No description available.

The purpose of this study was to look for tendencies that social media can contribute to exposing users to a stronger perception of opinion polarization, and further to see if the daily presence of social networking sites can put normative pressure on the users. The study was made using a survey with participants from Umeå University during the time frame of november-december 2014. The theoretical framework behind the study was mainly drawn from The Spiral Of Silence by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann and was further supplemented with more current research, studying the effects from The Spiral Of Silence in the modern and more fragmented media landscape that exists now then when her theory was written. Further theoretical tools for analysis of the results came from Michel Foucault and his discussions in Discipline and punish, specifically his views on how surveillance can be discontinous in practice, but still permanent in it’s effects. The results of this study indicates that social media users tend to isolate themselves from uncomfortable opinions, and do not follow or read opinions they do not already agree with. This indicates that social media plattforms can function as a contributor to opinion polarization among the users, and this study argues that the behavioural patterns of the most frequent users increases that tendency. Further more the study showed that a smaller network of friends seems to increase the users perception of normative pressures, and that user activity is correlated to how frequent they self-censor posts before- and after they are published.

The evolution and diversification of Young Adult literature (YA) in the last two decades have brought about significant changes, particularly in the representation of LGBT characters. Tropes have always been a staple in literature, but their use in YA has taken on a unique significance when it comes to LGBT representation. These tropes have developed in parallel with the political landscape of the USA and the rise of LGBT rights. In this context, the analysis of three popular YA series, Percy Jackson and The Olympians, The Mortal Instruments, and The Raven Cycle, and their respective sequels and spin-offs, becomes crucial. By examining the use of tropes and the treatment of LGBT characters in these series, we can better understand the changes that have occurred over time and the commonalities and differences among them. Moreover, this analysis will also shed light on aspects outside the novels that have contributed to these developments. While similar patterns emerge in all three series, each one handles LGBT topics differently, depending on the time of publication. Finally, we will also explore the current state of publishing and the role that communities play in shaping these popular series. By examining these issues, we can gain a better understanding of the role that literature plays in shaping our perceptions of LGBT individuals and the broader social context in which these works are produced.

The Holt Social Studies Curriculum and The Americans were social studies textbooks edited by Edwin Fenton, John M. Good, and others at the Carnegie-Mellon Center for Project Social Studies. These textbooks were an effort by Fenton and his associates to meet the demands for change in social studies curriculum and related instructional materials. Being produced during an era of social change, revolts, and an unpopular war, the textbooks reflected on controversial issues of that era which eventually led to restrictions on their purchase in Georgia. These restrictions, however, raised issues which made this study possible. The Georgia State Board of Education in 1972 rejected the recommendations of its Professional Textbook Selection Committee to include the social studies textbooks edited, authored, or contributed to by Edwin Fenton on the state's approved textbook list. Only the textbooks on the state’s approved list could be purchased with state funds. This study is an investigation of the Georgia State Board of Education’s ban on the social studies textbooks from the state’s approved textbook list and the subsequent effects of the State Board 1s action on future textbook selection policies in the state. This was the first time in twenty years that members of the Georgia State Board of Education had acted to remove approved textbooks from the Georgia public schools. This study is also significant because the State Board's wording of its action leaves the impression that they were opposed to the author, regardless of his works. This study describes a step by step account of the events which eventually led to the ban on the textbooks. It also describes the subsequent events which led to a change in the state’s textbook selection policies. While parents did not participate in the controversy, policy changes made their participation more likely for textbook controversies in the future. Although the Fenton social studies textbooks were not adopted by the State Board, the approaches used in them are widely used in other social studies textbooks in Georgia today. For future textbook controversies in Georgia, the writer recommends that the lay representatives on the State’s Textbook Selection Committee be given voting power. The writer believes the controversy reported in this study uncovered an inconsistency between the social science educators in Georgia and the State Board of Education on the goals of the state’s social studies curriculum. Therefore, the writer recommends that the social studies educators develop a clear set of objectives for the social studies curriculum and present them to the State Board of Education for approval. These objectives should be made available to the general public for scrutiny before they become the set goals for the state. Further, the State Board of Education should keep the lines of communication open with the educators of the state. Finally, the writer recommends further study of the uniformity of Georgia's goals in education across the state, especially the social studies goals. Recently, the state has adopted a series of criterion referenced tests which are administered all over the state. A uniform testing system should dictate a uniform set of objectives. / Ed. D.

In this essay I examine the ethics of offensive humor through the lens of the Benign Violation Theory, which posits that humor arises when something seems wrong (a violation) but also okay (benign). I argue that while offensive humor can cause harm by promoting stereotypes and disengaging compassion, ultimately the arguments for free speech justify allowing it, as restricting such speech could lead to a slippery slope of unjustified censorship. Instead of restriction, the better response is more speech and efforts to address the root causes inspiring offensive humor.

In December 2000, Japanese lawmakers took unprecedented steps to ban Fukasaku Kinji's Battle Royale from theaters prior to its scheduled release. The film was deemed "crude and tasteless" for its portrayal of teen violence in a state run game of kill or be-killed and attempts to ban the film were pursued through the film certification process all the way to the floor of Japanese parliament. This thesis investigates the controversy surrounding the release of Battle Royale and the socioeconomic and cultural factors - in particular, the Japanese recession and widening generation gap of the 1990s - that influenced both the film's message and the extraordinary political reaction in Japan. This thesis argues that the objections to the film were not based solely on the violent content as is often reported, but rather were the combination of adult economic and cultural anxiety regarding themselves and the youth, the anti-authority message of the film that encouraged the youth to reject adult systems, and a political campaign that exploited the adult fears by using Battle Royale as a scapegoat for youth problems. / by Caren Pagel. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This theoretical and empirical interdisciplinary thesis examines censorship in cinematographic import to Czechoslovakia during the 1960s and 70s. Specifically we focus on English-spoken movies dubbed into Czech. The thesis summarizes existing theoretical research on the present topic and complements it with data acquired through interviews with contemporary witnesses. This information is then used for an analysis of two movies released to cinemas in Czechoslovakia during the researched period - The Entertainer (in Czech Komik, 1960) and Twelve Angry Men (in Czech Dvanáct rozhněvaných mužů, 1957). The thesis ends with a comparison of these two dubbings in their respective context and of the 1960s and 1970s from the perspective of the Czechoslovak dubbing. Finally, it offers several topics for further research.

Thesis (MPhil)-- Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Pornography in South Africa has only been legal for a mere 16 years, but is preceded by a 126-year history of inutile South African government attempts to suppress and curb it at its borders. To date, pornography as a research field has been largely overlooked by South African researchers, who have either mostly opted to choose fields that are socially more acceptable, or assumed that pornography was not present in the country before the 1980s and 1990s. This research, however, prefers to differ. The study investigates a minute part of a broader scope of pornography history in South Africa, by studying what international and domestic pornographic magazines were first seized and thereafter banned in the country between 1939 and 1989. By theoretically implementing an authoritative theoretical framework, the Annales’s functional structural approach, and applying the historical methodology to unearth unobtrusive historical data, the study compiles a narrative of events that ties a 50-year history of the pornographic magazine in South Africa together. The study eventually identifies 1 033 individual volumes, editions and issues of various pornographic magazine genres, including, among others, pulp and pin-up, naturist and nudist, soft-core, hard-core, male and female homosexual, bisexual, bondage, Asian, female impersonation and biker magazines, of which some, of course, are local South African pornographic magazines. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Pornografie is nog net 16 jaar wettig in Suid-Afrika en word voorafgegaan deur ’n geskiedenis van 126 jaar se sensuur wat deur die regering afgekondig is om pornografie buite die land se grense te hou. Tot op hede is pornografie as ’n navorsingsveld deur Suid-Afrikaanse navorsers oorgesien omdat hulle óf studies aanpak wat sosiaal meer aanvaarbaar is, óf aanneem dat daar voor die 1980’s en 1990’s geen pornografie in die land was nie. In dié verband wil hierdie studie met dié aannames verskil. Die navorsing ondersoek ’n klein deeltjie van ’n groter geskiedenis van pornografie in Suid-Afrika deur te kyk na watter buitelandse en binnelandse pornografiese tydskrifte tussen 1939 en 1989 in die land gevind en kort daarna verban is. Teoreties is die outoritêre en die Annales se funksionalisties-strukturalistiese raamwerk ingespan, en die historiese metodologie is gebruik om historiese data na te vors om ’n narratief saam te stel wat 50 jaar se pornografiese tydskrifte in Suid-Afrika saamsnoer. Die studie identifiseer uiteindelik 1 033 uitgawes van verskeie porno-grafiese tydskrifte, wat, onder meer, pulp- en prikkelpop-, nudistiese, sagte, harde, manlike en vroulike homoseksuele, biseksuele, knegskap-, Asiër-, fopdosser- en motorfietstydskrifte insluit; sommige van dié genres is, natuurlik, ook plaaslik in Suid-Afrika gepubliseer.

Adolf Hitler advocated total control of the press for many years before he was elected Führer. Almost immediately after he assumed power in 1932, Hitler began writing new laws and regulations that totally exorcised all freedoms from the German press. This study follows the path that Hitler took to control the German press from 1920 until the end of World War II. It utilized translations of documents and statements by men whom Hitler appointed to control the press and books written by experts in the fields of communications as well as men who prosecuted Nazi war criminals after World War II. The study found that the control of the press was indeed a very necessary ingredient in Hitler's climb to power and remained crucial during his reign as Führer.

Inom fältet för översättningsstudier har det traditionellt varit ett angeläget forskningsområde att erhålla kunskap om hur man hanterat samma källtext i olika kulturella kontexter. På våren år 1950 utkom en spansk översättning av den finske författaren Mika Waltaris historiska roman, Sinuhe egyptiläinen (Sinuhe egyptiern), och senare samma år, i Mexiko, nyöversattes verket för Latinamerika som en respons på den första. Föreliggande uppsats är en fallstudie och har genomförts i syfte att undersöka på vilket sätt och varför detta originalverks två översättningar på samma språk skiljer sig åt. Översättningarna har jämförts parallellt med dess källtext och studerats kontrastivt genom en kombination av kvantitativ och kvalitativ analys med hjälp av shift som teoretiskt verktyg. Resultaten av denna fallstudie visar att översättningarna skiljer sig åt i vissa innehållsmässiga aspekter och att dessa skillnader med all sannolikhet härrör från de samhälleliga politiska kontexter där de producerats. Genom studien uppdagas även att det finns slående likheter mellan de två måltexterna, främst i form av strykningar men också vad gäller innehåll, vilket ger skäl att tro att den ena utgåvan använts som någon form av underlag för den andra. / Within the field of translation studies, it has traditionally been an important field of research to gain knowledge of how to deal with the same source text in different cultural contexts. In the spring of 1950 a Spanish translation of Mika Waltari's historical novel Sinuhe the Egyptian was published, and later that year, in Mexico, appeared a second version translated for the audience in Latin America as a response to the first. This paper is a case study and has undertaken to examine how and why these two translations in the same language differ. The translations have been compared in parallel with its source text and studied contrastively by a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis using the shift as a theoretical tool. The results of this case study show that the translations differ in certain aspects of the level of content and that these differences in all probability arose from the social- political contexts in which the texts were produced. The study reveals also that there are striking similarities between these two target texts, mainly in form of deletions but also in terms of content, giving reason to believe that one of these two editions was used as some form of basis for the other.