumentation system in order to achieve his goal, studying the minimal change allowing an agent to achieve his goal, studying several argumentation strategies based on minimal change; d) defining, studying and evaluating multi-agent argumentation protocols, defining protocols of different types (1) based on numerical argument evaluation and (2) based on argument extensions, using different techniques to ensure a debate's coherence while ensuring some liberty of expression to the agents, and finally performing an important number of experiments (on debates) in order to test various strategies and evaluate them with respect to specific criteria.

As a popular co-curricular activity, forensic participation is considered as an effective educational tool in sharping students’ logic thinking abilities (Allen & Berkowitz, 1999; Bellon, 2000; Lieberman, Trumble & Smith, 2000). However, in China, compared with the growing enthusiasm in debate among the Chinese students, research in this field is relatively thin. Therefore, in order to gain an in-depth understanding of how forensic participation influence students’ critical thinking abilities, I conducted this multiple case study which was grounded in the Paul-Elder Model of Critical Thinking. My respondents are three national or regional champions from a well-known forensic team in Eastern China. My major data collection include three one-on-one interviews with the respondents, some secondary interviews with their coach and teachers, observations on their debate training, and some online data such as the official blog of the team, my e-mail correspondence with the students and information culled from their personal social networking sites. My two research questions are “How does college students’ thinking change as a result of participating in forensics?” and “What features of forensic participation support students’ development of critical thinking?” In terms of research question one, I have found that first, as a result of forensic participation, my respondents’ questioning, critical reading, analyzing and evaluating skills have improved. Second, they developed some intellectual traits that are indispensable to their critical thinking abilities. Third, forensic participation has to some extent helped them to get rid of ego-centric and socio-centric thinking, which paved the way for them to become an accomplished and responsible thinker. As to research question two, I found that both the educational and epistemic features support students’ development of critical thinking. I also found out motivation plays such an important role in students’ critical thinking development that it could be added into the framework of Paul’s Model of critical thinking. My recommendations include improving the instruction methods in debate courses and enhance both the quantity and quality of the intercollegiate and national competitions.

The religious landscape in Sweden has changed in recent years as a result of secularization processes, individualization, and migration. This has led to religion occupying new places in society and one such place is media. The visibility of religion in the media creates space for debate about what role religion should play in different context, which in this thesis applies to school. Since 2018, there has been a debate in the media regarding the being or non-being of independent confessional schools. This bachelor thesis aims to examine the arguments that appear in the criticism versus the defense of independent confessional schools in debate articles in Sweden. Debate articles from the Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Aftonbladet and Expressen are examined with qualitative text analysis. The result shows that the most common arguments among those who want to ban independent confessional schools are: religious indoctrination, segregation, and extremism. From the other side of the debate are the ones who defend independent confessional schools and the most common arguments from this side are: freedom of religion, corresponds to the Swedish curriculum, and integration. Further, an additional aim is to analyze how the debate can be understood using the theoretical concepts of narrative, institutional and cultural transformation processes in mediatization theory. The analysis shows that there are signs of these transformation processes in the debate articles. Many of the debate articles on the ban side are structured according to media logics where one perspective is set against another to provoke reactions from the readers, which expresses the narrative transformation process. The institutional transformation process is reflected in how actors from different institutions communicate in the debate, where political actors control the debate and religious actors adapt accordingly. The cultural transformation process is made visible by seeing how the debate relates to the surrounding society which is characterized by secular norms on one hand and increased religious diversity on the other.

Mental images are unique mental representations and the depictive view in the imagery debate states that mental images have similar spatial structures as their corresponding external object. The propositional view, however, contends that beliefs about the external world influence a mental image – also known as the cognitive penetrability theory –, therefore mental images cannot be described in visual terms. People with self-described aphantasia, those considered lacking visual mental images, offer a new opportunity to approach this issue. The current study employed the mental rotation task (MRT), where a three-dimensional object needs to be mentally aligned with another one that is rotated to a different angular position. To test the effects of beliefs on mental images, different instruction conditions were used on the MRT. Twenty-seven participants (21 females, mean age 47 years) with self-described aphantasia completed an online experiment, consisting of the MRT, the Object-Spatial Imagery Questionnaire (OSIQ), and the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). While participants scored low on the VVIQ and higher on the spatial items than on the object items of the OSIQ, the key finding was that increasing reaction time with increasing angular disparity on the MRT was not influenced by different instruction types. This suggests that the theory of cognitive penetrability is not applicable on mental rotation in aphantasia, highlighting the importance to revise how mental images (or the lack of them) are understood and described.

The climate crisis has increased the demands on Swedish forestry and given fuel to an already polarized debate concerning how Swedish forests should be managed and what constitutes sustainable forestry. Questions of ownership and who should have a say in the matter is at the center of this conflict. This essay examines the topic of ownership in the Swedish forest debate. The argumentation of stakeholders in the debate was analyzed to show which topoi contribute to the conflict and create inertia towards reaching mutual understanding. Thirty-nine opinion articles from Swedish news media, published between April and October 2021, were analyzed through a critical textual analysis. Two primary groupings among the debaters were found: those who argue to strengthen the rights of forest owners, and those who argue for more regulation or conservation. Identified topoi show that emotions and trust play a key role in the conflict. Ways of working with this and possibilities for discursive meeting places are discussed. Making explicit important values, clearly defining important terms, and focusing on the right subject matters are also suggested to enhance possibilities for mutual understanding.