KRIT - Critical Theories
Short description
KRIT has as its main focus the complex issue of power relations, subjectivity formation and democratic participation in educational institutions and how this relates to structures such as gender, social class and ethnicity. Theoretically, the group works from a critical tradition. Critical ethnography and policy research, e.g. policy ethnography, has been substantial within the group as a whole and in particular in the work of some individuals.
The research conducted by the group is characterized by a strong interest in power processes and democratic socialization in educational institutions in relation to the structural conditions of society and group resources. Empirically, the shifting character of higher education as well as the effects of school marketization have often been in focus in recent studies.
News
Seminar: The Citizenship Test and the role of universities
The research environment KRIT invites you to a seminar followed by a discussion on the government's assignment to design a feasibility study on citizenship tests. Participating is Professor Tommaso M. Milani, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Applied Linguistics at Pennsylvania State University (USA).
Time and date: Friday 10 October, 15:00 – 16:30
Location: A1 314 (Pedagogen, Gothenburg) and via Zoom.
To access the Zoom link, contact Jasmine Bylund.
Visits by Guest Researchers and Doctoral Student
Between 2 September and 6 October 2025, KRIT will host Professor Philip Roberts from the University of Canberra, Australia. He will present his research at KRIT on 30 September. Hosts for the visit are Elisabet Öhrn and Anna-Maria Fjellman (Chair of the Collegium for the Sociology of Education)
From 15 to 19 September 2025, Tommi Niinisalo, a doctoral student at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, will be visiting the Department of Education and Special Education as part of a research exchange. Tommi’s overall research interests include sociolinguistics of gender and sexuality, cisheteronormativity in schools and the workplace, and teacher norms. Host for the visit is Ylva Odenbring. Tommi will present his doctoral work on 17 September.
From 25 September to 2 October 2025, we are pleased to welcome Dr Jowita Radzińska as a visiting researcher at the Department. Dr Radzińska is a researcher at SWPS University in Poland. Her work focuses on solidarity, collaboration, sisterhood, the sociology of morality, and young people’s transitions to adulthood in times of crisis. She is currently involved in the research project ULTRAGEN (2021–2026), which examines youth transitions in Poland during a period marked by uncertainty in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and economic instability. The project shares several points of connection with research conducted within the KRIT research environment.
During her visit, Dr Radzińska will work on an article exploring solidarity both as a lived experience and as a research perspective, and will engage in discussions on this and related topics with colleagues in the KRIT group. The host for the visit is Andreas Ottemo.
Members
More ongoing projects
Rethinking the relation between gender and STEM education: a theoretical engagement with a fragmented research terrain. Swedish Research Council (2022-2026). Main applicant: Andreas Ottemo, KRIT. 2,9M SEK.
