Should libraries first and foremost be a source of free informationwhere the citizens can find whatever information they want, or dothe librarians have a responsibility for what kind of works theypresent to people on their shelves? A wild debate broke out inSwedish media in September 2012, after the artistic leader ofKulturhuset in Stockholm; Behrang Miri decided to weed out allthe Tintin albums from the children´s library Tiotretton. Hewanted to start a debate on stereotypes in children´s fiction, andwhat damage they do to children who face them. The purpose ofthe thesis is to carry out a discourse analysis of this media debate,and to identify the different views that are expressed on thedemocratic mission of the libraries, what media they shouldpresent. The method and theory is based on the discourse theory ofErnesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and their concepts are used toarrange the analysis around certain themes that build up twodifferent discourses; “Freedom of information discourse” and the“Weeding out discourse”.The two main questions are: What views of the public librariesselection of works are expressed in the Tintin debate in Tiotretton,and how do the views relate to each other? What concepts arespecific for the debate, and what meanings do they get in thesedifferent views?In the concluding chapter I discuss which consequences theseopposing opinions can have for the future selection processes ofthe library. / Program: Bibliotekarie

Denna studie fokuserar på yrkeskunnandet på Barn - och fritidsprogrammet, ett av gymnasieskolansyrkesprogram. Programmet utbildar till yrken inom pedagogiska och sociala yrkesområden samtinom fritids- och friskvårdssektorn och har yrkesutgångar som väktare, personlig assistent,elevassistent, personlig tränare, barnskötare och personal inom boende för personer medfunktionsnedsättning. Eleverna uppmanas att skaffa sig både en yrkesexamen ochhögskolebehörighet.Inom en socialkonstruktionistisk ram och med en diskursteoretisk ansats studeras huryrkeskunnande konstrueras. Studiens empiri utgörs av styrdokument, informationsmaterial ochgymnasieskolors hemsidor. Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för yrkeskunnandet på nyaBarn - och fritidsprogrammet. Med en diskursteoretisk ansats studeras den bild som de olikaaktörerna ger av yrkeskunnandet på programmet. Studieobjektet är inte programmets egentligainnehåll utan den bild som konstrueras i det empiriska materialet. I tolknings- och analysarbetetframträder flera diskurser som alla har olika stor betydelse och som får varierat utrymme.Hälsodiskursen och ledarskapsdiskursen är de som framträder tydligast. Andra diskurser som görsig gällande är demokratidiskursen, samverkansdiskursen och identitetsdiskursen. En viktig faktorsom hela tiden är central är arbetsmarknaden som i tolkningsarbetet framträder som en nodalpunkt.

This thesis examines the Swedish Democrats relationship to an islamophobic worldview. The party developed from the racist party Bevara Sverige Svenskt (Keep Sweden Swedish) and is today the third largest party in Sweden, which gives them a powerful position in the society. It is therefore important to investigate their view on minorities, and in this case Muslims. In this thesis I examine the Swedish Democrat’s material during the election campaign the years of 2006, 2010 and 2014 using Ernesto Laclau’s and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory. This theory makes it possible to examine implicit and explicit relationships an islamophobic worldview and provides the tools to relate it to a greater context. The research questions of this thesis are how the Swedish Democrats fixate the meaning of the words Muslim, Swedish and culture, as well as how the election material differs between the years. The conclusions suggests that the Swedish Democrats produce a islamophobic worldview by picturing Muslims as a monolithic mass and articulate an antagonism between West and East, we and the Other. The islamophobic worldview produced by the Swedish Democrats is not only a Swedish phenomenon but also a part of a Western islamophobia industry, which is common to Radical Right-wing parties in Europe.

No description available.

Svenska värderingar har blivit en mycket välanvänd politisk term under de senaste åren, i allt från debatter och uttalanden i media till offentligt tryck. Jag vill med hjälp av Laclau och Mouffes diskursteori analysera hur begreppet svenska värderingar konstrueras i politisk debatt, hur detta påverkar subjekten och hur begreppets aktualitet kan förklaras. De texter jag analyserat är uttalanden från Stefan Löfven, Anna Kinberg Batra och Jimmie Åkesson. Resultatet visar att svenska värderingars aktualitet förklaras med bakgrund i flyktingkrisen, medias bevakning och diskursens påverkan på väljare. Alla partiledare ger uttryck för en övergripande dikotomidiskurs där det "svenska" ställs i motsats till det "icke-svenska". De subjektspositioner som konstrueras i det politiska talet, och tillskrivs de som ses som "icke-svenska", påverkar hur dessa människor förstår sig själv och hur de förstås av andra. I partiledarnas olika diskurser går det att utläsa både skillnader och likheter, vilket konstruerar svenska värderingar på delvis olika sätt. Det uppstår hegemoniska drag i bl.a. hur svenska värderingar konstrueras som under hot, vilket jag tillskriver kulturdiskursens övertag i den diskursiva kampen. Svenska värderingar uttrycks som ett komplext begrepp som artikuleras på flertalet olika sätt.

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus in Sweden on the library as a “public room” - a public space open to all. In light of this, the aim of this thesis were to explore existing discourses in the Swedish library-field surrounding users who use the libraries primarily in this capacity, i.e. users who use the libraries public open spaces without necessarily accessing in the library's other functions. The following research questions was formulated: How are users of the libraries public room categorised? What notions of the users are expressed in these categorizations? What discourses can be linked to these notions? How do the discourses relate to each other? To answer the research questions sixty-seven articles in three publications aimed at library professionals (Biblioteksbladet, Bibliotek i samhället and Framsidan) were analyzed. Using Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory and Hedemark and Hedman's (2002) four-step analytical model for discourse analysis, four discourses were identified: (1) educational, (2) democratic, (3) norm-critical, (4) market economy. The discourses, except the market-economy discourse, outlined democratic aims for the user's stay in the public room. The educational discourse aimed at fostering the user's ability to reason and function in society, the democratic discourse aimed at empowering the user while the norm-critical discourse aimed at enhance the user's ability to improve societal equality. The thesis concludes that there might exist disparities between how the library-field and the user attributes meaning to the concept “public room” and that further research is needed to define the concept.

The rapid rise of alternative organisations such as social enterprises is largely due to the promotional activities of intermediary organisations. So far, little is known about the affective nature of such activities. The present article thus investigates how intermediary organisations make social entrepreneurship palatable for a broader audience by establishing it as an object of desire. Drawing on affect-oriented extensions of Laclau and Mouffe's poststructuralist theory, hegemonisation is suggested as a way of understanding how social entrepreneurship is articulated through a complementary process of signification and affective investment. Specifically, by examining Austrian intermediaries, we show how social entrepreneurship is endowed with a sense of affective thrust that is based on three interlocking dynamics: the articulation of fantasies such as 'inclusive exclusiveness', 'large-scale social change' and 'pragmatic solutions'; the repression of anxiety-provoking and contentious issues (constitutive quiescences); as well as the use of conceptually vague, floating signifiers (moments of indeterminacy). Demonstrating that the hegemonisation of social entrepreneurship involves articulating certain issues whilst, at the same time, omitting others, or rendering them elusive, the article invites a counter-hegemonic critique of social entrepreneurship, and, on a more general level, of alternative forms of organising, that embraces affect as a driving force of change, while simultaneously affirming the impossibility of harmony and wholeness.

The aim of this thesis is to deepen our knowledge about the value of the Swedish Public Library as expressed in the local press during the corona pandemic. The empirical material consists of 54 articles published in December 2020 and January 2021. Debates and discourses regarding the public library are analyzed with Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory and Åse Hedemarks formulated library discourses. The study finds that Hedemarks discourses all appear to various extent. The book discourse and the community centre discourses are more visible yet the information mediation discourse is also notable. The complexity of the Public Library is further highlighed during a period when access to the physical library space is limited. The meeting place is a common way to describe the library and a function that, at the time of the study, was unavalible. The findings show that the concept is not clearly defined or fixed in one specific discourse and therefore concludes that the Public Library is far more than a meeting place and serves many purposes.

This study aims to problematize racialized and sexualized discursive constructions of the"immigrant" within the political conversation in Sweden. Discursive constructions of the“immigrant” often depict the “immigrant” through words such as "child marriage", "rape" orother implied meanings of patriarchal gender relations. Thus, the discursive constructions of"immigrants" construct and reproduce both racialized and sexualized images of the"immigrant". These depictions are problematic especially when they, as categories, becomefixed or are used to legitimize oppression. The empirical material, that consists ofparliamentary debates november and december 2015 as well as march and april 2022, isstudied through an application of discourse theory as well as a collection of postcolonial andfeminist theories about how sexualization and racialization are produced and reproduceddiscursively. The study concludes that the "immigrant" is often depicted through aEurocentric perspective as “the other” in relation to the west. These constructions of “us” and“them” are often based upon racialized and sexualized constructions of the “immigrant”.These findings align with the previous studies within the field. The main contribution of thisstudy is an empirically proven connection between discursive constructions of the"immigrant" and racialized and sexualized representations of them.

Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka den svenska debatten omsurrogatmödraskap där metod och teori utgörs av diskursanalys. Det textmaterialjag valt att undersöka består av tre artiklar med medföljande kommentarer från desvenska tidsskrifterna Bang och Ottar. Debatten om surrogatmödraskap i Sverigeär polariserad, antingen är man för eller så är man mot. Mitt syfte med dennauppsats är att redogöra för och analysera de argument och föreställningar somkommer till uttryck inom dessa två motsatta positioner. Min teoretiskautgångspunkt är Laclau & Mouffes diskursteori. Denna teori utgörs av begreppsåsom nodalpunkter och ekvivalenskedjor. I mitt material har jag kunnat urskiljatre centrala nodalpunkter. Dessa är kvinnans kropp, barn och mänsklig rättighet.Beroende på position har jag kunnat urskilja olika former av ekvivalenskedjorknutna till dessa tre nodalpunkter. I positionen mot surrogatmödraskap har jagkunnat urskilja ekvivalenskedjor vilka består av begrepp såsom exploaterande,biologism, handelsvara och moderskap. Medan jag i positionen som är för harkunnat urskilja begrepp såsom frivillighet, självbestämmande, efterlängtade ochsocialt föräldraskap. I mitt avslutande kapitel problematiserar jag dessa tvåpositioners föreställningar av surrogatmödraskap utifrån ettsocialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv. Här menar jag på att motsidan i allt för höggrad ser människan som endast en biologisk varelse och bortser ifrån attmänniskan även konstrueras i en kulturell kontext. Försidan kan i sin tur kritiserasför att utgå ifrån att alla människor oavsett kön och etnicitet har lika möjligheter.Avslutningsvis finner jag det intressant, utifrån ett diskursanalytiskt perspektiv, attförsidan vill använda ordet värdmamma istället för surrogatmamma. / The present study is a discourse analysis of the surrogate motherhood debate inSweden analyzing three articles with supplied comments from Internet of theSwedish magazines Bang and Ottar. The debate of surrogate motherhood inSweden is characterized by polarization, with strong pro- and con-positions. Theoverall objective is to analyze the arguments and conceptions that are constructedin these two opposing positions. The combined theory and method applied isErnesto Laclau & Chantal Mouffe's discourse theory. In this theory, concepts likenodal points and chains of equivalence are dominant. Three nodal points areidentified in the analysis: women´s body, children's and human right. Dependingon the position, I have found different kinds of chains of eqvivalence that areconstructed in relation to these nodal points. In the position against surrogatemotherhood I found chains of equivalence that was constructed in relation toconcepts like exploitation, commodification, biologism and motherhood. In theother position I discerned chains of equivalence which consisted of concepts likevoluntary, self-determination, longed-for and social parenting. The discourseanalysis applied is in turn, based on a social constructionist view and in the finalchapter I examine how these constructions, that I have discern in the empiricialmaterial, can be problematized. I argue that the con-position can be critizised fordescribing women as biological beeings and disregard that humans also arecultural beeings. The pro-positions in turn can be critizised for assuming that allpeople regardless of gender and ethnicity, have equal opportunities. From adiscourse analysis perspective, it is interesting to note that the pro-position forsurrogate motherhood suggests the word “host motherhood” instead of surrogatemotherhood.