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Folket, yxan och orättvisans rot. Betydelsebildning kring demokrati i den svenska rösträttsrörelsens diskursgemenskap, 1887-1902.

Lundberg, Victor LU (2007)
Abstract
The People, the Axe and the Root of Injustice: the Swedish Suffrage Movement's Discourse Community 1887?1902, its Production of Meaning and the Concept of Democracy



In this thesis, I present a study of the Swedish suffrage movement's discourse community. The analyses focus primarily on the core of this movement, the Swedish Public Suffrage Association (Sveriges allmänna rösträttsförbund). This association, headed by a board of directors and executive committee, served as a national umbrella association between the years of 1890 and 1900. Traditionally, and in most prior research, Sweden's extensive suffrage movement ? with its all-embracing demands for universal (male) suffrage and (political) democracy ? is seen as a... (More)
The People, the Axe and the Root of Injustice: the Swedish Suffrage Movement's Discourse Community 1887?1902, its Production of Meaning and the Concept of Democracy



In this thesis, I present a study of the Swedish suffrage movement's discourse community. The analyses focus primarily on the core of this movement, the Swedish Public Suffrage Association (Sveriges allmänna rösträttsförbund). This association, headed by a board of directors and executive committee, served as a national umbrella association between the years of 1890 and 1900. Traditionally, and in most prior research, Sweden's extensive suffrage movement ? with its all-embracing demands for universal (male) suffrage and (political) democracy ? is seen as a straightforward, liberal-democratic and effective driving force for Swedish democratisation. This thesis uses theoretical approaches derived from Norman Fairclough, Patrick Joyce, Ernesto Laclau, Ania Loomba, Chantal Mouffe and Jacques Rancière, among others, to challenge this understanding of the movement. It formulates an alternative methodological approach, in order to analyse the suffrage movement as an ill-defined and complex political discourse community. The primary sources for this study are the public and widely propagated publications of the Swedish Public Suffrage Association; often polemical pamphlets or leaflets that were being compiled, printed, and distributed at an increasing pace during the decade. My analyses leads me to conclude the following: 1) Between 1887 and 1902, the discourse community of the Swedish suffrage movement was undergoing a process of considerable change; 2) Apostrophising Roland Barthes, it is possible to see how these discursive changes in the suffrage movement's discourse community are textually manifested through four strong and comprehensive mythologies; 3) ?The people? was the single most important concept of the suffrage movement's discourse community. The fundamental reason for injustice and inequality in society was the historically rooted (and constructed) conflict between the upright people and the corrupt elite; 4) My thesis and its analyses generally shed new light, I argue, on the disintegration, breaking up and ?failure? of the Swedish suffrage movement and its realist politics. Finally, the analytical results and conclusions of my thesis are relevant to scholarly (and political) debates extending far outside the Swedish context; scholarly (and political) debates on labour history, the history of popular radicalism, and the condition of ?democracy? and its practices in the western world. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

I avhandlingen presenteras en analys av den svenska rösträttsrörelsens diskursgemenskap mellan åren 1887 och 1902. Studien fokuserar huvudsakligen på rörelsens kärna; Sveriges allmänna rösträttsförbund. Denna organisation, ledd av en överstyrelse och ett verkställande utskott i Stockholm, fungerade som rörelsens nationella ramverk under perioden 1890-1900. Traditionellt har denna rörelse ? med sina krav på allmän (manlig) rösträtt och politisk demokrati ? setts som en framåtriktad, liberaldemokratisk och betydelsefull drivkraft i Sveriges demokratisering. Med teoretisk inspiration från bland andra Norman Fairclough, Patrick Joyce, Ernesto Laclau, Ania Loomba, Chantal Mouffe och Jacques Rancière,... (More)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

I avhandlingen presenteras en analys av den svenska rösträttsrörelsens diskursgemenskap mellan åren 1887 och 1902. Studien fokuserar huvudsakligen på rörelsens kärna; Sveriges allmänna rösträttsförbund. Denna organisation, ledd av en överstyrelse och ett verkställande utskott i Stockholm, fungerade som rörelsens nationella ramverk under perioden 1890-1900. Traditionellt har denna rörelse ? med sina krav på allmän (manlig) rösträtt och politisk demokrati ? setts som en framåtriktad, liberaldemokratisk och betydelsefull drivkraft i Sveriges demokratisering. Med teoretisk inspiration från bland andra Norman Fairclough, Patrick Joyce, Ernesto Laclau, Ania Loomba, Chantal Mouffe och Jacques Rancière, utmanar denna avhandling en sådan tolkning av rösträttsrörelsen. Här formuleras en alternativ metodologi för att analysera rörelsen som en svårfångad och komplex politisk diskursgemenskap. Huvudkällorna i avhandlingen utgörs av de offentliga och vitt spridda, och inte sällan polemiska, flygblad och pamfletter som rösträttsförbundet producerade under 1890-talet. Analyserna utmynnar framförallt i fyra slutsatser: 1) Mellan 1887 och 1902 förändrades den svenska rösträttsrörelsens diskursgemenskap avsevärt; 2) Med anknytning till Roland Barthes är det möjligt att se hur dessa förändringar manifesterades textuellt genom fyra starka och slagkraftiga mytologier; 3) ?Folket? var det enskilt starkaste politiska begreppet i rösträttsrörelsens diskursgemenskap. Grundorsaken till orättvisorna och ojämlikheten i samhället var den historiskt rotade (och konstruerade) konflikten mellan det rättrådiga folket och den korrupta samhällseliten; 4) Avhandlingens analyser kastar ett nytt ljus över rösträttsrörelsens splittring, upplösning och realpolitiska ?misslyckande?. Avslutningsvis anknyter avhandlingens resultat till flera internationella vetenskapliga (och politiska) debatter; diskussioner om arbetarhistoriens innehåll, den politiska radikalismens historiska betydelse, och den politiska demokratins ideologi och praktik i västvärlden. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
opponent
  • Professor Olsson, Tom, Historia, Södertörns högskola, Stockholm
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
identity, labour history, liberalism, nationalism, the people, populism, post-colonialism, post-modernism, radicalism, suffrage., Gender studies, Modern historia (ca. 1800-1914), Contemporary history (circa 1800 to 1914), Political history, Genusvetenskap, gender, discourse community, democracy, civilization, Politisk historia
pages
526 pages
publisher
h:ström - Text & Kultur
defense location
Historiska institutionen, Magle Stora Kyrkogata 12A, Lund
defense date
2007-12-15 10:15:00
ISBN
978-91-7327-045-8
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
ba84684c-5381-4977-86a5-52fbc6ce0770 (old id 599326)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 11:54:00
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:07:53
@phdthesis{ba84684c-5381-4977-86a5-52fbc6ce0770,
  abstract     = {{The People, the Axe and the Root of Injustice: the Swedish Suffrage Movement's Discourse Community 1887?1902, its Production of Meaning and the Concept of Democracy<br/><br>
<br/><br>
In this thesis, I present a study of the Swedish suffrage movement's discourse community. The analyses focus primarily on the core of this movement, the Swedish Public Suffrage Association (Sveriges allmänna rösträttsförbund). This association, headed by a board of directors and executive committee, served as a national umbrella association between the years of 1890 and 1900. Traditionally, and in most prior research, Sweden's extensive suffrage movement ? with its all-embracing demands for universal (male) suffrage and (political) democracy ? is seen as a straightforward, liberal-democratic and effective driving force for Swedish democratisation. This thesis uses theoretical approaches derived from Norman Fairclough, Patrick Joyce, Ernesto Laclau, Ania Loomba, Chantal Mouffe and Jacques Rancière, among others, to challenge this understanding of the movement. It formulates an alternative methodological approach, in order to analyse the suffrage movement as an ill-defined and complex political discourse community. The primary sources for this study are the public and widely propagated publications of the Swedish Public Suffrage Association; often polemical pamphlets or leaflets that were being compiled, printed, and distributed at an increasing pace during the decade. My analyses leads me to conclude the following: 1) Between 1887 and 1902, the discourse community of the Swedish suffrage movement was undergoing a process of considerable change; 2) Apostrophising Roland Barthes, it is possible to see how these discursive changes in the suffrage movement's discourse community are textually manifested through four strong and comprehensive mythologies; 3) ?The people? was the single most important concept of the suffrage movement's discourse community. The fundamental reason for injustice and inequality in society was the historically rooted (and constructed) conflict between the upright people and the corrupt elite; 4) My thesis and its analyses generally shed new light, I argue, on the disintegration, breaking up and ?failure? of the Swedish suffrage movement and its realist politics. Finally, the analytical results and conclusions of my thesis are relevant to scholarly (and political) debates extending far outside the Swedish context; scholarly (and political) debates on labour history, the history of popular radicalism, and the condition of ?democracy? and its practices in the western world.}},
  author       = {{Lundberg, Victor}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-7327-045-8}},
  keywords     = {{identity; labour history; liberalism; nationalism; the people; populism; post-colonialism; post-modernism; radicalism; suffrage.; Gender studies; Modern historia (ca. 1800-1914); Contemporary history (circa 1800 to 1914); Political history; Genusvetenskap; gender; discourse community; democracy; civilization; Politisk historia}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  publisher    = {{h:ström - Text & Kultur}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{Folket, yxan och orättvisans rot. Betydelsebildning kring demokrati i den svenska rösträttsrörelsens diskursgemenskap, 1887-1902.}},
  year         = {{2007}},
}