This thesis is an investigation into the frames and implicit concepts that drive the current trend of corporate-led agriculture, now known as the Third Food Regime. I consider whether this neoliberal regime is hegemonic in rural Ontario, that is, whether the dominant ideology of the corporate ruling class is reflected in and perpetuated by our farmers, despite it being against their best interests. I employ a critical approach, using mixed methods – participant observation of general farm organizations, content analysis of the farm media in Ontario and in-depth interviews with farmers in Wellington County – and find strong evidence of a free market frame in rural Ontario. This thesis outlines the dimensions and dangers of the existing frame in hopes that alternative agricultural models can again be considered. / SSHRC

This paper examines the market adaptation of Swedish public libraries from a critical theory perspective, to see which forms of market-based funding and activities have been incorporated in the Göteborg, Malmö and Stockholm city libraries. The thesis uses an ideal type analysis, creating a theoretical construct of the archetypical marketized library against which the three libraries can be compared. The funding of a marketized library (1) is not public; and relies on (2) user fees; and (3) private grants and sponsorship. Regarding the activities of a marketized library, (4) the objectives are to maximize the quantity of output, regardless of its content (5) users are approached as “customers” and (6) collections are determined by market criteria and user demand. Library plans, annual programs and annual reports are the material for analysis. The results give a mixed picture. The libraries are all primarily publicly funded. Only the Stockholm library used private sponsorship as a source of funding. However, all three libraries relied rather heavily on user fees and service charges, and they all received private grants in 2006. In terms of the activities, none of the libraries expressed their goals purely in quantitative terms (although the Göteborg library vision was close). The goal assessments indicate libraries preoccupied primarily with numbers, however, trying to increase the quantity of visits and loans much like a book store. Users were in practice often approached as “customers,” but they were not expressly called that in the documents. There were also some market elements in the determination of collections. / Uppsatsnivå: D

During a research process on financial speculation in relation to the home, Carl-Oskar Linné encounters statistics and reports that tell of rising unemployment among realtors. By investigating an alleged flight from the realtor profession and asking questions of prospective, current and former realtors, he attempts to understand the relationship of home sellers to their home, the housing list, the speculation mechanism and security. What are the living conditions and how is the relationship to housing policy? This essay tells about the state of the Swedish housing market and explains what has led to the work "Speculation"/"Mäklare", a work at its core questioning market ideology. The texts also describes work methods, sources of inspiration and some earlier work. / Under en researchprocess om finansiell spekulation i förhållande till hemmet stöter Carl-Oskar Linné på statistik och rapporter som berättar om en ökande arbetslöshet bland fastighetsmäklare. Genom att undersöka en påstådd flykt från mäklaryrket och ställa frågor till blivande, nuvarande och före detta fastighetsmäklare försöker han förstå bostadssäljarens förhållande sitt hem, bostadskön, spekulationsmekanismen och tryggheten. Vilka är livsvillkoren och hur är förhållandet till bostadspolitiken? Denna uppsats beskriver tillståndet på den svenska bostadsmarknaden och vad som har lett till arbetet "Mäklare", ett verk som i grunden ifrågasätter marknadsideologin. Texten beskriver även arbetsmetoder, inspirationskällor och tidigare arbete.

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