IDENTITETSSKAPANDE I STUDENTFÖRENINGEN ULRIKA ... - DiVA

I D E N T I T E T S S K A P A N D E I S T U D E N T F Ö R E N I N G E N
free period but an important and necessary preparation for the positions of
power in the future.
In these two discourses the student is constructed with the middle class man as
the norm. Up until the 1870s women were excluded from the universities, and
men with a working-class background were in practice a very small minority.
The small number of women and men from the working classes who nevertheless
took up higher education found it difficult to assert themselves. They
were defined and conceived of themselves as the others, as the deviants in relation
to the genealogical images of the student.
The NATEK, SAM and MED Members – Three
Distinguishing Ideal Class and Gender Identities
How do the society members construct the ideal identities? Are these distinguishing,
and if so, in what way? How do gender and class operate in the creation
of identity? The answers to these questions are summarised below.
The NATEK members construct their ideal identity by activating the carefree
student of the guild discourse. They express a carefree desire to live for the
moment. They claim to prioritise parties over studies. The guild spirit is also
visible in the overalls, which distinguish them both from students in other
programmes and from fellow students at other universities. Their attitude to
alcohol and the songs that are sung during the parties may be seen as manifestations
of a desire to disturb. The ideal identity both presupposes and promotes a
desire to stick together. As a closely united group they are able to construct an
identity that is not politically correct and is moreover perceived by other groups
as immature. This is probably facilitated by the carefree student functioning as
a temporary identity, but I have also observed that the NATEK students do not
describe themselves as a future elite. They see themselves rather as ordinary, that
is, moderately successful, but enterprising future professionals. The society’s
work also yields social capital which is valuable even outside the society’s borders.
I regard the NATEK members’ representation of themselves as a manifestation
of a masculine identity, and what is symbolically feminine is associated with
the others. Female students probably find it more difficult to occupy the carefree
position, since in accordance with predominant gender discourses they are
expected to attend to the studies conscientiously. The gender equity discourse
that the NATEK members activate when claiming to be willing to include
women in the society therefore clashes with the discourse about the carefree
student, which in turn gives rise to ideological dilemmas for the members.
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