Gender is an important element in the construction of a society. In the early modern state's endeavour to impose discipline and control, perceptions of feminine and masculine roles were of considerable importance, laying down frameworks for the actions of women and men.

This thesis analyses the construction of gender in the light of existing norm systems and, in particular, legal practice. The subordination of women at a normative level is contrasted with the way women and men themselves acted and argued their cases in court, and how those actions and arguments were assessed. In the early modern period, the cases dealt with by the local courts reflect the different spheres - social, political and economic - of the surrounding society.

The construction of gender varied according to the sphere concerned. The political sphere was gender-neutral, in that the emphasis was on the relationship between the authorities and the subject. However, certain edicts had gender-specific consequences, and women were particularly liable to be accused of infringing the Luxury Ordinances. In the social sphere, gender-differentiated norm systems can be discerned, with different ideals for women and men, though with no explicit hierarchical order between the sexes. Symbolic capital was more dependent on the honour of the individual and the household than on gender. In the economic sphere, the subordination of women was clear, evidenced in particular by the fact that a capital, and women could compensate for their lack of this capital by having a man represent married woman was under the guardianship of her husband. Maleness served as symbolic them.

The multiplicity of action frameworks shows that there was scope for parallel constructions of gender, which also provided some freedom of choice for actors. Gender thus became, not only a norm or a recommendation for action, but also a basis for the strategies of women and men.

The turn of the nineteenth century witnessed a rise in fashion and ladies’ magazines across Europe. With an emerging consumer culture and the rise of the middle class, these magazines offer glimpses into important societal changes. A new gender order was being established, and magazines were one area where developing gender values were articulated. Setting out from the Swedish magazine Magasin för konst, nyheter och moder, this article analyses gender-related values, focusing on the importance of being fashionable and on amorous liaisons and marriages. The results show a distinct ambiguity in values, with contradictory images of women’s ideal behaviour, and the international influence on the making of a Swedish middle class.

Syftet med denna studie är att med en diskursanalytisk ansats undersöka hur antikatolicismen inverkade på det svenskamerikanska identitetsskapande mellan åren 1910 och 1920. Källmaterialet består av artiklar från den svenskamerikanska tidningen Svenska Amerikanaren. Genom en textnära och språkligt fokuserad analys av tidningens konstruktioner av katolicismen kan en antikatolsk diskurs identifieras. För att förstå hur den antikatolska diskursen inverkade på svenskamerikanernas identitet är det centralt att urskilja vad katolicismen kontrasterades mot. Två huvudsakliga identiteter som svenskamerikanerna tillskrev sig själva kan urskiljas i materialet – en protestantisk och en nationell identitet. Avslutningsvis behandlas frågan om varför antikatolicismen var viktig för det svenskamerikanska identitetsskapandet.

Alsterdals bok gavs ursprungligen ut 1969. Den skildrar den våg av antisemitism i Polen som utlöstes efter junikriget 1967 mellan Israel och dess grannländer. Till nyutgåvan har historikern Lars M Andersson skrivit en utförlig introduktion om Alstersdals yrkesliv och författarskap, där arbetarrörelsen, europeisk kultur samt det judiska folkets historia och öden utgör centrala teman. I nyutgåvan finns två efterskrifter av Lars Dencik resp. Weddig Runquist.