The aim of this Masters´ thesis is to examine parenthood, gender and equality. The analysis is based on the novel Bitterfittan. The primary theoretical points of departure are Judith Butler’s theory about doing gender and Yvonne Hirdman’s theory about the gender system, the hierarchical order and the separation of the sexes. I use Lisbeth Bekkengen’s thesis in which the nuclear family is seen as an institution which is upheld by two structures; that is the social relationships man-woman and parent-child, and also by two discourses; on the one hand a notion that fathers and mothers are principally different and on the other hand the child focus. Part of the theoretical frame work of this Master’s thesis are also Carin Holmberg’s theory about the asymmetrical role taking among couples and Anna G. Jónasdóttir’s theory about the distribution of love power in relationships. My method of analysis is text-based in which I have constructed three different models based on 1) analysis of ideas, 2) the nuclear family and 3) the asymmetrical role taking and love power. This study shows that parenthood is structured around notions of what a mother and a father is. My conclusion is that if you are willing to question your way of doing parenthood and gender and if you discuss and argue these issues with your partner it will be possible to reveal hidden social mechanisms which uphold the asymmetry of power in parenthood. This will then lead to resistance against society’s gender power structures.

The purpose of this master thesis is to examine how the relationship between humans and nature is expressed in the imaginative literature. My aim is to identify ideological reproductions in the analyzed works. Therefore I have chosen one work from late 19th century and one from late 20th century. This makes it possible to examine the contextual anchorage of the found ideological expressions. The study’s theoretical framework is primarily based on ecocriticism, and especially on Greg Garrard’s and Kate Soper’s thoughts. The method used is critical ideology analysis. The result shows that nature and culture is paradoxical and highly ideological conceptions. In The story of Gösta Berling, an anthropocentric and religiously oriented notion of nature is dominating, though there are some elements of an early deep ecology to be found. In Blackwater we can see a more rational and objective notion of nature as dominating, even if we sometimes can see a shallow romanticism of nature expressed by the characters, where also some groups of humans that are considered to be “closer to nature” is romanticized (for example minority groups). This is explained by the works historical contexts, where The story of Gösta Berling is written in a time of early modernism, where nature is not fully conquered, and therefore seen as mystical and sometimes as a threat to humans. Blackwater was written in a postmodern time where nature is demystified and fully conquered, and strictly speaking no “pure” and untouched nature is left to be found anymore.

The aim of this master thesis is to examine how female identity is formed in two novels and two short stories from the 1880’s. As a framework we rely on the method outlined by Pierre Bourdieu when he approaches the cultural and social worlds through the concept of fields. To understand the female position during that time we use Michel Foucault’s work about the history of sex, Thomas Laqueur’s theories about the rise of sexes and Karin Johannisson’s study about the exploration of the dark continent (i.e. women) during the 19th century. The concept of gender and identity is based on theories by Judith Butler and Ervin Goffman who describes them as processes rather than entities “doings” rather than “beings”. Our main question is to find out how female identities are formed in four literary works from the 1880’s. To approach our material we use ideal analysis and ideal types developed on the basis of Efrat Tseëlon’s studies about five paradoxes that circumscribe the concept “woman” through history. The objects of investigation are the novels Fru Marianne and Berta Funcke and the short stories Ur mörkret and Pyrrhussegrar written by Victoria Benedictsson and Mathilda Malling. Our conclusions reveals that the female identities in the works observed by us is formed under strong impact of several paradoxes that surrounds the conception of “woman” and we can see the protagonists struggle against those conceptions trying to find a possible way of existence. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to examine how The Trilogy of Pippi Longstocking, written by the author Astrid Lindgren, has been received by the critics in the Swedish daily press. A second aim is to examine how the critics could be of importance for the consecration of Pippi as a literary character. The study is mainly based on reviews from the daily press with nationwide coverage. The theoretical framework consists of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of the literary field, and the method of the reviews is a qualitative text analysis. The literary character, Pippi Longstocking, and the new current in children’s literature are explained through the Russian literary scholar Michael Bachtin’s carnival theory. Based on the study our conclusions are that a female network was very important for the consecration of Pippi, as well as for the good criticism. The author, Astrid Lindgren, was herself essential for the consecration in her role as children’s books publishing editor at Rabén & Sjögren, where her own books were published. Bonnier’s rejection of the first manuscript of Pippi Longstocking played a major role for the consecration. As a consequence of the rejection Astrid Lindgren decided to change her character to a better behaved girl than the original. It is our conclusion that this change of character was of great importance for the consecration since that was the foundation for Pippi’s establishment as a classic literary figure. The study also shows that beside the female network there where a few men who became significant for the consecration. Their contribution consisted of bringing other perspectives and views to the literary character which gave rise to a big national and general debate on children, children’s upbringing, education and ethics. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate the descriptions of characters and settings in four autobiographies. The main question is: What picture of women and men, of the West and the Orient do these books provide? To answer this question we have formed three sub questions, which are: In what ways are main and minor characters described? In what ways are the key settings, and the Western and Oriental societies described? Which themes are dealt with, and from what points of departure? The theoretical framework is based on a postcolonial theoretical perspective, where the concept of binary opposites and Edward W. Said’s ideas about orientalism are crucial. The method used is a textual analysis. To analyze the material, a number of analysis questions were designed with the main question, and its sub questions, as a basis. The result shows that descriptions of characters and settings have dramaturgic functions of forming a background to the story. Accordingly, the same features may be described in either negative or positive terms, due to what aspect of the story the book currently deals with. The conclusion suggests that colonial stereotypes are evident today in popular literature, such as these autobiographies, in fact, they are even stronger than they used to be. / Uppsatsnivå: D

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

Swedish studies concerning children’s reading habits show that detective stories have become more popular in recent years. The aim of this bachelor’s thesis is to examine how the gender system is described in four detective stories written for children at the age of 9 to 13 years. Our main question is: How is the gender system reflected in the four selected detective stories for children? We also pose the question: How are femininity and masculinity described? Our study is based on three theories. First, Yvonne Hirdman’s theory about the gender system, primarily the two basic principles: the logic of the separation of the sexes, the dichotomy, and the logic of the male norm, the hierarchy. Secondly, the theory that claims literature to be a reflection of society, presented by the Sociology of Literature. And finally, Maria Nikolajeva’s theory that the sexes are described as opposites in literature. Our used method is text analysis. We have constructed several analysing questions that we have applied to the texts. Our results are not unambiguous; we can observe a lot of stereotype gender patterns but also more equal descriptions when it comes to the dichotomy, the hierarchy and the descriptions of femininity and masculinity. A conclusion that might be drawn is that literature is a reflection of the society where the consciousness of gender issues has increased. / Uppsatsnivå: C

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

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine values expressed towards the Swedish literary award Augustpriset in a selection of articles from Swedish newspapers published between the years 2000-2007. The questions posed in the study are: What types of values concerning Augustpriset are expressed in a selection of cultural journalistic articles? How is the relationship between intellectual culture and commercial culture reflected in the articles? How are positive and negative standpoints justified? How can Augustpriset and the journalists be understood as parts of intraconversion on the literary field? The study’s qualitative textual analysis is theoretically based on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of the literary field. The method used for analysing the articles is idea analysis using dimensions constructed from Bourdieu’s description of two polarities, the intellectual and the commercial, of the literary field. Also used as a theoretical tool is John F. English’s term intraconversion. The results of the study indicate that a majority of the journalists express scepticism towards the commercial aspects of Augustpriset, and that commercial interests are sometimes perceived to be affecting the process of nomination, voting and awarding of the award. The results also indicate that intellectual culture is given higher value that commercial culture, hence the values expressed can be assigned to the dimension constructed from the intellectual pole. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the literary site Vulkan.se affects the conditions for publishing, distribution, incorporation in value systems and feedback in the literary process, as it appears in Lars Furuland’s model of this process. The purpose is also to propose an updated version of the model. This is achieved through a qualitative testing of Furuland’s theory. Vulkan.se is analyzed using concepts from the sociology of literature and Lars Furuland’s model “the literary process”, and is put into perspective of previous research and theories on actors and technical development related to the Swedish book market, such as print-on-demand and publishing on the Internet. The results show that web publishing at Vulkan.se can be incorporated into Furuland’s existing model. However, due to the ongoing technical development on the Internet, which has created new ways for the author to create, write, publish and sell books and get feed-back directly from their readers, several internal modifications are proposed.