Main purpose of this thesis is to pursue the question whether it is possible to find differences (and if so, which) in attitudes towards computer (or rather digital) games resulting from various family socio-cultural backgrounds and gender. In order to explore this, the thesis analyzes selected gaming behaviors along with the socio-cultural environment and gender stereotypes shaping the gamers. The research study focuses mainly on gamers' preference in choosing the game type, reflection of their approach and ways of dealing with this phenomenon exhibited by their parents. This thesis does not aim to state any general theory; it is rather attempting to offer specific insight into this issue. Keywords: digital games, computer games, games' classification, computer games entertainment, parental attitudes towards gaming, family socio-cultural standard, gender stereotypes, computer games usefulness/ harmfulness in its consumers, virtual communication in computer games.

本研究以電視新聞社會線為研究場域，旨在探討電視社會女記者與電視社會新聞之陰性化現象之間的關連。本研究採取質性研究的多元途徑，以參與觀察法、深度訪談法、案例分析法，探討兩大研究問題：一、近年來，電視社會新聞內容有沒有陰性化的傾向？1.社會新聞記者怎麼看待陰性的社會新聞主題？2. 社會新聞記者怎麼看待陰性的新聞報導角度？3.社會新聞記者採取什麼樣的工作倫理？二、電視新聞工作場域文化與社會女記者的新聞產製1. 社會線的文字記者需要具備什麼特質？ 2. 社會線女記者的女性身份，是否影響：(1)社會線女記者線上關係之建立(2)社會線女記者在組織中的任務分配與評價(3)社會線女記者和受訪者的互動(4)社會線女記者社會新聞的角度？ 在電視社會新聞的陰性化方面，本研究發現，在電視社會新聞內容方面，由於以市場為主要考量，軟性議題儘管增加，其份量和重要性仍低於感官化取材，而女性議題仍居少數。在電視社會新聞的處理方式與記者敘事方式上，趨向實用、貼近觀眾感受的陰性報導角度增加，但社會新聞仍以陽性化的感官處理為主要走向。 在電視社會新聞工作場域文化方面，研究發現組織當中父系意識型態的主導，與商業邏輯的感官化操作思維相結合。在社會女記者的新聞產製方面，女記者發展出中性化的性格特質與女性化的性別特質，並接受父系觀點對她們的觀視或期待，這是一種對場域文化的投降策略。因此，女記者的社會新聞報導與男性記者沒有差別。 / This study takes the impact of TV female journalist on the feminization of TV social news as the main inquiry. Adopting the channel of qualitative research, this study takes the participant-observation method, in-depth interview method, and case study method to discuss two significant issues. I. Is TV socail news feminized in the past few years? 1. How do journalists of TV social news view feminine topic of news reporting? 2. How do journalists of TV social news view feminine angle of news reporting? 3. What kind of working ethics do journalists of TV social news hold? II. The field culture of TV news work & the news production of female journalists 1. What are the conditions required for female journalists? 2. Does sex factor have influence on TV social news female journalists in aspects below: (1) their relationship with steady news source (2) the assignments and evaluation they get (3) their interation with news source (4) their angle of news? As to the phenomenon of the feminization of TV social news, we have found that market is the major consideration of news production. Though the soft news issues have increased, the amount and value of this kind of issues are still far less then those of sensational issues. Meanwhile, women issues are few. Concerning the style and the way of reporting of TV social news, it has tended to practical value and has become closer to the feelings of audience, which is a feminized new style. However, sensationlism remain the main mode that journalists deal with social news. In the aspects of the field culture of TV news work, we have found that the paternal hegemony is the leading power in newsroom, and it has been integrated with the sensational ways of newsmaking oriented towards commercial pursuits. As to female journalists, they practice neutralized characters and female sexual characteristics, and accepted the paternal gazing and expection imposed on them, which is considered as a strategy of surrender to the field culture. Therefore, there is no distinct difference between the news reporting of male and female journalists.

The purpose of the study was to describe factors that influence black females to choose engineering as a career. It transpired from the literature study that enabling environment, gender of role models, self-efficacy and socialization are important factors in terms of causing and attracting females into the fields of science and engineering study. From the empirical study it came out clearly that family members, female role members, and confidence in mathematics and science were factors that caused the females in engineering group to choose it as a career. Findings also revealed that gender stereotypes did not deter them from choosing engineering and that they were content with their career choice. For the above factors to be addressed incentives exclusive to females should be launched by government so as to attract more females to the fields of science and engineering. Schools also need to pursue programmes that expose learners to these fields. / Educational Studies / M. Ed.

This study attempted to design and implement an intervention programme to improve the self-concepts and attitudes of prospective primary school teachers. The possible effects of the programme were researched by means of a combined quantitative and qualitative approach. A questionnaire to determine the effectiveness of the programme was also designed. Important findings of this study are that: (a) the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient indicated a 0,9 reliability of the designed questionnaire; (b) the average self-concepts of prospective teachers improved after the intervention programme was implemented, though not significantly and (c) the self-concepts of prospective teachers not majoring in Mathematics also improved after the intervention, though not significantly. A focus group interview was conducted to improve the intervention programme. On the basis of the responses of the participants in the focus group interview as well as of the quantitative study and of the literature reviewed, an improved version of the intervention programme was designed. According to the research, the programme should include: cooperative learning; everyday life contexts; manipulatives; hands-on activities, encouraging the asking of questions; a positive relationship between lecturer and student; writing assignments before doing a new topic; content relevance; a positive communication of assessment; games; various approaches to solving problems; understandable language; gender sensitivity and positive role modeling. The intervention programme implemented in this study was tested over a period of three months; hence the recommendation in this research for the replication thereof over a longer period. The study further recommends that since the study was conducted in one college of education only, there is a need for it to be conducted in a number of colleges, in order to elicit a broader and more representative picture of the impact of the intervention programme. The findings of this study advocate the need to combine both quantitative and qualitative research in studies: the results of the quantitative research did not conclusively indicate a positive impact of the intervention programme. However, the qualitative research saw respondents expressing improved confidence and attitudes. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

English Studies / M.A. (English)

This thesis describes how I took part in a series of collaborations with dancers Danai Pappa and Katie Hall, musician George Williams and video artist Julie Kuzminska. To realise our collaborations, I built electronic sculptural instruments from junk using bricolage, the act of subversion, skip diving and appropriation. From an auto-ethnographic viewpoint, I explored how collaborations began, how relationships developed and how various levels of expertise across different disciplines were negotiated. I examined how the documentation of the performances related to, and could be realised as, video art in their own right. I investigated the themes of work, labour and effort that are used in the process of producing and documenting these works in order to better understand how to ‘create’. I analysed the gender dynamics that existed between my collaborators and myself, which led to the exploration of issues around interaction and intimacy, democratic roles and live art. The resulting works challenged gender stereotypes, the notion of what a musical instrument can be and how sound is produced through action/interaction. I found that reflective time was imperative; serendipity, constant awareness of one’s environment, community and intimate relationships greatly enhanced the success of the collaborations. Instruments became conduits and instigators with shifting implied genders based on their context or creative use. As well as sound being a product of movement, effort and interaction, I realised it was also an artefact of the instruments.

ENGLISH SUMMARY The main objective of this thesis was to provide a complex perspective on the mutual relationship of gender and media in the age of post-modernity with a special attention to the stereotypical gender portrayal presented to us by the contemporary Czech advertising discourse. We chose to demonstrate this problematics through the methods of semiotic analysis on the analytical sample of 5 advertisements (consisting of selected TV commercials) representing various aspects of stereotypical gender images appearing in the today's Czech advertising contents. We then subjected these selected advertisements to the analytical methods in pursuit of finding the answers to the questions related to the media image of men, women and our society that the stereotypical gender depictions contained in these advertisements help to construct. Although many of these advertisements appear to be openly sexist or even misogynic on the first sight, using the mechanisms of semiotic analysis we came to a rather opposite conclusion proposing the analyzed contents are rather pro-feminine tending toward an extensive masculine critique. This result, however, is based mainly on the mechanisms of oppositional reading of the subjected texts. On the other hand, it is presumable that the "average media consumer" not having access...

Cette thèse se concentre sur trois aspects très différents de l'éducation mais qui affectent chacun la qualité de son offre. Dans le premier chapitre, nous étudions le comportement stratégique adopté à la fois par l'université et par les professeurs, afin pour les uns d'attirer les meilleurs universitaires et pour les autres d'accéder aux meilleures positions, en faisant un compromis entre salaires élevés, sécurité de l'emploi et possibilités de mobilité ascendante. Dans un deuxième chapitre, nous étudions comment la répartition des revenus dans les districts scolaires affecte la qualité des écoles publiques, par la voie des votes locaux et de la fiscalité. En effet, un district scolaire avec une polarisation de revenu plus élevée conduit à un vote pour une faible taxation et donc de plus basses dépenses pour l'école publique impliquant une moins bonne qualité de cette dernière. Enfin, dans un dernier chapitre, nous montrons que les attentes des garçons et des filles concernant leurs futures carrières ainsi que les antécédents scolaires sont façonnés par des stéréotypes de genre. Par exemple, le stéréotype selon lequel les hommes sont meilleurs en mathématiques crée un stéréotype négatif sur les aptitudes des filles en mathématiques. Les stéréotypes représentent l'explication principale dans les différences entre les garçons et les filles en matière de confiance en soi et ont des conséquences importantes sur les chemins qu'ils suivent tout au long de leur vie. / This thesis focuses on three very different aspects of education but which all affect in their way the quality of its provision.In the first chapter, we investigate the strategic behavior adopted by both the university and the professors, in order, for the first to attract the best academics, and for the second to access the best positions making a trade-off between high salaries, job security and upward mobility possibilities. We question the efficiency of such system in attracting, but also in keeping, the best academics. In a second chapter, we investigate how the income distribution of school districts affects the quality of public schools through the channel of local votes and taxation. In fact, an income polarized school district (more poor and rich at the expense of the middle class) leads to a vote for low taxation and thus low expenditure toward public school and a poorest quality of school. The mechanism being that the richest households send their children to private schools and thus are not concerned by public school quality while poorest households can not afford a too high taxation.Finally, in a last chapter we show how boys' and girls' career expectations and educational background are shaped by gender stereotypes. For instance, the stereotype that men are better at mathematics creates a negative stereotype on girls aptitudes in mathematics. Stereotypes represent the main explanation in boys and girls differences in self-confidence, and have important consequences on the paths they take throughout their lives.

La crise qui sévit actuellement au sein du leadership supérieur des Forces armées canadiennes (FAC) ramène au premier plan certaines lacunes structurelles profondes de la culture militaire canadienne. Le peu de représentation féminine parmi les postes clés fait resurgir les questionnements quant aux barrières limitant leur accès. L’objectif de ce mémoire sera d’abord de raconter les parcours de carrières de femmes militaires actives au sein de la Force régulière et d’en cerner les obstacles vécus en fonction du genre. Le matériel empirique puisé à partir des récits de vie permettra ensuite de déterminer l’existence de barrières structurelles pour identifier leur nature, leur construit et leur reproduction. Cette recherche est le produit de 15 entretiens semi-dirigés réalisés auprès de femmes militaires actives de la Force régulière. Elles évoluent distinctement dans les trois éléments des FAC (Marine royale canadienne, Armée canadienne et Aviation royale du Canada) et font carrière dans plus d’une dizaine de métiers différents. Le matériel empirique recueilli a permis de cibler des moments clés de la carrière et d’ensuite procéder à une analyse de croisement des données. Au niveau des parcours de carrière individuels, ce mémoire démontre que la culture normative dominante est issue d’une masculinité hégémonique. Ainsi, les métiers des armes de combat demeurent toujours les plus valorisés de l’organisation, étant ceux par lesquels passe l’ascension vers les rangs supérieurs. Structurellement, les allers-retours entre empirie et théorie ainsi que les interactions entre structure et individualité confirment l’existence de rapports de pouvoir multilatéraux, allant au-delà de la logique top-down de la hiérarchie. Ce multilatéralisme est vécu horizontalement en raison de la culture normative puis verticalement dans la hiérarchisation des rôles de genre et des échanges entre leaders et subordonné·e·s. Combiné aux exigences institutionnelles des FAC, il exacerbe les défis invisibles auxquels les femmes militaires se heurtent dans l’ascension des rangs, notamment en rapport avec la crédibilité minée, la conciliation travail-famille, la posture maternelle et le tokénisme d’être « première femme ». En donnant la parole aux récits de vie et aux parcours de carrières de femmes actuellement en service, ce mémoire contribue à briser l’invisibilité des réalités vécues et d’identifier les barrières structurelles de genre intrinsèque aux FAC. Au niveau empirique, la méthode utilisée contribue à l’avancement des recherches sur les parcours de carrière des femmes militaires des Forces armées canadiennes. Au niveau théorique, la méthode amène de nouvelles perspectives d’analyse complémentaires au féminisme d’État en l’appliquant à une bureaucratie atypique. Les théories mobilisées soulèvent des pistes de solution dans l’élaboration de politiques qui assureraient une meilleure rétention des femmes militaires déjà en poste. La recherche contribue également à la littérature francophone qui traite du leadership militaire féminin et des enjeux de genre dans les FAC. / The current crisis amongst the senior leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) brings to the forefront structural gaps within Canadian military culture more broadly. The paltry representation of women within key posts has resurfaced questions surrounding barriers to entry. The objective of this thesis is primarily to present the career trajectories of Regular Force female members of the military and to highlight the obstacles they face because of their gender. The empirical data taken from these narratives allows for identifying structural barriers, their nature, their construction, and their reproduction. This research is the result of 15 semi-directed in-depth interviews conducted with female members of the military in the Regular Force. These women develop differently according to the three distinct elements of the CAF (Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force) and bear witness to careers lived across more than ten different trades. The empirical data allows for the triangulation of key moments within each woman’s career and to then proceed to crossreferencing. On an individual career level, this thesis shows that the dominant normative culture derives from hegemonic masculinity. Furthermore, trades belonging to the combat arms are still the most valued within the organisation and represent the path to the highest attainable ranks. Structurally, the liaison between theory and empirical practice, and those between structures and individuality confirm the existence of multilateral relationships of power. These relationships go beyond the topdown logic of hierarchy. This multilateralism is lived horizontally because of the normative culture, vertically based on the hierarchization of gender roles, and also amidst the exchanges between leaders and subordinates. Combined with the CAF’s institutional requirements, this exacerbates the invisible challenges which confront women as they climb the ranks, notably with regard to credibility, worklife balance, motherhood, and the tokenism of being the “first woman.” By giving a platform to these narratives from currently serving women, this thesis serves to break invisible lived realities and identify the gendered structural barriers intrinsic to the CAF. On an empirical level, the method used contributes to the advancement of research on the career trajectories of woman in the Canadian Armed Forces. On a theoretical level, the method used applies new analytical perspectives related to state feminism and directs them toward an atypical bureaucracy. The theories discussed within this project upend the current policies which seek to promote retention amongst women already serving. This research also contributes to the body of francophone literature which deals with female military leadership and with gender issues in the CAF.

The study explored women’s underrepresentation in engineering at a Technical Vocational and Education and Training (TVET) College in Gauteng, South Africa. Research on the lack of women in engineering exists, however, the underrepresentation of women students in engineering at TVET Colleges is under-researched. Using a theoretical starting point Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy, a qualitative study explored views of selected female students on female underrepresentation in engineering at TVET Colleges, with reference to South West Gauteng College. Interviews with women in Engineering, Business Studies and Hospitality courses were undertaken. Findings indicated: engineering students' desire for equal career opportunities in engineering; recognition of the impact of gender stereotypes and differing ways of developing self-efficacy and capabilities as women to follow an engineering career; the barrier of gender stereotypes on secondary school girls’ choice of and achievement in Mathematics and Science and the information gap concerning career options in engineering; as well as benefits provided by TVET Colleges offering these courses. Some recommendations which are suggested are: TVET Colleges should ensure that more information about the engineering courses offered at these institutions be relayed to the public in a manner that is inclusive to everyone irrespective of gender. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Adult Education)