Perspektiv på propaganda Propagandabegreppet i Sverige mellan 1920 och 1951

Sammanfattning: This thesis examines the term propaganda and it´s use and meaning in the public discourse in Swedish press between the years 1920 and 1951. The thesis asks the overarching question of how and why the definition of the term changes from a neutral word to a word with negative connotations. The analysis uses Jacques Elluls understanding of propaganda as a concept and Reinhart Kosellecks analysis of language and terms, and applies theese theories to primarily articles in Swedish newspapers published in the chosen timeframe. The conclusion is that the term propaganda is used as a synonym for the term advertisement or marketing in the time period 1920-1933. Following the nazi coup in 1933 the term starts gaining a more negative definition and following the end of the second world war propaganda is almost exclusively used with a negative connotation. The exception to this is the belief that democratic states should produce a propaganda of peace and co-existance in order to counter the dangerous propaganda produced and used by authoritarian/anti-democratic states and actors.