This is how OLIKA works with standards
Experts in standards
We know norms, norm criticism and norm creativity. It is the basis for everything we do at OLIKA. We are also committed to society and want to change for the better. We are not a publisher in the traditional sense, although we publish books. Because we want all the books we publish, all the products and services we sell, to lead to greater equality and equality. It is not enough to have a good story and this means that we work very actively with each book that we publish. Fun, but not always easy!
We normalize
It is a challenge to challenge stereotypes and broaden norms without reinforcing them at the same time. Do you remember Alfons Åberg? In the book where the friends laughed when he played with Milla, and where they teased him when he didn't want to fight. The moral sense was clear, it was the other children who did something bad, Alfons did the right thing. But the trick is that these stories teach children that: 1) girls and boys don't play together and that boys get teased if they play with girls, and 2) boys fight and that the one who doesn't fight is the exception. It is easy to reinforce norms when we really want to challenge them. Our way around this is to normalize by including. As in our books about Konrad. He loves dresses as much as sister Hedvig.
Because representation matters
We all need stories that we can reflect ourselves in, so that we can feel "that's just like me!" And we need stories that become a window to the outside world, where we can think "aha, it can be like that too!" In every story we publish, we work with representation in many different ways, from gender and skin color to bodies and functional variations. We have an intersectional perspective and know how norms and the grounds for discrimination and power are connected. Now there are also filters to make it easier for those of you who are looking for something special.
What can we do instead?
Most of us know that it is unequal and unequal in many ways in our society. We don't need to talk more about it, but we need to do more to change. So that we don't get stuck in what is, we point forward and give thoughts, ideas and solutions on how we can do things instead. It is not a coincidence that one of our best sellers Give your child 100 opportunities instead of 2, it is called what it does. The idea was to package difficult things in simple ways, like a cookbook with recipes for change. Because it is only when we start doing things in new ways that we can create an inclusive and sustainable society.
Both norm criticism and norm creativity
The word normkritik is a translation of the English norm critical, which means that we should approach norms critically and scrutinizingly. But "criticism" in Swedish has a different sound and this has caused many to misunderstand the word norm criticism and think that it is about being critical of norms in general, but that is not the case. Instead, it is about reviewing norms and analyzing them and seeing who gets what power from belonging to or living by certain norms.
The critique of norms also means that in order to change society, we must broaden norms. It's not what ends up outside that needs to change, but the structures that need to be bigger so that more people can fit in. Norm creativity is the way we change; we change with creativity. As in our children's books, where we broaden the norms and allow more people to fit in.
Norm criticism = the analysis
Norm creativity = the doing
Both are needed for an inclusive society!
