This essay has examined potential ideological change in the Swedish party, the Sweden Democrats. This has been done by examining the changes made to the party platforms adopted by the party from 1989 until the latest one, which at the time of writing was adopted in 2019.

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The aim of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of why the European Commission believes that the European Union (EU) should support culture and if a change has occurred over time. This is achieved by combining a qualitative idea analysis and a quantitative content analysis and analyzing proposals from 1998, 2004, 2011 and 2018 that the Commission has presented regarding a framework programme for the cultural sector within the EU. Geir Vestheims theory that all cultural policy is instrumental was used as a theoretical framework since it consists of ideal types that can explain why states support culture: because of its qualitative, economic, social or democratic instrumental values. The results of the study show that qualitative, economic, social and democratic arguments could be found in all four proposals and particularly that the proposal from 2018 contained several diverse arguments. A change over time was discovered however, since the most prominent arguments in the proposals from 1998 and 2004 revolved around the fact that culture was to be supported because of its impact on social development. The proposals from 2011 and 2018 were instead comprised of a large amount of arguments pertaining to the economic benefits of supporting culture.

The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine which ideas about the public library that appear in a selection of municipal library plans and to examine if these ideas are unanimous. The comprehensive questions are: Which ideas about the public library appear in each municipal library plan? How do the ideas agree in the different municipal library plans? The sub questions are: Which judgements of reality appear in the different library plans concerning each municipality and its library needs? How do the municipalities define the concept of development and future demands in the municipality on the basis of the judgements of reality? Which recommendations do the judgements of reality give and how is the plan of action that is established in each library plan justified? Which fundamental views of reality, i. e. which values of the library and its role (function, task and responsibility in the municipality), do the library plans contain? The theoretical basis of the study is a model, designed by Dorte Skot-Hansen, consisting of three rationalities – humanistic, sociological and instrumental - that constitute the cultural policy. Idea analysis is the textual analytic method used in this study to classify the material and make visible the ideas in the library plans. The concept of the idea consists of the three elements: judgement of reality, recommendation of action and a fundamental view of reality. A modified version of Skot-Hansen’s model is used as a means to analyze the empirical material, which consists of six library plans. The findings of the study show that each library plan manifests all of the rationalities and that the ideas about the library that appear in the selection of library plans are practically unanimous. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to investigate articles in Swedish library journals on children’s reading from gender and sex perspectives. Gender theory as it has been developed by Yvonne Hirdman and Robert W. Connell is used to analyze the articles. The thesis includes a chapter on previous research in the fields of gender in relation to children, reading and the library. The analysis of the articles reveals that the differences between girls and boys and their reading are both a product of notions of sex and gender. In the articles boys are described as avoiding reading and/or certain books because they associate it with girls and “girly” things are seen as forbidden for them. Other articles, that describe the differences as a product of sex, argue that girls and boys like reading different types of books and that these differences should be encouraged because otherwise children may loose interest in reading. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This Master’s thesis has governmental cultural policy in focus and concludes a textual idea analysis of the governmental bill Time for culture. (Tid för kultur.) The aim of the study is to examine how the government is seeking legitimacy concerning the cultural policy. One of the starting points is that the society has changed over time in terms of for example increased globalization and multicultural and even the market adjustment is more evident. Also the economical basis in the society is different nowadays. These changes form challenges concerning the governmental cultural policy. The theoretical starting point for this thesis is based on a theory by cultural policy researcher Geir Vestheim. The theory claims that cultural policy is instrumental. The forms of instrumental culture policy are either qualitative, social, economic or democratic. The method used in the study is idea analysis. Ideal types based on a model by Vestheim are used to examine the different forms of instrumental culture policy and arguments in Time for culture. The study wants to explore which forms of arguments and instrumental cultural policy that can be seen in Time for culture. The result of this study shows that the different forms of instrumental cultural policy occur to varying extent in Time for culture. Most prominent are the economical arguments. Particularly when it comes to the cultural policy that concerns the role of the culture in the development of the society. One conclusion drawn is that the government is seeking legitimacy concerning the new cultural policy mainly throughout economical arguments.

In this thesis I explore the debate on surveillance in Swedishnewspapers that preceded the FRA law. The development ininformation technology has made it possible to monitor society toa greater extent than before. It is therefore interesting andimportant to explore a debate preceding a controversial law onsurveillance. The primary purpose of this thesis is to add to abetter understanding of how such a law was discussed in Swedishnewspapers and the relationship between idea and ideology in thisdebate. To answer these questions I explore the newspaper debateby using Isaiah Berlins notions of liberty, positive and negativeliberty. By using Berlins text I manage to distinguish two mainthemes of liberty in the debate, freedom to privacy and freedomfrom foreign threats.The main findings of my study are the absence of arguments thatsupport the implementation of the FRA law. I come to theconclusion that the Swedish government felt it was of greatimportance to implement the FRA law for reasons they could notexpress in the debate. This resulted in that liberal politicians votedagainst their own beliefs in order to implement a law they felt wasimportant for other reasons. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The main purpose of this Master’s thesis is to analyse the portrayals of working-class life in a selection of works by the Swedish authors Ragnar Järhult and Per Gunnar Evander. The research questions are: * How is the working conditions described?* What political messages can be found in the works?* What image of the class society is shown?The second aim of this Master’s thesis is to analyse the concept of working-class literature and to investigate if the works of Per Gunnar Evander could be seen as working-class literature. Methodologically, the study draws on established theories, concepts and methods from the sociology of literature and the history of ideas. The core analytical concepts are ”social class” and ”working class literature”. This study shows that there are several similarities between the works of Järhult and Evander, especially in the criticism against the working conditions for the workers at papermills and tileworks. Evander is not normally seen as a working-class author but this study points out that the selected works from both the authors should be seen as working-class literature. The discussion on the concept of working-class literature reveals that it is difficult to find a perfect definition concerning the working-class literature. Every definition seems to be vague and that can either be seen as a weakness or strength. I like to see the broad description of working-class literature as something positive because a wide-ranging definition makes it possible to collect all the different aims and trends under one concept. Working-class literature should be seen as a broad literary current, not as a genre sharply marked off from its surroundings. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This Master’s thesis explores three contemporary Swedish poets’ – Lars Mikael Raattamaa, Anna Hallberg and Johan Jönson – understanding of their work as a political activity. By using Jonathan Culler’s theory on literary competence and literary conventions as a theoretical tool for an idea analysis, the three poets' arguments for or against certain literary techniques, and their ideas about readers and reading, are explored and discussed. In what ways are established literary methods questioned by the three poets? In what ways are established theories on readers and reading questioned? In what way can their poetic work be regarded as political? As a background, the debate about poetry in Swedish newspapers and literary magazines is presented, as well as the common focus on readers and reading in social sciences and in humanities and arts. The trend is to interpret the reader as active and creative. Following this trend, and surpassing it, the three Swedish poets challenges established literary techniques and established theories on readers and reading. The ideas of the three poets can be summarized as follows: The poet must be very conscious about different literary techniques and their effects. Poetry and literature must not be written in ways that is hierarchic or undemocratic. That is: literary competence is actually not important. The meaning of the poem or the text is in the mind of the reader, not in the mind of the poet or the writer. The poets aim and goal must be to write a kind of poetry that is accessible to all people, unregarded literary competence or such things as literary conventions. / Uppsatsnivå: D

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