Att vara brandman : En analys av hur brandmän skapar, befäster och utvecklar yrkesidentitet genom social interaktion

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study is to perform a rhetorical analysis of how a professional identity is constructed through deliberation. The object of study is firefighters, as they have a strong sense of community. Using rhetorical ethnographic method, the research question is to investigate how firefighters create, confirm, and develop professional identity through social interactions. Recordings and transcriptions of their internal communication were made, in search of recurring themes and perspectives. The theory of this work is based on Aristotle’s practical definition of rhetoric as deliberation, further developed by Burke’s theory of identification. In addition, Perelmans understanding of auditorium and Wolrath-Söderbergs theory of topos form the basis of the theoretical perspectives. The results show that the recurring themes and perspectives in the firefighter’s conversations depict what it means to 1) work as a firefighter, and 2) live as a firefighter. The conclusion is that the day-to-day tasks and other shared interests constitute meeting points for discussion, where the firefighters construct their professional identity through social strategies, such as identification and disassociation, proximity and distance in the communication.