<p>In recent years there has been an upsurge in products and activities designed for infants, what is known as baby culture. The essay is a discourse analysis covering the part of baby culture which is concerned with infants and books. The essay studies texts from libraries and children’s bookclubs in order to understand what it is they communicate, to whom and the conceivable consequences of the communicated message. One of the main purposes of the study is to determine what view of infants as social and cultural beings it  is that arises from the texts. The essay also focuses on the different discourse types used in the discourse on infants and books and to what extent the libraries’ and the bookclubs’ way of reasoning on the subject is differing. The theoretical basis of the study is inspired by Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis and concentrates on the communicative event. The method used is detailed textual analysis rooted in Fairclough’s three- dimensional model of discursive practice, text and social practice. The empirical material consists of texts from information folders, websites etc. The result of the analysis shows that the discourse on infants and books is very similar in the two domains and derives from a wider market- oriented discourse. The discourse constitutes infants as primarily early learners with the inherent potential of becoming a baby genius. The discourse also constitutes a good reading parent who invests in his/her child’s future by stimulating their brain development from a very early age. An examination of the baby market discourse shows that it is a hybrid discourse consisting of various discourse types from diverse (knowledge) domains such as medicine, psychology and pedagogy. The analysis shows how market discourses have infiltrated the discourses of public institutions such as the library and how it affects the way subject entities are constructed.</p>

In recent years there has been an upsurge in products and activities designed for infants, what is known as baby culture. The essay is a discourse analysis covering the part of baby culture which is concerned with infants and books. The essay studies texts from libraries and children’s bookclubs in order to understand what it is they communicate, to whom and the conceivable consequences of the communicated message. One of the main purposes of the study is to determine what view of infants as social and cultural beings it  is that arises from the texts. The essay also focuses on the different discourse types used in the discourse on infants and books and to what extent the libraries’ and the bookclubs’ way of reasoning on the subject is differing. The theoretical basis of the study is inspired by Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis and concentrates on the communicative event. The method used is detailed textual analysis rooted in Fairclough’s three- dimensional model of discursive practice, text and social practice. The empirical material consists of texts from information folders, websites etc. The result of the analysis shows that the discourse on infants and books is very similar in the two domains and derives from a wider market- oriented discourse. The discourse constitutes infants as primarily early learners with the inherent potential of becoming a baby genius. The discourse also constitutes a good reading parent who invests in his/her child’s future by stimulating their brain development from a very early age. An examination of the baby market discourse shows that it is a hybrid discourse consisting of various discourse types from diverse (knowledge) domains such as medicine, psychology and pedagogy. The analysis shows how market discourses have infiltrated the discourses of public institutions such as the library and how it affects the way subject entities are constructed.