Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Building Strength Versus Getting Lean: An Analysis Of The Gendered Nature Of Fitness In Crossfit, Barre, And Personal Training, Margaret M. Jones

Master's Theses

Like many industries in contemporary society, the fitness sector is heavily gendered, andthus needs to be examined as a sector that both creates and reinforces gendered bodies. Building on previous single-method studies, I utilized a multi-methods approach of ethnography and interviews to analyze organizational and individual experiences with gender and fitness. Using West and Zimmerman’s concept of “doing gender,” I analyzed fitness organizations as a setting where gender and inequality are actively reproduced. By analyzing three fitness organizations with different gendered audiences (a barre studio, a CrossFit gym, and a personal training facility) I looked at how gender and fitness …

An Interpretive Phenomenological Study Of Women’S Struggles, Hopes And Reasons For Participation In Professional Power-Based Community Organizing In Chicago, Mary Dungy-Akenji

Dissertations

Mary K. L. DungyLoyola University Chicago AN INTERPRETIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF WOMEN’S STRUGGLES, HOPES AND REASONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN PROFESSIONAL POWER-BASED COMMUNITY ORGANIZING IN CHICAGO Professional power-based community organizing is a practice of grassroots change in which paid organizers guide community members as they band together to make demands on elite groups to redistribute resources (Bobo et. al, 2001; Sites et al., 2007). Conflict-based tactics may be utilized to demand structural improvements from key stakeholders, usually towards progressive political ends that build towards a more just society (Bobo et. al 2001; Wilkinson & D’Angelo, 2019). Community organizing has some roots …

An Experimental Test Of Fiedler's Contingency Model Of Leadership Effectiveness: The Effect Of Gender, Samantha De Souza

Master's Theses

The present study is an experimental test of Fiedler's (1967) Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness across genders, as Fiedler's Contingency Model has been tested largely with male participants. The model predicts group performance based on four key variables: leadership style, as indexed by the Least-Preferred Coworker (LPC) Scale, and three situational variables, leader-member relations, task structure, and position power. In situations characterized by high leader-member relations, and low position power, Fiedler predicts a negative correlation between the leader's LPC score and group performance when groups perform a structured task (Octant II), and a positive correlation when groups perform an unstructured …

Gender Differences In Program Factors Important To Applicants When Evaluating Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Programs, Ellen Kroin, Dana Garbarski, Aoi Shimomura, Joseph Romano, Adam P. Schiff Md, Karen Wu

Sociology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Background

Despite specialty-driven efforts to improve diversity in the field, few women apply to orthopaedic residency, and women are unevenly distributed among programs. There is little evidence-based information on factors that may attract female applicants.

Objective

This study aims to identify factors important to applicants when evaluating orthopaedic residency programs and to identify gender-specific differences.

Methods

All applicants to a single orthopaedic surgery residency program in the 2017 Match were asked to fill out an anonymous survey. Respondents rated the importance of 35 factors when evaluating orthopaedic residency programs. The percentage of highly rated factors was calculated. Statistical analysis was …

Gender East And West: Transnational Gender Theory And Global Marketing Research, Katherine Sredl

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Much of the prior scholarly research on global gender and marketing tends to focus on development. The post-socialist space does not fit neatly into this paradigm, given the diversity of its legacy of ideology, industrialization, feminist thought, and the post-socialist experience of privatization, democratization, European Union expansion, and, in some cases, war. This chapter uses the history of feminist thought in Yugoslavia and Croatia to highlight the contribution the post-socialist space brings to global gender and marketing research: questioning the role of the state in securing rights and questioning assumptions about individualism in a neoliberal era. I argue for an …

Which Activities Count? Using Experimental Data To Understand Conceptualizations Of Physical Activity, Rachel Cusatis, Dana Garbarski

Sociology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

US health surveys consistently report that men and those with higher socioeconomic status (SES) engage in more physical activity than women and lower SES counterparts, using questions that ask about physical activity during leisure time. However, social characteristics such as gender and SES shape understandings of and access to leisure-based physical activity as well as other domains where healthy activity is available – namely house work, care work, and paid work. Thus, the physical activity of US adults may look different when what counts as physical activity expands beyond leisure activity.

The current study uses Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform …

Local Strategies For Economic Survival In Touristically Volatile Times: An Indonesian Case Study Of Microvendors, Gendered Cultural Practices, And Resilience, Kathleen M. Adams

Anthropology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article utilizes a qualitative ethnographic approach to examine the economic survival strategies pursued by Indonesian souvenir artisans and handicraft microvendors in touristically turbulent times. Resilience-oriented approaches have offered promising frameworks for understanding regions', destinations', and communities' capacities to adjust and adapt to challenges: this article complements these broader approaches by offering a fine-grained analysis of individual strategies for finding creative solutions to the economic challenges thrust upon them. My approach melds a constructivist approach accentuating local peoples' creative responses with gender-aware and practice-oriented approaches. These findings draw from data collected over three decades of ethnographic research in the Toraja …

The Power Of A Stereotype: American Depictions Of The Black Woman In Film Media, Brittany Terry

Master's Theses

How are black women depicted in popular films? The significance of this study is that it sheds new light on the ways in which black women are depicted in film, and exemplifies some means to deconstruct dehumanizing representations of ourselves. This work advances the goal of institutionalizing more accurate visual accounts of black femaleness thereby exposing the inaccuracies of the dominant gaze. This study also transparently marks my intersectional positionality as a black feminist spectator-- simultaneously privileged and marginalized. I identify as a heterosexual woman of color, raised in an upper-middle class American community. As such, I benefit from classism …

Gendered Market Subjectivity: Autonomy, Privilege, And Emotional Subjectivity In Normalizing Post-Socialist Neoliberal Ideology, Katherine Sredl

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Most prior studies of marketplace ideology foreground consumer agency as identity co-creation or opposition to ideology. In this research, I consider how the logics of the dwindling state and global neoliberalism discursively form consent in post-socialist Zagreb, Croatia. I use recollections and small group discussions to compare women’s class and generationally based experiences of the daily family meal and work, during Yugoslav exceptionalism and privatization. Changing social relations normalize the gendered subjectivity of neoliberalism in post-socialist Zagreb, characterized by autonomy, the privilege of the younger generation, and the emotional subjectivity of anxiety and loss. Linking consumer experiences to the changing …

Looking Through Outdoor Advertising Images For Beauty In Argentina, Chile, Hungary, And Romania, Pamela K. Morris

School of Communication: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This investigation expands scholarship on beauty and cross-cultural communication through the unique perspective of outdoor advertising. With a content analysis method 1,700 portrayals of men and women in outdoor advertisements, from four different cultures, including Argentina, Chile, Hungary, and Romania, were examined through a framework of advertising and consumer culture, globalization, and theories of beauty. The findings reveal differences across cultures and that beauty ideals are culture specific. Implications are important for practitioners in marketing communications to better understand subtle cultural variations in order to develop effective promotional programs required in the globalized economy.

Snapshots Of The Self: Exploring The Role Of Online Mobile Photo Sharing In Identity Development Among Adolescent Girls, Jenna M. Drenten

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

A chapter written by Jenna Drenten for Online Consumer Behavior: Theory and Research in Social Media, Advertising and E-tail (2017).

The Influence Of Gender And Cultural Values On Savoring In Korean Undergraduates, Soyeon Kim, Fred B. Bryant

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The present study investigated antecedents of savoring beliefs and responses in a sample of South Korean college students. Historically, Korea has been strongly influenced by Chinese Confucianism, which emphasizes not only gender-role differentiation and patriarchal norms, but also the dampening of emotions as a culturally appropriate style of positive emotional regulation. We hypothesized that Korean females, relative to males, would reject traditional Asian cultural values in order to gain more empowerment, and would, as a result, report a greater capacity to savor positive experience. Confirming the hypotheses, Korean women, compared to men, reported stronger disagreement with traditional Asian values, greater …

Influence Of Gender And Cultural Values On Savoring In Korean Undergraduates, Soyeon Kim, Fred B. Bryant

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The present study investigated antecedents of savoring beliefs and responses in a sample of South Korean college students. Historically, Korea has been strongly influenced by Chinese Confucianism, which emphasizes not only gender-role differentiation and patriarchal norms, but also the dampening of emotions as a culturally appropriate style of positive emotional regulation. We hypothesized that Korean females, relative to males, would reject traditional Asian cultural values in order to gain more empowerment, and would, as a result, report a greater capacity to savor positive experience. Confirming the hypotheses, Korean women, compared to men, reported stronger disagreement with traditional Asian values, greater …

'Dare To Be Different': How Religious Groups Frame And Enact Appropriate Sexuality And Gender Norms Among Young Adults, Rhys Williams, Courtney Ann Irby, R. Stephen Warner

Sociology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Purpose

The sexual lives of religious youth and young adults have been an increasing topic of interest since the rise of abstinence-only education and attendant programs in many religious institutions. But while we know a lot about individual-level rates of sexual behavior, far less is known about how religious organizations shape and mediate sexuality. We draw on data from observations with youth and young adult ministries and interviews with religious young adults and adult leaders from Muslim, Hindu, and Protestant Christian groups in order to examine how religious adults in positions of organizational authority work to manage the gender and …

Research In Brief - "It's Kind Of Apples And Oranges": Gay College Males' Conceptions Of Gender Transgression As Poverty, Daniel Tillapaugh, Z Nicolazzo

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs

This paper explores the ways in which gay males in college make meaning of gender variance and transgressions from the gender binary as a form of poverty. Using epistemological bricolage, the researchers analyzed data from 17 self-identified gay cisgender males attending three colleges in Southern California. Participants represented an array of racial backgrounds and were between 20 and 23 years old. The researchers posit that three key elements influence these gay males’ meaning making: (1) gender coding and policing, (2) hyperawareness of gender transgressions, and (3) reifying hegemonic masculinity.

The Moderating Role Of Emotion Regulation On Longitudinal Associations Between Stress And Mental Health In College Students, Evan Zahniser

Master's Theses

Emotion regulation is consistently linked to subsequent wellbeing, but little research has examined the moderating role of emotion regulation in associations between mental health and other relevant factors. Patterns of gender differences in emotion regulation also remain somewhat unclear. The present study targets these gaps by examining two specific emotion regulation strategies in interaction with stress and gender in predicting internalizing symptoms among college students, a population for whom emotion regulation may be particularly important given the high-stress nature of the college transition. A large sample of students (N = 1,130) provided self-report data at three time points over their …

Changing Medical Education: Early Efforts To Integrate Women's Health Into Education And Training, Mary Katherine Rojek

Dissertations

This is an historical study about the development of women’s health curricula in medical education across the U.S. between 1983 and 2004, a period of a great deal of innovation. At that time, some physicians, medical educators, policy makers, and government officials became aware that most U.S. medical school curricula did not address women’s health in a comprehensive manner and did not attend to many problems that were the primary causes of mortality and morbidity in women. In addition, medical research and medical education were based on a normative male model. Studies of medical education indicate that medical schools are …

Gamer Girls: Navigating A Subculture Of Gender Inequality, Robert L. Harrison, Jenna M. Drenten, Nicholas Pendarvis

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Purpose

Video gaming, which remains culturally embedded in masculine ideals, is increasingly becoming a leisure activity for female consumers. Guided by social dominance theory, this paper examines how female gamers navigate the masculine-oriented gaming consumption context.

Methodology/approach

Eight avid female gamers (ages 20–29) participated in-depth interviews, following a phenomenological approach to better understand their lived experiences with video gaming. Data were analyzed using phenomenological procedures.

Findings

Findings reveal an undercurrent of gender-based consumer vulnerability, driven by stereotypical perceptions of “gamer girls” in the masculine-oriented gaming subculture. Further, the findings highlight the multilayered, multidimensional nature of gaming as a vulnerable consumption …

"It's Kind Of Apples And Oranges": Gay College Males' Conceptions Of Gender Transgression As Poverty, Daniel Tillapaugh, Z Nicolazzo

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs

This paper explores the ways in which gay males in college make meaning of gender variance and transgressions from the gender binary as a form of poverty. Using epistemological bricolage, the researchers analyzed data from 17 self-identified gay cisgender males attending three colleges in Southern California. Participants represented an array of racial backgrounds and were between 20 and 23 years old. The researchers posit that three key elements influence these gay males’ meaning making: (1) gender coding and policing, (2) hyperawareness of gender transgressions, and (3) reifying hegemonic masculinity.

Sexual Assault And Academic Achievement: Creating More Ideal College Campuses For Sexual Assault Survivors By Taking Into Account Intersectionality And Multiracial Feminism, Kelly Pinter

Dissertations

In this dissertation, the reader will learn about 28 sexual assault survivors' perceptions about educational and criminal justice responses to them after a sexual assault and how these sexual assault survivors perceived how race and ethnicity, income, and gender affect cases differently. Additionally, I explore sexual assault policies that survivors think are working, and those they feel need improvement. I also assess in depth recommendations concerning what education administrators, staff, and advocates can do to assist sexual assault survivors.

Backlash Against Working Mothers, Kala Jean Melchiori

Dissertations

Research by Rudman and colleagues (2012) has detailed how people who defy social stereotypes (called vanguards) experience discriminatory backlash for acting counter-stereotypically. In the present research, I took Rudman's Backlash and Stereotype Maintenance Model (BSMM) and applied it to working women and working mothers. Due to the different content of the stereotypes of working women versus working mothers, I predicted that the process through which perceivers engage in backlash against the two groups is different. I used the theory of Ambivalent Sexism to shape my predictions for how working mothers are vulnerable to different forms of backlash than working women …

When Subcultures Become Careers: Working In Indie Rock, Annmarie Schneider-Edman Van Altena

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the careers of workers within the Indie rock industry in Chicago. Little is known about how workers transition from subculture participants to industry workers. Expanding upon research on workers in culture industries, I conducted twenty-six qualitative interviews with workers in the industry, asking open-ended questions about their careers and experiences to understand how they establish and maintain careers in an industry that relies on a particular subculture whose ethos considers financial success as suspect, and a risk to integrity. I show how workers' early interest in music goes beyond typical teenage fascination and becomes the focus of …

Domestic Violence And The Legal System: A Case Study Of 10 Mexican Women And The Process Of Seeking Legal Recourse, Martha Cecilia Espinosa

Master's Theses

This study explores the experiences of ten Mexican women currently receiving services with Safe Pathways, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing resources to survivors of domestic violence. In this study, I attend to how these women experience and negotiate gender, intimate relationships, and the legal system, and I explore the strategies that they develop to overcome gendered constraints associated with being undocumented and battered. I find that women's experiences with the legal system are shaped by a variety of factors outside of its auspices, including gendered norms and class constraints. Existing literature on Latinas and battered women in the legal …

Gendered Jobs And The New Gender Gap, George K. Thiruvathukal, Jon Ross

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This presentation discusses how to address 21st Century employment challenges by dismantling gender-specific barriers to entry. We take an interdisciplinary approach by focusing on areas such as education, public policy, culture, and media (among others).

Image Slavery And Mass Media Pollution: Examining The Sociopolitical Context Of Beauty And Self Image In The Lives Of Black Women, Jennifer Richardson

Dissertations

The ways in which African American women negotiate the intersections of popular media, dominant discourses of beauty, and identity are rarely explored. This work brings into focus how African American women consume, understand, and make meaning of mediated images and representations of African American women. In order to inform this particular research project, this study engages a constellation of literature and theoretical perspectives and explores historical representations of African American women and beauty messages they contain. Throughout this process I examine concepts of identity formation; discuss connections between sexuality and the politics of imagery; and investigate linkages between structural racism, …

Gender Differences In Depressive Symptoms: The Interaction Of Cognitive Avoidance Coping And Specific Stressor Domains During Freshmen Adaptation To College, Daniel Dickson

Master's Theses

The first year of college can be a stressful experience that can lead to depressive symptoms in emerging adults. Due to the significant impairments that are associated with depressive symptoms across the lifespan, it is important to understand the elements of the first-year college experience that contribute to depressive affect. The goals of the current prospective study are to examine sex differences in the relationship between life stressors (i.e., social and achievement stressors) and cognitive avoidance coping in the development of depressive symptoms in first-year college students. The findings suggest that although cognitive avoidance is predictive of more depression, there …

Quiero Ser Alguien En La Vida: Hispanic Women And The Role Of Culture In Educational Attainment, Lupita Maria Pivaral

Master's Theses

There are very few studies that investigate the low educational attainment rates of Latinos, and even fewer that consider the role culture may have on educational attainment. In particular, Latinas have been neglected in academic studies regarding their academic pursuits and performance. This study aims to fill this void in the academic literature. It is based on interviews with 13 Hispanic women who were enrolled in a Chicago area adult high school. The women shared their personal narratives, describing in detail various life events and sharing their thoughts of how these may have lead them to make decisions that ultimately …

Teachers' Perspectives On Race And Gender: Strategic Intersectionality And The Countervailing Effects Of Privilege, Laurie Cooper Stoll

Dissertations

As a policy prescription, education is often considered a panacea for racism and sexism, and teachers therefore the conduits for social equality. Strategic intersectionality suggests that teachers who have marked identities, especially those who inhabit more

than one, may under certain circumstances experience a "multiple identity advantage" that can situate them as particularly effective advocates for others who are disadvantaged. This institutional ethnography explores the underlying premises of strategic

intersectionality and the countervailing effects of privilege through observations and indepth interviews of teachers in a primarily white elementary school, a primarily Hispanic elementary school, and a primarily African American elementary …

The Impact Of Person-Centered Communications On Political Candidate Evaluation: An Experimental Investigation, Randall A. Renstrom

Dissertations

"Person-centeredness" refers to how empathetic and warm a person's communication style is. Although the role of person-centeredness has been documented in various areas concerning interpersonal relations, person-centeredness has not been explored in the political realm. This project investigated how person-centered communications can influence impressions and evaluations of political candidates. In the first study, person-centered (PC) messages were shown to impact candidate trait ratings. Candidates using low PC messages were associated with more instrumental traits but fewer socio-emotional traits, while high PC candidates were assumed to have more socio-emotional traits but fewer instrumental traits. Similar results were found when participants rated …

Exploring The Relationship Between Work, Family And Religion Among Clergy Families, Lenore Johnson

Dissertations

Studies examining how working adults manage the competing demands of family, home and work shed light on the interconnectedness of public and private life. The notion that private life is a refuge separate from work is highly contested, and the experiences of clergy families add further support to such claims. However, while clergy families experience many of the same strains as other families, the relationship between public and private life is noticeably impacted by the inclusion of religion, adding further complications to the process of balancing multiple responsibilities. In this study, I explore the complex relationship between these aspects of …