Jeanette Winterson’s debut novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is regarded as an epitome of feminist fiction. The novel centres around Jeanette, a young homosexual girl, and her mother Louie who does not accept her daughter’s sexuality. Just like most mothers in feminist fiction Louie is described, by other scholars, as a one-dimensional character who forces normative femininity upon her daughter and defends patriarchal structures. However, this thesis argues that subtle instances of characterisation create tensions in Louie’s character, especially in regard to gender norms and heterosexual norms. Although Winterson’s novel has been explored from several perspectives most scholars focus on Jeanette. Few scholars have attempted to examine Louie and how she is characterised. Thus, Louie’s character is largely unexplored. To analyse Louie, Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan’s narratological theories on characterisation are used, such as characterisation through direct definitions, actions, and speech. By showing that Louie is marked by tensions she is characterised as a mother who both upholds and challenges patriarchal structures. Since Louie cannot only be perceived as an agent of the patriarchy, she is consequently a complex character.

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The goal of this study was to examine influence of peers on the popularity goal of early adolescents. Research has demonstrated that there is increased preoccupation with popularity status during early adolescence, but there is little research on what influences youths' actual goal for popularity status (Adler & Adler, 1998). To address this gap in the literature, this research investigated two types of peer influences on adolescents' popularity goal over time: peer group norms and perceived peer norms. Youth are assumed to be influenced by the norms set by their peer groups and by their perceptions of the peer norms for popularity. However, individuals are also assumed to be differentially open to such influence. Therefore, I considered potential moderators for both types of peer influence. Two moderators were explored for the influence of peer group norm on early adolescents' popularity goal over time: the group's popularity status and an individual's own status within the group. For the influence of perceived peer norms on early adolescents' popularity goal over time, I considered an interaction with the peer group's norm for popularity goal. Given the nested nature of the data, with adolescents within peer groups, this study employed Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) analyses to model the effects of peer groups on individuals over time. A total of 232 adolescents in 57 peer groups were included in the study. A series of models were analyzed to test for the influence of peer group norms on adolescents' popularity goal over time. First, the main effect of peer group norm on adolescents' popularity goal was tested. Results demonstrate that the higher the peer group norm, the higher adolescents' popularity goal at Time 2, after controlling for their popularity goal at Time 1. Second, the two-way interaction between peer group norm and groups' popularity status on adolescents' popularity goal was tested. Results indicate that the association between peer group norms and adolescents' popularity goal was significantly moderated by the popularity status of the group. A higher peer group norm was associated with higher popularity goal over time when adolescents were in low popular groups. The association between peer group norm and popularity goal remained relatively stable for those adolescents in high popular groups. Third, I tested the three-way interaction between peer group norms, groups' popularity status, and individual members' status within the group on adolescents' popularity goal over time. Results indicate that the strength of the association between group norm and adolescents' popularity goal was stronger for low status individuals than high status individuals in high popular groups. For those high status individuals, a negative association was found. There was also a positive association between group norm and popularity goal for both low and high status individuals in low popular group with overall higher levels of popularity goal (Time 2) for the low status individuals than for the high status ones in these groups. This study also analyzed models to test for the influence of perceived peer group norms for popularity on adolescents' popularity goal over time. Results indicate there is a positive association between perceived peer norms for popularity and adolescents' popularity goal over time, even after controlling for the influence of peer group norms. There was no significant interaction of perceived peer norms and peer group norms on the adolescents' popularity goal over time. Together, results provide evidence that youths' popularity goal may be influenced by the norms established in their peer group, their groups' popularity status as indicated by the nuclear members' popularity levels, their own status within the group, and their perception of peer norms in the networks. Results suggest that both individual and peer group factors contribute to youths' openness to peer influence and that such factors should be considered when investigating how peers may influence youths' social goals. / Psychology

I tidigare forskning har det uppmätts skillnader mellan pojkars och flickors attityd, prestation och deltagande i ämnet matematik. Synen på matematik som en manlig domän fortsätter prägla individers attityd till ämnet, trots att flickors prestationer inom matematiken talar för något annat. Syftet med studien är således att undersöka flickors attityd till matematikämnet i den svenska kontexten. Syftet uppfylls med hjälp av två frågeställningar: Hur upplever flickor i årskurs 4–6 matematikämnet? På vilket sätt kan flickors attityd till matematikämnet återspeglas i eventuella normer i matematikklassrummet? Frågeställningarna besvaras utifrån ett normkritiskt perspektiv som har sin grund i vetenskapsteorin socialkonstruktionismen.   Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom kvantitativa enkäter och kvalitativa, strukturerade observationer. Enkäterna analyserades med hjälp av statistiska Chi2-test och observationerna sammanställdes utifrån en deduktiv tematisk analysmetod. Resultatet visar att attityden till matematikämnet skiljer sig åt bland flickorna, där uppfattningen om ämnet kan relateras till genusnormer i klassrumsmiljön. Observationerna visar att det råder en tysthetsnorm och en norm att göra rätt bland deltagarna som även återspeglas i enkätsvaren. Majoriteten av de deltagande flickorna hade en positiv attityd till ämnet, men pojkarna visade fortfarande högre grad av aktivitet och deltagande i undervisningen. / Previous research indicates that differences exist between boys’ and girls’ attitudes and performance in mathematics. Despite girls’ achievements in the subject, the perception of mathematics as a male-dominated domain continues to influence attitudes towards the subject. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate girl’s attitudes towards mathematics in a Swedish context. To achieve the purpose, two central research questions were formulated: How do girls in grades 4-6 experience the subject of mathematics? In what ways can girls’ attitudes towards mathematics be reflected in the norms of the math classroom? The research questions were approached from a norm-critical perspective that is rooted in the theory of social constructionism. The empirical data consisted of both quantitative surveys and qualitative, structured observations. Statistical Chi2-tests were used to analyze the survey data and a deductive thematic analyze was utilized when analyzing the observations. The result shows variations in attitudes towards mathematics among female pupils, which can be related to gender norms in the classroom. The observations reveal the existence of a norm of silence and a norm of correctness among the participants, which also appear in the survey responses. Despite most of the participating girls having a positive attitude towards the subject, boys still demonstrated higher levels of engagement and involvement during the teaching sessions.

This study comprehensively examined the factors shaping individuals' intentions towardplastic recycling, explicitly focusing on pro-environmental attitudes, subjective norms,perceived behavioral control, and moral norms. A quantitative research approach wasemployed, and data were gathered from 105 respondents through a survey instrument.The results indicated significant pro-environmental attitudes and perceived behavioralcontrol influences on recycling intentions. While subjective norms demonstratedmarginal significance, moral norms did not emerge as significant predictors. Thesefindings underscored the crucial roles of attitudes and perceived behavioral control inmotivating recycling behaviors. From a theoretical standpoint, the study reaffirmed therelevance of the Theory of Planned Behavior in understanding pro-environmentalbehaviors. Practically, the insights obtained offered valuable guidance for designingtargeted interventions to foster recycling behaviors and mitigate plastic pollution. Onecritical area for intervention is enhancing PBC. Making recycling more accessible andconvenient can significantly boost individuals' confidence in their ability to recycle. Thiscan be achieved by improving the availability of recycling facilities, providing clearinformation on how to recycle correctly, and reducing perceived barriers to recycling.

There has been substantial scientific debate about the impact of alcohol marketing on consumption. Relying mainly on econometric studies, the alcohol industry has traditionally maintained that alcohol marketing does not influence consumption, but is merely limited to brand level effects. Public health advocates, on the other hand, point to consumer-level research that shows a relationship between exposure to marketing and alcohol consumption, especially amongst the young. Recent longitudinal research has firmly established a causal relationship between alcohol marketing and alcohol consumption, giving the upper hand to the public health critics of alcohol marketing. The new consensus forged by these recent cohort studies has led to two separate, but related, debates. In the first instance, having answered the question of whether marketing influences drinking behaviour, there is a need to establish how and when such effects occur. Secondly, in the face of the mounting longitudinal evidence on the effects of marketing, representatives of the alcohol industry have sought to move the debate away from marketing by explicitly highlighting peer influence as a more significant causal factor in problematic youth alcohol consumption. This thesis tackles both of these new questions simultaneously by harnessing insights developed from social norms theory. An online survey (N = 1,071) was administered to undergraduates of the Dublin Institute of Technology in Ireland, and mediation relationships were tested with logistic and multiple linear regression methods as appropriate. Amongst other findings, the main contributions of this thesis are: (1) that marketing may play a key role in establishing perceived social norms around alcohol consumption, and that these perceived norms may act as an indirect pathway for the influence of marketing on behaviour and (2) that the association between alcohol marketing and consumption may increase as levels of engagement with marketing increase; this engagement appears to be at its most potent when marketing facilitates simultaneous interaction between the consumer, the brand and the consumer’s peers in an online social media environment. This thesis helps to move the field of alcohol marketing scholarship beyond questions of whether marketing influences alcohol consumption to how and when that influence occurs. By showing how peers may act as perpetuators and magnifiers of marketing influence it also undermines the argument that peers matter more than marketing, and suggests that peer norms can act as a powerful marketing tool.

Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka om människors intentioner att donera pengar påverkas av deskriptiva normer. Följande hypoteser användes: 1) Både sociala närhetsnormer (du agerar som personer du känner samhörighet med gör) och provinsiellas normer (du agerar efter de lokala normer som gäller för platsen du befinner dig på) ökar människors intentioner att donera till välgörande ändamål jämfört med ett standardförfarande där välgörenhetsorganisationen enbart signalerar altruistiska ideal och 2) Sociala närhetsnormer leder till starkare intentioner att donera jämfört med provinsiella normer. En kvantitativ metod har använts, instrumentet var ett självskattningsformulär. Etthundraåttio personer, deltog i studien och blev således tilldelade ett av experimentets tre villkor (social närhetsnorm, provinsiell norm, eller standard villkor). Den provinsiella normen bidrar till en högre frekvens av donationer än standardförfarandet och det sociala närhetsvillkoret. Slutsatsen är att välgörenhetsorganisationer kan ha nytta av att ta hänsyn till och använda sig av provinsiella normer vid insamlingar. / The aim of this study was to examine whether people´s intent to donate money is influenced by descriptive norms. Our hypotheses were as follows: 1) Both the social closeness norm (you behave as people close to you do) and the provincial norm (you behave as the local norms of the location where you are at prescribe) increase people´s self-reported intent to donate money to charity compared to the control group where the welfare organisation only try to activate your altruistic ideals and 2) Social closeness norms induce a stronger intent to donate money compared to provincial norms. A qualitative method has been used and the instrument was a self-report questionnaire. One hundred eighty people participated in the study and were thereby given one of the tree conditions (social closeness norm, provincial norm, or the standard condition). The use of provincial norms leads to a higher donation frequency than the standard condition and the social closeness condition.

Данная магистерская диссертация посвящена разработке эффективной системы упражнений по культуре речи для освоения курса школьной морфологии. В первой главе представлена теоретическая база, в которой описаны история учения о культуре речи, языковые нормы, типы норм, а также проанализировано содержание школьных программ и учебников по русскому языку и русскому (родному) языку для учащихся 5-7 классов. Во второй главе представлена система упражнений по обучению грамматическим нормам русского литературного языка учащихся среднего звена на уроках русского языка в 5–7 классах общеобразовательных школ. Система упражнений по формированию речевой культуры включает задания, направленные на получение практических умений в употреблении форм существительных, прилагательных, числительных, глаголов и местоимений, составления словосочетаний и предложений, акцентологические задания, задания на сочетаемость слов и т.п. Материал распределен в соответствии с частями речи. В каждом разделе сначала представлены теоретические сведения о проблемных участках грамматических норм, а после этого даны задания и упражнения по соответствующим темам. / This master's thesis is devoted to the development of an effective system of exercises on the culture of speech for the development of the course of school morphology. The first chapter presents a theoretical framework that describes the history of teaching about the culture of speech, language norms, types of norms, as well as analyzes the content of school programs and textbooks on the Russian language and Russian (native).) language for students of grades 5-7. The second chapter presents a system of exercises for teaching grammatical norms of the Russian literary language to middle-level students at Russian language lessons in grades 5-7 of secondary schools. The system of exercises for the formation of speech culture includes tasks aimed at obtaining practical skills in the use of forms of nouns, adjectives, numerals, verbs and pronouns, composing phrases and sentences, accentological tasks, tasks for the compatibility of words, etc. The material is distributed in accordance with the parts of speech. Each section first presents theoretical information about the problem areas of grammatical norms, and then gives tasks and exercises on the relevant topics.

In Sweden, it is prohibited to discriminate because of transgender identity or expression. However, research shows that transgender people often face discrimination in society including the health care sector. The aim of this work is to increase the understanding of the transgender experience in the meeting with caregivers. In the study some basic concepts are reviewed, such as different ways of defining sex. Sexuality, transgender, gender identity and expression are defined and discussed and the transgender health situation is described. As theoretical basis the term life world is introduced. The problem statement shows that transgender people are largely suffering from mental illness and that they, because of the risk of being offended or badly treated, refrain from seeking medical care. The methodology used in the study is a literature review of previously conducted qualitative research in the field. This research is compiled into a new entirety with the intent to increase the understanding of the phenomenon and translate it into practical knowledge in health care work. The result of the literature review of the transgender experience when meeting with health care can be summarized in three main groups: Standing outside the norm, Getting inadequate care and Being discriminated. In conclusion, the results indicate that the conception that there are only two genders together with the heteronormativity prevent transgender to get a good treatment and adequate care. The result and the method are discussed in the report.