The aim of this thesis is to study male questioning of masculinity. The study of the questioning will be conducted through a literature study, that will be done using an anthology that holds a critical perspective towards masculinity. The study of the questioning, will be done through mapping the most common patterns within the questioning together with patterns in the form used for presenting the questioning. Apart from the focus on the questioning and its form, which norms that are being questioned will also be studied. Apart from the focuses mentioned above, the last focus is directed towards finding patterns within the chosen themes vulnerability and homosociality. Since the focuses of the thesis will be studied through finding patterns within the material, thematic analysis will be used as a method. The method queer reading will also be used for studying norms. What has been found is that the form of the questioning mainly contains alternative thinking and reflections about ideals, as well as frustration related to trying to live up to these ideals. Overall few innovatory perspectives were brought up in the questioning, but the own father was rather commonly brought up in relation to reflection of the own masculinity. Regarding the chosen themes, avoiding to express emotions of vulnerability openly was found to be most common regarding vulnerability. Within the theme of homosociality, the most common pattern was that the men maintained a distance to each other. The most interesting discovery was found within the reflective form, which became interesting, since the stories contained an understanding that reflection should be avoided in order to uphold a masculine identity. Paradoxically then, the overall form of the material was reflective stories, making the form of the stories a break against a central norm found within their content.

The following essay describes a study made of eight American films, where the purpose of the study was to analyze how veganism was portrayed in the chosen films. Through a semiotic analysis, the aim was to investigate how views on traditional gender roles are reproduced in the way that the practice of veganism and discourse on veganism is portrayed in modern cinema. The reason for this study was firstly because most vegans are women, with a sizeable margin; close to 80% of vegans in America are women, while almost half of vegetarians are men. The question why so many vegans are women is something worth studying closer. Secondly, there has been very few studies made on this topic. There is a sufficient amount of texts which acknowledge and discuss the correlation between the practice of not eating animals and gender issues. Further there are accounts made on how vegans are typically portrayed in media in a society where the norm is to exploit animals. These accounts demonstrate that vegans are often portrayed unfavorably. However scientific studies made on how vegans are portrayed in film are practically nonexistent. This despite cinema being a large and powerful media tool for reproducing social and cultural values. The discourse on gender and veganism were missing a valuable angle and this was something that this essay aimed to bring to the discussions of both veganism and gender. By searching on internet for films which include either vegan characters or the word vegan, there were eight films found. And through an analysis of these the results concluded that veganism is indeed portrayed negatively in movies as well, however there is also another dimension to this negative perspective towards vegans: these negative portrayals of veganism in film is grounded in archaic views and values on traditional gender roles and equality.

OBJECTIVE: The current study explored the applicability of the social norms approach to a new domain of study: psychological help-seeking. A number of questions that must be answered to determine whether the social norms model can be applied effectively to the help-seeking domain guided the study. METHOD: Data were collected from freshmen at five colleges and universities in the Mid-Atlantic region (N = 3021) during freshman orientation week. The study used a cross sectional design to examine personal attitudes and behaviors related to help-seeking as well as perceptions about others’ attitudes and behaviors related to help-seeking. RESULTS: Most participants reported that they were willing to seek help and viewed seeking help as a personal strength rather than personal weakness. However, discrepancies between “reality” and perception indicate that most freshmen in this sample misperceived reality. Most participants underestimated the extent to which peers are accepting of seeking psychological help and most participants were not accurate in their perceptions of peer help seeking behaviors. This misperception significantly influenced personal willingness to seek help. CONCLUSIONS: The data indicate that the social norms method of intervention is applicable to the domain of help seeking and efforts to reduce stigma. Implications, next steps for future research, and limitations of the current study are discussed.

This study involves the examination of National Collegiate Health Assessment (NCHA) data collected by the VCU Wellness Resource Center. This study will compare trends in college student health behavior perceptions and personal activity regarding alcohol use, as self-reported via the NCHA data, with a particular focus on a comparison between 2002, which is the year that the Wellness Resource Center (then known as the Office of Health Promotion) first implemented an alcohol education campaign based upon a “social norms” theoretical framework, and 2004, after 18 months of intensive campaigning. Thus, the aim of the project is to examine the changes in student behavior regarding alcohol usage and student perceptions in the prevalence of alcohol usage, after two years of social norms-based campaigning, while controlling for factors such as sex and place of residence. The measures that are analyzed are based upon the number of alcoholic drinks that students reported imbibing during the last time they socialized and the number of alcohol drinks that the students reported to be what they considered the norm during such periods of socializing. This data is supplemented by a calculation of blood alcohol concentration (BAC), acquired through use of personal information that students reported on the NCHA, in order to more accurately describe student drinking behaviors.

1 Morality and law For the most of us it is quite clear what law is. Most of us have certain idea what law represents. A lot of us may have a different idea, it is because of many elements which affect our law perception. On the most basic level, law is something which is connected to specific values in society. Based on this idea we can certainly say that law is something which guarantees balance in society and system which provides safety. On the other hand, morality is a subject of a discipline called ethics. This subject represents a system which provides and protects distinctive values which have different normative quality. This system is formed by high amount of appropriate rules of behavior and its way to realize this behavior. In the past, the connection between these two systems was very important, it was a noticeable fact that these two systems cooperate and communicate. Even though nowadays these systems are more and more divided, they still interact. In the law of Czech Republic the connection between morality and law can be observed especially in the good manners. Good manners are intentions which are projected throughout the whole law system. The main goal of good manners and morality is to fill the gaps in the law. Another important goal is also to straighten the perception of justice in the...

The aim of this study was to examine how our way of doing gender affect female managers in the male-dominated IT organizations and how the female managers handle the consequences they entail. The study is based on a qualitative research approach where we gathered empirical data through semi-structured interviews. In this study, six respondents with varying experiences of management role within the IT organizations participated. The results are analyzed with the help of previous research and the theoretical framework which included Pierre Bourdieu's theory masculine domination and the West and Zimmerman's theory doing gender. In our study, we concluded that female managers in the male-dominated IT organizations feel the need to adapt to a greater degree than their male counterparts. As a result of the contradictions that exist in the female gender norms versus the role expectations placed on managers, who have a male character, women need to downplay their femininity, including  by adjusting their language.

The following thesis is an analysis of the self-narratives of the parties in the Swedish Riksdag and how these are used to construct the identities of the parties. For this purpose, we studied narrative theory and theories about identity in order to build a framework which would allow us to investigate the narratives of these parties. To identify the core narratives of the parties, we chose to focus on their respective party programs. Based on the results of our quantitative investigation, we chose four parties (Socialdemokraterna, Liberalerna, Miljöpartiet, and Sverigedemokraterna) to study in a more in-depth manner. Having selected these four parties, we utilized theories about narrative and identity in order to identify the constituent parts of the various parties' narratives contained in their party programs. The parties were found to adhere to our theoretical assumptions about how parties ought to construct narratives, albeit in different ways from party to party.

Thesis advisor: James Mahalik / The mental health issues of depression and substance abuse are a major public health concern in the U.S. The timing of the onset of depression and substance use is critical to the lifelong prevalence of these issues (e.g., Gayman, Lloyd, and Ueno, 2011). Symptoms of depression during adolescence are associated with major depressive episodes during adulthood (e.g., Pine, Cohen, Johnson, Brook, 1999). Alcohol use during adolescence has been linked to substance abuse in young adulthood (Griffin, Bang, and Botvin, 2010) and adulthood (Chung and Martin, 2011). Due to the influence that adolescent depression and alcohol use has on lifelong development, potential factors related these outcomes during adolescence are essential to examine. The Five C's model of positive youth development (PYD) provided a framework for the current study to understand how internal (e.g., conformity to gender norms) and external (e.g., social support) characteristics of an individual lead to the development of personal qualities of PYD, which in turn are associated with behaviors (e.g., depression, alcohol use; Lerner et al., 2005). A sample of 642 high school students from several Catholic high schools in the Northeast was utilized for the analyses. T-tests indicated that females report greater depressive symptoms compared to males, but no gender differences in alcohol use. Regression analyses indicated significant relationships between greater conformity to feminine norms and decreased alcohol use and increased social support and PYD. Conformity to masculine norms was associated with decreased social support and PYD. The current study expands the existing body of literature by including internal characteristics involving identity such as conformity to gender norms in the Five C's model of PYD and examining both the benefits and costs of one's gender, conformity to gender norms, and social support on PYD, depression, and alcohol use during adolescence. The findings suggest that gender, conformity to gender norms, and social support contribute to the adolescent outcomes of PYD, depression, and alcohol use, which have clinical and developmental implications. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

This essay examines the 1962 filmization of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird through gender theory to identify its representation of gender, underlying gendered norms and how power is exercised through gender. The analysis concludes that the film’s portrayal of men and women follow a pattern of traditional gendered roles and norms in terms of their respective gender roles, accepted behavior, dress-code and men’s overarching influence in society in accordance with the film’s time and setting. Although the film’s main characters question and oppose certain gendered roles and norms, its problems are left unsolved and not reflected upon towards the end of the film. The film can be used in the Swedish EFL-classroom to identify and analyze gendered norms which can then act as the starting point of a discussion on how it stands in contrasts to the gendered norms and roles of modern-day United States and Sweden.

O chão de fábrica é constituído por operários cuja atuação cotidiana em diferentes postos de trabalho consiste, simultaneamente, na gestão de si próprios. Embora a fábrica seja cravejada por normas oficiais operacionais, de segurança e de qualidade, os operários gerem todos esses elementos conforme suas necessidades psicofísicas e escolhas valorativas possíveis. Portanto, trata-se de uma análise, pautada tanto em veio teórico, notadamente o ergológico, quanto, especialmente, em achados empíricos extraídos de entrevistas efetivadas junto a operários metalúrgicos da grande São Paulo. Ambas as esferas, teórica e empírica, comungam esforços em mostrar as atividades de chão de fábrica em uma perspectiva distanciada daquela de pura execução por operadores via operações padronizadas exogenamente. Essas atividades são na realidade re-formuladas, re-conduzidas, às vezes até reinventadas, consequentemente, apropriadas por sujeitos operários, que renormalizam o seu meio e, na medida do possível, singularizam seus atos de trabalho de acordo com os seus próprios usos subjetivos, valorativos e simbólicos. / The shop floor is constituted by workers whose daily performance in different workstations consists, simultaneously, in the self-management. Although the factory is studded by operational official norms, of safety and of quality, the workers generate all those elements according to their needs psycho-physicals and possible appreciated choices. Therefore, it is treated of an analysis, ruled so much in theoretical vein, especially the ergological, as, especially, in empiric discoveries extracted of interviews accomplished with the workers metallurgists of the São Paulo\'s metropolitan area. Both spheres, theoretical and empiric, they take communion efforts in showing the activities of shop floor by a distanced perspective of that of pure execution by operators through operations standardized exogenously. These activities are in the reality re-formulated, re-driven, sometimes until reinvented, consequently, appropriate for subjects workers, that re-normalize their environment and, insofar as possible, they become singular their work actions according to their own subjective, appreciated and symbolic uses.