To Örebro University

The aim of this dissertation is to describe and explain textual changes in the early social democratic press. Three social democratic newspapers and three non-socialist competitors are analyzed, sampled from the period 1892-1912. This period encompasses the breakthrough of the labour movement as well as the shaping of the modern, commercial press.

After a general study of the genre system, the analyses concentrate on discours structure and style in news genres. The method involves both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The analyses draw on the tradition of critical discourse analysis. Important theoretical concepts are text and genre. A constructivist view on genre is advocated and special emphasis put on the social effects of texts.

The study demonstrates that there are considerable differences between the earliest social democratic newspapers and their non-socialist competitors. Over time, howvever, there is a remarkable convergence, as the newspapers become a part of the same public sphere. It is also clear that the social democratic newspapers do not copy the non-socialist. Rather, there is a process of mutual borrowing and reshaping. In the social democratic newspapers, the textual changes are in may respects connected with a transition from a predominantly spoken to a predominantly written public sphere.