Research has established a link between LGBTQ+ identity and high victimization rates. However, transgender experiences specifically are not well understood because they are often subsumed under the monolithic label of LGBTQ+ experiences, despite the specific risks associated with non-normative gender identities. It has also been established that the police function is grounded in the maintenance of the dominant social order. Given that LGBTQ+ individuals, and transgender individuals in particular, are disruptive of the social order, many of their interactions with police have been negative. In this study, I examine how varying degrees of "visible" gender nonconformity affect a transgender individual's comfort level with asking for police help. I hypothesize that transgender people who visibly transgress gender norms by physically presenting as a gender that does not match their government-issued identification will be less comfortable asking the police for help than transgender individuals who do not have such incongruence. Through a logistic regression analysis of the 2015 United States Transgender Survey, I find that those groups who visibly transgress gender norms have a higher likelihood of experiencing discomfort with asking for police help. These findings have important implications for our understanding of transgender victimization by elucidating the barriers to police officers' ability to prevent or lessen the effects of victimization within the transgender community. / Master of Science / Research has established a link between LGBTQ+ identity and high victimization rates. However, transgender experiences specifically are not well understood because they are often grouped in under the monolithic label of LGBTQ+ experiences, despite the specific risks associated with non-normative gender identities. It has also been established that the police function is grounded in the maintenance of the status quo. Given that LGBTQ+ individuals, and transgender individuals in particular, disrupt the status quo, many of their interactions with police have been negative. In this study, I examine how varying degrees of "visible" gender nonconformity affect a transgender individual's comfort level with asking for police help. I hypothesize that transgender people who visibly transgress gender norms by physically presenting as a gender that does not match their driver's license or state identification card will be less comfortable asking the police for help than transgender individuals who do not have such incongruence. Through a logistic regression analysis of the 2015 United States Transgender Survey, I find that those groups who visibly transgress gender norms have a higher likelihood of experiencing discomfort with asking for police help. These findings have important implications for our understanding of transgender victimization by elucidating the barriers to police officers' ability to prevent or lessen the effects of victimization within the transgender community.

The concept of hegemony has been an important subject in the 1970s as the US hegemonic position has entered into a decline period. This study aims to underline that the ongoing decline of US hegemony shares substantial analogies with the decline of British hegemony in the late 19th century. As the hegemonic economy enters into contraction period, it starts to experience financial expansion. Today, the US hegemony is in the midst of such an orientation toward the financialization. The study analyzes the historical changes within both hegemonic cases by direct references to the world-system theory and construct a comparative perspective in production, commerce and finance domains respectively to support these arguments.

Det här är en kandidatuppsats i etnologi som bygger på ett fältarbete bestående av deltagande observationer och åtta intervjuer med stamgäster och personal på en sunkbar i centrala Stockholm. Syftet är att analysera hur olika maskulinitetsformer skapar en manlig stamgästgemenskap och hur detta uttrycks genom sexualitet och klass samt i relation till femininitet. Uppsatsen är teoretiskt inspirerad av framförallt maskulinitetsforskaren Raewyn Connell och kulturgeografen Linda McDowell där betoningen ligger på hegemonisk maskulinitet och förkroppsligandet av maskuliniteter i den specifika miljö som sunkbaren utgör. Stamgästernas olika positioner i klassamhället ger gemenskapen en dynamisk form samtidigt som heterosexualitet är en gemensam nämnare. Dessutom påverkar såväl avsaknad av kvinnor vid stambordet som att yrkeskvinnor intar maktpositioner i rummet hur maskulinitet formas och förhandlas på sunkbaren.

The U.S. has enjoyed global hegemonic power for over 70 years and even more so after the fall of the Soviet Union. However, some political scientists argue that it is descending and the evidence lies in the increasing power of China. An imbalance of power in the international structure has the ability to result in different outcomes. The realist theory suggests that a conflict between the U.S. and China is unavoidable, the liberal theory suggests that the economic dependency between the two makes conflict less possible, while the constructivist theory suggests that the outcome depends on the reaction of the leaders and social change. This study asks what the reaction of the President of the U.S. is to the rise of China to find out the result of this hegemonic power imbalance. By using discourse analysis, this study has analyzed the remarks of President Trump from the period of January 2017 to November 2017 in search of his reaction to the rise of China. The results of this study show that President Trump divides the world in two parts making the U.S. the protagonist and the rest of the world, including China, the antagonist in his discourse as his reaction. Due to this reaction, Trump takes nationalistic and protectionist measures against China.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) should have been a 'game- changer' and a boost for the EU economy by creating more jobs and growth in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. By eliminating the remaining trade barriers, it would have established a transatlantic trade area connecting the two most powerful economies in the world. This Master's thesis utilizes four concepts of the neo-Marxist theory: key premises of the Amsterdam School, State theory of Bob Jessop and Nicos Poulantzas, combines Ulrich Beck's notion of risk society with Antonio Gramsci's role of intellectuals, and outlines the premise of commodification as a part of political ecology. The theoretical neo-Marxist prism facilitates the mapping of the crucial social agents functioning as the proponents of the TTIP agenda as a hegemonic project and those forces opposing the deal as a counter-hegemonic movement. This thesis reveals how the TTIP agreement was legitimized by the proponents but issues of transparency and other contradictions revolving around the deal attracted the attention of various civil society organizations (CSOs) that were concerned about TTIP's impact on public health and environment. Three empirical cases focusing on the precautionary principle (PP), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs),...

The purpose of this study was to illuminate the everyday work of school counsellors in the City of Stockholm with a gender perspective by studying the school counsellors ́ talk about masculinity and femininity. The aim was to reach an understanding of how parts of the counsellors everyday work are influenced by gender through the perspective of the school counsellor. The study was conducted using qualitative methods. Six school counsellors, five woman and one man, were interviewed. An interview method called thematically open interview was used to identify themes regarding aspects of gender in the school counsellors ́ everyday work. The theoretical perspectives that were applied during analysis were Judith Butlers ́ theory on gender performativity and Mimi Shippers ́ theory on gender hegemony. A qualitative data analysis was conducted using hermeneutic principles for interpretation. The results show that the school counsellors gave femininity and masculinity three different meanings, that gender influenced varying aspects of the counsellors work including the interaction with teachers, pupils, parents and principal and that indications of gender hegemony could be found in the stories told by four of the school counsellors. Further some school counsellors experienced gender as an obstacle to a larger extent than others. / Syftet med denna studie var att belysa skolkuratorer i Stockholm stads vardagliga arbete ur ett genusperspektiv genom att studera hur skolkuratorer talar om maskulinitet och femininitet. Målet var att nå kunskap om hur delar av skolkuratorernas vardagliga arbete influeras av genus ur skolkuratorns perspektiv. För att genomföra studien användes kvalitativa metoder. Sex kuratorer intervjuades, fem kvinnor och en man. En Intervjumetod kallad tematiskt öppen intervju användes för att identifiera teman beträffande olika aspekter av genus i skolkuratorernas vardagliga arbete. Under analysen tillämpades Judith Butlers ́ teori om genusperformativitet och Mimi Schippers ́ teori om könshegemoni. En kvalitativ dataanalys genomfördes med hjälp av hermeneutiska tolkningsprinciper. Studiens resultat visar att skolkuratorerna gav femininitet och maskulinitet tre skilda betydelser, att genus influerade olika aspekter av skolkuratorernas arbete inklusive deras interaktion med elever, lärare, föräldrar och rektorer och att det är går att se tecken som tyder på förekomsten av könshegemoni i fyra kuratorers berättelser. Vidare upplevde vissa kuratorer i högre grad än andra kuratorer att genus utgjorde ett hinder i det vardagliga arbetet.

This study discusses the evolutionist approach to African history as an action plan for challenging the hegemony of English in university education and in the teaching and writing of literature in post-independence Africa. The researcher selected Zimbabwe’s university education and literary practice as the microcosm case studies whilst Africa’s university education and literary practice in general, were used as macrocosmic case studies for the study. Some two universities: the Midlands State University and the Great Zimbabwe State University and some six academic departments from the two universities were on target. The researcher used questionnaires to access data from university students and lecturers and he used interviews to gather data from university departmental Chairpersons, scholars, fiction writers and stakeholders in organizations that deal with language growth and development in Zimbabwe. Data from questionnaires was analysed on the basis of numerical scores and percentage of responses. By virtue of its not being easily quantified, data from interviews was presented through capturing what each of the thirteen key informants said and was then analysed on the basis of the hegemonic theory that is proposed in this study. The research findings were discussed using: the evolutionist approach to the history of Africa; data from document analysis; information gathered through the use of the participant and observer technique and using examples from what happened and/or is still happening in the different African countries. The study established that the approaches which have so far been used to challenge the hegemony of English in post-independence Africa are not effective. The approaches are six in total. They are the essentialist, the assimilationist, the developmentalist, the code-switch, the multilingualist and the syncretic. They are ineffective since they are used in a wrong era: That era, is the era of Neocolonialism (Americanization of the world). Therefore, the researcher has recommended the use of the evolutionist approach to African history as a strategy for challenging the hegemony in question. The approach lobbies that, for Africa to successfully challenge that hegemony, she should first of all move her history from the era of Neocolonialism as she enters the era of Nationalism. / African Languages / (D.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages))

Maria McCann paints a dark picture of masculinity and its effects in her novel As Meat Loves Salt (2001). The violent Jacob Cullen struggles with his masculinity as he faces the intricacies of religion, sexuality and politics in the midst of the English Civil War where he falls in love with fellow soldier Christopher Ferris. By using R.W. Connell and James Messerschmidt’s framework for the hierarchy of masculinities, I explore masculinities on local, regional and global levels and emphasized femininity in a close reading of McCann’s novel. My aim is not only to analyse the masculinities of the novel but also to use the framework to redefine toxic masculinity in order to make it a useable concept when analysing masculinities in literature. I redefine toxic masculinity because it lacks a clear definition anchored in an established framework used to study masculinity that does not see masculinity as inherently toxic. I believe that anchoring it to Connell and Messerschmidt’s framework will make it a useable concept. Due to the novel’s relationship to the Bible, I will use masculinity studies done on David and Jesus from the Bible to compare and reveal similarities with the masculinities in the novel, how they appear on the local, regional and global levels in the novel and its effects. I draw parallels between the love story in As Meat Loves Salt to the love story of David and Jonathan in the Bible by using queer readings of David and Jonathan in order to explore how masculinity affects the relationships and how the novel uses these two love stories as a study of toxic masculinity and how it relates it to hegemonic masculinity.

The aim of this study is to examine how the male characters are portrayed in the television series »Livet i bokstavslandet« based on Connels (1995) theory hegemonic »masculinity« and Butlers theory »gender performativity« and examine if the male characters challenge or maintain gender. The study proceed from the following questions: Does the male characters in »Livet i bokstavslandet« challenge or reproduce traditional gender roles? Are the male characters »participant«, »subordinated« or »marginalized« based on Connells hegemonic masculinity theory? A narrative content analysis has been conducted. The theoretical framework of the examination is based on men and masculinities studies, from a post-modern influenced perspective. Butler's concepts of performativity are of importance in this study. The results of shows, in conclusion, that »Livet i bokstavslandet« does neither challenge nor negotiate new gender roles. From a performativity point of view, the conclusion is that the series maintains prevailing gender roles.

Prostitucija egzistuojanti nuo pirmykščių laikų savyje talpina socialinį neteisingumą, išnaudojimą ir pažeidžiamas žmogaus teises, todėl socialinis darbas būdamas anti-engėjiška praktika, privalo imtis iniciatyvos. Darbe remiamasi interpretuojamąja – konstruktyvistine ontologija, kuri teigia, kad socialiniai reiškiniai neegzistuoja savaime, jie yra sukonstruoti ir įtakoti kitų. Prostitucijos fenomenas sąlygotas stereotipų, pasmerkimo ir visuotinės stigmatizacijos, dažnai šios nuostatos trukdo į reiškinį pažvelgti iš esmės. Pripažįstama, kad prostituciją sukuria paklausa, tačiau apie ją nekalbama, tai tarsi nematoma prostitucijos pusė, kuri palikta užribyje. Nėra aiškios informacijos, kokia ši paklausa ir kas sąlygoja jos egzistavimą, todėl siekiant kalbėti apie tuos, kurie perka seksą ir išlaiko sekso industriją, šio darbo tikslas – atskleisti vyrų, perkančių seksą, naratyvus projektuojant socialinio darbo intervencijos kryptis. Keliami tyrimo klausimai: kaip sekso pirkimo reiškinį aiškina perkantieji seksą? Kaip sekso pirkimas yra susijęs su hegemoninio vyriškumo nuostatomis? Kokios galimos socialinio darbo intervencijos kryptys sekso pirkimo kontekste? Siekiant atskleisti vyrų, perkančių seksą naratyvus buvo pasitelktas kokybinis naratyvinis tyrimas. Remiamasi subjektyvistine – interpretuojamąja epistemologija. Pasirinkta tyrimo dalyvių trianguliacija, kuri padėjo gauti tikslesnius duomenis iš reiškinio vidaus (interviu su sekso pirkėjais) ir išorės (interviu su policijos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Prostitution has existed since primeval times. This phenomenon contains the social injustice, exploitation and violations of human rights. Social work, as an anti-oppressive practice, must take action. The paper is based on interpretative – constructivist ontology, which proposes that social phenomena do not exist in spite of themselves, but they are designed and influenced by others. Prostitution is conditioned by stereotypes, stigmatization and universal condemnation and often this approach doesn`t let to look at the very core of this phenomenon. It is recognized that prostitution is created by demand but it is not discussed in public. It is like an invisible side of prostitution, which is left behind. There is no clear information what the demand is and what determines its existence, so there is a need to discuss those who buy sex and support sex industry. The aim of this paper is to reveal narratives of men who buy sex with the purpose to design directions of social work based on these narratives. The questions the research raises are is: How the phenomenon of sex-purchase is explained by the buyers themselves? What are the possible directions of social work intervention in the context of the sex-purchase? In order to reveal the narratives of men who buy sex, qualitative narrative study was chosen. The research is based on subjectivist - interpretative epistemology. Triangulation of research participants was chosen, which helped to get more accurate data from inside of... [to full text]