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
how strongly the discourse can affect the subject’s way of understanding the
world and herself/himself. The most obvious observation is that anyone who is
included in the order of the discourse may also have a lot to gain in the bargain.
The discourses at work in the three students’ societies are also in accord with
conceptions of class and gender: For a very long time in the history of students,
men from well-to-do social groups were regarded as synonymous with the
concept of ‘student’. It is also evident that it is above all the MED society’s
members, as representatives of a female-dominated and subordinate student
group, who find it most difficult to be included in the order of the discourse.
At the same time they also contribute actively to re-defining to some extent
some of the conceptions associated with the genealogical student.
Concluding Reflections
By way of conclusion, I wish to express my hope that the present study can
function as support for the work with gender equity and democracy that many
students’ societies have already started. Gender discrimination has not ceased to
exist but is still going on, for example in board meetings. It is also important for
the students’ organizations to pay attention to issues concerning class and classbased
discrimination. This might contribute to more and different kinds of
students getting an opportunity to learn to make their voices heard.
It should be pointed out, however, that the student is also constituted by other
social categories that have not been studied in this work. One such category is
sexuality, which is closely connected to various gender constructions. To what
extent and in what way the students’ society functions as a place where heterosexuality
is reconstructed as a norm or possibly challenged would be an important
area of research. Another important social category is race or ethnicity, and
research is needed about the interplay between this dimension and people’s
opportunities to gain access to the meritocratic discourse and to be regarded as
competent subjects with the right to be influential. A third and increasingly
more noticeable category is age. In distance and net-based courses there are
many older students who do not get access to traditional student life and who
seldom are seen on campus. How could these students be able to take part in
departmental board meetings or programme committee meetings, and what
real chances do they have of being seen and heard? If, in a poststructuralist spirit,
we do not regard the student as a generalised Student, a great number of
interesting and important research questions can thus be asked.
As I see it, discourse theory is a fruitful approach to studying pedagogical problems
that in a broad sense are about how people are formed and form themselves
in different social contexts. I have tried to understand how some young
174