John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men explores themes of morality and masculinity through its many male characters. With the use of hegemonic masculinity theory, this essay analyzes how different elements of masculinity are characterized, constructed, and valued in relation to one another. Masculinity is defined by a utilitarian sense of purpose, systematic loss, and homosocial desire in Of Mice and Men. The men in this novella yearn for connection and meaning, in contrast to the inevitable nature of violence presented in the novella. Ending the life of an animal or a man that has lost its purpose is considered a compassionate and unavoidable act. In this way, hegemonic masculinity in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice in Men is defined by a duality of homosocial desire and utilitarian violence.

This paper discusses three aspects: heteronormativity, the gender stereotypes and attitudes towards gender that can be found in teaching materials for reading in the Spanish subject at upper secondary level in Sweden. The corpus for this study is a selection of anthologies and novels that are published in the Spanish language in Sweden. In order to identify heteronormativity, gender stereotypes and attitudes towards gender of the characters and narrators, the corpus is examined according to a number of variables such as sex, age, marital status, social class, and nationality, as well as theories and concepts such as hegemonic masculinity, androcentricity, homosociality, sexist attitudes (misogyny and misandry), the gender contract and binary opposition systems. The data will be presented in both quantitative and qualitative terms, and the outcome of this analysis will highlight the presence of gender stereotypes where the presence of female characters is minimal while the dominant presence of male characters establishes the norm, so that it is the stories of male characters that describe the world. Female characters do not participate in the public sphere; they are represented as mothers, sisters or daughters. They are seen as sexual objects who do not have a voice. Nevertheless, few cases of sexism (misogyny and misandry) are found in the corpus, and there are even cases of transgression that weaken the stereotype of the submissive woman, as well as cases of transgression where men express their feelings.

The general aim of this thesis is to use foodwork and cooking in Sweden as a way to better understand theoretical questions about men and masculinities. Paper I discusses how an increased public interest in elaborate cooking and gastronomy in Sweden, a country with a cultural idealization of gender equality, could explain why men in Sweden assume responsibilities for domestic cooking without feeling emasculated. Papers II, III and IV draw on interviews with 31 men from 22 to 88 years of age and with different levels of interest in food. Paper II shows how domestic foodwork and cooking are associated with ideas of Swedish progress in terms of gender equality and culinary skills. Paper III demonstrates further that domestic cooking is not only a responsibility which men assume, but also a way of being sociable with friends, partners and children. Thus, both papers II and III challenge the idea that men only cook at home if they enjoy it. The data rather indicate that domestic foodwork responsibilities are a cultural expectation of men in Sweden, ingrained in desirable masculine practices. Paper IV explores men’s responses to media representations of food. The interviewed men responded to these representations with indifference, pragmatism, irony, and at times even hostility. In general, the responses are based on gender and age-differentiated taste distinctions and notions of masculine and culinary excess. Paper V uses a mix of texts (81 online texts and two magazines) and observations from the food fairs GastroNord (2014 and 2016), Mitt kök-mässan (2014) and the chef competition Bocuse d’Or Europe (2014) complemented with pictures and videos. I argue that a Swedish culinary community that promotes Swedish culinary excellence is constructed by drawing on preestablished national (self-)images. This culinary community is constructed as open and tolerant, with ethical concerns for the environment and for nonhuman animals. Its culinary icons are represented by chefs in whites and the leading restaurants. In sum, this dissertation provides empirical and theoretical contributions to both food studies and gender studies that critically scrutinize men and masculinities. Food-issues are permeated by gender, both in people’s everyday life and in the gastronomic elite.

Male parliamentary dominance, rather than the corresponding female parliamentary underrepresentation, is the object of study in this thesis. This shift in focus implies a gendered analysis centered on men and men’s practices. The thesis contributes to our understanding of how male dominance is maintained and reinvented by empirically studying male parliamentary dominance in clientelist settings. Worldwide trends of parliamentary representation are analyzed statistically and constitute the starting-point for a case study of male political networks in Thailand. Clientelism is a strategy used by political actors to increase predictability in politically unpredictable settings. The thesis shows that clientelism is an informal political practice that requires the building and maintenance of large and localized networks to help distribute services, goods and/or money in exchange for political support. Where political parties also use candidate selection procedures that are informal, exclusive and localized, there are ample openings for clientelist practices to translate into political power and ultimately parliamentary seats. This study also coins and develops a new concept: homosocial capital. It shows that clientelist networks are and continue to be male dominated because homosocial capital, a political capital accessible only to men, is needed for electoral success. Homosocial capital has two main components: a perceived pragmatic necessity to build linkages to those with access to important resources in society and a more psychological desire to cooperate with individuals whose behavior can be understood, predicted and trusted.

Studien undersöker om och i så fall hur rekryteringsprocessen är en bidragande mekanism till fortlevnad av vertikal- och horisontell segregering. Studien genomförs i fem av Göteborgs Stads stadsdelsförvaltningar och belyser hur könsfördelningen och rekryteringen ser ut vid chefsrekrytering i kommunen. Vi har även intervjuat respondenter från den fackliga organisationen Vision Göteborg och processledaren för rekryteringsprocessen från Stadsledningskontoret.Vi utgår från forskningsfrågor om könsfördelningen, regler och policys, och bidragande faktorer till könsmönster. I referensramen behandlas teorier om homosocialitet, psykometriska- och sociala ansatsen, glastak, manliga- och kvinnliga egenskaper, könskodade yrken, positiv särbehandling samt Svenska lagar om diskriminering. Vi har genomfört semistrukturerade intervjuer med sju respondenter. Med hjälp av vår referensram skapar vi intervjufrågor där vi sedan i analysen kopplar respondenternas svar till teorier som vi presenterat tidigare, vi jämför teorin med praktiken.Studien visar att det finns skilda meningar bland respondenterna om det förekommer könsmönster eller inte i Göteborgs Stad. Vår kvantitativa forskning visar att andelen kvinnor på chefsposter inte är tillräcklig för att bidra till representativitet. / The study investigates whether, and if so, how the recruitment process is a contributing mechanism for the survival of vertical and horizontal segregation. The study is conducted in five of the City of Gothenburgs administrations districts and highlights how gender distribution in the recruitment of executives appears in the municipality. We also interviewed respondents from the trade union organization Vision Gothenburg and the process manager for the recruitment process from the City Executive Office.Our research questions are about gender balance, the framework addressed theories of homosociality, psycometric and social approach, glass roof, male- and female characteristics, gender-coded professions, affirmative action and Swedish laws about discrimination. We conducted semi-structured interviews with seven respondents. Using our framework, we create interview questions where we in the analysis linking the respondents' answers to the theories that we presented earlier, we compare theory with practice.The study shows that there are different opinions among the respondents if there are gender patterns or not the City of Gothenburg. Our quantitative research shows that the proportion of women in executive posts is not enough to contribute to representativeness.

I denna doktorsavhandling studeras rekryteringen av företagsledare. Här diskuteras hur det går till när en företagsledare rekryteras, hur förfarandet ser ut, vilka personer som är involverande, var man letar efter kandidater, vilka kriterier som anses viktiga och vad det är som avgör vem som slutligen tillsätts. Därför handlar boken också om föreställningar om ledarskap och kön och mansdominansen på företagsledande positioner och föreställningar om ledarskap och kön. Studien bygger både på intervjuer med styrelseordförande om deras erfarenheter av rekryteringen av företagsledare och ett två fallstudier av rekryteringar. Analysen visar på ett informellt processförfarande i vilken relationen mellan styrelse och kandidater står i fokus.Processen involverar främst män och där föreställningar om företagsledaren som en särskild man är vägledande.  Analysen lyfter även fram hur rekryteringen av företagsledare kan ses som en könsordnande process där homosocialitet, dvs. att män identifierar sig med och orienterar sig mot andra män, framstår som centralt för att förstå rekryteringsförståelsen av processen och dess utfall. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2003

The purpose of this study is to examine the hegemonic masculinity that can be identified in the podcast “Alex och Sigges podcast”. In this study, a rhetorical analysis and a critical discourse analysis have been conducted. The study has also used the following theories: Raewyn Connells hegemonic masculinity, Pierre Bourdieus field and symbolic capital theory, homosociality, “power and media” and “humor and discours”. The material consists three chapters from the podcast, and these three chapters are: Stympad, Pysslingen and Där alla kan ditt namn. From these chapters, some conversation extracts have been selected, and then transcribed and analyzed. The content in the analysis is thematically divided, which is intended to visualize how the different parts reproduce or challenge hegemonic masculinity. These extracts, taken out from context, will be represented for the podcast in a broader perspective.   In the end of the study there is a final discussion, which conclude results of the analysis combined with parts of the theoretical chapter. This study believes that the podcast “Alex och Sigges podcast” is creating a new type of ideal man through Schulman and Eklunds construction of hegemonic masculinity. By visualizing economic, social and cultural capital and using humor and laugh as a tool in their way to communicate, the podcast shows their listeners how hegemonic masculinity is maintained. Schulman and Eklund also challenge the prevailing masculinity norms, especially in their role as a father, where they show how a man can be sensitive, communicative and open about  showing feelings to others. Hence, the title of the study, where they are successively creating “a modern cityman”.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / This work is the result of a research developed in a movie-theater locateded in downtown Fortaleza. In this research, we seek to unveil the underlying logics of the socializing that used to take place in this specific social and cultural space, emphasizing the transvestite prostitution market inside of it. We will show some of the mental and corporal schemas which this concrete reality evokes, seen as a symbolic matrix of practical activities, feelings, conducts, thoughts and judgement on the part of the spectators that used to make up this space. The Jangada movie-theater was shut down in july, 1996, and played an intermediary role in the general process of reorganization of the âsocial geographyâ of the local movie housesâ. In downtown Fortaleza pornography has become destiny, and after Jangada, the emerging movie houses represent a new configuration as to the exhibition of this cinematographic genre, not only because of the video format technology now used, but also because of the territorialities that they give place. This dissertation is intended to be a critique contribuition to the thinking of the town spaces and territories, the existing conditions of those who make a living out of the prostitution market and the coming into being of socializing places which, having porn iconography as condition and pretext, give visibility to the alternative modes of sexuality and end up producing new and unexpected territorities in relation to the shaping and disciplinary architecture of a movie theater. / Este trabalho à o resultado de uma pesquisa desenvolvida numa sala de cinema especializada na exibiÃÃo de filmes pornogrÃficos, localizada no centro da cidade de Fortaleza. Nessa pesquisa buscamos explicitar as lÃgicas subjacentes à socialidade que tinha lugar nesse espaÃo sociocultural especÃfico, enfatizando sua inserÃÃo no circuito exibidor local e o mercado da prostituiÃÃo travesti no interior da mesma. Discorremos aqui sobre os esquemas mentais e corporais que essa realidade concreta evoca, vistos enquanto matriz simbÃlica de atividades prÃticas, sentimentos, condutas, pensamento e julgamento por parte dos espectadores que compunham esse espaÃo. O Cine Jangada teve suas portas fechadas em julho de 96 e foi âdivisor de Ãguasâ de um processo geral de reordenaÃÃo da geografia social das salas de exibiÃÃo. No centro da cidade, pornografia virou destino e as salas que surgiriam depois do Jangada representam um fato inÃdito na forma de veiculaÃÃo desse gÃnero cinematogrÃfico, nÃo somente devido a utilizaÃÃo do formato de vÃdeo para a exibiÃÃo desses filmes, mas tambÃm devido Ãs territorialidades que dÃo lugar. Esta dissertaÃÃo pretende ser uma contribuiÃÃo crÃtica para pensar os espaÃos e territÃrios da cidade, as condiÃÃes de existÃncia de alguns que vivem da atividade prostitutiva e a constituiÃÃo de lugares de convivÃncia que, tendo a iconografia pornà como condiÃÃo e pretexto, dÃo visibilidade ao exercÃcio de uma determinada forma de sexualidade e acabam por produzir territorialidades novas e imprevistas em relaÃÃo à arquitetura disciplinar e enquadradora de uma sala de exibiÃÃo.

This thesis is based in a Swedish high school and scrutinizes social interaction among students. The material was gathered in semi-structured interviews and observations made outside of classrooms, but inside the school grounds. The study strives to analyze power dynamics that the students adhere to in their social relationships at the school. It uses intersectionality as an analytical tool to understand the gendered and racialized ways in which students understand themselves in the social complex as social beings within a system. Based on three months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted at this Stockholm-region high school during the spring of 2016, this essay also seeks to address the narrow ways in which Swedishness and non-Swedishness are constructed as dichotomous, as well as the power relations attached to acknowledgement of national belonging. Furthermore, the study analyzes ways in which students reinforce and communicate group belonging through attire, body language and speech. The thesis also considers how power dynamics stipulated by homosociality become an important factor in determining agency.

Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att undersöka och jämföra rekryteringsprocessen av chefer inom privat och offentlig sektor. Vidare är studiens syfte att öka förståelse för hur organisationer arbetar med jämställdhet vid tillsättning av chef. Målet med denna studie är att den ska ge ett kunskapsbidrag gällande chefsrekrytering och jämställdhetsarbetet. Resultatet som har framkommit i denna kandidatuppsats gäller endast de två organisationerna som har studerats. Organisationerna kommer förbli anonyma och benämns i studien som den privata organisationen och den offentliga organisationen. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av en kvalitativ metod i form av fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer som kompletterades med dokument. Genom att undersöka hur rekryteringsprocessen ser ut för chefer i privat och offentlig sektor, kan en bättre förståelse skapas för vilka faktorer som påverkar rekryteringen. Med hjälp av frågeställningarna; Vad finns det för likheter och skillnader i rekryteringsprocessen av chefer i privat och offentlig sektor? Hur arbetar den privata respektive offentliga sektorn med jämställdhet i rekryteringsprocessen? Vilken påverkan har homosocialitet och egenskaper i rekryteringsprocessen? kan en insikt skapas för vilka komponenter som har inverkan på jämställdhetsarbetet i rekryteringsprocessen. Resultatet visar på att rekryteringsprocessen inom den privata och offentliga organisationen är relativt likvärdiga men att det finns skillnader. En skillnad som redogörs är hur könsfördelningen ser ut i respektive organisation. Den offentliga organisationen har fler kvinnliga chefer medan den privata organisationen har fler manliga chefer. Det går att utläsa av resultatet att organisationerna arbetar olika med jämställdhet i rekryteringsprocessen. Resultatet framställer att respondenterna har olika åsikter om hur långt arbetet med jämställdhet har kommit i samhället. För att förklara de könsrelaterade skillnaderna har begreppet homosocialitet används som teori. Studien berör även lagstiftning vid rekrytering och teori kring den kompetensbaserade rekryteringsprocessen. Studiens slutsats är att de två organisationer som har studerats arbetar med en kompetensbaserad rekrytering för att egenskaper inte ska ha någon påverkan på kandidatvalet. Studien visar på att när kvinnor är det underrepresenterade könet på arbetsplatsen utförs ett aktivt jämställdhetsarbete. Vidare påvisar studien att respondenterna omedvetet förknippar egenskaper med kön, vilket påverkar rekryteringen. Resultatet av denna studie kan bidra med inspiration till organisationer som vill utveckla sin rekryteringsprocess av chef. Vidare kan studien tillämpas som stöd för personalvetare och organisationer för att skapa en förståelse för vilka förmåner och hinder som förekommer på de olika stegen i rekryteringsprocessen. Avslutningsvis kan studien tillföra förståelse och kunskap om  bakomliggande faktorer som kan ha påverkat den nuvarande könsfördelning på arbetsmarknaden. / This thesis aims to examine and compare the recruitment process of managers in both the private and public sectors. Furthermore, the objective of the thesis is to provide an improved understanding of how organizations implement principles of gender equality when hiring a manager. The results obtained in this thesis only apply to the two organizations that have been studied. These organizations will remain anonymous and will be referred to as “the private organization” and “the public organization”, as applicable. The study was conducted using qualitative research comprised of four semi-structured interviews that were supplemented with documents. By examining how the recruitment process of managers is formed in both the private and public sectors, we can achieve a better understanding of the factors that influence how gender equality is implemented in the recruitment process. We have gained a valuable insight what those factors may be by investigating the following areas: What are the similarities and differences in the recruitment process of managers in the private and public sector? How do the private and public sectors incorporate gender equality in the recruitment process? What influence does homosociality and traits have on the recruitment process? The results from the study show that the recruitment process in the private and public sectors is relatively similar but that there are differences. One difference is that the public organization has more female managers whilst the private organization has more male managers. The results demonstrate that the organizations implement gender equality in the recruitment process in different ways and that the respondents have different views on how far the gender equality movement has progressed in today's society. To explain the gender-related differences, the term "homosociality" has been used as a theory. The study looks at recruitment legislation and theory regarding the competency-based recruitment process. The thesis can conclude that both the organizations, which were studied use a competency-based recruitment to prevent characteristics of gender from having an impact on the candidate selection. The thesis shows that when women are the under-represented gender in the workplace, active gender equality work is performed. Furthermore, the study shows that the respondents are unknowingly associating traits with gender, which still has an impact on the recruitment. The results of this  study may inspire organizations that want to develop their recruitment process of managers and improve gender equality. Furthermore, the study provides support for human resources departments within organizations by illustrating the benefits and obstacles that exist at various stages in the recruitment process. In conclusion, the study provides an improved understanding and knowledge about underlying factors that may have affected the gender distribution of the labor market.