IDENTITETSSKAPANDE I STUDENTFÖRENINGEN ULRIKA ... - DiVA
IDENTITETSSKAPANDE I STUDENTFÖRENINGEN ULRIKA ... - DiVA
IDENTITETSSKAPANDE I STUDENTFÖRENINGEN ULRIKA ... - DiVA
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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<br />
how strongly the discourse can affect the subject’s way of understanding the<br />
world and herself/himself. The most obvious observation is that anyone who is<br />
included in the order of the discourse may also have a lot to gain in the bargain.<br />
The discourses at work in the three students’ societies are also in accord with<br />
conceptions of class and gender: For a very long time in the history of students,<br />
men from well-to-do social groups were regarded as synonymous with the<br />
concept of ‘student’. It is also evident that it is above all the MED society’s<br />
members, as representatives of a female-dominated and subordinate student<br />
group, who find it most difficult to be included in the order of the discourse.<br />
At the same time they also contribute actively to re-defining to some extent<br />
some of the conceptions associated with the genealogical student.<br />
Concluding Reflections<br />
By way of conclusion, I wish to express my hope that the present study can<br />
function as support for the work with gender equity and democracy that many<br />
students’ societies have already started. Gender discrimination has not ceased to<br />
exist but is still going on, for example in board meetings. It is also important for<br />
the students’ organizations to pay attention to issues concerning class and classbased<br />
discrimination. This might contribute to more and different kinds of<br />
students getting an opportunity to learn to make their voices heard.<br />
It should be pointed out, however, that the student is also constituted by other<br />
social categories that have not been studied in this work. One such category is<br />
sexuality, which is closely connected to various gender constructions. To what<br />
extent and in what way the students’ society functions as a place where heterosexuality<br />
is reconstructed as a norm or possibly challenged would be an important<br />
area of research. Another important social category is race or ethnicity, and<br />
research is needed about the interplay between this dimension and people’s<br />
opportunities to gain access to the meritocratic discourse and to be regarded as<br />
competent subjects with the right to be influential. A third and increasingly<br />
more noticeable category is age. In distance and net-based courses there are<br />
many older students who do not get access to traditional student life and who<br />
seldom are seen on campus. How could these students be able to take part in<br />
departmental board meetings or programme committee meetings, and what<br />
real chances do they have of being seen and heard? If, in a poststructuralist spirit,<br />
we do not regard the student as a generalised Student, a great number of<br />
interesting and important research questions can thus be asked.<br />
As I see it, discourse theory is a fruitful approach to studying pedagogical problems<br />
that in a broad sense are about how people are formed and form themselves<br />
in different social contexts. I have tried to understand how some young<br />
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