Umeå universitets logga

In recent years, norm critique has emerged as a central framework for addressing social inequalities in Sweden. Norm critical perspectives are widely adopted across educational institutions, workplaces, and organizations as a strategy for advancing feminist political goals, such as gender equality and more broadly for fostering social justice. The concept has also come to be viewed as closely related to feminist theory and gender studies research. By examining norm critique as an empirical example, this thesis explores the limits and possibilities of feminist critique. The aim is to analyze how, and with what effects, norm critique is articulated as a tool for social justice and change through a study of its own practices. To this end, three different fields that engage with norm critique are examined: national gender equality policy, feminist movements, and research practice. Each field represents an area which can be seen as formative for the articulation of contemporary feminist discourse in Sweden.

The study draws on a broad range of materials, including policy material, interviews, participatory guides and instructions, and scholarly publications, all related to the development and application of norm critical pedagogical perspectives. The material is analyzed using a discourse theoretical framework including psychoanalytical theories of subjectification. This way, the thesis not only explore how, but also why norm critique is articulated as a response to contemporary societal challenges. Thus, the study also addresses the driving force behind norm critique and contributes with a perspective on the affective dimensions of norm critique as a tool for social change.

The thesis analyzes how the articulation of norm critique takes place in relation to neoliberal and post-political processes. Unlike previous research addressing how the transformative potential of norm critique may be lost when implemented in a context characterized by neoliberal ideals of individualism and self-improvement, the thesis considers how such ideals are reflected and reproduced through norm critique as a discursive practice. A central conclusion of the dissertation is that norm critique, as a political project, rests on arguments that support the very norms it seeks to resist. The analysis demonstrates how these arguments relate to ideological fantasies of progress, enlightenment, and freedom, which risk obscuring how norm critique, contrary to its intentions, gives rise to new forms of exclusions and power hierarchies.