In the wake of Brexit in 2016, the conception of Frexit was born and received an impetus in the French presidential election campaigns in 2017. The scepticism toward the European Union once again found expression as Eurosceptic political parties gained ground and supporters amongst French citizens. With attitudes toward the EU in France seemingly variable and impressionable of political currents, it is important to understand from where these originate as well as what a positive or negative attitude imply in practice. Therefore, this study aims to map out attitudes among young French citizens: A group with an overall positive attitude toward the EU as well as the generation in charge of the future European Union. The study is conducted in the form of a case study, with the framework of Functional Attitude Theory guiding the analysis. The main findings include an obvious lack of knowledge on the union among the interviewees, connected to a feeling of exclusion from the same. However, benefits and rights provided by the EU are considered grounds to stay within the union. Finally, the findings are discussed and ideas for further research are suggested.

This research utilizes liberal feminism and social learning theory to explore the relationships among gender, computer self-efficacy, utilitarian attitudes toward computers, and computer use by college students. The analysis includes comparisons of male and female college students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University on computer use, on computer self-efficacy and on attitudes about the utility of computers. Data are derived from a self-administered questionnaire from a non-probability sample of 243 undergraduates enrolled in an introductory sociology course at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the spring of 1996. Consistent with hypotheses, women in the sample report significantly lower levels of computer self-efficacy, although not of utilitarian attitudes toward computers, and consequently less computer use than men. Regression analysis shows that computer self-efficacy is a significant predictor of computer use, but that utilitarian attitudes are not. Implications for subsequent research and theory in this area include that computer use should be specifically measured as hours of use, that gender differences in computer use may be application-specific, and that a cause-and-effect relationship between attitudes about computers and computer use should be established. / Master of Science