“KRAMAR MED RAMAR”. En antropologisk studie av högstadielärares arbete med relationsskapande och auktoritet

Sammanfattning

This bachelor’s degree project in social anthropology examines how teachers and school staffin grades 7-9 navigate between relationship-building work and the maintenance of authority.By studying interactions in both classrooms and informal environments, such as corridors andcommon areas, the study highlights how these dimensions take shape in concrete everydaysituations. The aim is to deepen the understanding of how teachers in practice balance thedemands for closeness and trust against the need for order and boundary-setting. The mainargument of the thesis is that relationship-building and authority do not constitute opposingpoles, but are closely intertwined practices that are constantly shaped and negotiated througheveryday micro-actions. This balancing act, described through the concept of “hugs withboundaries”, is deeply situational and requires staff to continuously adapt their approachaccording to the specific situation and student group. The analysis is based on a theoreticalframework that includes Goffman’s concepts of framing and impression management,Bourdieu’s theories of social and symbolic capital, as well as Manke’s perspective on jointlycreated power relations. The study is based on an eight-week fieldwork period at a lowersecondary school in Gothenburg, where the material was collected through participantobservation, spontaneous conversations, and interviews with teachers and school hosts.The essay is written in Swedish.