Children's right to their bodies is something that is constantly relevant in society and this essay is based on preschool teachers' ideas about children's bodies. The purpose of this study is to investigate which discourses govern preschool teachers' perceptions of children's bodies in their practice. The purpose is also to examine power structures based on preschool teachers' ideas about children's bodies from an intersectional perspective. The essay uses theories such as subject positions, discourses and power order. In the essay, there are 15 participants who have worked in the preschool between 1 year and 20 years. The method is questionnaire questions and it´s a qualitative study in that the essay has a scientific approach from a Poststructuralist direction. The thesis theoretical approach is based on Ernesto Laclau &amp; Chantal Mouffe discourse analysis. In results and analysis, it becomes clear that children'sbodies construct by a child having, receiving and being given different subject positions in different discourses. The pre-school teachers' performances revealed six basic discourses with four sub-discourses. These discourses and subject positions are made visible, fighting with and against each other. The first discourse is a person with rights. which includes a subject position such as that children are considered a human being with rights and the right to be different. The second discourse is a gender binary discourse that is influenced by discourse based on appearance. Subject positions are girl and boy. The third discourse is a discourse on gender identity that is also affected by a future discourse. Subject positions are gender identities that are made visible, invisible and created while waiting for the gender identity to be found and to find oneself in the future. The fourth discourse is discourses about Swedishness and which are also influenced by a family discourse. Subject positions are children with a foreign background and culture as well as children born in Sweden who are“expected” to have a Swedish culture. The family background also becomes something that affects children's subject position. The fifth discourse is a discourse on integrity and sexuality that is influenced by a discourse on protecting and teaching the child. Subject positions are that the child is both strong, protective, vulnerable and independent. Something that is also asub-discourse is health discourse. Subject positions that the child receives are healthy, unhealthy and active. The sixth discourse is the discourse of the body as a function. Subject position is that children's body is considered unusual and invisible. The discussion is raised on the basis of a societal level around Christianity, Swedishness and racism, heteronormativity and children's rights. / <p>2022-06-02</p>

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Föreliggande uppsats utgår från tidigare forskning som hävdar att jämställdhetsdiskursen i Sverige bygger på ett vitt, heterosexuellt, medelklassideal som underordnar andra maskuliniteter. Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka huruvida jämställdhetsdiskursens ovan nämnda exkluderingar samt maskulinitetsdiskurser som till exempel ”den nye mannen” kan spåras i mäns artikuleringar av diskurser kring maskulinitet och jämställdhet och hur olika subjektspositioner samt hierarkier begripliggörs och (re)produceras i denna process. Det teoretiska ramverket utgörs av poststrukturalistisk teori kring diskurser, subjektspositioner och ”görandet” av genus och andra sociala kategorier. Dessa kategorier ses ur ett intersektionellt perspektiv som sammanvävda. Uppsatsen försöker vidare förena denna poststrukturalistiska ansats med Connells teori om hegemonisk maskulinitet. Det empiriska materialet består av enskilda intervjuer samt fokusgruppintervjuer utförda i tre olika empiriska kontexter där individer i olika sexuella, etniska och klassmässiga subjektspositioner med olika grader av privilegiering i relation till jämställdhetsdiskursen befinner sig. Resultatet visar att den maskulinitetsdiskurs som artikulerades i samtliga kontexter låg nära diskursen kring ”den nye mannen”; ett mer jämställt, eller i alla fall barnorienterat, maskulinitetsideal. Jämställdhet artikulerades även någorlunda lika över kontexterna som en konsensusbaserad särartsdiskurs.  Det som däremot skilde kontexterna och intervjupersonerna åt var deras etniska, klassmässiga och sexuella subjektspositioner som relaterade till de hegemoniska diskurserna kring jämställdhet och maskulinitet på o(jäm)lika sätt. Personerna i de muslimska och homosexuella subjektspositionerna gjorde på olika sätt motstånd mot den underordning som de placerades i genom dessa subjektspositioners underordade relation till ”den nye mannen”. De förhöll sig därmed något mer distanserat till denna diskurs samt jämställdhetsdiskursen. I kontexten där intervjupersonernas subjektspositioner i större utsträckning sammanföll med ”den nye mannen” artikulerades denna diskurs tydligare. Exempelvis artikulerade man barnorientering, snarare än ett intresse för jämställdhet i sig. I samtliga kontexter uppmärksammade eller problematiserade man sällan sina egna privilegier, men det skedde på olika sätt ett skillnadsskapande gentemot ”andra män” och kvinnor. / This master thesis takes its departure in previous research which argues that the Swedish discourse of gender equality and its gender equal masculine subject “the new man” is built upon a white, heterosexual, middle class norm that excludes and subordinates other masculinities. The thesis aims at investigating whether the above mentioned exclusions in the Swedish discourse of gender equality and masculinity discourses such as “the new man” are traceable in men´s articulations of discourses regarding gender equality and masculinity, and how different subject positions and hierarchies are negotiated and reproduced in this process. The theoretical framework is a post-structural theory inspired by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffes theory of discourses, subject positions and the “doing” of gender and other social categories such as class and ethnicity, categories that from an intersectional perspective are viewed as analytically inseparable. The thesis also seeks to combine the post-structural perspective with R.W. Connells theory of hegemonic masculinity. The empirical material consists of single and focus groups interviews generated in three different contexts in which individuals located in different sexual and ethnic subject positions with different degrees of privilege in relation to the discourse of gender equality. The results show that the masculinity discourse that was articulated in all three contexts was the discourse of “the new man”; a more gender equal, or at least children-oriented, masculine ideal. The articulations of gender equality were also similar in the different contexts; a consensus based discourse of gender equality in which men and women were viewed as different but complementary. What distinguished the contexts was the interview person’s sexual and ethnic subject positions which related to the hegemonic discourses of gender equality and masculinity in different, unequal ways. The interview person´s in the Muslim and homosexual subject positions resisted the subordination these positions meant in relation to the discourse of “the new (gender equal) man”. This also meant that these persons had a more distanced relationship to this discourse and the discourse of gender equality. In the context where the interview person’s subject positions to a greater extent coincided with “the new man”, this discourse was also articulated in a less problematic way. An orientation towards taking care of children was for example more common than an interest in gender equality for its own sake. In all three context one´s own privileges were seldom acknowledged, and there were different processes of creating difference and hierarchies towards both women and “other men”.

My thesis explores the conceptual underpinnings of the acclaimed Mexican conditional cash transfer (CCT) program Oportunidades as a way of engaging broader debates about how anti-poverty policy is evolving in the wake of the World Bank’s mid-1990s legitimacy crisis. I am interested in the behaviours and attitudes—or “subjectivities”—that Oportunidades attempts to cultivate amongst participants. Whereas the majority of CCT studies tend to focus on measuring the extent to which the programs “mold” beneficiaries into the categories of being prescribed by the program, my thesis is concerned with specifying and critically examining these categories. I use a hybrid neo-Gramscian, governmentality and critical feminist theoretical framework to probe how Oportunidades beneficiaries are constructed within World Bank and Mexican government discourse, as well as in external program evaluations. I argue that Oportunidades is underpinned by an agent-centred conception of poverty and that the program promotes a kind of gendered market-conducive subjectivity amongst beneficiaries. I conclude by exploring some of the implications of the CCT model. Ma thèse explore les fondements conceptuels du Oportunidades, un programme de transferts conditionnels de fonds (TMC) Mexicain acclamé. J’utilise les TMC comme une ouverture pour élargir le débat sur la manière dont la politique anti-pauvreté évolue dans le sillage de la crise de légitimité à laquelle la Banque Mondiale a fait face dans le milieu des années 1990. Je m'intéresse aux types de comportements et d'attitudes—ou «subjectivités»—que Oportunidades essaye de cultiver chez les participants. Alors que la majorité des études sur les TMC focalisent sur l’évaluation des succès du programme à modeler les participants afin qu’ils entrent dans les catégories de personnes prescrites par le programme, mon but est la spécification et l'examen critique de ces catégories. J'utilise un cadre théorique hybride qui combine néo-gramsciennes, la gouvernementalité et des théories féministes critiques pour enquêter sur la façon dont les bénéficiaires du programme Oportunidades sont construits à l’intérieur du discours de la Banque Mondiale, du gouvernement mexicain, ainsi que dans les évaluations externes du programme. Je soutiens qu’il y a, dans le programme Oportunidades, une conception sous-entendu de la pauvreté centrée sur les comportements des individus et que le programme promeut une subjectivité sexuée des bénéficiaires qui facilite leur participation au marché. Je conclus en explorant quelques implications du modèle TMC.

This research study explores how ten Eritrean refugees living in Pretoria, South Africa, make sense of their refugee identity in individual interviews. Discursive analysis was employed as a methodology to capture the different ways of talking (interpretative repertoires) about their institutionally-ascribed refugee identity, their experiences as refugees and alternative identities which the refugees discursively constructed in their interaction with the researcher. The study was motivated to provide the refugees, as a marginalized social group, a platform for expressing their agency. Six men and four women were recruited for the study using a convenience sampling technique. Analysis resulted in the identification of five dominant and two less dominant interpretative repertoires. The dominant interpretative repertoires were as follows: ‘we have rights’ repertoire; ‘accept who you are’ repertoire; ‘they target you’ repertoire; ‘I am secure: they can’t deport me’ repertoire and ‘we are misunderstood as criminals’ repertoire. The two less dominant repertoires were: ‘our refugee identity is transient’ repertoire and ‘I am lost; I don’t have a country any more’ repertoire. The findings of such varied, contradictory and inconsistent ways of talking by the participants about their refugee identity demonstrate a challenge to previous empirical studies conducted on the experiences and identities of Eritrean refugees in different settings which treated participant accounts as consistent and coherent. Furthermore, the results of the study defy dominant discourses about refugees which describe them as voiceless and without agency. / Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / am2014 / Sociology / unrestricted

My thesis explores the conceptual underpinnings of the acclaimed Mexican conditional cash transfer (CCT) program Oportunidades as a way of engaging broader debates about how anti-poverty policy is evolving in the wake of the World Bank’s mid-1990s legitimacy crisis. I am interested in the behaviours and attitudes—or “subjectivities”—that Oportunidades attempts to cultivate amongst participants. Whereas the majority of CCT studies tend to focus on measuring the extent to which the programs “mold” beneficiaries into the categories of being prescribed by the program, my thesis is concerned with specifying and critically examining these categories. I use a hybrid neo-Gramscian, governmentality and critical feminist theoretical framework to probe how Oportunidades beneficiaries are constructed within World Bank and Mexican government discourse, as well as in external program evaluations. I argue that Oportunidades is underpinned by an agent-centred conception of poverty and that the program promotes a kind of gendered market-conducive subjectivity amongst beneficiaries. I conclude by exploring some of the implications of the CCT model. Ma thèse explore les fondements conceptuels du Oportunidades, un programme de transferts conditionnels de fonds (TMC) Mexicain acclamé. J’utilise les TMC comme une ouverture pour élargir le débat sur la manière dont la politique anti-pauvreté évolue dans le sillage de la crise de légitimité à laquelle la Banque Mondiale a fait face dans le milieu des années 1990. Je m'intéresse aux types de comportements et d'attitudes—ou «subjectivités»—que Oportunidades essaye de cultiver chez les participants. Alors que la majorité des études sur les TMC focalisent sur l’évaluation des succès du programme à modeler les participants afin qu’ils entrent dans les catégories de personnes prescrites par le programme, mon but est la spécification et l'examen critique de ces catégories. J'utilise un cadre théorique hybride qui combine néo-gramsciennes, la gouvernementalité et des théories féministes critiques pour enquêter sur la façon dont les bénéficiaires du programme Oportunidades sont construits à l’intérieur du discours de la Banque Mondiale, du gouvernement mexicain, ainsi que dans les évaluations externes du programme. Je soutiens qu’il y a, dans le programme Oportunidades, une conception sous-entendu de la pauvreté centrée sur les comportements des individus et que le programme promeut une subjectivité sexuée des bénéficiaires qui facilite leur participation au marché. Je conclus en explorant quelques implications du modèle TMC.

Studiens syfte var att identifiera och jämföra diskurser om romer från svensk press åren 2006 och 2021. De tidningar som valdes ut var Aftonbladet och Expressen då det var tidningarna med störst spridning från respektive år. Diskursteori och teori om andrafiering utgjorde grunden för studiens analys och ett snävt diskursanalytiskt tillvägagångssätt användes för att kartlägga romers subjektpositioner ur skildringarna. De huvudsakliga resultaten visade på att romer framställdes som en homogen grupp bägge åren, samt som en grupp utsatta för diskriminering och utanförskap av olika slag. Skillnader som kunde identifieras mellan de olika åren var att synen på romer som hjälpbehövande tycktes ersättas av en syn om genombrott och framsteg där romer skildrades som banbrytande. Andrafiering av olika slag identifierades från båda åren, men med olika omfattning och grunder. I vissa fall var andrafieringen år 2021 mindre tydlig än år 2006 och i andra fall tydligare. / The purpose of the study was to identify and compare discourses about Roma in the Swedish press during the years 2006 and 2021. The chosen newspapers were Aftonbladet and Expressen since they had the largest distribution in both years. The discourse theory and theory about othering constituted the basis of the study’s analysis and a narrow approach to discourse analysis was used to map Roma’s subject positions from the papers’ depictions. The main results showed that the Roma were portrayed as a homogeneous group in both years, as well as a group exposed to discrimination and exclusion of various forms. Differences that could be identified between the different years were that the view of Roma as in need of help seemed to be replaced by a view of breakthroughs and progress where Roma were portrayed as mould-breaking. Othering of different kinds was identified from both years, although to different extents and with differing bases. In some cases, the othering was less noticeable in the year 2021 and in others it was more noticeable.

In spite of the long tradition and strong national identity of military non-alignment, the Social Democratic government enabled a profound redefinition of the national interest into an application for a Swedish membership of NATO. Through a critical discourse analysis, this thesis will explore how this was made possible, focusing on the social construction of national interests. Based on constructivism and ideas of Jutta Weldes, three main concepts were identified guiding the discursive analytical framework: the security imaginary of a state, subject positions, and chains of connotations. Furthermore, the analysis shows that this radical shift in the Swedish security policy primarily occurred through reinforcing an image of ‘the Russian threat’, as well as through new subject positioning where NATO was moved closer to Sweden and ‘the self’, followed by particular chains of connotations. These findings emphasize the importance of applying a critical lens to explore perceptions and interpretations within discourse, the constitutive function of language and the hidden meanings behind it.

Narrative identity refers to the interconnected web of stories forged by individuals to explain life. These stories are permeated with values and work as resources for the self during role transitions, in a constant flux of construction and revision. By analyzing the accounts of acting *förstelärare this study explores how a professional self is negotiated within a hero’s relational setting, this in order to challenge stereotypes and contradictions in teacher identities. In 2013 the Swedish Government introduced a career reform aimed to attract, and promote the conservation of, high-performing teachers in schools, and thus was the category *förstelärare (’first teacher’) introduced. Drawing on socio-constructive and pragmatic theories of identity, this paper aims to highlight nine individual *first teachers’ representations of experience as a means to consider and reflect upon the complexity of the teaching profession in a late modern society. Ultimately the qualitative analysis identifies the ways *first teachers subconsciously use the hero’s narrative as a tool to discursively negotiate a professional identity.

Sweden is generally regarded as progressive in politics related to LGBTQI people, and the work for LGBTQI-rights is often described as a success story. Nevertheless, success and resistance have coincided throughout history with different discourses characterizing the political conversation. The study’s aim was to identify and deconstruct the subject positioning of LGBTQI people in Swedish politics. Furthermore, I analysed how LGBTQI people are constructed as a threat or as threatened in relation to the majority society. Using the AI-based topic modeling tool BERTopic, speeches from parliamentary debates from the period 2010–2023 were sampled for a qualitative discourse analysis. The theoretical framework consists of discourse theory, intersectionality, and concepts from queer- and postcolonial theory. The results show that the positioning of LGBTQI people is made in a hegemonic vulnerability discourse. The construction of LGBTQI people as vulnerable relates to an unwanted social development in which LGBTQI people are positioned as an already vulnerable group risking further vulnerability. Two competing discourses emerge, one that constructs threats to LGBTQI people as imported problems, and one that constructs LGBTQI people as threatened by right-wing nationalism. When LGBTQI people are constructed as a threat, it is primarily a threat to the prevailing gender order.