The purpose of this thesis is to examine the various definitional strategies involved in and underlying the use of the term ‘masculinity’ in social science literature, with a particular emphasis on psychodynamic literature, and to propose an additional approach (via the metaphor of the ‘lens’ (borrowed from Bem, 1993)) to understanding masculinity as ideology in Althusser’s (1971; 1984) sense of a discourse or narrative which establishes subjectivity and identity. It suggests that masculinity could be usefully viewed as a certain type of discourse which attempts to exercise a hegemony over a more variegated and nuanced personality for the purpose of the attachment of the individual (usually male) to larger social structures and relations, in this case, to the gendered social relations of patriarchy. The idea for the thesis arose out of the writer’s dissatisfaction with current definitional strategies of masculinity employed in social science research and his perceived need to provide a more complex definition of the term ‘masculinity’, which would highlight its meaning for individual men whilst simultaneously placing that meaning in the wider meaning-generating structures of Western culture. It also arose from a growing frustration with all sections of the so-called men’s movement’s attempts to delineate a type of ‘masculinity’ which is respectful of the rights and needs of women and children. Finally, it particularly arose out of the researcher’s own interest to explore the nature of identity narratives within contemporary Western culture. Chapter One explores these problems and provides key definitions of the important terms of the thesis, including the neological verb, ‘to hegemise,’ by which I refer to the process of attempting, but never entirely successfully, to establish hegemony. It also deals with other definitional questions such as the definition of patriarchy against the suggestion of the existence of multiple patriarchies (Petersen, 1998). The thesis is organised broadly into two sections. The first section, contained in Chapters One through Four, deals with what I have labelled (following suggestions by de Certeau, 1984) current “definitional strategies” employed in discussions of masculinity in the social sciences, with Chapters One and Two providing an overview of these strategies, whilst Chapters Three and Four take three of the six strategies identified and examines them in depth through their exemplary use in key literature from three psychodynamic schools of thought. These definitional strategies are, firstly, the three which are not explored in depth: 1) the simple reduction of masculinity to any male behaviour (which I believe is very rarely employed), 2) the argument from statistics (so that whatever men can be demonstrated to do, have, think, and so on, more often than women becomes an example of masculinity), and 3) the argument from key exemplars, (such as John Wayne), real or imaginary (again, such as John Wayne). Secondly, the three definitional strategies which are chosen for more extended treatment, 1) the strategy of definition by deferral to other, equally problematic terms (as in the works of Freud, discussed in Chapter Two), 2) the use of the process or results of presumed male child development (the views of the object relations psychodynamic theory as delineated by Nancy Chodorow, and to a lesser extent, Dorothy Dinnerstein, discussed in Chapter Three), and 3) reliance on common understandings (Jung, also discussed in Chapter Three). This last strategy is a kind of definition by default, in that the writer fails to provide a definition, assuming a common cultural background with the reader (and seems to be a very common strategy). It is my argument, reinforced by a detailed examination of certain key relevant texts, selected for both their influence and timeliness in the social sciences, that the use of any of these strategies inevitably involves the writer or researcher in contradiction and confusion. As this entire thesis is about the definitional strategies employed when using the term, ‘masculinity,’ no specific definition is provided of masculinity in the opening chapters of the thesis. However, due attention is paid in Chapter Two to Connell’s (1987; 1995) notion that there are actually ‘multiple masculinities,’ a definitional strategy, I argue, not without its own confusions. Within Connell’s understanding of masculinity, this thesis focuses only on notions of ‘hegemonic masculinity’. The final five chapters of the thesis sketch a further approach to masculinity on the basis of considering masculinity as a specific type of identity narrative. Chapters Five, Six and Seven provide the grounding for such a consideration through an examination of the nature of identity narratives generally, and Chapters Eight and Nine apply this grounding specifically to masculinity, and, in the case of Chapter Nine, to research about men. Chapter Five delineates the key term ‘identity’, and separates it from the concept of the ‘self’, a term with which it is often, but not always, conflated, whilst comparing both terms, ‘self’ and ‘identity’, on the one hand to the Foucauldian idea of subjectivity and on the other hand, to the Freudian and Lacanian notion of the ego. Chapter Five argues that identity can be meaningfully separated from the self by two markers, 1) its basically moral nature, which in turn 2) arises out of its association with social structures and social discourses. Although no argument is made either for a singular self or a “true” self, it is argued that the human experience of the self and the identity is that they are often in conflict, and the ‘self’ is often experienced as being an unsuccessful copy or diminished form of the identity (or identities). This experience signals what I have called ‘the Ambassadorial function’ of the identity; that is, its ability to represent and commend, as well as prescribe and command, cultural norms and expectations for an individual’s personality to the self. Chapter Five suggests that whilst the number of selves in a particular culture may be close to infinite (in that one body may contain many selves), the number of identities prescribed by a given culture which uses identity narratives may be multiple, but quite finite. Chapters Six and Seven explore the human attraction, at least in modernist Western cultures, to identity narratives, and suggests that their current cultural importance arises out of both personal need and social compulsion. In order to establish personal motivations for the adoption of the identity, Chapter Six takes a necessary detour through conceptions of agency as they appear in the work of Anthony Giddens (1979; 1984), Rom Harre and his associates (particularly in Harre’s discussion of ‘positioning theory’, Harre and van Langenhove, 1999a) and in the recent work of Judith Butler (1997). Each of these asserts the possibility of human agency against some post-modernist interpretations of Foucault, Althusser, and others which suggest agency is entirely an artefact of discourse (an interpretation denied by Foucault himself (Foucault, 1994/2000, p. 399)). Although I do not believe any of these accounts provide a particularly satisfying notion of agency, they do make it plausible to consider the possibility that identities take on their compelling nature because they provide an answer to individual concerns, as well as the role they play in the construction of human subjectivity, and of course, it can also be argued that some of these individual concerns are themselves created by social subjectivities. Chapter Seven examines this collusion of interest which occurs in modernist Western cultures which promote the adoption of identity narratives. Based on theoretical work by Otto Rank (1936a; 1936b), Ernst Becker (1962/1977), Theresa Brennan (1993; 2000), as well as on research by Theweleit (1977/1987; 1978/1989) and Foxhall (1994; 1995), it suggests that identities serve to protect a person from overwhelming fears of mortality, change and the flow of life (see also Goodchild, 1996). As a result of these fears, an individual is primed to adopt narratives which attach them to larger, less changeable social wholes, whether these narratives are of a collective religious nature, or whether, as in the case of modernist culture, they are identities. These fears can then be exploited to instil identities which serve wider, and not necessarily equitous, social purposes. Chapter Seven concludes, however, that such a project is always unsuccessful, for as Butler (1993, p. 2) states, ‘Bodies never quite comply with the norms by which their materialization is impelled.’ No strategy, however clever, can solidify the processes of flow. Chapter Eight presents the case for considering masculinity as a type of identity narrative, which, because of its relationship to biological sex and gender, reflects the social relationships between the genders in modernist cultures (the assumption that there are only two genders acknowledges a cultural belief, and not the writer’s own assumptions about gender). It suggests that it makes sense to think of masculinity as an identity discourse to which both men and women are initiated as they come to understand the specific speaking conditions under which this discourse must be appropriated (these occur more often for men than for women). It further proposes limiting the use of the term masculinity to those societies which have two necessary pre-conditions; 1) they rely on identity narratives generally, and 2) they are patriarchal. It argues that many societies which are/have been patriarchal do not/did not have a concept of masculinity, and men exercised their privilege over women and children through other forms, such as in the social roles they played. (For example, Connell, 1993, p. 604, cites classical China as having a patriarchal, yet non-identity based culture.) Chapter Eight argues that to refer to men’s conceptions of masculinity in these societies is to import an anachronistic term into discussions of those societies’ conceptions of manhood. Chapter Eight further suggests that the “speaking conditions” for the employment of masculinity must be learned by the members of a culture, and that men’s everyday behaviour is often non-masculine; in fact, I suggest it is usually non-masculine unless the male is made aware that the situation requires the production of the masculine identity narrative. Following suggestions from narrative therapy (for example, Jenkins, 1990; 1996; White, 1991; 1992; C. White and Denborough, 1998), I believe greater hope for promoting equity towards women and children and respect for diversity amongst men can be achieved by focusing on those occasions when a male is not “speaking” masculinity than for reform of masculinity, which in my view, remains locked into its relationship to patriarchal social relations. In this sense, I present further arguments which I believe buttress the case already made by MacInnes (1998) that the abolition of the masculine identity narrative totally (and perhaps gender narratives generally) is more desirable than the reform of masculinity. Chapter Nine briefly illustrates the application of this approach to researching masculinity through the understandings of the development of the masculine identity narrative generated by two male focus groups using the ‘memory work’ methodology pioneered by Frigga Haug (1987; 1992a) and extended by June Crawford and others (1992). In all, this thesis contributes to the current debate on the nature of masculinity by seriously considering the implications of the links masculinity provides to patriarchal social relationships as an identity narrative. The specificity of these links, as well as their deeper functioning within human life have, to date, been largely unexplored in the literature on men. The thesis explores these links through the use of some of the literature which first brought the problems identities seek to resolve to academic and therapeutic attention (such as the work of Rank and Becker). Further, in proposing an approach to masculinity limited by cultural constraints (that is, patriarchy and the general presence of identity narratives), the thesis facilitates a potential shift in the literature from approaching masculinity via one of the definitional strategies to a more focused definition, which allows one to delineate when a man is being masculine and when a man is not being masculine. As such, this allows for a re-emergence and perhaps a re-appreciation of the diversity and multiplicity that lies not only between individuals, but also within each individual’s life and experiences.

Zugl.: München, Univ., Diss., 2006

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / On title page: M.Phil in Ancient Cultures. Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

OPSOMMING Heteroseksuele interaksie word deur adverteerders in televisieadvertensies aangewend en die doel van die studie was om te bepaal hoe kykers dit ervaar. Data is ingesamel deur `n aantal advertensies aan skoolkinders te vertoon waarna onderhoude gevoer is om vas te stel hoe die kinders die advertensies ervaar het. Daar is van konsepte vanuit die analitiese sielkunde gebruik gemaak om kodes te identifiseer. Die navorser het deur die tegniek van inhoudsontleding die voorkoms van manifestasies van die kontraseksuele komplekse in die onderhoude bestudeer. Daar is bevind dat die erotiese aspekte van die konraseksuele komplekse by voorkeur in die bestudeerde advertensies aangewend is en dat deelnemers daarop gelet het. SUMMARY The purpose of this study was to investigate a style of advertising from the perspective of the Analytical Psychology. The style involves the depiction of a young man and woman in a state of interaction with one another. In an attempt to understand how the viewer experiences this, concepts from the Analytical Psychology of C.G. Jung were used. Jung claimed that the psyche contains constructs which he termed archetypes. Archetypes are ideas and predispositions, organisms are born possessing these. If the theory is correct, it can be assumed that these constructs will influence human behaviour. The archetypes responsible for initiating heterosexual interest are called the anima and the animus. The prevalence of different aspects of these in four television commercials as experienced by participants during interviews was studied by means of content analysis. Sexual manifestations were found to be the most prominently used aspects of the anima and the animus to market the advertised products. / PSYCHOLOGY / MA(SS) (PSYCHOLOGY)

No description available.

Tesis

The central aim of this study was to explore the meaning of death as both a literal and an imaginative reality, and to elucidate the fundamental tensions between these meanings of death in modern existence. Recognition was given to the need for a poetic rather than a scientific approach to thanatology, and an epistemological foundation for a poetics of death was sought in the tradition of gnosis. Theoretically, the study was grounded in the analytical psychology of C.G. Jung. It was argued that despite Jung's erratic allegiance to a Cartesian ontology and epistemology, his approach to death was nevertheless fundamentally poetic. The poetic parameters of death and dying were explored in the context of Jung's understanding of the dialectical tension between the ego and the self, and it was concluded that while death represents an opening to the imaginative possibilities of existence, these potentialities can come to the fore only when there is a corresponding willingness to die. In these terms, it was concluded that the tension between life and death forms a pivotal dynamic of human existence. These considerations led to the Question of whether the poetic parameters of death and dying are applicable to the encounter with death as a concrete actuality. It was hypothesised that the approach of death would be met at two levels of reality, that of the ego and that of the self. The expectation was that while death would be seen as a literal ending from the perspective of the former, it may represent the fulfilment of Being from the viewpoint of the self. It was also assumed that the tension between these images of death would be mediated by way of archetypal symbols, which represent the bearers of gnosis in modern culture. To address these issues at an empirical level, a hermeneutically grounded thematic analysis of 108 dreams reported by dying persons was undertaken. Twenty initial themes emerged from the data. Each of these themes was in turn elucidated by way of Jung's method of amplification. This exercise yielded five concise themes, these being (a) death, (b) transformation, (c) the self (d) the Feminine, and (e) the Masculine. It was concluded that dreams manifesting during the dying process reveal a fundamental tension between literal and metaphoric possibilities of death. Dream symbols were also found to mediate between this tension, and to orchestrate the individuation process. It was concluded that in the context of dying, dreams may reflect and facilitate the emergence of a meaningful gnosis of death. The clinical implications of these findings were onsidered, and indications for further research were provided.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-08-21Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:49:09Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 barboza_lk_me_ia.pdf: 643339 bytes, checksum: 29ec35c91aab300cc909f6a6e7bd63ad (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Tendo por principal referencial teórico os conceitos de Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) sobre os arquétipos e o inconsciente coletivo, neste trabalho proponho-me mostrar como o conteúdo simbólico universal se manifesta na expressão artística individual do pintor norueguês Edvard Munch (1863-1944). Coloco em foco imagens que retratam a mulher e as relações afetivas entre o homem e a mulher que o artista produziu na segunda fase de sua carreira, entre 1889 e 1908. Não obstante referirem-se à visão pessoal do artista, revelam simultaneamente a “nova mulher” que emergia na sociedade de seu tempo. Desta forma, ao contextualizar a produção artística de Munch e analisar seu conteúdo simbólico, proponho-me mostrar como a obra de arte pode expressar, muito além dos conflitos particulares de seu autor, o espírito da época em que foi criada, mediante temas universais. / Having as main theoretic reference the concepts of Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) on the archetypes and the collective unconscious, in this work I propose to demonstrate how the universal symbolic tenor is manifested in the individual artistic expression of the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1863- 1944). I put into perspective images that portray the woman and the relations of affection between man and woman, that the artist produced in the second phase of his career, between 1889 and 1908. Notwithstanding those refer to the personal view of the artist, they simultaneously bring forth the “new woman” that emerged in the society then. Thus, in contextualizing Munch´s artistic production and analyzing its symbolic content, I propose to show how the work of art can express, far beyond the private conflicts and idiosyncrasies of its author, the spirit of the time in which it was created, through universal themes.

Orientador: Amneris Angela Maroni / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-13T03:13:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Reisdorfer_Ulianov_D.pdf: 1253557 bytes, checksum: c46a228570afff2ae7d613441dd01712 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Esta Tese pretende analisar a psicologia junguiana sob a ótica dos modelos epistemológicos de Bion. É possível identificar na psicologia junguiana o desenvolvimento de pelo menos três modelos epistemológicos análogos aos modelos bionianos: modelo científico, modelo estético-artístico e modelo místico-religioso. A aproximação entre os modelos bionianos e os modelos junguianos pode ser realizada por meio da análise do perspectivismo junguiano e de suas conseqüências em relação a uma abordagem científica de caráter generalizador e nivelador. Na origem da construção de diversos modelos estaria, em ambos, o caráter inacessível e desconhecido do inconsciente, portador de um excesso de sentido que ultrapassaria as diversas formas de abordá-lo / Abstract: This Thesis intends to analyze the junguian psychology under the optics of the Bion's epistemological models. It is possible to identify in the junguian psychology the development of at least three epistemological models similar to the bionian models: scientific model, aesthetic-artistic model and mystic-religious model. The approximation between the bionian models and the junguian models can be accomplished through the analysis of the junguian perspectivism and of their consequences in relation to a scientific approach of generalizing and leveling character. In the origin of the construction of several models it would be, in both, the inaccessible and unknown character of the unconscious, bearer of a meaning excess that would exceed the several forms of approaching it / Doutorado / Doutor em Ciências Sociais

Esta tesina trata sobre la moral y el inconsciente a partir del análisis del personaje Leonardo Villalba de la novela La Reina de las Nieves, escrita por Carmen Martín Gaite. El estudio se hace a partir de las siguientes teorías: inconsciente de Sigmund Freud; ello, yo y superyó de Sigmund Freud; inconsciente de Carl Jung. La información almacenada en el inconsciente de una persona es algo que ésta no puede contar ya que ella misma no sabe que tiene tal información. Así, al ser Leonardo narrador-protagonista en gran parte de la obra, se supone que éste sólo puede transmitir la información de la que él mismo es consciente. No obstante, Martín Gaite consigue que Leonardo transmita información que él parece desconocer, a través de su inconsciente reflejado en sueños y reflexiones que explican ideas abstractas. Esto será demostrado en el apartado de análisis. La complejidad del personaje hace que la novela no sea una simple narración de hechos, sino que parte importante de ella sean sueños, la imaginación de Leonardo, preguntas existenciales que él mismo se hace, o recuerdos de su infancia o adolescencia que son de una importancia trascendental. La Reina de las Nieves es en gran parte una reflexión sobre la moral que, unida al inconsciente, son las bases de la novela.