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A consequential ideology in Western society is the uncontested belief that a committed relationship is the most important adult relationship and almost all people want to marry or seriously couple (DePaulo & Morris, 2005). In the present article, I investigated the extent to which the system justification motive may contribute to the adoption of this ideology. In Studies 1 and 2, I examined whether a heightened motive to maintain the status quo would increase defense of committed relationship values. In Study 3, I examined the reverse association, that is, whether a threat to committed relationship ideology would also affect socio-political system endorsement. As past research has found that the justification of political systems depends upon how much these systems are perceived as having control over life outcomes, in Study 4 I tested whether the defense of the system of committed relationships would also increase when framed as controlling. Results from Studies 1–4 were consistent with my hypotheses, but only for men. In Study 5, using cross-cultural data, I sought to replicate these findings correlationally and probe for a cause of the gender effect. Results from over 33 000 respondents indicated a relationship (for men) between defense of the socio-political system and defense of marriage in countries where the traditional advantages of men over women were most threatened. In Studies 6 and 7, I investigated when the gender difference found in the earlier studies disappears. Results revealed that when I measured (Study 6) or manipulated (Study 7) personal relationship identity (i.e., how much relationships are part of the active self-concept), rather than relationship ideology, effects also emerge for women.

This study aims at highlighting the ideological implications of school development as a discursive practice. More comprehensively the aim is also contributing to rearrangements and shifts in perspective when school development is the matter. One of today´s most widespread and dominant discourses are said to be the one which concerns development, and according to many interpreters, development is one of the most prominent commandments in the modern as well as the post-modern narratives. School development as a concept has for the last 15 years established itself firmly in both Swedish school policy and in Swedish school research. It may sound obvious and commendable but also such axioms may be questioned. The design of the study lies in the field of discourse research and more specifically within critical discursive psychology, which draws on both a post-structural and a postmodern conception of discourse. The study is based on the idea that the ideological potential of arguments occurs, develops and changes in discursive practices and not anywhere else or at any abstract level. The starting point is a perception that certain issues and topics within e.g. conversation, depending on time and context will be seen as controversial, while others will be taken for granted. One part of the basis of the study consists of texts with a direct bearing on a specific school research and development project which took place between 2003 and 2008. Participating partners in the collaboration were the Swedish National Agency for School Improvement, Karlstad University, Dalarna University and 13 municipalities in Sweden. Another part of the basis of the study consists of texts in which  ‘school development’ is considered and negotiated in more general terms, usually without reference to the project. All texts derive from the period 2003 – 2006. The analysis shows that school development as discursive practice often rely on a set of stereotypical expressions and ways of arguing. Stereotypes, which among other things, tend to divide people into suitable and non-suitable, capable and non-capable, which may be regarded as a somewhat unexpected implication of school development. The material has been dramatized by an intrigue inspired by the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman´s texts. He has written extensively on the modern in relation to the postmodern and about the ambivalence which resides in between and school development as discursive practice can be understood in much the similar way.

The principal critical theme of Lost Causes is that the cultural realm of a society is imbued with ideological connotations. This is not to argue that a cultural field like Australian cinema, which is the ground from which I draw my principal examples, is an extension of the socio-political viewpoint of whatever government or class interests are in power. Rather, I distinguish such hegemonic practice from the presence of ideological causality in cinema in order to emphasize the hidden, because subliminal, nature of ideology. Thus ideology is a kinetic function of any society. It provides a framework within which citizens define their relationships to the social reality within which they live. The subject does not exist outside of ideology.

The supposed liberalising effects of higher education have been documented since Newcomb’s landmark Bennington study in the 1930s. However, other research has suggested that the effect of education on beliefs and values may differ between academic disciplines. The main mechanisms by which differing beliefs are believed to develop include the self-selection hypothesis (where students chose disciplines which match their pre-existing belief systems) and the socialisation hypothesis (where students are socialised into the worldview of the discipline through continued exposure). Three correlational design questionnaire studies were conducted. Study 1 and 2 featured 223 and 531 students, respectively, and Study 3 included 143 recent graduates of Murdoch University, from different academic disciplines (primarily commerce, psychology and the social sciences). Study 4 involved interviews with nine students who had switched between the three main fields of study. The quantitative results generally supported the self-selection hypothesis, although some participant accounts suggested possible accentuation effects (where pre-existing values were strengthened by university study). Future research should consider a longitudinal study, tracking students in different academic disciplines over the full-length of their degree. A cross-sectional community study would also be valuable, in determining whether large scale difference exist between the those with tertiary, compared to those with lower levels of education, and whether discipline differences persist following graduation (and whether this is linked to occupation). These findings have important implications for the way universities view themselves, in terms of shaping the minds of the next generation of leaders, and for disciplines, in terms of the types of students they attract and how they can best retain them. In conclusion, there are significant differences in the belief systems of students in different academic disciplines, although not as large as may be expected, and that this seems primarily due to self-selection, rather than socialisation or accentuation.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 145-161).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-235).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Political Science, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on July 24, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-157). Also issued in print.

Based on the author's doctoral dissertation research at Northwestern University. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-68).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-77).