The aim of this thesis is to critically examine and compare the web pages that provide disability content and information of ten selected Latvian and Swedish higher education institutions’ websites. The theoretical framework of the research is built upon the critical discourse analysis and Michel Foucault’s ideas of discourse and power while the analytical framework incorporates elements of Mullet’s (2018) framework of critical discourse analysis, Pauwels (2012) multimodal framework for analysing websites and the snapshot click study by Gabel et al. (2016). Overall, the examined web pages see disability from human rights and medical perspectives. The research findings indicated both similarities and differences between the two countries and the ten higher education institutions. The disability content on the web pages of Latvian higher education institutions focuses mainly on the physical accessibility, whereas Swedish institutions pay more attention to the academic and student services.The research results suggest that while the examined higher education institutions do somewhat attempt to include persons with disabilities within the higher education, they simultaneously continue to maintain and construct social barriers that exclude them.

(in English) Nowadays various formerly silenced topics have appeared under the spotlight of public's attention: specifically, mental health awareness has put forward body image concerns as being an incentive for most lethal forms of mental distress such as eating disorders. Despite body image issues are the subject of research for various academic fields, mainly psychology, this thesis attempts to study body image from a different point of view. That is in relation to contemporary diet culture; the thesis focuses on the application of Michel Foucault's theoretical concepts of disciplinary power and "care of the self" practice on the contemporary diet culture. Hence, discovery and review of diet culture controlling mechanisms that might be later internalized by individuals will be in the scope of this work, alongside with the study of diet culture discourse reinforced by influential YouTube content creators. Mainly, the thesis is focused on how dietary practices refer to disciplinary practices, conceptualized by Foucault, while, simultaneously, act as enabling for the subject, mimicking Foucauldian "care of the self" practices. Key words: Michel Foucault, diet, diet culture, care of the self, eating disorder, self- transformation.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à la conception de la résistance dans les travaux de Simone Weil (1909-1943) et de Michel Foucault (1926-1984). Nous y étudions plus précisément les « techniques de soi » que constituent l’ascèse et la mystique. Partant du postulat que les dispositifs de pouvoir actuels reposent aussi bien sur l’individualisme que la dépolitisation, l’objectif est de mettre en avant des « contre-conduites » susceptibles de favoriser voire de recréer une certaine forme d’existence en commun. Nous soutenons ainsi l’idée que l’ascèse et la mystique peuvent – à condition d’être repensées – représenter de véritables armes dans les luttes transversales et continues qui caractérisent notre époque, tout en offrant des modèles d’action opposés à ceux mis en avant par le système capitaliste. À travers la lecture, l’écriture, l’amitié, l’amour, et plus largement une forme d’attention redoublée envers les autres, les techniques de soi conceptualisées par les auteurs peuvent être définies comme un refus préliminaire qui doit mener à des changements structurels plus profonds. En retour, les formes de vie résultant de la mise en place de ces techniques doivent renforcer cette « anti-discipline ». Par-là, il est possible de décrire la mystique weilienne et l’ascèse foucaldienne comme une révolution permanente, c’est-à-dire un éthos révolutionnaire qui offre une alternative à l’échec du « Grand Soir ». Il s’agit en somme d’analyser les conditions de déconstruction et/ou de recréation d’un « soi » qui représente actuellement le pivot de l’oppression sociale. Le travail peut donc aussi bien se lire comme une critique de l’injonction à être soi-même que comme un appel à devenir autre chose que ce que nous sommes. D’un point de vue plus général, l’objectif est également de mettre en dialogue deux auteurs rarement rapprochés dans la philosophie contemporaine, ainsi que d’effectuer un certain nombre de parallèles avec les traditions de pensée anarchistes et postcoloniales pour montrer tout ce que celles-ci ont en commun. / Abstract : This thesis studies the notion of resistance in the works of Simone Weil (1909-1943) and Michel Foucault (1926-1984). It deals more precisely with two technologies of the self, ascetism and mystic. As individualism and depoliticization seem to characterize “late capitalist” societies, our goal is to present some “counter-conducts” that could foster and even re-create common lifeforms. Under certain conditions, we support the idea that these technologies can be of great support in the permanent and transversal struggles of our times, while offering a praxeological model that doesn’t match the capitalism generic set of values. Through skills such as reading, writing, love or friendship, and a reinforced attention to the world, the technologies of the self depicted by Weil and Foucault could be described as a first act of resistance that can lead to deeper and greater structural changes. In a dialectical way, the structures resulting of these practices also must favorize the emergence of an “anti-discipline”. Regarding to these elements, Weil’s mystic and Foucault’s asceticism look like attempts to put permanent revolution in practice and propose an interesting alternative to the communist model. The goal of this thesis is therefore to analyze some ways of deconstructing and/or recreating a “self” that currently represents a coercive and oppressive force. More generally, it aims to create a discussion between two thinkers that are rarely studied together, and to draw some parallels with anarchist and post-colonial thoughts to show how much all these movements share.

In this paper, I study the concept of subordination and power by using two Swedish lesbian classic literary texts; ”Den första kärleken”, published in the collection of short stories Berättelser och skizzer (1884) by Mathilda Roos and Charlie (1932) by Margareta Suber. I examine power dynamics and subordination by comparing the two texts with each other and analyze the similarities and differences between subordination in queer contexts and in heterosexual contexts. Judith Butlers theory of subordination and Michel Foucalts theory of the subject and power are the theoretical ground for this paper, as well as the heterosexual script, which function as a way to illustrate what the characters conform to and/or resist against. As a result, I find that queer subordination is more exciting than heterosexual subordination, but also that heterosexual subordination is, although the characters conform to it, a form of resistance against the heterosexual norm. I also find that social punishment is a crucial aspect regarding the choices they make when it comes to queer subordination.

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This study analyzes the politics of contemporary conspiracy theory discourses in the United States. Departing from the predominant methodological individualism that characterizes many contemporary analyses of conspiracy theory, which take the individual subject as the unit to be explained and governed, this study situates the production and proliferation of conspiracy theory discourses in the context of cybernetics and related transformations in politics that have tended to reduce democratic representativeness and increase forms of economic and political inequality. Cybernetics, which is often defined as the science of command and control, offers a series of concepts that facilitate an understanding of how freedom and control have become aligned in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries in the United States. I utilize Michel Foucault's governmentality approach to formulate a cybernetic governmentality methodology, which analyzes the governance of subjectivity in and through cybernetic systems of communication. Cybernetics, which seeks to invite the individual subject to realize itself through 'choice' and by way of its imbrication into machinic systems, conceptualizes the subject as a consumer and processor of information. I put forth the notion of the scripted political to analyze a key tension within contemporary U.S. politics, as politics is becoming increasingly uncertain yet also often appears to be strongly controlled by political and economic elites. Conspiracy theory, as a speculative genre of thinking, aims to steer events towards certain political ends. Conspiratorial speculation has become a popular means to connect and reflect on a felt obsolescence or superfluity on the part of the individual subject. To substantiate these arguments, I specifically analyze the discourses of QAnon and Covid-19 conspiracy theories. These discourses express political fantasies that often privilege the idea of a liberal autonomous individual subject. The politics of contemporary conspiracy theory in the United States thus concerns the fact that these conspiratorial discourses seek to perform a form of liberal subjectivity. However, this performance of individual liberal subjectivity is always caught in cybernetic systems of communication, which seek to produce value, harvest data, and maximize the attention of their 'users', thus undermining the potential for any meaningful form of liberal subjectivity. / Doctor of Philosophy / This study analyzes the politics of contemporary conspiracy theory discourses in the United States. Whereas today many scholars approach conspiracy theory as concerning the beliefs of individual subjects, whose thoughts are considered deviant and potentially requiring reform or monitoring, this study engages with conspiracy theory discourses and their conditions of possibility. While many acknowledge that conspiracy theory is a response to a felt loss of control, this notion of control is understood to be only potentially true or valid. Cybernetics, which is often defined as the science of command and control, offers a series of concepts that facilitate an understanding of how freedom and control have become aligned in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries in the United States. Cybernetics, which seeks to invite the individual subject to realize itself through 'choice' and by way of its imbrication into machinic and technological systems, conceptualizes the individual subject as a consumer and processor of information. I develop a new notion that I call the scripted political to study a key tension within contemporary U.S. politics, as politics is becoming increasingly uncertain yet also often appears to be strongly controlled by political and economic elites. Conspiracy theory is a speculative genre of thinking that is well-suited to produce social and political meaning in a condition of information saturation characteristic of today's social domain. It does so, among other things, by providing explanations about the operations of what many conspiracy theorists consider to be concentrated forms of power and by attempting to steer events towards certain desirable political ends. However, as a way of producing social and political meaning, conspiracy theory often misses the mark. Yet, despite its frequent factual inconsistencies, conspiratorial discourses and speculations have become popular means to create social connections and to reflect on a sense of obsolescence or superfluity felt by many individual subjects. To support these arguments, I focus on the conspiratorial discourses of and about QAnon and about the Covid-19 pandemic. These discourses express political fantasies that often privilege the idea of a liberal autonomous individual subject. However, I show in this study that fantasies about a re-empowered mode of individual liberal subjectivity are often caught in cybernetic systems of communication, which are more interested in producing economic value, harvesting all sorts of data about individual subjects, and maximizing the attention of their 'users', thus undermining the potential for any return to a meaningful form of liberal subjectivity.

This study aims to examine, using a late modern perspective, the anti­vaccination discourse in Sweden. The study contributes to a better understanding of what is communicated in the discourse, the truths that are presented and how legitimacy is created. Through a broadened understanding of the way this resistance operates in digital media, we are given a better understanding of how authorities can respond to the increased vaccination resistance on these platforms. The theories used in this study is Ulrich Beck's theories of the late modern risk society, Henry Jenkins theory of participatory culture and media convergence and Michel Foucault's theory of power/knowledge and truth effects. The method used for this study is a discourse analysis inspired by Michel Foucault. The premise regarding the choice of material for the study was to adopt a position of a person seeking information regarding vaccine. Thus, a search at Google.com was made. The result showed that the authorities were under­represented in the hit lists in all the searches, and sometimes even completely absent. The results also show that the anti­vaccination discourse is characterized by a strong distrust of authorities, science and pharmaceutical companies. Further, truths about societal actors systematic cover­up of the vaccine's actual content and effects is revealed in the discourse. Moreover, there is a focus on the truths about vaccines. The vaccines are said to be ineffective, dangerous because of its toxic content and causing serious side effects. Furthermore, the diseases that we are vaccinated against is said to be harmless and natural. Overall, the anti­vaccination discourse presents a very critical view of the entire vaccine industry. Finally, this resistance must be faced and dealt with by the authorities to prevent serious social consequences due to decreased vaccination coverage.

Before the regulation of opium as a “narcotic” in Sweden in 1923, opium was not regulated for its intoxicating properties and was freely available. But not in any kind of shop. Opium was legally available only through the pharmacies. This thesis explores how this free availability of a narcotic was understood by its traders, the pharmacists. The title of this thesis – The Value of Poison – indicates how opium could be conceptualized both as a safe, everyday remedy essential to keep freely available and as a drug of intoxication. As a poison it could be articulated as a matter of primarily pharmacological, not moral or medical, concern. This also gave the pharmacists, with their special knowledge of pharmaka (drugs, poisons), an autonomous space of knowledge free from the ever more intruding “medical gaze”. But, in order to articulate this kind of understanding of opium, another kind of knowledge was needed to be acknowledged: that of the user. In this articulation a “sensus communis” was tied in with a broader cultural knowledge of drugs. Problems with opium were focused on the danger of acute poisoning, not recreational intoxication. Concepts that could have problematized this kind of use were rearticulated as problems either of illegitimate trade, unregulated markets and advertising or of draconian regulation by greedy or sloppy doctors. These rather opposite elements were made equivalent through the articulation of ignorance in both cases, thus further emphasizing the special knowledge of the pharmacist. The thesis locates a process of contradiction that contributes to the eventual diminishing of the discourse of poison towards the end of the period. The pharmaceutical knowledge that guaranteed the discourse was based on a “pharmaceutical gaze” on pharmaka. It pierced through the drug to identify its constituent parts. In this process it was promised that the different effects of opium would be separated. “Narcotic” could be a by-product, to be discarded or controlled, without dispensing of other therapeutic effects. With this ever deeper knowledge of opium, knowledge in the pharmacies was made insufficient for the full understanding or opium, and so too was that of the traditional user. The era of opium as a poison was over. / Före den första särlagstiftningen om narkotika i Sverige 1923 reglerades inte opiumets rusgivande egenskaper. Drogen var fritt tillgänglig i handeln. Men inte i vilken butik som helst. Opium kunde bara köpas lagligt på landets apotek. Den här avhandlingen undersöker hur denna fria tillgänglighet av narkotika förstods av droghandlarna själva, apotekarna. Titeln pekar på hur opium på en och samma gång kunde tänkas som en säker husmedicin vars tillgänglighet var avgörande för folkhälsan och som en rusgivande drog. Som ”gift” artikulerades det som en i första hand farmakologisk angelägenhet, inte en moralisk eller medicinsk. När de talade på detta sätt upprättade apotekarna, genom sin särskilda kunskap om farmaka, ett eget rum för sitt vetande, fritt från läkarnas allt mer genomträngande ”kliniska blick”. Men för att kunna artikulera denna förståelse av opium krävdes också att en annan typ av kunskap vidkändes: brukarens. Genom denna artikulation knöts brukarnas ”sensus communis” samman med en bredare kulturell kunskap om droger. De av opiumets problem som lyftes fram handlade om akut förgiftning, inte rekreationellt rusbruk. De begrepp som hade varit möjliga att användas för att problematisera denna senare form av bruk reartikulerades: antingen förpassades de till den olagliga handeln, de oreglerade marknaderna och reklamen, eller också till de drakoniska regleringarna som giriga och slarviga läkare stod bakom. Apotekarna artikulerade dessa båda helt motstående element som ekvivalenta genom en brist på kunskap, vilket i sin tur ytterligare stärkte deras egen kunskapsmakt. Avhandlingen lokaliserar även en processande motsägelse som sker när giftets diskurs tynar bort vid slutet av den undersökta perioden. Den farmaceutiska kunskap som underbyggde diskursen vilade på en ”farmaceutisk blick” på farmaka. Denna genomborrade drogämnet för att avslöja dess beståndsdelar. Genom denna process utlovades att opiumets olika effekter skulle kunna skiljas från varandra. ”Narkotikan” kunde ses som en bieffekt, som kunde kastas åt sidan eller kontrolleras separat, utan att opiumets kvarvarande terapeutiska effekter minskade. Denna allt djupare kunskap medförde att de enskilda apotekarnas eget vetande på apoteken inte räckte till för att fullt ut förstå opium, och därmed bröts även samartikulationen med brukarnas kunskap. Tidseran när opium var ett gift tog därmed slut under mellankrigsperioden.

Die vorliegende Dissertation stellt eine Interpretation von Thomas Paines THE AGE OF REASON (1794) und Ralph Waldo Emersons NATURE (1836) als politiktheoretische Traktate vor, die normative Demokratiekonstrukte entwickeln. Diese Demokratiekonstrukte werden anhand ihrer Parameter vergleichend und historisierend gelesen. Die Annahme ist hierbei, dass sich die normativen Demokratieentwürfe beider Autoren mithilfe der Denkfigur des rhizomatischen Panoptizismus explizieren lassen. Die Dissertation leitet diese Denkfigur anhand von Texten des französischen Poststrukturalismus und auf Grundlage des soziologischen Ansatzes der Surveillance Studies her und erläutert seine Relevanz für das Verständnis und die Verhandlung von Demokratie in den Epochen der frühen Republik und des Antebellum in den USA. Ebenso findet eine Analyse der diskursiven Vermittlung dieser Denkfigur durch das religiöse Vokabular von Deismus, Unitarismus und Transzendentalismus in beiden Traktaten statt. Ein ausführliches close reading legt schließlich dar, wie einzelne Parameter eines rhizomatischen Panoptizismus in den Texten entwickelt, repräsentiert und diskutiert werden. / The present dissertation introduces an interpretation of Thomas Paine’s THE AGE OF REASON (1794) and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s NATURE (1836) as politico-theoretical tracts that develop normative constructions of democracy. At the core of the analysis lies a comparative and historicist reading of the parameters of these constructions. The thesis informing the analysis posits that both normative constructions of democracy can be made explicit with the aid of the concept of a rhizomatic panopticism. The dissertation develops this concept on the basis of French poststructuralist texts and with theoretical approaches from the sociological field of Surveillance Studies in mind, explaining its relevance for the understanding of democracy during the Early-Republic and Antebellum periods in the USA. Furthermore, the discursive mediation of the introduced concept through the religious vocabularies of Deism, Unitarianism, and Transcendentalism in both tracts receives attention. Finally, a close reading elucidates how the distinct parameters of a rhizomatic panopticism are developed, represented, and discussed in both texts.