Abstract
A longitudinal analysis (1984–2005) of media language in Norway is presented, demonstrating how the current globalized capitalist market ideology is now permeating this long-established Scandinavian welfare state. This ideological shift carries powerful implications for community psychology, as traditional welfare state values of equal services based on a universalistic principle are set aside, and social and material inequalities are increasingly accepted. The methodology developed in the present study may serve as a “barometer of community changes”, to borrow a metaphor used by Sarason (2000).
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Notes
The method is developed as a ‘mixed methodology design’ (Creswell 1995; Patton 1990; Tashakkori and Teddlie 1998) in that aspects of both the quantitative and qualitative paradigm are combined throughout most steps of the process of assessing ideological shifts. However, in large scale mappings such as the present study, it is possible to adopt the method purely quantitatively, mapping changes in frequencies of newspaper articles using various key words over time.
The five newspapers are Bergens Tidende, Dagens Næringsliv, Nordlys, NTB and VG. These newspapers hold different editorial positions on political and ideological issues, and NTB is a press agency delivering articles to all Norwegian newspapers.
These content analyses of newspaper articles containing either one of these two search words were conducted in 2005, and thus cover the period 1984–2004.
Those four search words, which are all included for special reasons, will be discussed with great care.
Percentage rates are corrected for variations in total number of articles per year contained in the newspaper/database.
A total of 117 newspaper articles including both of the words ‘konkurranseutsetting’ (‘exposure to competition’) AND ‘eldreomsorg’ (‘care for the elderly’) appeared in the 10 Newspapers electronically available in 2003 when Enkerud (2004) carried out her analyses.
However, a marked decrease in 2005 may signalize a changing trend.
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Acknowledgments
This study is conducted within a research program funded by a grant from University of Oslo’s Ethics Program to the first author. The authors are indebted to anonymous reviewers of the American Journal of Community Psychology.
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Nafstad, H.E., Blakar, R.M., Carlquist, E. et al. Globalization, Neo-Liberalism and Community Psychology. Am J Community Psychol 43, 162–175 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-008-9216-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-008-9216-6