Sociology of Culture Commons^™

From Patriarchal Stereotypes To Matriarchal Pleasures Of Hybridity: Representation Of A Muslim Family In Berlin, Rahime Özgün Kehya Dr

Journal of Religion & Film

Sinan Çetin’s blockbuster Berlin in Berlin (1993) is a Turkish-German co-production. In contrast to certain representational tendencies with German orientalism or Turkish occidentalism, it deconstructs the intersectional structures of migration, religion, and gender. The portrayal of religion in films about Turkish-German labour migration is a kind of cultural narcissism often projected into national cinema by denigrating the faith of the other and glorifying one’s own religion. However, perspectives at such intersections are critical and require sensitivity in filmmaking, as films can create prejudice or help build peaceful relationships around these sensitive issues. The paper employs discourse analysis in linking Derrida’s …

From Androgyny To Binary And Back: A Qualitative Analysis Of Nonbinary Tiktoks., Savannah Hatton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how nonbinary individuals represent and express their gender on TikTok. Given the limited amount of research that has been done on nonbinary gender expression in online spaces, this study uses TikTok to observe the ways that nonbinary individuals perform gender. Additionally, given the relative newness of TikTok, this study serves to inform growing research on identity formation through social media. It used a sample of fifty TikToks by nonbinary creators to perform a content analysis. The findings reveal significant variation in how nonbinary individuals "do gender" on the platform, with some individuals identifying closely with binary labels, …

Diversity And Multi-Cultural Education In The 21st Century: An Oer / Coil / Ztc Course Text, Oluremi "Remi" Alapo

Open Educational Resources

CLDV100 (Liberal Arts) Introduction to Multicultural Studies in the 21st Century: 3 hrs. 3 crs.

A study of what culture is; how it influences the choices we make; how to deal positively with conflicts that inevitably arise in working/living situations with people of diverse cultures. It is a course structured to raise multicultural awareness and fortify students' social skills in dealing with cultural differences. It includes an ethnographic study of cultural groups in the U.S.A. Through the study of cultural concepts, this course develops skills in critical thinking, writing, and scholarly documentation. Not open to students with credit in CLDV …

Relationship Between Religion And Native American Identity, Gennaro W. Milo

Graduate Research Posters

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between religious affiliation and Native American Identity. Based on the findings of this study, a component of a Native American's Identity is their religious affiliation. To contribute to the research on Native American and Alaskan Native identity, this study targeted the teenage demographic of ages 12 to 19 years old. Over growing concern, expressed by tribal elders, about a loss of cultural identity amongst teens, this study investigates a connection between a teen’s sense of identity and their religious affiliation (Quigley, 2019). This study used a multiple-choice …

The Intersectionality Of Race And Gender In Financial Planner Use, Miranda Reiter, Di Qing, Narita Anderson, Kimberly Watkins

Journal of Financial Therapy

Using the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, this study examined the role of race and gender regarding the use of financial planners through the lens of intersectionality. More specifically, this study investigated whether there was an association between race and gender, notably for Black women, and financial planner use compared to White women, Black men, and White men. Results of the interaction analyses in the probit model show that Black women were more likely to use financial planners than other groups. A follow-up analysis indicated that results were significant when comparing Black women to White men but there was no …

“Where Did Your Christ Come From”? Exploring The Significance And Prevalence Of The White Jesus Phenomenon Among Black Baptist Women And Men, Stephanie Marshelle House-Niamke

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Berger's theory of religion and world construction fails to consider the critical issue of power and who is allowed to construct their own reality and thus, does not adequately capture the experience of Black Christians and the Black religious experience. I use White Jesus as a case study to analyze this process. Though the White Jesus phenomenon has been more readily explored in theological and historical fields, very little sociological research discusses this phenomenon. I argue that a Europeanized Jesus has had harmful sociocultural effects on Black Christians and Black people, in the form of cultural trauma. Yet, the White …

Stay-At-Home Fathers: What Is Their Life Really Like? An Intimate Portrayal, Christi Ann Hosking

MSU Graduate Theses

Reinforced by years of gender stereotypes is modern societies’ definition of masculinity, which has long been characterized by breadwinning and providing. Current literature has observed the growing trend which finds an increasing number of men engaged in the role of caregiver and the dynamic change in the home-work balance. Only a few studies looked at what life is like for a stay-at-home father and even fewer have allowed these fathers a unique voice for sharing their story. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of what day to day life was really like as a stay-at-home …

Teacher Professionalism, Embodiment, And Surveillance: An Autoethnographic Study, Melanie Cloutier-Bordeleau

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This autoethnographic study entails using my own situated knowledge and experience as a white bisexual secondary school teacher from a low socioeconomic background as a basis for data generation and analysis. Attention is given to examining the current enforcement of specific norms governing behavioural and physical conduct, and the role these norms play in constructing and reinforcing hierarchical structures of identity related to race, gender, socioeconomic status and sexuality. The main question the study explores is: How does the performativity and performance of educator “professionalism” contribute to constructing/reinforcing hierarchies of identity with respect to gender, sexuality, social class and race? …

Homophily, Gender-Typed Behavior, And Cultural Contexts In Adolescent Friendship Segregation, Chen-Shuo Hong

Masters Theses

It is well-documented that adolescents tend to befriend those who share demographic characteristics like gender. Less clear is how culture connects to these homogeneous relationships. This study examines the effects of gender-typed behavior on adolescent friendships at dyadic and school levels. The friendship network data are drawn from the well-known wave 1 ‘saturation school’ component of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. I show that adolescents tend to befriend those who share similar gender-typed behavior, above and beyond simple demographic affiliation. Also, when students in particular schools exhibit more heterogeneous gender-typed behavior, the expression of gender-typed behavior …

Body Neutrality, Natalie Horn

Sociology Student Work Collection

This presentation discusses what body neutrality is, why it is helpful, and how to practice it. Body neutrality is an alternative to body positivity, aiming to take focus away from beauty. Accepting one's body can be hard, but body neutrality can help.

Kiss Of Love Campaign: Contesting Public Morality To Counter Collective Violence, Sonia Krishna Kurup Miss

Peace and Conflict Studies

The paper studies the immense opposition to a nonviolent campaign against the practice of moral policing in Kerala to understand the dominant spaces, collective identities, and discourses that give shape to the outrage of public morality in India. The campaign through its politics specifically targeted rightwing and political groups as well as socially embedded familial and institutional structures that exercise control over individuals through patriarchal regimes. The adverse reaction to the campaign revealed that collective aggression or violence can be used to impose majoritarian values and exert social control through the authority of public morality and everyday acts of moral …

Video Meetings In A Pandemic Era: Emotional Exhaustion, Stressors, And Coping, Betty J. Johnson

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

In the first quarter of 2020, societal upheavals related to the COVID-19 pandemic included employers’ work-from-home mandates and an almost overnight adoption of video meetings to replace in-person meetings no longer possible due to contagion fears and social distancing requirements. This exploratory study aimed to address, in part, the scientific knowledge gap about video meetings as a source of emotional labor. The study used mixed methods to explore three hypotheses concerning how the contemporary use of video meetings related to emotional exhaustion, stressors, and coping. Data were gathered through an online survey questionnaire. Emotional exhaustion, the dependent variable in the …

Drag Artist Interviews, 2020, Destiny Baxter, Ezra Temko, Adam Loesch

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

This public dataset contains transcripts of 8 in-depth semistructured interviews with drag artists. Destiny Baxter conducted these interviews during Spring 2020. This follows up on an available dataset of 22 interviews of drag artists conducted in Spring 2019 by SIUE students, available at https://spark.siue.edu/siue_fac/104/

All 2019 and 2020 interviews used the same instrument.

پاکستان میں خواجہ سراؤں کی معاشی اور صحت کی صورتحال پر کووڈ 19 لاک ڈاؤن کے اثرات, Mehak Meraj

MSJ Capstone Projects

پاکستان میں رواں سال کووڈ19کے پیشِ نظرلگنے والےلاک ڈاؤن میں معاشرے کا پسماندہ ترین طبقہ خواجہ سرأ ، معاشی اور صحت کے حوالے سے بےپناہ متاثر ہوا۔جہاں دورانِ لاک ڈاؤن پیشے اور زندگی کی بنیادی سہولتیں نہ ہونے کی سبب اس طبقے نےسخت ترین حالات دیکھے وہیں جسمانی و نفسیاتی صحت کے اعتبار سے خواجہ سراؤں کی آزمائش کافی سخت رہی۔میری اس تحقیقی تحریر کا مقصد انہیں تمام صورتحال پر روشنی ڈالنا ہے۔

Clothes Make The (Wo)Man: Gender Performed Through Fashion As An Agent Of Socialization, Madison Altman

Honors Theses

Clothing is a social product, carries social meanings, and modifies social interaction, thus making it into the system of symbols known as fashion. This thesis focuses on fashion as a social agent, with its artistic expression and continual reorganization of styles. I question if fashion has the power to exact social change, or whether it simply reinforces and reproduces social inequality. The thesis looks at how race, class, sexual orientation, and ethnicity are both articulated and challenged through gendered fashion. We will examine the relationship between fashion, clothing, the body and body image, how fashion is a system that can …

The Evolution Of Love: The Meaning Of Romantic Love In Contemporary Society, Jessica Salas

Senior Theses

Romantic love has long acted as a significantly influential social institution. This thesis examines how ideology and practices surrounding romantic love and partnership differ across gender, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. In order to carry out this investigation, a survey was administered to 141 participants between the ages of 18 to 84. Of these participants, approximately 62% were female, 36% were male, and 3% identified as Other. The majority of respondents were White, followed by Latino/Hispanic and Asian/Asian American. Overall, findings indicate that, when not accounting for race or income, men tend to demonstrate increased idealism in their romantic …

Social Standards Of Imposition: Respectability And The Raj Through The Eyes Of Governess Marjorie Ussher, Erin A. Nelsen

Antonian Scholars Honors Program

The British Empire possesses a long history of imposing ways of thinking, political structures, economic structures, and social standards on their territories. From 1934 to 1940, during the final years of the Raj (British sovereignty in India), this imperialism extended to standards of beauty and respectability in Hyderabad, the capital of the Hyderabad state. These standards arise in the archived letters British governess Marjorie Ussher wrote to her family during this timeframe. Through a close reading of the letters, this thesis recognizes and reflects on Ussher’s aesthetics depictions of the people, objects, and the natural landscape around her. Within this …

Lean On Me: Leadership Beyond The Patriarchy, Tamara Taylor

Master of Arts in Humanities | Master's Theses 1936 - 2022

Leadership styles have taken various forms throughout humanity’s trajectory on earth. Indicative of patriarchal systems, the most prominent styles of leadership that are widely recognized in the public and private sectors routinely favor individuals who portray characteristics of ambition, confidence and assertiveness that at times crosses over into aggression. When one considers which gender fit the stereotype of exhibiting leadership qualities under these assumptions, often hyper-masculine men fit the mold.

In contrast, when women are successful at ascending and working in higher ranking positions, the characteristics that are mapped on to their personas are often associated with collaboration and relationship-building. …

‘Maid In The Usa’: Immigrant Women, Domestic Labor And Double Alienation, Shadyar Omrani, Shadyar Omrani

Sociology Student Work Collection

In the past three decades, as the economy of the industrialized countries has moved towards the growing Tech industry, middle-class women have found more opportunities to fill in white-collared job positions (McDowell, 2009). The increase in the rate of women’s participation in the labor market has made them less willing to do (or capable of doing) the housework and child/elderly care _ the tasks which are historically stereotyped as feminine (ibid). Therefore, a considerably growing trend in paid domestic labor is being introduced to formerly blue-collared and dominantly immigrant women (England, P.: 2005). The tasks which are regarded as “labor …

Drag Artist Interviews, 2019, Ezra Temko, Adam Loesch

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

This public dataset contains transcripts of 22 in-depth semistructured interviews with drag artists. Students conducted these interviews during Spring 2019.

Navigating Cultures And Development: An Account Of A Female Peace Corps Volunteer In Morocco, Renee Palecek

Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development—Student Research

Little is known of how the “doers” of development may navigate regarding her community’s culture and her job in international development. This lack of knowledge leads to the erasure of experiences, felt both by the volunteer herself, as well as the community members she works with. Through autoethnographic methodology, and analysis, I retell my experiences and entanglements as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco with Moroccan institutions and culture, with my own identities and prior American socialization. I examine three questions: (1) How does the female PCV in Morocco make sense out of and create value from life events, relationships, …

“Go West Young Man, And Grow Up With This Country”: Settler Colonialism, Gender And Property, Connor Van Alstine

Sociology & Anthropology Theses

As a theoretical starting point, this paper takes up Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity which posits that gender configurations are shifting and determined by whichever expectations best motivate behaviors that reinforce a hierarchical and complementary relation between genders. This hierarchical structure, following theorizations by Maria Lugones, is itself a product of the colonial encounter. With this in mind, this paper compares historical shifts in American gender configurations to the material demands of settlement. Utilizing existing research into settler gender identity between 1760 and 1870, it finds that the increasing emphasis on domesticity in gender discourses concretized gender configurations in the …

A Culture Of Conformity, Alexandra Huston

Classical Conversations

This paper explains the serious problem of society pressuring people to conform to gender norms. In the current culture, there is intolerance for breaking these gender norms and unfortunately, the consequences can be severe. This cycle creates a society where harms are exacerbated because either no one is aware of what is going on or they feel so pressured to stay within the lines of what society deems “acceptable” that they choose to conform. The specific gender norms focused on range from seemingly trivial to obviously severe: clothing choice, colors, personal grooming like shaving, masculine gender norm issues like suicide …

The Effect Of Gender Stereotypes On Academic Success, Brooklyn Proudlock

Honors Projects

Gender stereotyping is the idea of making assumptions about a person or group based on their gender. Commonly heard ones may include “boys are stronger than girls” or “girls belong doing housework.” Gender Stereotypes at Bowling Green State University are analyzed using a survey to undergraduate students.

Anti-Queer Microaggressions Towards Queer Black Men, Camisha D. Fagan, Anna Smedley-López

McNair Poster Presentations

Microaggressions are reoccurring derogatory messages that degrade and/ or discredit one’s identity. While invisible and unknown to many, they remain visible and apparent to those impacted by them. The research questions for this project are: (1) What microaggressions do Queer Black men experience within larger society? (2) To contrast with larger society, what microaggressions do Queer Black men experience within Black communities? By conducting focus groups, I will examine the intersectional microaggressions that Queer Black males experience in their own community, as well as document microaggression that they experience in larger society. After conducting my focus groups, I will be …

The Impact Of Beauty, Body Image, And Health Discourses On Eating Disorder Risk In South Asian-Canadian Women, Nazia Bhatti

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study explores socio-cultural influences that impact South Asian women’s self-perceptions and eating behaviours. The findings revealed that cultural gender ideologies played a substantial role in shaping the way women view themselves and their bodies. The analysis of interviews conducted with seven South Asian-Canadian women between the ages of 19-29 years, demonstrate that women’s perceptions of their own physical appearance is framed within the context of their South Asian cultural identity and cultural norms. This study was approached through the lens of post-colonial feminism by examining cultural factors that contribute to South Asian women’s increased risk for developing eating disorders. …

Very Long Engagements: The Persistent Authority Of Bridewealth In A Post-Apartheid South African Community, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

This article examines the persistent authority of the customary practice for forming recognized marriages in many South African communities, centered on bridewealth and called “lobola.” Marriage rates have sharply fallen in South Africa, and many South Africans blame this on the difficulty of completing lobola amid intense economic strife. Using in-depth qualitative research from a village in KwaZulu-Natal, where lobola demands are the country’s highest and marriage rates its lowest, I argue that lobola’s authority survives because lay actors, and especially women, have innovated new repertoires of lobola behavior that allow them to pursue emerging needs and desires for marriage …

"This Isn't For You, This Is For Me": Women In Cosplay And Their Experiences Combatting Harassment And Stigma, Christopher M. Lucas

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

In the past two decades, cosplay, or “costume play,” has become increasingly popular among fans of anime, manga, and video games. Despite the community’s nature of embracing social difference, problems persist with regard to gender discrimination and breaching of consent boundaries. Discussion in the extant literature on cosplay has yet to address the views of women in the community, specifically the idea of cosplay and popular culture conventions being a “boys’ club.” The principle research questions of this study are: (1) What are the lived experiences of women cosplayers at anime conventions? (2) To what degree have they had to …

The Power In Dice And Foam Swords: Gendered Resistance In Dungeons And Dragons And Live-Action Roleplay, Rachel M. Just

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Much of the existing research on gaming suggests that women are often excluded from or discriminated against in gaming communities. However, few scholars focus on women’s positive experiences within those communities, and even fewer examine tabletop and live-action roleplaying games. In this thesis, I utilized Jurgen Habermas’ theory of communicative action, Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, and James C. Scott’s theory of hidden transcripts to analyze how in-game and out-of-game comradery among players created a space in which passive resistance against normative gender expectations was possible. Specifically, the question I wanted to answer was how do women communicatively enact …

“Well, Don’T Walk Around Naked... Unless You’Re A Girl”: Gender, Sexuality, And Risk In Jamtronica Festival Subcultural Scenes, Kaitlyne A. Motl

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

The purpose of this study was to explore emerging issues surrounding gendered fear, threat, and violence perpetration at music festivals – particularly events that feature a synthesis of jam band and electronic dance music acts – a genre termed jamtronica by its fans. Though gendered violence perpetration and prevention have been widely studied within other party-oriented settings (i.e., sexual violence perpetration on college campuses), very little research exists to address how wider disparities of gender and sexuality permeate a community whose members frequently claim the scene’s immunity from external inequalities.

In this three-year multi-sited ethnography, I incorporate participant observations, group …