Barn, familj och klass : en jämförande studie av läseböcker i svenskämnet för årskurs 3, från 1950 till 2009

In primary school reading-books in Swedish language is something that students come across early in school and have done ever since the 1800s. After World War II there have been major changes in society. 1962 there was a school reform where the school turned into a nine-year system of compulsory education. That is why it is interesting to see what reading books contain with regard to notions of children, family and class and how the developments have been from the 1950s until the present time. This study aims to analyze and compare the different aspects of how notions of children, family and class are produced in the reading books for primary school for pupils in third grade, between 1950 and 2009. The research questions were: What are the notions of children, family and class in the reading-books? What differences/similarities exist in the reading books from the 1950s to the recent decades? What could be the reason? I have chosen to apply qualitative text analysis originating in idea analysis. Because my focus was based on an attempt to track, analyse and compare the concepts, perceptions and representations of the reading books for third grade. My results shows that the children portrayed in the books from 1950-1965 are well mannered. And their relationships with the adults are strong and they learn from their parents, grandparents and relatives. The study also shows that the children portrayed in the reading books from 1976 and forward, make their own choices and play more major roles in the stories. The results show that the nuclear family is seen as an ideal. The study also shows that there are children in the book from 2009 who are experiencing economic inequalities in the form of clothes and other belongings. Overall, in the books i think that the middle class shows strongest but the markers seen in the stories are relatively vague to be seen in the stories