The aim of the study is to examine how feminist activists in Sweden observe and talk about social problems related to feminism to resist existing power discourses. The questions examined is: What stereotypical portrayals of women were noticed by feminist activists in the podcast ‘Penntricket’?; in which manner does the feminist activists talk of these stereotypical portrayals in order to resist existing power discourses? A critical discourse analysis was carried out on six chosen parts of the podcast Penntricket where the hosts talked about stereotypical portrayals of women and how to resist existing power discourses. The results of the study demonstrates that the feminist activists observed and talked about three stereotypic portrayals of women; ‘the responsible mother’; how ‘the woman is expected to have children’ and ‘the attractive woman’. The resistance differed within the stereotypic portrayals of women. The feminist activists resistance of the stereotypic portrayal of ‘the responsible mother’ was to make the unequal parenting visible. In resisting the stereotypic portrayals of how ‘the woman is expected to have children’ the feminist activists talked about the importance of opening up for more acceptable categories for women who does not desire to have children. The feminist activists resistance of the stereotypic portrayals of ‘the attractive women’ was to make visible that mothers manners can affect their daughters and make visible what happens when women give each other compliment for their looks.

The fashion industry's enormous environmental impact has received a lot of attention, but despite this it continues to grow, partly due to the emergence of the fast fashion segment. This fashion segment mass produces cheap, poor quality, disposable clothing at a high speed with major environmental and social impact. Due to an increased consumer awareness of sustainability most companies communicate their corporate social responsibility (CSR) to legitimize their business. The purpose of this essay is to study what linguistic and semiotic elements that the fast fashion companies H&M and NA-KD use to frame the sustainability discourse. The theoretical framework includes theories of CSR, Fairclough's perspective on critical discourse analysis (CDA) and Barthes's take on semiology. Fairclough's CDA and Barthes’s semiology were applied to the study methodologically as well. The analysis showed that the communication is perceived to be used primarily for the purpose of creating increased sales by building an attractive green(washed) image, and secondarily acting as a reporting of actual sustainability work. The two companies generally had a low interdiscursivity, which revealed the discursive practice’s aim to reproduce the prevailing discors order. In conclusion, the study shows that above all, the companies aim to maintain the hegemonic structures that shape the industry’s ideology and continue to capitalize on the commercial system Keywords: Fast Fashion, Corporate Social Responsibility, Greenwashing, Critical Discourse Analysis, Semiotic Analysis.

Substance abuse constitutes a multi-layered social issue. The practical social work carried out with individuals suffering from substance abuse is, among other things, directed by the guidelines set out by Socialstyrelsen. This study aims to, from a critical discursive point of view, map out the discursive field within those guidelines for care and support in cases of substance abuse and its consequences. Additionally, the study aims to clarify the connection between policy and real- world social work practices by illuminating subject positions articulated within the discourses of substance abuse contained in those same guidelines. Six different, partly if not fully competing, discourses within the guidelines are identified through the study, within which the subsequent subject positions affects any practical social work carried out. Furthermore, the study shows the hegemonic status of the medical discourse – how its construction of the substance abuse subject as medically afflicted is the most dominant. Finally, the results indicate, in accordance with previous research, the discourse of harm reduction is increasing its extent as a discourse surrounding substance abuse. Possibly, this signifies a paradigm shift in the making as regards perspectives on substance abuse and its treatment.

This teacher graduate thesis investigates self-portrait practices of youth on Instagram; inorder to, shed light on how Swedish youth of today construct and perform identity throughself-portrait practices on Instagram, and how these constructs reproduce genderedstereotypes and norms. The study employed visual critical discourse analysis utilizingFairclough’s three dimensional model with Cultural Studies a theoretical framework. 20self-portraits were analyzed, collected from 4 youth participants Instagram accounts (5images from each participants). The participants used wide range of visual tactics in theconstruction and staging of their images. The study identifies one dominating consumerdiscourse and a pertaining interdiscursive and intertextual practice amongst theparticipants. The intertextual and interdiscursive practice included the use of posing,staging camera angles, cropping of images and the use of props in a similar if not identicalto the use of visual language in commercial media discourse. In turn, the appropriation ofcommercial consumer discourse led to the reproduction of media trends in theparticipators gender displays and expressions. The inclusion of Instagram in the visualart classroom could be utilized as an entry point for media literacy education fordiscussing media trends critically. However, the study gives a word of warning aboutusing Instagram as a pedagogical tool; because of, the platform's innate properties fordata mining and targeted advertisement makes the use of Instagram in a schoolenvironment both morally and legally troubling.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the cultural content and representations in three English as a second language textbooks published for Swedish students in years 1-3. The issue of cultural content is very visible in contemporary research on English education today and as English has grown into a global language over centuries, it has also become a culturally diverse language. The method used in this study is a merge of Critical Discourse Analysis and Multimodality with a norm critical perspective, using a chart developed within the study as an analytical tool. This study reveals that the textbooks on the one hand consist of a dominant Anglo-American, as well as a Swedish cultural setting where representations of white normative children and adults dominate the text and illustrations. On the other hand, the books show signs of trying to involve a developed perspective on English as an international language (EIL) and interculturality. However, these EIL and intercultural features are probably not enough to help the students who will use these books to develop the intercultural awareness needed later in life when they use their acquired English knowledge with other English speakers across the world.

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the portrayal of Ethiopia as a destination in a travel report from the newspaper Vagabond. The method used is critical discourse analysis, based on postcolonial theory formation. The focus of the analysis is to examine how Ethiopia and its population are represented in the text. This is done by finding out what descriptions, formulations and concepts are used to entice the reader to travel there. Since I want to investigate how the text differs from other reports on travel destinations in Africa, a comparison is also made with two other texts. The main conclusion that can be drawn from the results is that the text conveys the image of Ethiopia as a different destination where the locals and their way of life are the focus. The text in the report is characterized by stereotypical notions that people in the "third world" live an uncivilized life that contrasts with the "modern West".

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This thesis expands an understanding of how Netflix has been established in Sweden’s media landscape. It seeks to investigate what effect the press has had, and more specifically, the study explores how the press builds up Netflix as powerful and how it imbues Netflix with legitimacy. Methodologically the thesis starts off with a usage of purposive sampling in order to find articles. The material is further handled with a critical discourse analysis, where writers’ language is explored, along with an investigation into how the world is represented with regards to identities, relationships and sociocultural aspects. Analysed articles with an economic focus come from Dagens Industri and those with cultural focus comes from Aftonbladet, Expressen, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet. Moreover, the study is based on theories and earlier studies within political economy, with a pursuit to understand film and television industry; trade press, to interpret the economic articles; cultural journalism, to interpret the cultural articles from; and power, to distinguished different power aspects in Netflix. The analysis comes in two parts: the economic analysis, which is divided in three ways and a two-folded cultural analysis. When it comes to economic legitimacy, two major aspects are prominent: Netflix’s success in competition against other streaming services and a clear establishment on the global market. Some articles have also given reasons to understand Netflix’s situation as ambiguous, meaning its future is uncertain. With regards to cultural legitimacy, the question of quality is significant, along with a connection to other social contexts such as gender, politics and climate. Netflix is perceived as having a societal responsibility. As a result of this thesis, it can be noted that cultural articles tend to be more critical than economic. Cultural journalists appear to cover the subject with a more open approach, using personal opinions, often suggesting what Netflix can improve. Writers of economic articles demonstrate a stricter portrayal of Netflix, mainly focusing on developments and success.

This thesis looks into the online news representation of the #MeToo movement, started by actress Alyssa Milano in October 2017, in the two biggest German newspapers, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung between October 2017 and January 2017. The purpose of this study is to examine how the online editorial departments of the two biggest German newspapers frame and represent sexual harassment in the light of #MeToo. Additionally, I want to determine how the news coverage developed from when Harvey Weinstein first was accused of sexual misconduct in October 2017, touching upon the occurrence of the now famous hashtag roughly two weeks later and another three months later when German TV director Dieter Wedel faced similar allegations. To do so, I conducted a Critical Discourse Analysis of 19 online newspaper articles. The analysis is divided into three parts: Text level, discursive practice and social practice. Resulting from the analysis, one can see that sexual harassment in Germany still is not recognised as an issue of gender inequality but rather a matter of individual responsibility and systemic structures in certain industries, especially when German stakeholders are involved.