<p>The purpose of this investigation is to examine the extent to which Swedish compulsory school tends to rely upon, and to further reinforce, ideologies that from a theoretical platform of deep ecology can be identified as “ecologically unsustainable conceptions of reality”. Mainly, this will purport to an examination of the (explicit as well as implicit) prevalence of anthropocenthrism, individualism, ethnocenthrism and rationalism in a) the Swedish National Curriculum; and in b) biology text books. Methodologically, the study makes use of Fairclough´s approach to, and method for, critical discourse analysis (CDA). The main results are that the National Curriculum indeed expresses a high level of individualism, as well as (although to a lesser extent) traces of rationalism and ethnocenthrism. Also, the environmental ethics that are supported in biology text books are interpreted to be heavily influenced by an anthropocentric world view.</p> / <p>Det övergripande syftet med denna studie är att undersöka i vilken utsträckning det svenska obligatoriska skolväsendet bygger på, och i förlängningen reproducerar, vad man utifrån ekofilosofisk analys kan identifiera som en ”ekologiskt ohållbar verklighetsuppfattning” – vilket i första hand innebär en närvaro av ideologier som antropocentrism, individualism, etnocentrism samt rationalism. Den centrala problemställningen syftar därmed till att undersöka i vilken grad dessa ideologier är implicit och/eller explicit närvarande i a) grundskolans lagstadgade värdegrund (som den uttrycks i läroplanen Lpo 94) samt i b) grundskolans läromedel i ämnet biologi. För att analysera dessa auktoritativa texter använder undersökningen sig av Faircloughs metod för kritisk diskursanalys (CDA). Resultatet av analysen anses ge stöd för tolkningen att a) grundskolans värdegrund, som den formuleras diskursivt i läroplanen Lpo 94, i hög grad genomsyras av en individualistisk ideologi; och i mindre grad även ger uttryck för rationalism och etnocentrism; samt b) att den miljöetik som läromedlen i biologi ger uttryck för huvudsakligen domineras av en antropocentrisk världsbild.</p>

<p>Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this essay is to see how the media, through the newspaper, "Vi föräldrar”, produces family and parental roles, and to investigate how the image changed over time.</p><p>Material/Method: The material consists of a number of selected texts from the years 1968, 1988 and 2008. The method used is a discourse analysis based on the three level model by Norman Fairclough. The three levels are the text, the discourse practise and the sociocultural practise. In this study two of the levels, text and sociocultural practise, are used in analysing the texts.</p><p>Main results: Family and parenting in the texts from 1968 can be linked to the structural functionalist theory in which the core family is central and women and men are assigned to specific roles. I have chosen to call the contents of the texts of 1968 a "core family discourse." The feminist approach has influenced the content in the texts from 1988 which I call a “gender discourse”. The individualization of the late modern period has resulted in freedom for the individual without specific gender roles or traditional family frameworks, which are evident in the texts from 2008. I have therefore chosen to refer to the 2008 texts as a "lifestyle discourse".</p>

<p>Abstract</p><p>Purpose/Aim: To study how Piratbyrån argues for a free distribution of information and culture products and to find a possible ideological explanation for their argumentation.</p><p>Method/Material: I have used a rhetorical analysis to study and describe Piratbyrån´s website, a website that promotes free distribution of information and culture products. I have done so to find out how Piratbyrån argues for a free distribution and to find out what ideological foundation their argumentation is based on.</p><p>Main results: The main results of the study show that Piratbyrån uses a variety of rhetorical techniques depending on the subject and purpose of the analyzed text. Their main arguments both promote their own thesis and argue against the copyright industry. The main part of the argumentation is based on logical and factual arguments, but parts of it also rely on an emotional appeal to the reader’s heart in order to persuade. The analysis also showed great similarities between Piratbyrån´s argumentation and the ideology that Siva Vaidhyanathan describes as information anarchy. An ideology that promotes free distribution of information and culture products, that relies on decentralized systems and nonhierarchical structures and is a result of the technological development such as digitalization and peer-to-peer networks.</p><p>Keywords: Rhetoric, technology, file sharing, digitalization, network, ideology, anarchy, oligarchy, copyright, website</p>

American diplomatic historian’s consideration of the role of ideology in the formation of American foreign policy has only recently begun to receive more attention. Traditional focuses on economics and relations among great nation-states have predominated the historical literature. This work examines the powerful effect that ideology, particularly race and anti-communism, played in developing the U.S.’s relationship with a small power nation-state, Australia, between 1933 and 1953. This work is comparative in nature, relying on archival research in both American and Australian archives and examines the attitudes of both elite policymakers as well as common individuals in shaping the alliance between the two states. Theoretically, this work draws upon theories about whiteness that historians such as Theodore Allen and Matthew Frye Jacobson have formulated over the past twenty years. This dissertation concludes that a commitment to an ideology of race and anticommunism played a central role in the development of the American – Australian alliance contrary to standard historical interpretations that have placed economics or pragmatic national security interests at the center of the bond between the two states. The outcomes of this study offer new insights into the nature of alliance building by the U.S. in the twentieth century as well as a how ideology effects coalition warfare.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity International University, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-120).

Although it is accepted that Phoenician colonization occurred on Sardinia by the 9th century B.C., it is possible that contact between Sardinia‟s indigenous population and the Levantine region occurred in the Late Bronze Age (LBA). Eastern LBA goods found on the island are copper oxhide ingots and Aegean pottery. Previously, it has been suggested that Mycenaeans were responsible for bringing the eastern goods to Sardinia, but the presence of Aegean pottery shards does not confirm the presence of Mycenaean tradesmen. Also, scholars of LBA trade have explained the paucity of evidence for a Mycenaean merchant fleet. Interpretations of two LBA shipwrecks, Cape Gelidonya and Uluburun, indicate that eastern Mediterranean merchants of Cypriot or Syro-Canaanite origin, transported large quantities of oxhide ingots from the Levant towards the west. It remains possible that similar itinerant merchants conducted ventures bringing eastern goods to Sardinia while exploring the western Mediterranean. Trade in eastern goods may have stimulated the advancement that occurred in Nuragic culture in the LBA, resulting in the emergence of an elite social stratum in the Nuragic society. Archaeological evidence, such as elitist burials and increasingly complex architecture, supports the idea of cultural change due to internal competition. This „peer-polity‟ effect may have been incited because of limited accessibility to the exotic eastern goods and the „ownership‟ to the rights of this exchange.

Im Zuge der Diskussionen um den Irakkrieg 2003 oder den Einsatz des israelischen Militärs gegen die Hisbollah 2006 konnte beobachtet werden, dass sich die extreme Linke stärker denn je dem politischen Islam angenährt hat. Zwar gab es bereits in den 1970ern Kooperationen linker und palästinensischer Terroristen, jedoch lässt sich festhalten, dass sich der Diskurs in Teilen der Linken (vor allem im „antizionistischen“, „antiimperialistischen“ Spektrum) ebenso wie bei den vormals eher säkular ausgerichteten arabischen Extremisten „islamisiert“ hat. Auf der anderen Seite finden sich im „islamischen Widerstand“ verschiedene Vokabeln und Denkfiguren wieder, die aus der „antiimperialistischen“ Rhetorik der Linken bekannt sind. Trotz dieser Auffälligkeiten gab es bislang nur wenige Versuche, die extreme Linke (teilweise auch die extreme Rechte) in Verbindung mit dem salafistischen Islamismus zu bringen. Der Islamismus gilt hierbei dann oftmals als „dritter Totalitarismus“ oder „Islamofaschismus“, der die Riege totalitärer Ordnungsvorstellungen von Marxismus-Leninismus und Faschismus/Nationalsozialismus um eine weitere Spielart erweitert. In der Regel erfolgt diese Einordnung und Bewertung jedoch im Rahmen politischer Kommentare oder Essays und ohne tiefer gehende theoretische Betrachtung. Arbeiten, die sich – meist aus Perspektive des bundesdeutschen Verfassungsschutzes – mit möglichen Querfrontbestrebungen beschäftigen, gleichen das theoretische Manko zwar teilweise aus, gleichzeitig jedoch entbehren sie einer tiefer greifenden Analyse der ideologischen Basis der betrachteten Extremismen und verharren bei den oberflächlich zu erkennenden Feinbildern der jeweiligen Strömungen als Vergleichsmaßstab. Die Arbeit schließt diese Lücke, indem sie in vergleichender qualitativer Betrachtung ideologische Schnittstellen zwischen der extremen Linken und dem salafistischen Islamismus untersucht. Den ideologischen Konstrukten kommt dabei eine wesentliche Rolle zu. Weltanschauliche Grundannahmen beeinflussen die Wahrnehmung der Umwelt und der eigenen Rolle innerhalb derselben; erst ihre Bindungskraft schafft einen Ordnungsrahmen, anhand dessen sich Gleichgesinnte zu einer Gruppe zusammenschließen können, um gemeinsame Ziele zu verfolgen. Diese Erkenntnis hat sich auch in konstruktivistischen Erklärungsansätzen internationaler Politik niedergeschlagen und beschränkt sich nicht nur auf die klassischen Akteure im internationalen System – die Nationalstaaten. Auch nichtstaatliche Akteure wie eben die Protagonisten des internationalen Terrorismus lassen sich auf diese Weise erfassen. In der Untersuchung wird nach einleitenden Begriffserklärungen und Ausführungen zur angewandten Methodik zunächst eine idealtypische extreme Linke konstruiert, deren spezifische Ziele, Feindbilder etc. (Primärebene) und Vorstellungen über den Weg zum Erreichen dieser Ziele (Sekundärebene) die Analysekategorie für den nächsten Untersuchungsschritt bilden. In diesem werden Quellen des Salafismus inhaltsanalytisch untersucht und so ideologische Schnittstellen aufgezeigt. Hierbei werden Sayyid Qutbs „Milestones“, Ayman az-Zawahiris „Knights under the Prophet’s Banner“ sowie verschiedene Botschaften Usama Bin Ladins als Quellenmaterial herangezogen. Der Fokus der Untersuchung liegt auf dem „al-Qa’idaismus“ als derzeit offensichtlichste Ausprägung eines weltweiten islamistischen Terrorismus. Ausgehend von der idealtypischen Linken werden dabei nicht nur Schnittmengen auf der Sekundärebene oder hinsichtlich gemeinsamer Feindbilder (Antisemitismus, Antiamerikanismus, Antikapitalismus) festgestellt, wie dies bereits von anderen Autoren teilweise vorgenommen wurde. Vielmehr finden sich auch bei der positiven Zielbestimmung zumindest deklaratorische Gemeinsamkeiten, wenn etwa auch im Islamismus eine „herrschaftsfreie Gesellschaft“ verwirklicht werden soll und das Ziel der Gleichheit aller Menschen propagiert wird. Abschließend wird die Frage diskutiert, ob sich aus den Ergebnissen neue Erkenntnisse hinsichtlich einer möglichen „Querfrontbildung“ zwischen der extremen Linken und dem Islamismus ergeben. Insbesondere durch Bin Ladin gab es bereits mehrfach Versuche, auch nicht-islamistische Kräfte für seinen Kampf zu gewinnen. Auch bei der extremen Linken finden sich Stimmen, die im Islamismus und seiner Betonung des Religiösen lediglich ein Überbleibsel alter Strukturen erkennen, die nach erfolgreichem antiimperialistischem Kampf verschwinden werden. Dass positive Zielbestimmungen geteilt werden, lässt eine Querfrontbildung zumindest von Teilen des linksextremen und islamistischen Spektrums möglich erscheinen. In dem Maße, in dem sich der „al-Qa’idaismus“ im Sinne des Modells der „Leaderless Resistance“ entwickelt, können sich auch einzelne Linksextremisten zu Solidaritätsaktionen ermutigt fühlen. / While the ideological threat by al-Qa’ida and other Islamist groups has been compared to Fascism before, comparisons with the extreme Left have been made rather seldom, despite the fact, that within the extreme Left there are noticeable trends to express solidarity with Islamists and their “anti-imperialist” struggle. At the same time, the rhetoric of leading figures of “al-Qa’idaism” borrows heavily from the social revolutionary vocabulary of the Left. This work compares key ideological premises of the extreme Left with those of Islamic fundamentalism, exemplified by Usama Bin Ladins al-Qa’ida, and derived from a content analysis of various sources of Islamism (Sayyid Qutb’s “Milestones”, Ayman az-Zawahiri’s “Knights under the Prophet’s Banner” as well as various messages by Usama Bin Ladin). Both ideologies are considered to be “resistance identities” (Castells), directed at the perceived dominance of liberal capitalism and globalization. Both propagate a pre-modern model for the organization of society, they believe to be tainted by modernism. As the first step in this approach, an ideal model of the extreme Left is constructed, trying to incorporate its various shapes into a single model. The goals and enemies (primary characteristics) as well as the proposed ways and means in order to achieve these goals (secondary characteristics) are then used in a content analysis of the sources on Islamism. While previous authors have found various convergences on the secondary level as well as common enemies, so far common goals beyond the immediate victory over the United States, Israel or capitalism have been dismissed as unlikely. This is explained by obvious differences between Islamists and leftists concerning the role of women in society or the importance of religion. However, a more thorough comparison of the two ideologies shows that, despite these differences, Islamists as well as Leftists propagate a societal model based on cooperation, without recourse to man-made laws or any form of government. This positively defined utopia could serve as a rationale for cooperation between leftist extremists and Islamists stretching beyond the “common enemy”. Already, members of the extreme Left have explained the popularity of Islamism within the Islamic world with the Marxian term of “opiate for the masses”, thus expressing belief that as soon as “repression” and “exploitation” of the Third World have ended, the need for religion will vanish. In this point of view, differences about the role of religion could be defused. The more “al-Qa’idaism” is transforming into a form of leaderless resistance, individual terrorist acts committed by Leftist extremist in “solidarity” with the “Islamic masses” could occur.

Over recent decades several competing descriptions of the media and cultural industries have been put forward. The media and cultural industries have been described as creative industries, copyright industries, and as constitutive of an experience economy. One key element in these descriptions has been the importance of copyright law in a postindustrial economy. The present study is an analysis of an emerging idea of an industry that functions, in part, outside of the market created by copyright law, and by exploiting, or by building markets on top of, digital, cultural and informational commons. The study is about how this idea is expressed in various forms by business organisations, companies, consultants and policymakers. I have invented the concept of the openness industry to denote the businesses that these organisations and policy makers claim are forerunners and promoters of the idea of ‘openness’ as a business model for the media industry. The purpose of the thesis is to analyse the governmentality and ideology of the openness industry. A key element in the idea of the openness industry is that internet users can be persuaded to produce symbolic products for it by other means than the economic incentives provided by copyright. Another key element is the high value placed on single individuals in the creation of economic value; but in contrast to how the copyright industries are thought to be dependent on ‘authors’, the openness industry relies on the ‘entrepreneur’. Previous notions of the media and cultural industries have given publishers and producers of film, music and games a central role.The companies that are seminal to the idea of the openness industry are internet and technology companies.

This essay is concerned with two explanations of why oppressive social orders persist. According to the first, the so-called gunman theory of oppression (GT), these social orders persist because the oppressed are afraid being punished if they participated in a revolt. According to the second, the so-called ideology theory of oppression (IT), oppression persists because the oppressed are subject to ideology. Traditionally, the former has been associated with rational choice theory, and the latter with Marxism and critical theory. Analytical philosophers have been suspicious of IT since it involves functional claims. This essay shows that it is possible to make sense of both IT and its associated functional claim within the framework of rational choice theory. Chapter one provides an overview of the discussion and a presentation of the general argument against IT. Chapter two specifies the explanandum for the two theories in more detail. The chapter concludes with a description of three real-life persistent oppressive social orders. In chapter three, the basics of rational choice theory are introduced and GT spelled out. Some problems for the theory are identified and then dealt with. It is concluded that GT does a good job at explaining the persistence of tyrannies. Chapter four argues that ideology is necessary to provide satisfactory explanations of the other two cases of oppression described in chapter two. The chapter concludes with a specification of IT where the functional claim is made explicit. Chapter five defends Gerald Cohen's account of functional explanations against a dilemma formulated by Ann Cudd. In chapter six, three mechanisms are provided that indicate how the functional claim of IT can be demystified. Chapter seven concludes by indicating a statistical method for testing IT and describing some policy implications. / EXPLANATIONS OF REPRESSION BY A MINORITY OF THE MAJORITY — A RESEARCH PROGRAM

Abstract Purpose/Aim: To study how Piratbyrån argues for a free distribution of information and culture products and to find a possible ideological explanation for their argumentation. Method/Material: I have used a rhetorical analysis to study and describe Piratbyrån´s website, a website that promotes free distribution of information and culture products. I have done so to find out how Piratbyrån argues for a free distribution and to find out what ideological foundation their argumentation is based on. Main results: The main results of the study show that Piratbyrån uses a variety of rhetorical techniques depending on the subject and purpose of the analyzed text. Their main arguments both promote their own thesis and argue against the copyright industry. The main part of the argumentation is based on logical and factual arguments, but parts of it also rely on an emotional appeal to the reader’s heart in order to persuade. The analysis also showed great similarities between Piratbyrån´s argumentation and the ideology that Siva Vaidhyanathan describes as information anarchy. An ideology that promotes free distribution of information and culture products, that relies on decentralized systems and nonhierarchical structures and is a result of the technological development such as digitalization and peer-to-peer networks. Keywords: Rhetoric, technology, file sharing, digitalization, network, ideology, anarchy, oligarchy, copyright, website