Ann Kristin Gresaker and Jonas Lindberg have received NOREL PhD scholarships

Gresaker holds a MA in sociology. Her thesis will focus on religion and media, and her office will be at Centre for Church Research (KIFO) in Oslo. Lindberg holds a MA in theology with special reference to the sociology of religion. The topic of his doctoral thesis is religion and politics, and he will be located at Uppsala University.

Religion and the mediabilde Ann Kristin

Representations of religion and religiosity in popular magazines in the Scandinavian countries 1988-2008

Numerous depictions of religion and religiosity are offered by the media. This project studies the representations of religion in popular magazines. It compares the coverage of religion in selected women’s and men’s popular magazines in the Scandinavian countries in 1988, 1998, and 2008. The study asks if the magazines’ presumptions about their target group, related to gender and age, reflect the type of religion included – if any – and the form of presentation. The question is if and possibly how these representations are gendered.

 

Religion and politicsbilde Jonas Lindberg

An empirical study of political parties and their policies on religion in the Nordic countries 1988-2008

There is a significant social and ethical tension between privatized and public religion in the western world of today. This is also the case when secularization and post-secularism meet. It occurs notably in the Nordic countries – once perceived as homogenous. This tension creates uncertainty and challenges for public policies in the respective countries. The overall purpose of this study is to examine how political parties in each Nordic country handle this tension, the changes over time, and the different ways in which religion is viewed as a social resource and a problem.