This dissertation aims to explore beliefs and contemporary discourses about children and parenting in Norway. It discusses the possible consequences of these beliefs and discourses for children’s and parents’ positions and possibilities in society. Based on a social constructionist and discourse framework, this study uses two cases, namely the Norwegian same-sex adoption rights debate and the Norwegian Child Welfare Services (NCWS) meeting with immigrant families. The rationale for this choice was that the study of how phenomena such as children and parenting are argued and conceptualized in settings that are different or outside of main-stream in particular contexts can illuminate current perceptions of these phenomena in the wider society. In an increasingly globalized world with rapid social changes, the meanings of children and parenting, in various contexts, are continuously negotiated and re-negotiated. Thus, there is a need for more knowledge about how we currently understand children and parenting, on-going processes in relation to developments in this understanding, and what this may mean and imply for children and parents in contemporary Norway.
170 s., utgitt av Universitetet i Bergen i 2016.