The aim of this thesis is to study male questioning of masculinity. The study of the questioning will be conducted through a literature study, that will be done using an anthology that holds a critical perspective towards masculinity. The study of the questioning, will be done through mapping the most common patterns within the questioning together with patterns in the form used for presenting the questioning. Apart from the focus on the questioning and its form, which norms that are being questioned will also be studied. Apart from the focuses mentioned above, the last focus is directed towards finding patterns within the chosen themes vulnerability and homosociality. Since the focuses of the thesis will be studied through finding patterns within the material, thematic analysis will be used as a method. The method queer reading will also be used for studying norms. What has been found is that the form of the questioning mainly contains alternative thinking and reflections about ideals, as well as frustration related to trying to live up to these ideals. Overall few innovatory perspectives were brought up in the questioning, but the own father was rather commonly brought up in relation to reflection of the own masculinity. Regarding the chosen themes, avoiding to express emotions of vulnerability openly was found to be most common regarding vulnerability. Within the theme of homosociality, the most common pattern was that the men maintained a distance to each other. The most interesting discovery was found within the reflective form, which became interesting, since the stories contained an understanding that reflection should be avoided in order to uphold a masculine identity. Paradoxically then, the overall form of the material was reflective stories, making the form of the stories a break against a central norm found within their content.

This paper presents a critical analysis of the cultural and social constructions of aging and the aged which pervade public discourse around the growing population of elders in the U.S. Elders are socially 'othered' through processes of medicalization and categorization as an "at risk" group. Furthermore, elders are culturally constructed as unproductive and overconsumptive collective resources. As elders become increasingly central in social and political discourse surrounding health care and the division of resources, these culturally and socially constructed stereotypes have a real impact on social identity and policy decisions. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role of anthropology in contributing a critical perspective to the study of elders.

The Swedish social services have an extensive responsibility for supporting victims andperpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) as well as their children. Social serviceworkers therefore need knowledge about IPV. However, previous research has shown that theself perceived competence of such knowledge is lacking among social workers. The purposeof this study is to examine why that is and what perspectives on knowledge about IPV thatare communicated (and not) by one of the central actors of the state governing of knowledge,the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen). It also explores to what extentcritical perspectives are expressed. This is done by categorizing the content of one of theBoard’s IPV educational materials into three sections of knowledge: theoretical, factual andpractical knowledge. The results are analyzed using Bacchis analytical tool “Whats’s theProblem Represented to Be” (WPR), which shows that factual knowledge is dominant in thematerial while theoretical knowledge is least common. Critical perspectives on IPV, likeanalyses of structural power mechanisms, are hardly noticeable, which is considered as ashortcoming when it comes to understanding IPV. As IPV is a complex issue that can beviewed as troublesome within the social services and provoke emotions and resistance,pedagogical tools specifically adapted to education about IPV can be needed, which is nottaken into consideration in the studied material. The study discusses that a predominance offactual knowledge and a lack of critical perspectives in the educational material can beunderstood as influenced by NPM, focusing on production within prevailing frames ratherthan challenging them in order to enable social change. For knowledge about IPV to beimplemented and deepened within the social services, and thereby the support to IPV victims,perpetrators and their children to be strengthened, this study suggests that criticalperspectives are needed in the learning process, using pedagogical approaches which take thecomplexity of IPV into consideration

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur förskollärare uppfattar begreppet normkritik och hur de tillämpar det i arbetet med barnlitteratur i förskolan. Forskning kring det normkritiska perspektivet visar att det krävs stor medvetenhet kring normer och privilegier för att vi inte omedvetet istället förstärker normer och skapa utanförskap. Tidigare forskning har visat att förskollärare tycker att det är svårt att implementera normkritiska arbetssätt på ett enkelt sätt i förskolans vardag. De upplever heller inte att de har tillräckligt med utbildning eller förståelse för ämnet. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer och en tillämpning av normkritiskt perspektiv i analysen har vi undersökt vilka normer som lyfts i samtalet kring begreppet normkritik och vilka normer som inte nämns. Studien undersöker även förskollärares uppfattningar om arbetet med barnlitteratur ur ett normkritiskt perspektiv. Empirin består av tio intervjuer av förskollärare i geografiskt olika områden i Sverige.   Undersökningen visar att förskollärare definierar normkritik på tre olika sätt. De beskriver normkritik som ett förhållningssätt, en medvetenhet om egna privilegier och fördomar och som ett synliggörande av normer och strukturer. Studien visar att alla förskollärare i undersökningen anser att de har förståelse för ämnet, antingen genom utbildningen eller eget intresse. I studien framkommer det att genus är den norm som uppmärksammas mest, både i definitionen av normkritik och i förskollärarnas uppfattningar om arbetet med barnlitteratur. Vi kan också se att fortbildning i normkritik behövs för att ge förskollärarna bättre förutsättningar att välja bra litteratur till förskolan. / <p><strong>Fastställt via akademichefsbeslut HIG-STYR 2019/7 den 2019-01-07</strong></p><p><strong> </strong>Daniel Petterson, fil dr, univ. lekt Pedagogik och Erika Björklund, fil dr, univ. lekt Pedagogik går in som examinatorer på PEG700 under veckorna 1 till och med 3, 2019 då Peter Gill, prof. Pedagogik, gått i pension från och med 2019-01-01.</p>