The democratic conditions in national states have change radically at the same time as the society has changed. Because of social and economic globalization processes, the states and government has lost power for the benefit of transnational and global institutions. That affects the democracy since the nation state earlier defined the domain of citizenship. At the same time, citizens’ confidence towards political parties and politicians has gone down. These trends have lead to a situation that is spoken about as the crisis of democracy. The globalization has however also created new possibilities for political arenas and way to be politically organized. This thesis is about democracy; about being able to influence one’s own situation and the society one live in. It’s also about the protracted struggle between different groups to be able to do this. This field is very wide and the possible ways to examine it are endless, but the part that will be in focus here is the municipality of Norrköping. It will be about how the municipality, trough the Committee of Democracy, which is appointed by the municipal council, works with democracy, but also about how young people in Norrköping feels that they can influence and effect. The study is based on analysis of reports and interviews with representatives from the Committee of Democracy and on interviews with young people who are politically involved in social movements. The study is written from a discourse analysis approach and the theoretical frame of reference revolves around discourse, power, governmentality and theories about the postmodern society.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the social movement Planka.nu with reference to the theory of new social movements in order to engage in a discussion about the presence of “old” tradition and “new” trends. As well as empirical, the purpose is also theoretical and methodological: to examine, and extend, the discussion about new and old social movements. A qualitative method is used. The analytical framework is based on a combination of theories of social movements and new social movements. Planka.nu was started in 2003 in Stockholm. The movement uses the Internet to organise free-riding on the public buses and trains with the aim of pressuring regional politicians into fully financing public transportation by progressive taxation. In all aspects discussed, both old and new characteristics were found. Behind a rhetoric that to a large extent resembles that of the traditional Swedish labour movement lies a redefinition of values, ideas and strategies that correspond with the theory of new social movements. By adopting a theoretical outlook on social movements that questions the existence of two divided blocs, a more nuanced discussion of the combination of old and new aspects could be held.

Black Lives Matter rörelsen engagerade människor både internationellt och nationellt under våren 2020. Företag var inte sena med att ta ställning och visa deras stöd i frågan, vilket ledde till olika typer av reaktioner bland deras konsumenter. Denna studie ämnar undersöka svenska konsumenters attityd gentemot företag som använder sig av brand activism som svar på sociala rörelser, där Black Lives Matter valts som empiriskt kontext. Studien ämnar också besvara vilka de viktigaste aspekterna bakom konsumenters attityd är. En förstudie har gjorts genom netnografi och empiri har samlats in genom en webbenkät med 260 svenska respondenter. Studiens analys och resultat tyder på att respondenternas generella inställning till brand activism är positiv i de fall då respondenterna anser att den sociala rörelsen som stöttas är viktig. Det finns dock tre dimensioner som påverkar den övergripande attityden. Dessa är autentiskt innehåll, attityd gentemot företaget och värdet i handlingar. Inom dessa dimensioner utrönas flertalet teman där företagets historia och storlek, innehållet i själva budskapet samt att det genomsyrar organisationen är de viktigaste. Vidare är även temana utbildande, genuin och handlingskraftig kommunikation inom brand activism viktiga delar att ta med sig från resultatet. / The Black Lives Matter movement engaged people both internationally and nationally in the spring of 2020. Companies were not late to join in and show their support in favour of the movement, which led to various reactions among their consumers. This study aims to examine the attitude of Swedish consumers towards companies that use brand activism as a response to social movements, where the Black Lives Matter movement serves as an empirical context. The study also intends to answer what the key aspects behind the studied consumer attitudes are. A prestudy has been done through netnography and empirical data has been collected for the main study through a web survey with 260 Swedish respondents. The study’s analysis and results indicate that the respondents’ general attitude towards the use of brand activism is positive in cases where the respondents believe that the social movement being endorsed is of importance. However, there are three dimensions that affect the overall attitude. These are authentic content, attitude towards the company and the value of actions. Within these dimensions several themes are identified, where the company’s history and size, the content of the message itself and that it permeates the organization are the most important. Furthermore, the themes of educational, genuine and actionable communication within brand activism are also important takeaways from the result.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka en lokal förening inom den svenska progressiva musikrörelsen, som kallades musikforum, och dess kamp för lokaler. Fokus på studien är föreningen Karlstad musikcafé som iscensatte en ockupation 1977 mot en kommun som föreningen upplevde motarbetade dem. För att nå fram till detta syfte har två forskningsfrågor formulerats vilka handlar om hur ockupationen 1977 kan förklaras utifrån ett dialogperspektiv samt hur maktrelationen såg ut mellan föreningen Karlstad musikcafé och Karlstad kommun. Undersökningen handlar om en fallstudie med musikcaféet i centrum och källmaterialet består i huvudsak av föreningens arkivmaterial samt kompletterande intervjuer från före detta medlemmar ur föreningen. Karlstad musikcafés ockupation kommer att analyseras ur ett dialogperspektiv där ockupationen beskrivs som en kommunikation mellan parterna i den pågående aktionen. Läget mellan ockupanterna och övriga parter i aktionen beskrivs tidigt som låst. Studien visar dock att det finns en kommunikation mellan parterna som förs som ett offentligt samtal genom massmedia. Relationerna mellan Karlstad kommun och musikcaféet kommer att analyseras genom en hegemoniteori där min utgångspunkt är att det råder en maktrelation mellan dessa parter. Karlstad kommun är en överordnad part och musikcaféet är en underordnad part i den hegemoniska relationen. När relationen blir satt ur balans finns det en serie strategier om hur en part kan återupprätta en balans och vinna mark inom relationen. Denna studie visar, utefter fem olika strategival, hur föreningen Karlstad musikcafés strategi för protest mot den hegemoniska relationen ändrades över tid.

This master thesis explores ideas, values, virtues, and masculinities within The Raw Man, a Swedish men’s group active since 2012, in the context of Swedish gender equality politics. The material used for this study is the The Raw Man’s website (with an array of persuasive texts and pictures), YouTube-videos, a podcast, and the group’s participation in a Swedish television program. The theoretical framework draws from tools and theories from the fields of rhetoric, philosophy and gender studies. First, I analyse the movement’s argumentation and sort their arguments within different rhetorical topoi. Then, with a similar method, I explore which virtues constitute an ideal man within the movement’s discourse. This analysis builds on Aristotle’s understanding of topoi and virtues and takes further help through texts of the modern rhetorical scholar Janne Lindqvist. To further investigate the movement and what kind of masculinities it reproduces, I take inspiration from Edwin Black’s theory of The Second Persona. The most commonly used topoi and virtues are used to form a second persona, the implicit reader of The Raw Man’s arguments and therefore, the embodiment of the movement’s ideas, values, and ideals. This second persona is then gazed through perspectives from men’s studies. The results show that The Raw Man is greatly inspired by the so called Mythopoetic Men’s Movement, and employs ideas from Robert Bly, Carl G. Jung, and adheres to traditional notions including essentialism, polarity between the sexes, men’s destiny as leaders and women’s as nurturers. It also shows that The Raw Man in fact considers Swedish gender equality politics as somewhat of a threat, and feminists as enemies. The type of masculinity that is being reproduced within the movement can best be described as sticky, a term used in men’s studies for describing conservative and misogynistic values that stick to men’s bodies and are difficult to shake off. The results also indicate that the movement’s discourse is rather contradictory, for example it shows ideals of being vulnerable and grounded while at the same time being a strong leader with traditional manly qualities. This implies some difficulties in fully defining their ideology and ideals, hence the second persona lacks some ideological consistency. Finally, the study shows that the use of rhetorical theories and perspectives can be useful tools when exploring men’s groups, and social movements as a whole.

In 2015, Argentina witnessed an upsurge of feminist mobilization due to the rising numbers of feminicides, which motivated the foundation of Ni Una Menos and a broad feminist movement. The aim of the movement is to initiate measures against psychological manipulation, physical-, sexual- and institutional violence against women. Since the beginning of the movement, feminists have enabled mass mobilization which resulted in legislative changes regarding legal and free abortion. The studys’ purpose is to examine the strategies that have been crucial for the amplification of a large scale feminist activism, as well as the challenges faced when navigating social and political resistance in Argentina. This is carried out through semi-structured interviews with feminist activists from Buenos Aires, the data has been analyzed qualitatively, additionally with a phenomenological approach. The results from the interviews demonstrate a complexity of strategies and challenges, including the political context, societal actors, as well as the role of media. The feminist movement faces multiple obstacles such as the described political setback and exclusion of women in all societal levels, despite this, feminist activists continue to mobilize and fight for social justice.

This thesis lays focus on the Young Socialist Movement (ungsocialisterna) and their mobilisation in Stockholm between 1903 and 1910. In line with social movement research the theoretical concepts of mobilisation structure and resource mobilisation are used to examine the Young Socialists local clubs mobilisation and its prerequisites. The results show that the mobilisation structure of the Young Socialists in Stockholm was characterised by a fragmented organisational framework, wherein local clubs operated independently. This underscored the importance of the groups social network in their mobilising efforts and collaboration between the clubs. The ideological stance was ambiguous, and various radical ideas influenced the mobilisation structure of the group. Due to a lack of tangible resources, human and intangible resources played an essential role in the Young Socialists mobilisation efforts. Over time the decentralised organisational structures and diverse ideological affiliations came to hinder the Young Socialists effectiveness in mobilising towards their goal: the socialist revolution. This study sheds light on the practices and mobilising process of an often overlooked group that was highly influential in shaping the early labour movement in Sweden. It also underscores the importance of a unified mobilisation structure for social movements.