This paper investigates the phenomenon of digital vision boards on the platform Landing, focusing on their alignment with postfeminist media culture and the empowerment narratives of neoliberal principles. Through a discourse analysis of vision boards and user interviews, the study explores the values and behaviours within this digital subculture. Drawing on Foucault's "technologies of the self" and Lauren Berlant’s “women’s intimate publics” the research reveals how vision boards have evolved into tools for shaping identity and aspirations in a postfeminist media culture.

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Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur änglars funktion beskrivs i en kristen respektive nyandlig kontext. Materialet utgörs av texter från sex samtida författare som på olika sätt behandlat frågan; Harold Bloom, Billy Graham, David Albert Jones, Susan R. Garrett, Lorna Byrne och Doreen Virtue. Metoden är kvalitativ innehållsanalys vilken möjliggör för en jämförelse av skillnader och likheter mellan de olika perspektivens syn på änglar. Uppsatsens teoretiska ansats bygger på Meredith B. McGuires beskrivning av meningssystem som en viktig aspekt i förståelsen av religion eftersom olika meningssystem länkar samman en individ med en större social grupp. De textanalyser som gjorts har visat att änglar i både en kristen och nyandlig kontext bidrar till att forma och skapa en upplevelse av mening i människors liv, detta trots olika meningssystem och stora skillnader i föreställningen av änglar. Ett av undersökningens resultat har visat att individer har ett större handlingsutrymme inom New Age kulturer än vad de har i en kristen kontext. Inom New Age beskrivs människor själva kunna ta hjälp av änglar som gudomliga eller spirituella agenter av healing för att uppnå ett tillstånd av lycka, kärlek och harmoni utan att först vända sig till/eller förlita sig på en mellanhand, dv s den kristna Gudsgestalten. Änglar inom New Age har visat sig vara mer personliga och separata från Gud än vad de är i ett kristet sammanhang eftersom människor, inom ramen för de New Age strömningar som analyserats, själva kan tillbe och kalla på änglars vägledning medan Bibeln innehåller tydliga varningar för att tillbe och dyrka änglar eftersom det anses vara en ära som enbart tillhör Gud. En skillnad mellan en kristen resp. nyandlig syn på änglars funktion bygger m a o på föreställningen att människan besitter en förmåga att hela sig själv, vilket saknas inom kristen tro.

This thesis tries to give a critically considered view of what New Age thought is about, where it came from, and where it takes education and the scientific quest for truth. The interest of this study lies in exposing the underlying New Age beliefs and premises so that the implications that New Age thought has for truly meaningful human development and the educational and scientific quest for truth can be determined. A historical investigation which proceeds from the assumption that New Age thought is a phenomenon with philosophical underpinnings that lie in Western historical dynamics is utilised in order to extract and give context to the beliefs and premises in which New Age thought is anchored. Firstly, the movements in the West's alternative mystical and magical spiritual tradition from which current New Age spiritual approaches issue are scrutinized. This is followed by an exploration of mainstream Western history. Foundational premises and central ideas concerning New Age anthropology, morality, cosmology, and epistemology which issue forth from theories in Western philosophy, psychology, and science are identified and critically analysed. From these analyses, the meaning and direction that New Age thought circumscribes for human development and learning are fully explored and evaluated. It is found that New Age thought upholds a magical worldview in which the objective existence of truth is denied. Because New Age thought does not create educational space in which the quest for truth as obedience to truth can be learnt and practised, emotional, moral, and cognitive development is arrested and the real, educational value in scientific inquiry is defeated. This study is concluded with suggestions that are personal yet grounded in the findings of this research as to the defense and upholdment of the idea of objective truth in moral and intellectual education. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (History of Education)

The purpose of this study is to explore the differences in defectors former religious lives. The literature is rich in references topeople from secular societies being fascinated by religions that are individualistic in nature and hence allowpeople freedom of choice in regards to their beliefs. However, we rarely hear about people who have left this new age belief environment or other religious environments. The study specifically focuses on the defectors, who have left a religious organization or have chosen to leave their religious belief. This study seeks to discover why defectors first came to believe and what got them to leave the religious arena. What happened to their faith, and what caused them to leave their former religion? This is what this study is attempting to shed more light on. The findings indicate that close group-relationships can be vital to one's person and create both positive and negative experiences. The social connections with other people is vital to not create a feeling of alienation and emptiness, leading to loss of meaning in life. Peter L Berger and other sociologists have stressed that religion is meaningful to people, that every society has religion, and that people need religious consolation to face difficult existential questions.

O Objetivo deste trabalho é tratar da Homeopatia e da Medicina Científica, e de sua convivência institucional, considerando principalmente o cenário posterior à década de 1980, quando de sua assimilação pela Medicina Oficial brasileira. O que se pretende demonstrar, fundamentalmente, é que a Medicina Científica e a Homeopatia são essencialmente diferentes, e acima de tudo demonstrar que este caso particular de relações institucionais deve ser entendido sob pelo menos duas perspectivas, de uma epistemológica, e de outra sociológica. Essas duas perspectivas são essenciais para entender a moderna relação institucional entre Homeopatia e Medicina Científica, que acontece num contexto de assimilação institucional da Homeopatia pela Medicina Oficial. Ainda que essa integração nunca possa vir à ser concretizada completamente, essa assimilação é resultado de uma grande mudança no universo simbólico das culturas ocidentais, principalmente dos conceitos e valores ligados ao imaginário da saúde. Neste novo contexto simbólico, a ciência como instituição é ressignificada e e devidamente recontextualizada, em termos de cultura popular e senso comum (universo simbólico da vida cotidiana), de modo que passa a poder acomodar os mais diversos tipos de conhecimentos em seu universo. É sob a perspectiva do processo de racionalização e desencantamento do mundo que essas instituições são analisadas e a compreensão dos universos simbólicos mantidos por cada grupo é o objetivo central desse trabalho. / This study deals with Homeopathy and Scientific Medicine and focus its institutional relationship, especially considering the latter scenario to the 1980s decade, after its assimilation by brazilian Official Medicine. It intends to demonstrate that Scientific Medicine and Homeopathy are fundamentally and essentially different things and, above all, demonstrate that this particular case of institutional relations should be understood in, at least, two perspectives: epistemological, and sociological. These perspectives are essential to understand the modern relationship between Homeopathy and Official Medicine -­ which takes place in a context of institutional assimilation of homeopathy by the Official Medicine (although this integration could never come to be fully realized). This assimilation is the result of a change in the symbolic universe of western cultures, especially the concepts and values linked to the health imaginary. In this new symbolic context, science, as an institution, is resignified and recontextualized in terms of popular culture and common sense (the symbolic universe of everyday life), allowing to accommodate all different types of knowledge in this new resigninified universe of science. Its from the process of rationalization and disenchantment of the worlds perspective that these institutions are analyzed, and the understanding of the symbolic universes maintained by each group is the central objective of this work.

O Objetivo deste trabalho é tratar da Homeopatia e da Medicina Científica, e de sua convivência institucional, considerando principalmente o cenário posterior à década de 1980, quando de sua assimilação pela Medicina Oficial brasileira. O que se pretende demonstrar, fundamentalmente, é que a Medicina Científica e a Homeopatia são essencialmente diferentes, e acima de tudo demonstrar que este caso particular de relações institucionais deve ser entendido sob pelo menos duas perspectivas, de uma epistemológica, e de outra sociológica. Essas duas perspectivas são essenciais para entender a moderna relação institucional entre Homeopatia e Medicina Científica, que acontece num contexto de assimilação institucional da Homeopatia pela Medicina Oficial. Ainda que essa integração nunca possa vir à ser concretizada completamente, essa assimilação é resultado de uma grande mudança no universo simbólico das culturas ocidentais, principalmente dos conceitos e valores ligados ao imaginário da saúde. Neste novo contexto simbólico, a ciência como instituição é ressignificada e e devidamente recontextualizada, em termos de cultura popular e senso comum (universo simbólico da vida cotidiana), de modo que passa a poder acomodar os mais diversos tipos de conhecimentos em seu universo. É sob a perspectiva do processo de racionalização e desencantamento do mundo que essas instituições são analisadas e a compreensão dos universos simbólicos mantidos por cada grupo é o objetivo central desse trabalho. / This study deals with Homeopathy and Scientific Medicine and focus its institutional relationship, especially considering the latter scenario to the 1980s decade, after its assimilation by brazilian Official Medicine. It intends to demonstrate that Scientific Medicine and Homeopathy are fundamentally and essentially different things and, above all, demonstrate that this particular case of institutional relations should be understood in, at least, two perspectives: epistemological, and sociological. These perspectives are essential to understand the modern relationship between Homeopathy and Official Medicine -­ which takes place in a context of institutional assimilation of homeopathy by the Official Medicine (although this integration could never come to be fully realized). This assimilation is the result of a change in the symbolic universe of western cultures, especially the concepts and values linked to the health imaginary. In this new symbolic context, science, as an institution, is resignified and recontextualized in terms of popular culture and common sense (the symbolic universe of everyday life), allowing to accommodate all different types of knowledge in this new resigninified universe of science. Its from the process of rationalization and disenchantment of the worlds perspective that these institutions are analyzed, and the understanding of the symbolic universes maintained by each group is the central objective of this work.

<p>Förhållandet mellan modern gnosticism och New Age har visat sig vara oklar i den aktuella akademiska diskussionen. I denna studie gjordes ett försök att bringa en större ordning i denna aktuella akademiska diskussion. Huvudsyftet var att jämföra modern gnosticism och New Age utifrån några valda verk, och se vilka likheter och skillnader som fanns. Metoden som användes var deskription och komparation. Studien visade att det fanns både likheter och skillnader. Den största likheten kan sägas bestå av att båda fenomenen är individcentrerade. Den främsta auktoriteten finns inom människan. En annan likhet är att båda rörelserna har en oppositionell karaktär. På det andliga planet är man mot den etablerade, institutionaliserade och hierarkiska formen av religion. Den största skillnaden mellan de båda handlar om två närliggande existentiella frågor som verkar vara förbehållet modern gnosticism. Det handlar om människan som en främling inför tillvaron, och hennes utkastade tillstånd i denna världen.</p>

Förhållandet mellan modern gnosticism och New Age har visat sig vara oklar i den aktuella akademiska diskussionen. I denna studie gjordes ett försök att bringa en större ordning i denna aktuella akademiska diskussion. Huvudsyftet var att jämföra modern gnosticism och New Age utifrån några valda verk, och se vilka likheter och skillnader som fanns. Metoden som användes var deskription och komparation. Studien visade att det fanns både likheter och skillnader. Den största likheten kan sägas bestå av att båda fenomenen är individcentrerade. Den främsta auktoriteten finns inom människan. En annan likhet är att båda rörelserna har en oppositionell karaktär. På det andliga planet är man mot den etablerade, institutionaliserade och hierarkiska formen av religion. Den största skillnaden mellan de båda handlar om två närliggande existentiella frågor som verkar vara förbehållet modern gnosticism. Det handlar om människan som en främling inför tillvaron, och hennes utkastade tillstånd i denna världen.

This thesis tries to give a critically considered view of what New Age thought is about, where it came from, and where it takes education and the scientific quest for truth. The interest of this study lies in exposing the underlying New Age beliefs and premises so that the implications that New Age thought has for truly meaningful human development and the educational and scientific quest for truth can be determined. A historical investigation which proceeds from the assumption that New Age thought is a phenomenon with philosophical underpinnings that lie in Western historical dynamics is utilised in order to extract and give context to the beliefs and premises in which New Age thought is anchored. Firstly, the movements in the West's alternative mystical and magical spiritual tradition from which current New Age spiritual approaches issue are scrutinized. This is followed by an exploration of mainstream Western history. Foundational premises and central ideas concerning New Age anthropology, morality, cosmology, and epistemology which issue forth from theories in Western philosophy, psychology, and science are identified and critically analysed. From these analyses, the meaning and direction that New Age thought circumscribes for human development and learning are fully explored and evaluated. It is found that New Age thought upholds a magical worldview in which the objective existence of truth is denied. Because New Age thought does not create educational space in which the quest for truth as obedience to truth can be learnt and practised, emotional, moral, and cognitive development is arrested and the real, educational value in scientific inquiry is defeated. This study is concluded with suggestions that are personal yet grounded in the findings of this research as to the defense and upholdment of the idea of objective truth in moral and intellectual education. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (History of Education)