| Summary: | The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine how identity formation is described in a few Swedish youth novels written in the 21^st century. We apply the theories of the psychiatrist Jan Ramström and the sociologist Anthony Giddens who both assume that identity is formed in relation to the environment. Ramström stresses that adults have an important role to play in the integration of the adolescents into the adult society. Giddens stresses that people in the late modernity are affected in their identity formations because of the loss of traditions. In order to find out how identity is formed, four main questions were constructed. The questions deal with the adolescents relations to adults, with issues regarding lifestyle and with issues regarding trust. In the background section of the essay we provide descriptions of the development of youth literature and of the relationship between adolescents and society. The four main questions were used in the analysis of the novels. We applied a close-reading of the books, and the interpretation was carried out in an oscillating way between details of the novels and the novels as a whole. We found that there is a striking absence of adults in the characters lives and that the characters reflect about how they should lead their lives, who they are and how to get their lives together. The possibility for the characters to narrate the story of the self, was found to be highly important. === Uppsatsnivå: D
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