| dc.description.abstract | In spite of the realization that Norway and other rich, industrialized countries need to move towards a less meat-heavy diet, and in spite of a blossoming general interest in vegetarian practices, not much research has aimed to enhance our understandings of vegetarianism and vegetarian practices in Norway. This thesis sets out to explore this topic, by studying how Norwegian media representations of the concept ‘vegetarian’ have changed over the past decades. It also looks at some possible explanations to why these changes have come about. The main research question asked is: In what ways has the framing of the ‘vegetarian’ in Norwegian newspapers changed since 1990, and how can changes in the framing of the concept be explained? This question is explored through the sub-questions: What have been the dominant discourses within the general newspaper discourse on the concept ‘vegetarian’ throughout this period, and what has characterized the way the concept, and the people who are engaged with it, have been framed within each discourse? And finally, how can changes in the Norwegian newspaper discourse on the ‘vegetarian’ be understood in the light of broader sociocultural changes in Western societies? The thesis makes use of qualitative textual analysis of articles published in the four Norwegian national newspapers Aftenposten, VG, Klassekampen and Nationen in the period between 1990 and 2014. The data have been chosen through ‘typification selection’, and have been analyzed through a particular focus on textual subject positions created through use of specific textual voices, as well as genre use. It is argued that this period has seen three dominant newspaper discourses on the ‘vegetarian’: the ‘alternative health treatment’ discourse which was dominant until 1995, the ‘animal ethics’ discourse, which was dominant until year 2000, and the ‘sustainable consumption’ discourse, which is the contemporary dominant discourse on the ‘vegetarian’. The latter discourse is described as being more ‘open’ than the two previous ones, and it is argued that it is marked by an increased demystification and mainstreaming of the concept. The remarkable changes in the discourse on the ‘vegetarian’ that have taken place since the turn of the millennium are discussed in the light of late-modernity theory. The findings are connected to broader tendencies of individualization of responsibility, coupled with a weakened position of the anthropocentric world-view. Finally, it is argued that contemporary interest in vegetarian practices can be understood as an expression of what Giddens refers to as ‘utopian realism’. | nob |