Studiens syfte var att undersöka vilka föreställningar om våld i nära relationer som socialsekreterare på olika enheter inom Socialtjänsten ger uttryck för samt hur deras handlingsutrymme kan tänkas påverkas av dessa föreställningar. Syftet besvarades genom två fokusgruppsintervjuer med socialsekreterare inom Socialtjänsten. I resultatet framkom att män oftast förknippas med våldsutövande och kvinnor med våldsutsatthet.  Mäns våld uppfattas allvarligare än kvinnors våld och våld i samkönade nära relationer vilket kopplades samman med könsstereotypa föreställningar. Hjälpen till våldsutsatta kvinnor uttrycks bestå i att hon ska lämna mannen och motiveras till detta. Det framkom också föreställningar om att våldsutövare inte vill ha hjälp och att motivera våldsutövare inte ansågs lika viktigt som att motivera kvinnliga offer. En viktig slutsats i studien har varit att de föreställningar Socialsekreterare bär på är betydelsefulla i förståelsen om vem som är offer respektive förövare samt att arbetet med våldsutövare bör lyftas och utvecklas för att förbättras. / Conceptions about domestic violence – who are the victim, who are the perpetrator?   The purpose of this study was to investigate the conceptions social worker, in various units, have of domestic violence, and how their capabilities can be affected by these beliefs. The purpose is answered by two focus group interviews with social workers in Social services. The result showed that men most often associated with the use of violence and women's vulnerability to violence. Men's violence is perceived more severe than women's violence and violence in same-sex intimate relationships, which were connected to gender stereotypes. Help for abused women according to the social workers expression is that she should leave the man, and as a social worker justify that action. It also emerged that aggressors do not want help and to motivate aggressors were not considered as important as to justify female victims. An important conclusion of the study was that the conceptions social worker has are important for the understanding of who are the victims and perpetrators, and the work with perpetrators of violence should emphasize and develops to improve.

Coetzee's own experience of living in apartheid South Africa provides the backdrop for novels infused with sardonic irony and rich metaphoric systems. In modes of metafiction that emphasize the destructive and violent nature of language, he optimizes his unique oeuvre to interrogate global, national and domestic power relations. This dissertation relies on psychoanalytical theories that examine microstructures of power within the individual, and in his domestic domain. Each of Coetzee's chief protagonists carries a secret related to a dysfunctional mother/son relationship. This hampers their psychosocial dynamics, their masculinity and sexuality. As they respectively strive toward an elusive new life they confront patriarchal power structures that speak on behalf of individuals, '[whose] descent into powerlessness [is] voluntary' (Coetzee 2007: 4-5). Coetzee's constructed white males perform their several identity roles in milieux that span divergent phases of colonial history. His critique points to white patriarchal hegemonic ideological discourses that bespeak the self/other dichotomy in a postcolonial world where the language of dominance supports an oppressive status quo. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

Coetzee's own experience of living in apartheid South Africa provides the backdrop for novels infused with sardonic irony and rich metaphoric systems. In modes of metafiction that emphasize the destructive and violent nature of language, he optimizes his unique oeuvre to interrogate global, national and domestic power relations. This dissertation relies on psychoanalytical theories that examine microstructures of power within the individual, and in his domestic domain. Each of Coetzee's chief protagonists carries a secret related to a dysfunctional mother/son relationship. This hampers their psychosocial dynamics, their masculinity and sexuality. As they respectively strive toward an elusive new life they confront patriarchal power structures that speak on behalf of individuals, '[whose] descent into powerlessness [is] voluntary' (Coetzee 2007: 4-5). Coetzee's constructed white males perform their several identity roles in milieux that span divergent phases of colonial history. His critique points to white patriarchal hegemonic ideological discourses that bespeak the self/other dichotomy in a postcolonial world where the language of dominance supports an oppressive status quo. / English Studies / M.A. (English)