Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Feminist social theory'
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1
Haran, Joan. "Re-visioning feminist futures : literature as social theory." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2003. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/1239/.
Abstract:
This thesis explores the relationships between science fiction, social theory and social transformation through an in-depth analysis of three feminist science fiction novels. It develops innovative reading practices that bring together narrative theories and methodologies from a range of disciplines, including Sociology, Cultural Studies and Literary Studies. With reference to feminist psychoanalytic theory, the thesis also develops an original theorisation of the 'utopian impulse' and the workings of passionate identification in the formation of interpretive communities, with particular reference to feminist, social theoretical, and science fiction (fan) communities. The three novels focused on — The Gate to Women's Country, Body of Glass and The Fifth Sacred Thing — were selected because they crystallise an extensive range of debates conducted in a period of productive crisis for feminist theory and praxis from the mid 1980s through the mid 1990s. The thesis conducts an in-depth analysis of the transformations in social relations, including intimate social relations, that the novels theorise are necessary for the re-visioning of feminist futures. These include issues surrounding Sex, Gender and Sexuality; Mothering and Fatherhood; the relationship between investments in Spirituality, Technology and Hope for the Future. These debates are all set in the larger context of the historical (and epistemological) rupture between Modern and Post-Modern thought caused by the traumatic events of the Holocaust. The thesis argues that the heteroglossic genre possibilities of science fiction enable the novel texts to embody diverse strands of contestatory feminist theorising. They can thus hold open debates that might be foreclosed in more academic genres of theory that prefer texts to embody a single coherent authorial voice. Throughout the thesis I argue that this is a particularly timely moment to examine such questions, when feminist theory in the academy is apparently dominated by post-structuralist theory, and other feminist theories, namely those clustered around radical feminism, have been and continue to be abjected. I argue that feminist hope for the future requires that no feminist theories should simply be rejected, but that they require conscientious re-readings. Feminists, I argue, must take account of their passionate longings for inclusion in feminist interpretive communities as well as the pain caused when feminist theories exclude their subjective experience and / or alternative theories. The reading practices that can be developed when reading feminist science fiction can facilitate such a process.
2
Cheng, Kin-sang. "Social theory and gender bias /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1993. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B13671480.
3
鄭建生 and Kin-sang Cheng. "Social theory and gender bias." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1993. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31211288.
4
Gilman, Todd Nathaniel. "Communicative Action as Feminist Epistemology." PDXScholar, 1995. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4906.
Abstract:
This thesis proposes that feminist social and political theory adopt the epistemology inherent in Jurgen Habermas's communicative ethics in order to more coherently work toward the goal of freeing individuals from social oppression. This thesis first examines the fundamental differences that exist between the particular claims for knowledge made by the three major schools of feminist theory; the empirical feminists, the standpoint feminists, and those allied with postmodernism. After illuminating the specifics of these feminist claims, the conception of knowledge central to Habermas's thought is explored and shown to be split into three distinct realms; the objective, the social, and the subjective. It is shown that the three realms of Habermas's knowledge account for the underlying claims of the differing groups of feminist theory, and provide a basis for reconciling the differences between them. Habermas's objective realm of knowledge corresponds to the concerns of empirically oriented feminists. A need for an accurate description of the events and conditions of the actual world is shared by both, as is a trust in the human potential for grasping these objects and events accurately. Standpoint feminism's concern for interpersonal relations, accounting for the context of an individual's or group's existence, is reflected in the type of knowledge that Habermas considers social in nature. Habermas's conception of our capacity for social knowledge, which guides our actions with other human beings, is shown to be dependent upon both social existence and communication. Finally, Habermas acknowledges the human potential for critical knowledge to explain the individual's ability to differentiate herself from the group, a task which a postmodern feminism demands to avoid essentializing any aspect of women. If feminist theory is able to move beyond the entrenched differences that it now finds itself locked within, perhaps then it will be able to continue with the project shared with Habermas, that of providing a meaningful emancipation for human beings.
5
Korner, Barbara Josefine. "Critical passion : a feminist theory of non-violence and social change." Thesis, Lancaster University, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.364364.
6
McNay, Lois. "Power, body, gender : implications of French social theory for feminist critique." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1991. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/272613.
7
Lindberg, Helen. "Only Women Bleed? : A Critical Reassessment of Comprehensive Feminist Social Theory /." Örebro : Örebro University Press, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-6051.
8
Kingston, Stephen. "Dilemmas of British and Italian feminist movements and critical social theory : reflexive critiques." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.396820.
Abstract:
In this thesis critical social theory is used to assess the historical status of modern feminist movements, the experience of which is used in turn to assess the usefulness of certain key concepts from critical social theory. In particular Habermas' concept of the ideal speech situation is used to determine how far feminist movements fall into the tradition of earlier uni versalising social movements. This concept is used both to analyse the forms of the movements (their structures and practices) and their substantive activity in the area of political demands. The ideal speech situation indicates that feminist movements were in a state of permanent tension between competing commitments, especially universalist and particularist imperatives. This dual logic can be seen in the pursuit of a renegotiation of the publicI private divide. It can also be seen in the debates among feminists in the educational context. In conclusion, it is suggested that feminist movements were both dependent on and undermined by the tension between universalism and particularism. However, the problems raised by these movements give indications that the ideal speech situation may prove inadequate as a normative guide, particularly owing to the problems relating to fertility explored by feminism.
9
Bastalich, Wendy. "Politicising the productive: subjectivity, feminist labour thought and Foucault." Title page, table of contents and abstract only, 2001. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phb324.pdf.
10
Haugen, Emily Catherine. "The Social, Relational and Political Context of Eating Disorders: A Feminist-Informed Grounded Theory Analysis." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/86175.
Abstract:
Although subclinical eating disorders are more common than clinical eating disorders, they have received significantly less empirical attention. Subclinical symptoms of eating disorders often surface during adolescence and young adulthood and are far more common among females than males. Despite knowledge that the larger sociocultural context may contribute to the development of eating disorders, few studies have examined feminist-informed factors that may serve as protective mechanisms for young women who are influenced by Western capitalist culture and exhibit some symptomology, but do not develop clinically disordered eating. Using the feminist-relational model (feminist-relational Model (Jordan, 1997; Maine and Bunnell, 2008; Surrey, 1991) as a guide, this study sought to fill this gap. Informed by feminist grounded theory methodology, this study qualitatively examined socio-relational and socio-political contexts as potential protective factors for young women ages 18-25 whose subclinical eating disorder symptoms had not yet developed into a clinical eating disorder. Using constructivist grounded theory methodology, an emerging model was developed which demonstrates how participants spoke of their eating disorder symptoms in an externalized way. This was termed the "eating disorder voice." Findings highlight how feminist-informed protective factors helped participants resolve the tension between their genuine voice and eating disorder voice, and act in accordance with their preferred values. Participants were then more likely to be open about their symptoms and invest in their relationships. The main protective factors that emerged included, support people who provide emotional and tangible support, support people who challenge the eating disorder, a personal sense of agency, and community activism and involvement. The present study adds to the feminist theory and the feminist-relational model by providing a conceptualization of the symbiotic relationship between feminist-informed protective factors, suggesting through supportive relationships, individuals experience increased empowerment and agency. Clinical findings indicate that protecting symptoms, misperceptions regarding subclinical symptoms, and stigma served as barriers to seeking treatment. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.Ph. D.
11
Stevens, Amanda E. ""Shifting the focus" a qualitative study of the feminist model /." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1218560137.
12
Billingsley, Amy. "Humorwork, Feminist Philosophy, and Unstable Politics." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/24550.
Abstract:
This dissertation examines humor as a situated practice of reappropriation and transformation undertaken by a subject within a social world. I bring together insights from humor studies, philosophy of humor, and feminist philosophy (especially feminist continental philosophy) to introduce the concept of humorwork as an unstable political practice of reappropriating and transforming existing images, speech, and situations. I argue that humorwork is an unstable politics because the practice of reappropriation and transformation often exceeds the intentions of the subject practicing humor, taking on a continued life beyond the humorist’s intentions. By focusing on the practice of humor, the subject who produces it, their social and political world, the affects circulated through political humor, and the politics of popular and scholarly discourse about humor, I push against a reductive, depoliticized concept of humor and the trivializing gesture of “it’s just a joke.” Instead, I argue that humorists are responsible and connected to (if not always blameable) for the social and political life of their humorwork, despite the unstable and unpredictable uptake of humor against a humorist’s intentions.
13
Petoussi, Vassiliki Jr. "From Reified Abstractions to Situated Contexts: Feminist Jurisprudence, Paradigm Shift and Legal Change." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/30306.
Abstract:
This study addresses the extent to which feminist jurisprudence literature has developed the potential to initiate a legal paradigm shift leading to legal and consequent social change that would alleviate gender inequality. Drawing upon Kuhn's (1970) and Stacey and Thorne's (1985) arguments, I theorized that for a paradigm shift centered upon women and women's experiences to occur, feminist jurisprudence, particularly second- and third-phase feminist jurisprudence, needs to be incorporated into, and accepted by the mainstream. Through quantitative analysis I evaluated, first, the publication and citation patterns and the diffusion of feminist jurisprudence litearature as evidenced in articles published between the years 1983 and 1994 in legal journals assigned impact factors by the Social Science Citation Index. Second, using content analysis, I classified feminist jurisprudence articles published in the subfields of family and penal law --theorized to differ in degree of androcentrism-- according to the three phases of feminist jurisprudence theory. My quantitative analysis showed that the number of feminist jurisprudence articles published in mainstream legal journals is increasing over time. Further, feminist jurisprudence articles published in legal journals with higher impact factors tend to receive larger numbers of citations than articles published in journals with lower impact factors. Finally, although the overall impact factor of journals publishing feminist jurisprudence articles is declining, feminist jurisprudence literature is present among a wide spectrum of legal specializations. My qualitative analysis showed that there was an equivalent number of family and penal law articles which exhibited second- and third-phase characteristics. However, family law articles tended to cover a wider range of topics than penal law articles. Furthermore, family law scholars were more likely than penal law scholars to address issues of differences among women and feminists, thus, exhibiting third-phase characteristics. In constrast, penal law scholars tended to focus upon differences between feminists and non-feminists and the practical difficulties resulting from the structure, organization and practitioners of the criminal justice. Overall, my analysis showed that feminist jurisprudence appears to have developed the potential to initiate a paradigm shift within the legal discipline. However, in addition to feminist theorizing, feminist activism is important for the realization of legal and social changes that will alleviate gender inequality.Ph. D.
14
Kaye, Heidi Alyssa. "The split female self and social change as represented in some novels of Catherine Gore, Geraldine Jewsbury and Mary Braddon." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.317755.
15
Duarte, Larissa Costa. "Pornotopia : história, desafios e reimaginações das pornografias feministas." reponame:Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFRGS, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10183/114445.
Abstract:
A pornografia centralizou boa parte dos debates públicos sobre políticas sexuais nos Estados Unidos da América entre as décadas de 1970 e 1980. Largamente mobilizado por parte do movimento feminista, as políticas anti-pornografia do período levaram ao surgimento de uma contra-proposta singular: a chamada pós-pornografia, ou, como é mais frequentemente conhecida, a pornografia feminista. Esta dissertação é sobre o surgimento deste movimento bem como sobre seu projeto: analisarei, deste modo, o contexto sociopolítico que possibilitou o aparecimento da pós-pornografia, as implicações e associações teórico-ideológicas da mesma, as transformações ocorridas em sua ideação desde seu aparecimento até os dias atuais, e, finalmente, as relações entre este movimento e as teorias sociais discutidas e perpetradas pelas Ciências Sociais.Pornography has centralized much of the public debate about sexual policies in the United States between the 1970s and 1980s. Widely deployed by the feminist movement, the anti-pornography policies of the time led to the emergence of a natural counter-proposal: the so called post-pornography, or, as is more often known, the feminist pornography. This dissertation is about the rise of this movement as well as on its project: I will analyze, therefore, the socio-political context that enabled the rise of the post-porn, the implications and, theoretical and ideological associations of it, the changes that occurred in its ideation since its appearance until the present day, and finally the relationship between this movement and the social theories discussed perpetrated by the Social Sciences.
16
Travers, Ann. "The invisible woman : a feminist critique of Habermas's theory of communicative action." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/29857.
Abstract:
Feminist theory is a vast area of discourse and, while the differences between the many tendencies are extremely interesting, it is beyond the scope of this thesis to engage in such an inquiry. I have chosen to conduct a critique of Habermas's theory of communicative action from a perspective informed for the most part by postmodern/poststructural feminism. I hope that my reasons for working within such a framework will become evident in the following chapters but, in my view, a postmodern/poststructural feminist perspective sharpens the critique of Habermas's theory precisely because it stands in such contrast to it.
For the purposes of this thesis, my critique will focus upon Habermas's most recent work - The Theory of Communicative Action, Volume I: Reason and the Rationalization of Society (1984), and Volume II: The Critique of Functionalist Reason (1987). Other works by Habermas will not be specifically addressed although references will be made to them as necessary to clarify his positions on various issues.Arts, Faculty of
Sociology, Department of
Graduate
17
Engelen-Eigles, Deborah A. "The social construction of diapers as a consumer issue : an application of feminist sociological theory /." Thesis, This resource online, 1991. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12052009-020034/.
18
Jones, Kathleen A. "From mace to restricted movement : feminist social control theory and college women's fear of rape /." Thesis, This resource online, 1995. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05022009-040740/.
19
Hall, Virginia Kaufman, of Western Sydney Hawkesbury University, of Health Humanities and Social Ecology Faculty, and School of Social Ecology. "Women transforming the workplace : collaborative inquiry into integrity in action." THESIS_FHHSE_SEL_Hall_V.xml, 1996. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/438.
Abstract:
This collaborative research is an account of the recent lived experience of twelve women who bring about transformations in their own workplaces. The work integrates feminist theory with the social ecology focus of studying interactions between people and their environments. The study is multidisciplinary including psychological as well as social aspects and applies critical social research to workplace situations. The research group informed each other primarily by stories which narrated: social and family context; work situations; particular situations and specific strategies. Reflexive and archetypal meanings emerged from recounting ancient myths to help understand complex and difficult work structures which constrain the participants' creativity. This inquiry is a fresh approach to a range of workplace problems by engaging many women’s preferred working styles and applying this creative response: pro-active strategies which are demonstrated, are indeed, highly effective.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)(Social Ecology)
20
Hill, Cassandra. "Gendered Nature of Cyber Victimization as a Mechanism of Social Control." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/35368.
Abstract:
This research used a deductive post-hoc statistical design and Statistics Canada’s 2009 General Social Survey on victimization to explore the social control function of cyber victimization and determine whether this is gendered. Social control was operationalized as a composite measure of self-responsibilization. A multiple regression analysis identified predictors of social control and additional multiple regression models were used for a gender specific examination of social control. A total of 14 predictor variables were entered into three blocks: cyber victimization; sociodemographic characteristics; and violent victimization in physical space. The results reveal that cyber victimization remains a significant predictor of social control in addition to gender, a number of other sociodemographic characteristics of respondents, and physical space victimization types. The findings suggest that the theory of social control, which has been applied to violence against women in physical space, can also be applied to cyber space victimizations. This study also provides insights into the compound effects of physical space and cyber space victimizations on women and identifies implications for policy, methods, and theories for addressing and examining violence against women in cyberspace.
21
Christopulos, Jesse Carin. "Oppression through obsession: A feminist theoretical critique of eating disorders." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1995. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1019.
22
Echevarria-Howe, Lynn Carleton University Dissertation Sociology. "Life history as process and product; the social construction of self through feminist methodologies and Canadian Black experience." Ottawa, 1992.
23
Miser, Martha Freymann. "The Myth of Endless Accumulation: A Feminist Inquiry Into Globalization, Growth, and Social Change." Antioch University / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1317997334.
24
Misri, Anita P. "A feminist interpretation of the implications and consequences of new reproductive technologies /." Thesis, McGill University, 1996. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=28032.
Abstract:
The development of pre-conception and post-conception reproductive technologies has substantial implications and consequences for women. To better establish the impact of the eugenic and sexist traditions which support the elimination of disability/defect and the propagation of "designer babies," a survey of literature outlining the scientific, feminist, legal, cultural, and social perspectives regarding new reproductive technologies was undertaken. Three conclusions of this review are that while new reproductive technologies are not responsible for the environment which fosters bias and intolerance towards oppressed members of society, they have created eugenic demands by supporting genetic perfection; they have informally displaced women's rights to bodily autonomy in favour of the fetus' or potential future person's rights by supporting fetal personhood; and they have perpetuated sexism within the Indian community in Canada by supporting patriarchal institutions.
25
McGladrey, Margaret Louise. "CHANGING MINDS OR TRANSFORMING SOCIAL WORLDS? RE-ENVISIONING MEDIA LITERACY EDUCATION AS FEMINIST ARTS-ACTIVISM." UKnowledge, 2018. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/sociology_etds/35.
Abstract:
This dissertation project seeks to address the sociological processes, dynamics, and mechanisms inflecting how and why U.S. society reproduces a sexually dimorphic, binary gender structure. The project builds upon the work of sociologists of gender on the doing gender framework, intersectional feminist approaches to identity formation, and hegemonic masculinity and relational theories of gender. In a 2012 article in Social Science and Medicine presenting contemporary concepts in gender theory to the health-oriented readers of the journal, R. W. Connell argues that much public policy on gender and health relies on categorical understandings of gender that are now inadequate. Connell contends that poststructuralist theories highlighting the performativity of gender improve on the assumption of a categorical binary typical in public policy, but they ignore the insights of sociological theories emphasizing gender as a structure comprising emotional and material constraints of the complex inter-relations among social institutions in which performances of gender are embedded. According to Connell, it is the task of social scientists to uncover “the processes by which social worlds are brought into being through time – the ontoformativity, not just the performativity, of gender.”
This project explores the ontoformativity of gender in consideration of Patricia Hill Collins’ concept of the four domains of power. According to Collins, matrices of domination are intersecting and interlocking axes of oppression including but not limited to race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, nation, age, ability, place, and religion that reproduce social inequalities through their interoperation in the cultural, interpersonal, structural, and disciplinary domains of power. West and Zimmerman contrast gender as an axis in the matrix of oppression with site-specific roles, arguing that gender is a master status that is omnirelevant to all situations such that a person is assessed in terms of their competences in performing activities as a man or a woman. The doing gender approach has been accused of theorizing gender as an immutably monolithic social inequality. This project seeks to explicate the dynamics of gender ideology by probing its weaknesses in the interpersonal and cultural domains of power. As Collins and coauthor Sirma Bilge posit, for people oppressed along axes of gender, race/ethnicity, class, age, place, ability, and other binaries that constrain their actions in the structural and disciplinary domains of power, “the music, dance, poetry, and art of the cultural domain of power and personal politics of the interpersonal domain grow in significance.”
Each of the three components of the dissertation project addresses a facet of mechanisms and processes of the interpersonal and cultural domains of power in (re)producing the binary gender structure in U.S. society. Paper #1, titled, “Integrating Black Feminist Thought into Canonical Social Change Theory,” explicates how people in marginalized social locations mount definitional challenges to their received classifications in the cultural domain of power by rejecting the consciousness of the oppressor and wielding rearticulated collective identity-based standpoints as contextually attuned technologies of power to recast historical narratives. Paper #2, with teenaged co-researcher Emma Draper, titled “Ordering Gender: Interactional Accountability and the Social Accomplishment of Gender Among Adolescents in the U.S. South,” maps how youth theorize interactional accountability processes to binary gender expectations in the interlocking social institutions of medicine, the family, schools, and peer social networks. Paper #3 is a book proposal comprising an introductory chapter. The book will tell the story of how young feminist arts-activists challenge the binary gender structure through resistance in the cultural and interpersonal domains.
26
Drabek, Matthew Louis. "A phenomenological account of practices." Diss., University of Iowa, 2012. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/2861.
Abstract:
Appeals to practices are common the humanities and social sciences. They hold the potential to explain interesting or compelling similarities, insofar as similarities are distributed within a community or group. Why is it that people who fall under the same category, whether men, women, Americans, baseball players, Buddhists, feminists, white people, or others, have interesting similarities, such as similar beliefs, actions, thoughts, foibles, and failings? One attractive answer is that they engage in the same practices. They do the same things, perhaps as a result of doing things at the same site or setting, or perhaps as a result of being raised in a similar way among members of the same group. In the humanities, appeals to practices often serve as a move to point out diversity among different communities or diversity within the same community. Communities are distinct from one another in part because their members do different things or do things in different ways. The distinct and varied ways in which different communities enact social norms or formulate law, state institutions, and public policy might be explicable in part by the different practices their members are socialized into. Appeals to practices hold the promise of explaining these differences in terms of the different background practices of the groups, cultivated through a kind of cultural isolation or sense of collective identity. In the social sciences, appeals to practices have played a central role in fundamental theorizing and theory building. Appeals to practices in the social sciences are often much more systematic and theoretical, forming the core of the systematic theories of Pierre Bourdieu and Anthony Giddens in Anthropology and Sociology. Practice theory has thus become a growth industry in social scientific investigation, offering the promise of a central object of investigation that explains both unity and difference within and across communities and groups. But it is unclear just what practices are and what role, both ontological and explanatory, that practices are supposed to play. The term `practices' is used to pick out a wide range of things, and its relation to other terms, from `tradition' or `paradigm' to `framework' or `presupposition', is unclear. Practices are posited as ubiquitous, yet they are difficult to isolate and pin down. We are all said to participate in them, but they remain hidden. Their role, whether causal, logical, or hermeneutical, remains mysterious. After locating the historical origins of appeals to practices in the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Martin Heidegger, my dissertation uses Stephen Turner's broad and systematic critique of appeals to practices to develop a new type of account. My account is a phenomenological account that treats practices as human doings that show up to people in material and social environments and make themselves available for specific responses in those environments. I argue that a phenomenological account is an effective alternative to accounts that treat practices as either shared objects with properties or shared and implicit presuppositions. I use a phenomenological account of practices to treat important debates in feminist philosophy and the philosophy of the social sciences, particularly debates over pornography's subordination of women and the classification of mental disorders in psychiatry.
27
Haddad, Khristina. "Women, AIDS, and invisibility in the United States : using feminist theory to understand sources and consequences of definitions." Thesis, McGill University, 1994. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=68098.
Abstract:
The practical project of this thesis is to create a critical account of the experiences of women in the AIDS crisis in the United States. The theoretical project is to refine a concept of invisibility of various kinds of problems and obstacles women have been confronted with. The question that both parts of this project seek to answer is roughly the following: "What is it that we can learn about improving the lives of women by looking at the AIDS crisis as a lens into American social conditions at the end of the Twentieth Century?" Feminist theories provide a basis for this inquiry as well as the theoretical work on a concept of invisibility.
28
McDougall, Charlotte. "Historicising the Feminist: A Study of Mary Wollstonecraft's Political and Discursive Contexts." The University of Waikato, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10289/2355.
Abstract:
This thesis has investigated the life and publications of Mary Wollstonecraft. The thesis is divided in to three chapters the first chapter explores the political and social context of late Eighteenth century England in which Wollstonecraft lived the majority of her life. It then moves on to discuss the 'Revolution Controversy' and Wollstonecraft's contribution to that debate. Giving specific attention to A Vindication of the Rights of Man as it is Wollstonecraft's first political publication, and was the first published response to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. Without first publishing A Vindication of the Rights of Man, Wollstonecraft could not have published her most famous work. Next the second chapter investigates Eighteenth century education, and how Wollstonecraft ideas on changing the nature of education would help reform society in her eyes. Education was recognized as having special significance by many Enlightenment philosophers, this thesis looks at the contribution of John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau to educational theory, and they ways in which Wollstonecraft responded to their ideas. In the final chapter the inclusive nature of Wollstonecraft's gender theory is considered. Wollstonecraft is widely recognised as publishing what became for many the founding document of modern western feminism. What is given less recognition is that Wollstonecraft was in fact interested in broad social reform, similar to many other Enlightenment philosophers, Wollstonecraft's social theory included changing education and socialisation for both women and men. Society could not be reformed without changing social and educational practices with regard to both II men and women. Wollstonecraft furthered the contemporary debate on the rights of man to include the rights of woman. Wollstonecraft criticised the unnatural distinctions of gender and class, setting out in both Vindications the negative consequences for the character of both men and women. Another less recognised aspect of Wollstonecraft's philosophy which this thesis has highlighted is the vital role that religion played, and its implications for her ideas. This aspect of Wollstonecraft's thought has tended to be over looked by many Wollstonecraft scholars, who try to place Wollstonecraft in some kind of political and social continuum which I think misses the revolutionary and far sighted nature of Wollstonecraft's philosophy. In taking a historicist approach or understanding to Wollstonecraft, by reading Wollstonecraft in the terms of the political and social environment of the late eighteenth century, it becomes easier to understand the radical nature of Wollstonecraft's ideas, and the personal hardships she faced as both a woman and a member of the lower middle class.
29
Bertrand, Lynda Caroll Carleton University Dissertation Sociology and Anthropology. "Mother-infant bonding; theory and practice." Ottawa, 1996.
30
Lynch, Ingrid. "South African bisexual women’s accounts of their gendered and sexualized identities : a feminist poststructuralist analysis." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25631.
Abstract:
This feminist poststructuralist study explores discourses of gendered and sexualized subjectivity of South African women who self‐identify as bisexual. The discipline of psychology has typically upheld a monosexual binary, where heterosexuality and homosexuality are positioned as the only legitimate categories of sexual identification. Within such a structure bisexuality is not considered a viable sexual identity. In broader public discourses female bisexuality is generally constructed in delegitimising ways, such as through constructions that necessarily equate bisexuality with promiscuity or describe it as an eroticized male fantasy, as a threat to lesbian politics, or as a strategy to retain heterosexual privilege. Data collection entailed conducting individual interviews with thirteen bisexual women and the transcribed texts were analysed using discourse analysis. The analysis focused on how bisexuality is Constructed in the interview texts, how the various constructions of bisexuality function and how Gendered subjectivity intersects with participants’ identity as bisexual. The analysis identifies a number of discourses that impact on, in varied and contradictory ways, participants’ positioning as bisexual. In a post‐apartheid context, participants regard fixing their Identity along strictly defined lines of difference as oppressive and resist bisexuality as being primary To their identity. Participants challenge the traditional gender binary through unsettling the automatic Linking of sex, gender and sexuality in discourses of sexual desire. However, participants also demonstrate the coercive effects of dominant discourse in the gendered positioning of subjects, with Heterosexuality in particular functioning as a normative sexual category with implications for participants’ gendered subjectivity. It then appears that parallel to its ability to disrupt the gender binary, bisexual discourse also acts in ways to support it. The analysis further indicates that in claiming a bisexual identity, participants risk marginalization in The face of delegitimising discourses that construct them in negative terms of promiscuity, hypersexuality and decadence. Powerful silencing discourses further construct same‐sex attraction As un-African and as sinful. The analysis concludes with a discussion of participants’ strategies to Normalize bisexuality. This study contributes to research accounts that explore diversity in sexual identification and creates Greater visibility of bisexual women in South African discourses of sexuality. It also contributes to theories of female sexual identities and adds to theoretical debates around the challenge to dominant gender and sexuality binaries posed by bisexuality.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Psychology
unrestricted
31
Nelson, Scott G. "Feminist critiques of politics/science : discursive controversies at the intersection of gender and science /." Thesis, This resource online, 1993. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-06302009-040430/.
32
Hicks, Manda V. "Negotiating Gendered Expectations: The Basic Social Processes of Women in the Military." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1319580341.
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Szmigielska, Emilia. "Our bodies : a mixed methods study of an internet-based body image intervention using feminist theory to enhance positive body image." Thesis, City, University of London, 2018. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/21140/.
Abstract:
Aims: The aim of the current study is to investigate the usefulness of an internet based positive body image intervention for women which incorporates feminist ideas and media literacy. This novel study will be an initial trial with a non-clinical population of women looking to learn about body image in order to evaluate if it is feasible as an intervention to improve body image in this format. Methods: The present study employed a sequential mixed methods prepost within groups online intervention outcomes study design, whereby quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis were sequentially undertaken. Phase 1: collected baseline questionnaire data online to screen for eligible participants (N=95), and then measure their level of body dissatisfaction, body appreciation and body anxiety. After 24 hours, Phase 2 commenced: participants received a link to an online psycho-educational intervention (an educational programme of 60-minutes duration), after which they immediately completed (N=80, drop out rate 15.79%) post-intervention questionnaire measures. In Phase 3: semi structured follow-up interviews were conducted with a subsample of the intervention participants (N=4) to gather their feedback on the strengths and limitations of the online intervention. Results: Paired t-test results comparing pre and post scores on the three main measures showed a significant decrease in scores on a body dissatisfaction measure, PFRS (t(79)=9.554, p < .001); a significant increase on a body appreciation measure, BAS (t(79)=-11.464, p < .001); and a significant decrease on a body anxiety measure, SPAS (t(79)= 8.833, p < .001). The thematic analysis of the semi-structured interviews showed four 13 emergent themes: focus on girls and teenagers, media influence and literacy, positive impacts of the intervention, and recommendations. Overall feedback was positive and participants found the intervention insightful and empowering. Conclusions: Collectively, the quantitative and qualitative findings supported each other regarding the development of a novel intervention. The ‘Our Bodies’ Programme appeared to have a positive impact on women’s body image and it was acceptable in the format in which it was presented. However, the study did not include a control group or a follow-up, thus care needs to be taken when drawing conclusions from the results. Nevertheless, this research has the potential to contribute to the understanding of which population may be best suited for this programme, delivery format and dissemination strategies using the existing literature on media literacy, positive body image and feminist theories in order to ensure maximum impact. Future directions and implications for Counselling Psychology practice are discussed.
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Roux, Shanleigh Dannica. "A social semiotic approach to multimodality in the Vagina Varsity YouTube campaign series." University of the Western Cape, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/6928.
Abstract:
Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis study investigated the semiotic resources used by Vagina Varsity, a campaign by sanitary towel brand Libresse on the social media platform YouTube to construct meanings around the female body. Vagina Varsity is a South African online advertising campaign on YouTube which marketed their sanitary products, whilst educating, as well as breaking the social stigma, around the black female body. In this study, YouTube was utilized as a space in which to analyze online identities and communication. The study was located within the field of linguistic landscape (LL) studies, including the sub-field virtual linguistic landscapes (VLL), later reformulated as virtual semioscapes. The conceptual framework was undergirded by multimodality/multisemioticity and feminist theory. The study used a mixed methods approach to data collection, and used a virtual linguistic ethnography (VLE) framework to collect the data sources, which included YouTube videos, YouTube comments, and emails. A focus group interview was also conducted, where the Vagina Varsity videos were shown to a group of diverse youth at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. The embodied discourses which emerged, as well as the discourse strategies of the commentators, were multimodally analysed. The study found that the Vagina Varsity course makes use of multiple modes, including embodied semiotics such as gestures and stylizations of voice, visual modes such as cartoon figures, as well as the strategic use of sound. In addition, the study found that educational content and marketing strategies are both embedded in this campaign, with the educational content overshadowing the advertising aspect. It is for this reason that the YouTube comments and focus group interview were centered on the program itself and not the advertisement. Furthermore, when looking at the medium this campaign used, one sees that the virtual space allows for the teaching of taboo topics, which would not be allowed in traditional educational domains. The virtual space is not only bridging the knowledge gap in the topic of sex education, it also bridges the gap between different communities, as the YouTube comment section allows for people to interact across regional, national and even cultural boundaries. This study also found that Vagina Varsity not only recontextualized the educational genre, but they have also recontextualized the production and consumption of a topic which would otherwise be considered taboo. In terms of the implications for the study, one finds that the stigma that is attached to this subject is removed from this content. Although one cannot say for certain that this type of education will take over the African traditional initiation ceremonies for girls, for example, it can be used to complement some of the content that traditional counselors and social workers use to teach young African women. The fact that the program is formalized in a curriculum that can be found online opens up possibilities for open dialogue across cultures and nations in terms of feminine hygiene. This study contributes to the field of Linguistic Landscapes studies, with specific focus on virtual linguistic landscapes. The study also illustrates that the affordances of the online space allows for a hybrid edutainment space where people can learn about topics which are considered taboo in the domain of formal education. This study also extends the concept of multimodality, by including notions such as semiotic remediation and resemiotization, as well as immediacy and hypermediacy, as tools of multimodal analysis. This study also contributes to studies on gender and sexuality.
2022-08-31
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Richardson-Tench, Marilyn 1947. "Unmasked! : the discursive practice of the operating room nurse : a Foucauldian feminist analysis." Monash University, Faculty of Education, 2001. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/8900.
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Ivancic, Sonia R. "Connecting People and Places to Foster Food Justice: A Poststructural Feminist and Aesthetic Account of a Social Benefit Organization." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1531922893596218.
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Lambert, Nicole M. "The Influence of Identity and Opportunity on the Nicaraguan Women's Movement." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1279229099.
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Verploegh, Miriam Elana. "Not thinking straight: how sexual orientation and gender display shape inequality in task groups." Diss., University of Iowa, 2015. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/1785.
Abstract:
With the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning the Defense of Marriage Act and the plethora of institutionalized legal changes supporting LGBTQ rights, one might argue that American society is well on its way towards equality for LGBTQ individuals, thus negating the need for research in this area. Unfortunately, history has shown that despite profound changes in the codification of legal standards, which eliminates de jure prejudice, inequality in the informal and interactional experiences of individuals, or de facto prejudice, often remains. My long-term research goal is to study, at the level of interaction, the basic processes and mechanisms that produce social inequality experienced by LGBTQ individuals. I have adapted theories from the Expectation States research program (Wagner and Berger 2002), specifically status characteristics theory (Berger, Fisek, Norman, and Zelditch 1977) and status cue theory (Fisek, Berger and Norman 2005) to motivate my hypotheses concerning sexual orientation and group encounters. Then, I designed an experiment using the computerized standardized experimental setting (Foshi, Lai and Sigerson 1994) to test my hypotheses. The central research question is: will homosexuality act as a negatively valued status characteristic leading to gay and lesbian individuals having lower performance expectations, less opportunities to perform in a group, and ultimately lower status as compared to straight group members. My rationale is that a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that work to produce this form of inequality in groups will ultimately provide important opportunities for interventions to these processes of discrimination.
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Clark, Crystal R. "Mothering Academics: Women’s Perception of the Intersectionality of Academic Leading and Rearing Underage Children in a Midwestern Urban Community College." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1513309636205349.
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Azoulay, Liat. "The body as a vehicle for empowerment : women and martial arts." Thesis, McGill University, 2005. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=99161.
Abstract:
Problem. Oppressive cultural and social representations are inscribed on the body and intersect with women's subjective identity.Objective. The present study explores the use of the body as a vehicle for resistance against such inscriptions.
Method. The practice of martial arts is investigated as one of the means of empowerment for women. Quantitative methods were used to compare the levels of empowerment in a group of women who practice martial arts versus a comparison group of women who do not practice martial arts.
Results. Quantitative analysis revealed that while no differences were found in overall empowerment scores between the two groups, differences were found on the subscales of empowerment. Women who practice martial arts demonstrated lower levels of Righteous Anger on the empowerment scale than women who do not practice martial arts. Closely reaching statistical significance, women who practice martial arts demonstrated higher levels of Control on the empowerment scale.
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Damron, Jason Gary. "Transgressing Sexuality: An Interdisciplinary Study of Economic History, Anthropology, and Queer Theory." PDXScholar, 2012. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/622.
Abstract:
This interdisciplinary thesis examines the concept of sexuality through lenses provided by economic history, anthropology, and queer theory. A close reading reveals historical parallels from the late 1800s between concepts of a desiring, utility-maximizing economic subject on the one hand, and a desiring, carnally decisive sexological subject on the other. Social constructionists have persuasively argued that social and economic elites deploy the discourse of sexuality as a technique of discipline and social control in class- and gender-based struggles. Although prior scholarship discusses how contemporary ideas of sexuality reflect this origin, many anthropologists and queer theorists continue to use "sexuality" uncritically when crafting local, material accounts of sex, pleasure, affection, intimacy, and human agency. In this thesis, I show that other economic, political, and intellectual pathways emerge when sexuality is deliberately dis-ordered. I argued that contemporary research aspires to formulate new ideas about bodies and pleasures. It fails to do so adequately when relying on sexuality as a master narrative.
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O'Brien, Emily Jane. "Reclaiming Abortion Politics through Reproductive Justice: The Radical Potential of Abortion Counternarratives in Theory and Practice." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami154363378481013.
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Horton, Heather K. "Gendered Bodies and the U.S. Military: Exploring the Institutionalized Regulation of Bodies." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2014. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1874.
Abstract:
This thesis supplements existing literature by examining the relationship between institutional regulations and gendered assumptions about bodies. This thesis draws from feminist social constructionist perspectives and gendered organizational theories to explore the role of gendered body assumptions in the organizational framework of a hypermasculine political institution. Using the U.S. military as an illustrative example, this thesis studies military policies and rationales historically, focusing on the post-Vietnam accelerated inclusion of women, the increasing use of combat as a divisive component, and the gendered structural elements that are used to determine physical competence. Findings coincide with existing literature and suggest that social meanings relating to gender are a prominent influence in U.S. military policy historically and contemporarily, even when biological reasons are cited as justification. This research provides implications for understanding institutional, strategic use of gender and provides analysis of how physical bodies and accompanying social meanings are impacted by institutional goals.
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Jackson, Carey-Ann. "An anti-racist feminist analysis of power: a case study of a group of African women in an Eastern Cape township." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002505.
Abstract:
It is argued that South African feminism in the 1990's risks sabotaging itself as a movement and as a form of social critique because it has (1) not completely eradicated key positivist elements from its ontology and epistemology; (2) inadequately examined a crucial issue in an emancipatory social science, namely power; (3) increasingly opted for relativist and pragmatist perspectives in theorising women's oppression and social transformation. It is further argued that the over-reliance on relativism, standpoint theory and pragmatism is problematic for contemporary feminism. As an alternative, Bhaskar's transformational analysis of power in combination with an anti-racist feminism and social psychology is used to provide a robust framework within which complex social issues may be addressed. In this study, 16 female participants were interviewed about their experiences of living in an impoverished township. Themes identified in the data suggested that the theoretical perspectives used in the study provided insights into the subtleties and complexities of the operation of power in society. These insights enabled productive understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of development initiatives and political decision-making processes in the community, and the survival strategies of its women. It is hoped that research work of this sort could make a real contribution to the ongoing women's emancipation struggle in Port Alfred and similar communities.
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Nordquist, Karen L. "Formalization in a social movement organization : cooptation or survival? :." Thesis, McGill University, 1998. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=20454.
Abstract:
Social movement literature suggests that organizations espousing radical ideologies must develop bureaucratic structures in order to survive, changes which inevitably create an organization more concerned with self-maintenance than social transformation. In the Battered Women's Movement, some radical feminists argue that trends toward increased formalization and centralization in feminist collectives provide evidence that the movement has been coopted, and thus radical organizations seeking to challenge inequitable social structures have been transformed into more traditional social service agencies. This thesis examines one shelter for battered women which, due mainly to severe internal conflict, found it necessary to modify its structure from a collective to a hierarchy led by a coordinator. This change led neither to decreased radical ideology nor to an increased focus on organizational maintenance at the expense of socially transformative goals. However, due to a lack of formalized procedures, this outcome largely reflects the personal inclinations of the coordinator.
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Cone, Heather. "Differential Reinforcement in the Online Radicalization of Western Muslim Women Converts." ScholarWorks, 2016. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/2962.
Abstract:
The emerging phenomenon of Western women Islamic converts learning radicalized ideology through social media constitutes a challenge to cyber policy makers hampered by a lack of gender-nuanced radicalization research. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative case study was to develop a greater understanding of how the differential reinforcement tenet of social learning theory may help to explain the conversion and radicalization of Western women towards a fundamentalist Islamic ideology through their participation in the social media. Key research questions explored how participation in online social media may create vulnerability towards radicalization and exploitation. The blogs of 3 different Western women converts were selected from the social media website Tumblr for the period of January 2014 through September 2015. Approximately 21,700 posted entries were subjected to a deductive coding process and thematic analysis. Key findings indicated that fervent activism, strong commitment to the digital community, and a tepid response to world terrorist attacks were potential vulnerabilities for targeted radicalization. Additionally, authors increased the number of their ideology-related posts in response to increased reader interactions. Finally, reader responses did not appear to alter the bloggers' static and strongly held positions on cultural gender roles. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include a starting point for the development of a formal adolescent cyber educational program, new metadata delimiters for the identification and engagement of vulnerable women, and as an example of the use of public policy theoretical frameworks for homeland security research.
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Hoffman, Kristi L. "Physical violence and psychological abuse among siblings: a theoretical and empirical analysis." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/39104.
Abstract:
This study develops and evaluates a theoretical model based on social learning, conflict, and feminist perspectives to explain teenage sibling physical violence and psychological abuse. Using regression analysis and data from 796 young adults, considerable support is found for all three theoretical approaches and suggests an integrated model best predicts acts of violence and abuse among siblings. For physical violence, males and brothers had significantly higher rates. Spousal verbal conflict, patriarchal attitudes towards the distribution of chores among siblings, attitudes approving of the use of physical force during an argument, and sibling verbal conflict were strongly related to sibling violence. For psychological abuse, neither gender nor sibling pair was significant. The most important predictors for abuse were a close maternal relationship, favoritism, parents yelling, sharing property I psychological stress, patriarchal attitudes towards chores, approval of violence, and sibling verbal conflict. The model explains considerably more of the variance in teenage sibling psychological abuse than physical violence, 42 percent and 32 percent respectively. Finally, the study provides directions for future research on sibling violence and abuse.Ph. D.
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Fröberg, Klara. "From a hashtag to a movement : From MeToo to being rightless in 2020's Sweden." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för kulturantropologi och etnologi, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-447526.
Abstract:
This thesis investigates the continuance of the MeToo movement in the Swedish context via the digitalplatform Instagram, collective action and feminist organizations that are engaged to end sexual violence.It illuminates how the sisterhood impacted by the practice of challenging the rape script a conceptused to describe the discourse on how sexual violence should be like, and how victim-survivors should behave, how the engagement is made among the activists that engage to challenge the rape script and lastly, how since the MeToo movement started a discourse of rightlessness have been exposed through the sharing of experiences that the MeToo movement initiated. The ethnographic study is based on participant observation of feminist actions in real life and on Instagram as well as interviews with 13 activists from feminist organizations and with background as organisers of collective actions. It is found that the MeToo movement in Sweden is commonly practiced through an engagement in Feminist organizations that serve to keep the movement alive through continuous work to keep sexual violence on the agenda by keeping it visible, and that the engagement is driven by an experience of anger towards the societal discourse that sets the discourse on rape which affects the possibility to be recognized by the legal system. The thesis will overall suggest that there is a sisterhood built on a collective identity, and that the shared identity and oppression between non-men with an aspiration to support one another in the experience of oppression as well as organize safety nets for those who are sentenced for defamation as a consequence of speaking out.
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Sjöberg, Miranda, and Emma Wesström. "Genusperspektiv inom biståndshandläggning : En förutsättning för jämställda bedömningar?" Thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Socialt arbete, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-32498.
Abstract:
Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om och i så fall på vilket sätt könsstereotypa föreställningar kan påverka arbetet inom biståndshandläggning. För att undersöka detta genomfördes kvalitativa intervjuer med sju biståndshandläggare i en gemensam nämnd. Intervjumaterialet analyserades utifrån feministisk teori samt intersektionellt förhållningssätt. Resultatet för studien visar att biståndshandläggare inte själva anser att könsstereotypa föreställningar generellt påverkar handläggningsförfarandet. Majoriteten av respondenterna menade dock att ett genusperspektiv är viktigt att ha med sig inom arbetet för biståndshandläggning och att det kan komma att bli mer aktuellt i framtiden. På arbetsplatsen talar man däremot inte om genus, stereotyper och dess praktiska inverkan vilket ändå enligt feministisk teori kan ses som en bidragande faktor till att dessa stereotyper bibehålls. Samtliga respondenter menade dock att de har en god kommunikation samt arbetar för individens bästa med behoven i fokus vilket kan ses som en god grund för att föra en mer öppen diskussion kring genus i framtiden.The purpose of this study is to investigate if and if so in which way gender stereotyped conceptions can influence assessment work. To investigate this, qualitative interviews with seven assessment workers were conducted. The content of the interviews were analyzed based on feminist theory and intersectionality. The result of the study shows that assessment workers do not consider that gender stereotypes generally influence their work. The majority of the respondents, however, mentioned that a gender perspective is important to include in their practice. In the workplace, on the other hand, there is no mention of gender, stereotypes and their practical impact, which according to feminist theory nevertheless can be seen as a contributing factor in maintaining these stereotypes. However, all respondents believed that they have good communication and that they are focusing on the individual's needs, which we believe provides a good basis for having a more open discussion about gender in the future.
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Muldoon, Dara Anne Hartman. "Perceptions." Thesis, Montana State University, 2006. http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2006/muldoon/MuldoonD0506.pdf.
Abstract:
My work is about the tension between the beauty of the female body and the underlying currents of dissatisfaction with that body, a stress stemming from a behavior that is enculturated in women from an early age and over many generations. The complex and diverse issues related to the way women feel about their bodies are revealed through a woman\'s obsessions; ranging from the annoyance of the imperfections on the skins surface to the internal desire to alter or even harm the body.