The aim of the thesis is to study the concept of marriage and discursive constructions linked to marriage in Swedish policy documents, SOU, 1909-2009. Focusing on marriage as a formal institution, and on form, rather than content – marriage is considered one of several ways of regulating intimate relationships, and the analysis is thus centred on the intimate and erotic aspects of marriage as an institution. Using queer and sociological theories on late modern intimacy, state regulation and concepts of norms, theoretical tools which make possible exploring historical discursive shifts of heteronormativity and coupledom are developed. Policy documents (SOU) are analysed using discourse analysis inspired by archaeology and history of concepts. In three chapters, each covering a part of the period 1909-2009, the discursive landscape of state intervention in marital and other coupled relations is traced. Three themes emerge in this analysis. Firstly, a discursive movement can be seen, from marriage, as a morally superior form of relation, to family, as one of several more or less encouraged forms of relations. Secondly, in using the theoretical framework of heteronormativity, it is suggested that heteronormativity is reshaped in paradoxical ways. The seemingly non-heteronormative, gender neutral marriage law introduced in 2009 was built discursively on a concept of love used from the 1980s in these materials for motivating extended civil rights for homosexuals. It was, however, a logic of love based on difference and essentialised homosexual identity. A non-heteronormative law was thus introduced on a heteronormative discursive basis, enforcing extended norms of coupledom in the process. Thirdly, the question of what discursive role marriage plays in relation to society is explored. By enforcing differentiation between sexual and non-sexual, reproductive and non-reproductive, coupled and non-coupled relationships, social order is maintained. For one hundred years, despite major changes, coupledom is constant. / <p>Inledningen tillgänglig i fulltext</p>

The diploma thesis deals with the concept of "coupledom" and the opinions of young adults, who are defined as young people from 26 to 30 years, on couple relationships. Based on semi-structured interviews, there is examined the basis on which young adults decide in the context of "coupledom", what changes they perceive in relationships and, last but not least, how they feel "coupledom" in relation to their private lives. The theoretical basis of the work is the introduction of the concept of "pairing" and what shapes it. In particular, the work deals with the democratization concept of a "pure" relationship and reflections on a progressive view of relationships. The analytical output of the work is the presentation of young adults' view of couple relationships, which shows that couple relationships are a constructed normative model with regulatory functions on the lives of young adults. Key words coupledom, relationships, pure relationship, young adults, love, norm

This study focuses on single peoples construction of their lifes in relation to normative heterosexual coupledom. It is based on five interviews made with single women and men at the age of 24 to 51 who live by themselves. The queer theory which puts the heteronormativity in question is used as a theoretical framework. Discourse psychology functions as an analytic approach. It focuses on the use of language in the construction of reality in a world of determinant discourses. The thesis shows how the life of singles is made understandable where the interviewee´s constructs their reality by either creating their own life's as possible ways of living and distance themselves from coupledom or by striving for the twosome way of living. This is done by a construction of gender and age performance as different in the single and the twosome life. It also shows paradoxes where discourses of advantage independence meet discourses that construct twosome relationships as the only place for the development of real masculinity or of a special form of preferable femininity. The construction of gender and age as performed different in the single and the couple life provides an understanding of the interviewee's creation of self-image in relation to normative heterosexual coupledom.

<p>This study focuses on single peoples construction of their lifes in relation to normative heterosexual coupledom. It is based on five interviews made with single women and men at the age of 24 to 51 who live by themselves. The queer theory which puts the heteronormativity in question is used as a theoretical framework. Discourse psychology functions as an analytic approach. It focuses on the use of language in the construction of reality in a world of determinant discourses. The thesis shows how the life of singles is made understandable where the interviewee´s constructs their reality by either creating their own life's as possible ways of living and distance themselves from coupledom or by striving for the twosome way of living. This is done by a construction of gender and age performance as different in the single and the twosome life. It also shows paradoxes where discourses of advantage independence meet discourses that construct twosome relationships as the only place for the development of real masculinity or of a special form of preferable femininity. The construction of gender and age as performed different in the single and the couple life provides an understanding of the interviewee's creation of self-image in relation to normative heterosexual coupledom.</p>