The following dissertation uses fictional crime dramas to determine whether there are gendered patterns in the use of techniques of neutralization between and among male and female offenders. It utilizes a mixed method approach to answer three separate research questions: (1) how techniques of neutralization are used in fictional crime dramas, (2) whether such portrayals vary between and among male and female offenders, and (3) how elements of doing gender play a role in the gendered nature of males and female offenders’ techniques of neutralization. The sample included 124 episodes from four different fictional crime dramas and 383 individual offenses were used in the data. The quantitative data found that while both genders utilize the techniques in similar proportions, there are specific differences in their applicability. One salient difference was that men tended to commit offenses without using a technique of neutralization to excuse their offense more often than were women. The qualitative data showed several themes in how men and women utilized these techniques as well. Women were not depicted speaking the technique used for their offense as often as were men. Further, they were more likely to have someone else offer a technique on their behalf. When women did use a technique of neutralization they were likely to use more than one whereas, this was not found with men. There were also specific variations that occurred within each technique that played off of how the gender of the offenders was portrayed in the shows.

Recent empirical evidence suggests that we have entered a new period of courtship known as the hookup era. Contemporary research which explores hooking up has confirmed the prevalence of this dating script, particularly within post-secondary institutions. The relevant literature has focused on a variety of important issues including the conceptual meaning of hooking up and the identification of potential correlates and consequences of these behaviours. Despite this increase in scholarly interest, several problems remain unaddressed. Principal among these is the way(s) in which young women mediate the self-perceived risks involved in the sexual exchange known as the hookup, so as to facilitate their participation in this culture. The current paper examines the controversy that is female hookup participation by investigating the risks – and subsequent negotiation of these risks – which women face in the hookup culture. Specifically, this paper makes use of detailed qualitative data gathered from a sample of female undergraduate students at a medium-sized Canadian university, in order to uncover the social processes by which female proponents of the hookup culture account for their actions to themselves and to others, in this the seemingly risky courtship script. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2013-07-31 19:46:46.027

<p>Criminological studies have shown that economical and/or occupational crimes are committed within all examined trades and occupations. This is also a fact in the gendered occupational context the Norwegian and Swedish long-distance trucking trade constitutes. This dissertation sets out to determine, by qualitative in-depth interviews with 24 interviewees and field observations, what certain gaining occupational and economical crimes mean to trade actors and how to interpret the meaning criminologically. A hermeneutical orientation constitutes the methodological and epistemological basis of the interpretation.</p><p>Analysis of the material shows two central consistent patterns in the interpretations made by interviewees and other trade actors:</p><p>1) T<u>he actors´ explanations of why law violations are committed</u>. These are influenced by the actors´ view of how wide the specific violations are spread and influence the violation’s acceptability.</p><p>2) <u>The actors´ normative evaluation of the law violations</u>. The actors construct normative distinctions between normal, acceptable and unacceptable actions. The distinction is influenced by how the law violations are explained and how widespread they are considered to be.</p><p>The first pattern; actors interpretation of why law violations are committed, corresponds with explanations in established criminological theories. The actors’ explanations are discussed as techniques of neutralisation. However, explanations of cause of actions are established also in the discourse of trade-actors who do not violate laws, and a deeper interpretation is called for. A discussion about law violations, based on interviewees discourse, as caused by criminogenic structures are developed. The actors identify the structures as criminogenic and this discourse of coersive structures implies conservation of law violations as part of normality. An interpretation of why several but not all individuals violate laws even if the law violations considers to be normal and acceptable, is developed in terms of differential association.</p><p>However, solely use of established theoretical perspectives is not a sufficient interpretation of the law violations; the perspective of interpretation indicated by the second pattern will then be lost. Why is law violations considered both normal and deviant? This dissertation applies a gender-theoretical perspective and argues that actors constitute masculinity through acceptable law violations and that masculinity and normality are correlated. A cultural discourse of borders between normality and deviance is conserved and processed, and the actors discourses of law violations as without victims and as a necessity to continue as truckers, are central in the normalization of normative borders.</p>

Criminological studies have shown that economical and/or occupational crimes are committed within all examined trades and occupations. This is also a fact in the gendered occupational context the Norwegian and Swedish long-distance trucking trade constitutes. This dissertation sets out to determine, by qualitative in-depth interviews with 24 interviewees and field observations, what certain gaining occupational and economical crimes mean to trade actors and how to interpret the meaning criminologically. A hermeneutical orientation constitutes the methodological and epistemological basis of the interpretation. Analysis of the material shows two central consistent patterns in the interpretations made by interviewees and other trade actors: 1) T<u>he actors´ explanations of why law violations are committed</u>. These are influenced by the actors´ view of how wide the specific violations are spread and influence the violation’s acceptability. 2) <u>The actors´ normative evaluation of the law violations</u>. The actors construct normative distinctions between normal, acceptable and unacceptable actions. The distinction is influenced by how the law violations are explained and how widespread they are considered to be. The first pattern; actors interpretation of why law violations are committed, corresponds with explanations in established criminological theories. The actors’ explanations are discussed as techniques of neutralisation. However, explanations of cause of actions are established also in the discourse of trade-actors who do not violate laws, and a deeper interpretation is called for. A discussion about law violations, based on interviewees discourse, as caused by criminogenic structures are developed. The actors identify the structures as criminogenic and this discourse of coersive structures implies conservation of law violations as part of normality. An interpretation of why several but not all individuals violate laws even if the law violations considers to be normal and acceptable, is developed in terms of differential association. However, solely use of established theoretical perspectives is not a sufficient interpretation of the law violations; the perspective of interpretation indicated by the second pattern will then be lost. Why is law violations considered both normal and deviant? This dissertation applies a gender-theoretical perspective and argues that actors constitute masculinity through acceptable law violations and that masculinity and normality are correlated. A cultural discourse of borders between normality and deviance is conserved and processed, and the actors discourses of law violations as without victims and as a necessity to continue as truckers, are central in the normalization of normative borders.

More than half of the violations of information systems security policies are initiated by non-malicious activities of insiders. To investigate these non-malicious activities, we utilized the theory of workaround and argued that the application of neutralization techniques impacts the use of workarounds. We built our model using three theories: the theory of workaround, push-pull-mooring theory, and techniques of neutralization. We identified the elements of workarounds related to non-malicious violations and proposed a theoretical perspective using the push-pull-mooring theory to investigate non-malicious workarounds empirically. We propose that non-malicious activities of insiders can be seen as a switching behavior, with push factors such as system dissatisfaction and time pressure, and pull factors such as convenience and alternative attractiveness. The mooring factors in our model are techniques of neutralization, including denial of injury, denial of responsibility, and defense of necessity. We employed the scenario-based factorial survey method to mitigate the effect of social desirability bias. Our mixed model analysis indicates that time pressure, convenience, denial of injury, and defense of necessity significantly impact an individual's likelihood of engaging in non-malicious workarounds. Additionally, the relative weight analysis of our model shows that convenience and time pressure explain most of the variance in our model.

Due to societal and economic costs caused by compulsive consumption behavior, specifically problem drinking and overeating, a search has been launched for a cognitive explanation for the ‘deviant’ behaviors and the motivations that cause these behaviors to continue. This dissertation attempted to develop a better understanding of continued compulsive consumption behavior by investigating consumers’ use of the techniques of neutralization theory. Based on methodological concerns in neutralization research, the development of reliable and valid measures of the five techniques of neutralization theory were described and used to examine their moderation of compulsive consumption behavior and its relationship with social norm commitment and guilt. The dissertation resulted in developing four reliable and valid neutralization technique scales. The results of the structural model suggested a negative relationship between social norms and compulsive consumption behavior and a multiple regression indicated a partial moderation of certain neutralization techniques of this relationship. This dissertation has provided a better understanding of the cognitive process surrounding a consumer’s compulsive consumption behavior, the techniques used to allow the behavior to continue, and marketing applications to entice consumers to stop the behavior.

In this research, a model for ethically questionable decision-making is developed by amalgamating several decision-making theories. The variables of interest are the techniques of neutralization, perceived moral intensity, Machiavellianism, unethical intentions, and ethical judgment. Using a sample of 276 U.S. marketing professionals, partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to validate the model. Findings reveal that U.S. marketing professionals rationalize their ethically questionable intentions through their: (1) perception of moral intensity (i.e., minimizing the harms on others, perceiving their self-interest as most salient, and indifference to social consensus), (2) reliance on various neutralization techniques, and; (3) judgment of their ethically questionable intentions as ethical. After controlling for the Machiavellian personality trait, Machiavellianism did not have a profound effect on the decision-making process, which implies that marketers, in general, are capable of the cognitive distortions found in this study. The main contribution to knowledge is the synthesis of the techniques of neutralization and the perceived moral intensity construct. Through this amalgamation, knowledge of the intermediary steps in the decision-making process has emerged. A contribution to knowledge involves testing the relationship between Machiavellianism and unethical intentions through the mediating variable of the techniques of neutralization. Through this investigation, it was found that the Machiavellian personality is inconsequential to the decision-making process. As a contribution to managerial knowledge, it was found that through cognitive distortions, marketers are capable of various illicit behaviours, which have been shown to be costly to not only stakeholders, but also to the profitability and reputations of organisations.

In this research, a model for ethically questionable decision-making is developed by amalgamating several decision-making theories. The variables of interest are the techniques of neutralization, perceived moral intensity, Machiavellianism, unethical intentions, and ethical judgment. Using a sample of 276 U.S. marketing professionals, partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to validate the model. Findings reveal that U.S. marketing professionals rationalize their ethically questionable intentions through their: (1) perception of moral intensity (i.e., minimizing the harms on others, perceiving their self-interest as most salient, and indifference to social consensus), (2) reliance on various neutralization techniques, and; (3) judgment of their ethically questionable intentions as ethical. After controlling for the Machiavellian personality trait, Machiavellianism did not have a profound effect on the decision-making process, which implies that marketers, in general, are capable of the cognitive distortions found in this study. The main contribution to knowledge is the synthesis of the techniques of neutralization and the perceived moral intensity construct. Through this amalgamation, knowledge of the intermediary steps in the decision-making process has emerged. A contribution to knowledge involves testing the relationship between Machiavellianism and unethical intentions through the mediating variable of the techniques of neutralization. Through this investigation, it was found that the Machiavellian personality is inconsequential to the decision-making process. As a contribution to managerial knowledge, it was found that through cognitive distortions, marketers are capable of various illicit behaviours, which have been shown to be costly to not only stakeholders, but also to the profitability and reputations of organisations.

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Athletics has been regarded as a means of encouraging youth to build character, discipline, and develop healthy habits. However, literature has emerged that asserts athletics do not prevent deviant behaviors, but instead, influence one to commit deviant acts. As such, this research examined effects of athletics on the commission of deviant behaviors via learning and techniques of neutralization theories. Subjects for this project included 325 college students from a southern regional university. Data were generated through the use of a self-report questionnaire, which measured variables pertaining to self-reported deviant behaviors including perceptions of peer deviance, neutralizing indicators, and sports participation. The findings suggest some support for each theoretical model, differential association and techniques of neutralization. Both theoretical models were supported, in general, with learning theory having the most support. When participation in sporting activity was considered, however, the results consistently showed no effect on various types of self-reported deviant behavior.