Godhetsapostlar, godhetsknarkare och godhetssignalering : En analys av begreppet godhet i svensk mediediskussion 2012–2020

Sammanfattning: This master thesis explores how the use of relatively new conceptual compositions such as "virtue signaling" and "social justice warriors" can alter and/or change the original connotations of "virtue" and "social justice". The study proposes that these compositions can become carriers of ideological structures. Further, it examines what effects these compositions have on the public debate. Using quantitative and qualitative digital text analysis on a selection of articles in Swedish alternative and mainstream media, the thesis finds the new compositions of the words "virtue" and "social justice" to be essentially contested concepts and that they have migrated from alternative media into the mainstream media. The thesis concludes that 1) the new compositions are carriers of the prevailing ideology in alternative media and that 2) the polemic and locked positions in the debate about virtue signaling calls for a discussion about language and its use.