Skolkare, hemmasittare, hemmakämpare : En dokumentanalys av problematisk skolfrånvaro 2005–2025

Sammanfattning

The aim of this study was to provide a historical overview of how students with problematic school absenteeism have been represented in media documents over a contemporary twenty-year period, from a power-critical and norm-critical perspective. The research questions were centered on this aim, focusing on how these students are portrayed, whether such representations have changed over time, and in what ways they may reproduce or chal-lenge prevailing norms surrounding these students.The primary theoretical framework was based on a document-theoretical perspective, complemented by an intersectional approach as a secondary framework. This included elements of crip theory as well as age-related perspectives on power. Methodologically, the study employed document analysis, using theories of power as the foundation for analysis. Following, the results demonstrate that representations have changed over time. At the same time, in relation to previous research, the phenomenon itself and the surrounding debate appear cyclical. Furthermore, the findings indicate that, in this context, deviation from functional norms is valorized, which both challenges those norms and simultaneously reproduces norms concerning students with problematic school absen-teeism.This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.