The relationship between sex roles and psychological availability
- Authors: Mageza, Masase Eve
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Psychology, Industrial , Masculinity , Femininity , Gender identity - Psychological aspects , Sex role - Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/124540 , uj:20929
- Description: Abstract: Every culture emphasises roles and behaviours that are linked to expectations about men and women respectively and that cultures are influenced by socioeconomic factors such as status and/or education. Sex roles focus on the ways of socialisation that culminate in individuals displaying more masculine, feminine, and/or androgynous roles, while psychological availability can contribute to how well people engage at work. Individuals remain in their work roles because they engage in the designated work post. These employees become cognitively observant, physically involved in individual or team tasks, and empathetically connected to others during the performance of their tasks. The objectives of this study are to identify whether the masculine and feminine sex roles that men and women display have an impact on the level of psychological availability they display at work. Furthermore, this study will aim to determine how gender (man and woman) influences the relationship between sex roles and psychological availability. For the purpose of this study, a quantitative cross-sectional approach was selected. The convenience sample of 753 employees (n = 753) were from South African organisations in Gauteng. Participants completed The Biographical questionnaire, The Bem Sex Inventory and Psychological Availability questionnaire. The findings of this study revealed that masculine and feminine sex roles predict psychological availability. In addition, gender moderated the relationship between the feminine sex role and psychological availability. The relationship between femininity and psychological availability was stronger for women compared to men. However, gender did not impact the masculine sex role and psychological availability. Key Words: Masculinity, femininity, androgynous, gender, psychological availability. , M.Com. (Industrial Psychology)
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Individual differences in gendered person perception: a multifactorial study
- Authors: Harper, Marcel
- Date: 2008-11-06T07:25:38Z
- Subjects: Sex (Psychology) , Gender identity , Sex role , Masculinity , Femininity , Social perception
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:14600 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1520
- Description: M.A. , The psychological study of gender has evolved to comprise both dispositional and social cognitive perspectives (Morawski, 1987). Recent theoretical debates within these fields have centred on multifactorial and unifactorial conceptions of gendered factors (Spence, 1993), and the cognitive representation of gender (Howard & Hollander, 1997). This study aimed to investigate specific phenomena implicated in the above approaches. Firstly, it assessed the influence of using gender as a basic-level category (Fiske & Taylor, 1991) for the organisation of person schemas on other elements of the perceivers’ gender belief systems (Deaux & LaFrance, 1998). These elements comprise the use of gender stereotypical perception of others, endorsement of traditional-sexist gender attitudes, and self-identification with expressive and instrumental personality traits (Deaux & LaFrance, 1998). Secondly, the study aimed to explicate the structure of perceivers’ gender belief systems (Deaux & LaFrance, 1998). To this end, multifactorial gender theories (Koestner & Aube, 1995), as explanations of the interrelations of gendered factors, were evaluated. Spence and Sawin’s (1985) multifactorial gender identity theory was specifically scrutinised in this regard. Hypotheses which were informed by sceptical accounts of the theoretical utility of the femininity and masculinity constructs (Spence & Buckner, 1995), gender transcendence theories (Ravinder, 1987c), robust multifactorial findings (Spence & Buckner, 2000), and recent advances in social cognitive theory (Higgins, 2000) were formed based on a review of the relevant literature.. Various self-report measures were utilised to address the research questions. A modified version of Kelley’s (1955) Role Construct Repertory test (Rep test), an Instrumental and Expressive scale (I/E scale) developed by Spence and Buckner (2000), a modified version of the Adjective Check List (ACL-M; Beere, 1990), the Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS; Spence & Helmreich, 1978), and the Macho Scale (MS; Villemez & Touhey, 1977) were administered to a test sample of university students. The results of the study suggested that elements of the gender belief system relate to one another in complex patterns. Perceivers’ use of gender as a basic-level category was found to partially predict, along with their endorsement of traditional-sexist gender attitudes, the degree to which they implemented societal gender stereotyping. In addition, general multifactorial assumptions regarding gender (Koestner & Aube, 1995) were confirmed in that components of the gender belief system (Deaux & LaFrance, 1998) were shown to have varied interrelations depending on their specific properties (Spence, 1993). Multifactorial gender identity theory (Spence & Buckner, 2000; Spence & Sawin, 1985) received less support, and findings obtained suggested that its conceptions regarding femininity and masculinity as ineffable identity factors to be flawed. Alternative explanations of these findings that reflected gender transcendent and social cognitive insights (Frable, 1997; Freedman & Lips, 1996) better accounted for the results. In conclusion, the present study found considerable individual variance among perceivers’ use of gender as an important basic-level category for person perception. These differences in viewing males and females as fundamentally different human beings (Howard & Hollander, 1997) impacted on how targets (both known and less known) were perceived in terms of ostensibly gendered attributes. In addition, multifactorial conceptions of gender were supported as well as the contention that femininity and masculinity are not theoretically useful heuristics (Morawski, 1987).
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An intersectional analysis of male caregiving in South African palliative care : identifying disruptive potential in reinventions of white, hegemonic masculinity
- Authors: Dworzanowski-Venter, Bronwyn
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Masculinity , Care , Emotional Labour
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/255631 , uj:26816 , Citation: Dworzanowski-Venter, B. 2017. An intersectional analysis of male caregiving in South African palliative care : identifying disruptive potential in reinventions of white, hegemonic masculinity.
- Description: Abstract: Care work is often feminised and invisible. Intangible components of care, such as emotional labour, are rarely recognised as economically valuable. Men engaging in care work can be stigmatised or simply made invisible for non-conformance to gender norms (Dworzanowski- Venter 2008). Mburu et.al. (2014) and Chikovore et.al. (2016) have studied masculinity from an intersectional perspective. Yet, male caregiving has not enjoyed sufficient intersectional focus. Intersectional analysis of male caregiving has twin benefits of making ‘women’s work’ visible and of finding ways to keep men involved in caring occupations. I foreground the class-gender intersection in this study of black, male, caregivers as emotional labourers involved in palliative care work in Gauteng (2005-2013). Informal AIDS care and specialist oncology nursing are contrasting case studies of male care work presented in this paper. Findings suggest that caregiving men interviewed for this study act in gender disruptive ways and face a stigmatising social backlash in post-colonial South Africa. Oncology nursing has a professional cachet denied to informal sector caregivers. This professional status acts as a class-based insulator against oppressive gender-based stigma, for oncology nursing more closely aligns to an idealised masculinity. The closer to a ‘respectable’ middle-class identity, or bourgeois civility, the better for these men who idealise traditionally white, male, formal sector occupations. However, this insulating effect relies on a denial of emotional aspects of care by male cancer nurses and a lack of activism around breaking down gendered notions of care work. Forming a guild of informal sector AIDs caregivers could add much-needed professional recognition and provide an organisational base for gender norm disruption through activism. This may help to retain more men in informal sector caregiving roles and challenge the norms that are used to stigmatise male caregiving work in general.
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Women's understanding of the "Nice guy paradox": a phenomenological study
- Authors: Macfarlane, Robert
- Date: 2010-04-19T07:43:19Z
- Subjects: Young men , Men's studies , Man-women relationships , Sex role , Masculinity , Submissiveness , Phenomenological psychology
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:6784 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3214
- Description: M.A. , The Nice Guy Paradox is a provocative perception that is commonly expressed within society and the mass media. According to this perception, nice guys are less successful in their relationships with women than other men. The Nice Guy Paradox causes much frustration and confusion for self-proclaimed nice guys. In addition, the implications of this perception may negatively influence the way in which men relate to women. For instance, the Nice Guy Paradox implies that if men want to be successful with women, they should not be nice guys. In the last 15 years, a few psychological studies have opted to focus on the Nice Guy Paradox. These studies are almost all quantitative in nature. In fact, a literature search only found one small qualitative study devoted to this topic. Most of the existing research on the Nice Guy Paradox attempts to answer the question “Do nice guys really finish last?” in the absence of exploratory research aimed at better understanding this perception. For this reason, most existing research on the Nice Guy Paradox can be argued to be somewhat presumptuous and its usefulness in trying to understand this phenomenon is questionable. In an attempt to compensate for the shortcomings of existing research on the Nice Guy Paradox, this study endeavors to capture the unique experience of this social phenomenon through the utilization of a phenomenological method of inquiry. In this way, this research attempts to yield a fresh and foundational understanding of the Nice Guy Paradox. Three female university students were sourced and interviewed for the purposes of this study. These participants had all had relationship experience, as well as experience of the Nice Guy Paradox at the time of the interviews. In order to obtain optimally rudimentary experiences of the Nice Guy Paradox, open-ended interviews were conducted. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and non-verbal cues were indicated where necessary. These transcriptions constitute the raw data of the study. They were analyzed using a specific phenomenological, stepwise method. The data analysis produced central themes that were discussed in relation to literature findings in order to consolidate their validity and to position the findings of this study in relation to existing theory and research. On the basis of these central themes, an essential structure of the participants’ experiences of the Nice Guy Paradox was synthesized. According to this structure, the nice guys referred to by the Nice Guy Paradox characteristically lack confidence, try too hard to please women and are submissive in relationships. These men are mistreated and rejected by women for the following reasons. Firstly, nice guys allow themselves to be mistreated because of their submissive tendencies. Secondly, relationships with these men are not challenging and exciting. Thirdly, women find nice guy characteristics irritating and frustrating. Fourthly, nice guys lack certain characteristics including dominance, strength, physical attractiveness, confidence, leadership and social status, which women find attractive. Also according to this structure, the Nice Guy Paradox applies more strongly to younger people than older people. In addition, niceness in isolation is a desirable trait in a man. However, the other nice guy characteristics are unattractive to women. This research holds value since it constitutes the first comprehensive phenomenological, insight-orientated study on the Nice Guy Paradox. On the basis of the new understanding that this study yields, recommendations with regard to practical application have been put forward. In addition, suggestions for future research have been provided.
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The cultural politics of adaptation : fools and the politics of gender
- Authors: Mngadi, Sikhumbuzo
- Date: 2015-04-01
- Subjects: Gender , Masculinity , Spectatorship
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:5594 , ISSN 1754923x , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14295
- Description: The shifts in the priorities of literary and cultural theory and criticism were already underway in the South African academy by the end of the 1980s, with the gathering momentum of the mass political movement reaching its apotheosis with the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990. Whereas creative literary and cultural expression has often lagged behind advances in theory, there was nevertheless a steady acknowledgement of the necessity for a corresponding shift in the discursive character of the creative arts, even if the material conditions on the ground remained largely unchanged. Ramadan Suleman’s film Fools, which appeared in 1997 as an adaptation of Njabulo Ndebele’s 1983 novella by the same title, entered the fray with its argument for a new or, as it were, broader consciousness of the deeper, more complex legacy of ‘sexual violence’. This legacy included the weak ‘place of women in the everyday life of the township’ (Suleman 1995: 1), and indeed in the very idea of ‘the everyday’ that some in literary and cultural circles sought to inscribe. This article provides an assessment of the nature and extent of the film’s intervention in the context of the systematic breakdown of the old certainties of race, identity and nation post-apartheid, together with the literary-critical cultures and apparatuses that presided over their coherences and raptures. I take as my starting point Robert Stam and Louise Spence’s (1983: 3) assertion that ‘[a]though […] those questions bearing on the cinematic industry, its processes of production, distribution and exhibition’ – in short, questions bearing on ‘the contextual’ – are of ‘crucial importance’, they need to be tempered with those bearing on the ‘textual and intertextual’ (emphasis in original). Fools is a film that enters the textual and contextual terrain of Ndebele’s novella, but in doing so contests its textuality by shifting its narrative ground and voice.
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Emerging themes around masculinity : eclectic psychoanalytic views
- Authors: Larney, Alan Craig.
- Date: 2012-08-08
- Subjects: Masculinity , Men - Psychology , Gender identity , Sex role , Psychoanalytic interpretation , Psychoanalysis - History
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:8975 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/5445
- Description: M.A. , The objective of this thesis is to examine emerging themes around masculinity from within an eclectic psychoanalytic framework. In order to achieve the objective, the historical development of psychoanalytic theories on the male gender role are briefly examined. Thereafter, the thesis examines the eclectic psychoanalytic theories of masculinity proposed by Chodorow (1989, 1995) and Hudson and Jacot (1991). An investigation into the emerging themes around masculinity generated by the theories of Chodorow (1989, 1995) and Hudson and Jacot (1991) is then undertaken. The conclusion is that the theories of Chodorow (1989, 1995) and Hudson and Jacot (1991) share an eclectic psychoanalytic approach. The most important common themes in the development of masculinity, are identified as being the relevance of the pre-Oedipal years; the link between the development of the self and the formation of gender identity; and the relationship between psychoanalysis and social theory in the development of masculinity. The role of the mother is also explored in terms of her contribution to the development of masculinity and the maintenance of a gender bias.
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Masculinity, respectability and divergence among migrant informal traders in Johannesburg
- Authors: Igbanoi, Osikhena Leo
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Immigrants , Masculinity , Interpersonal relations
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/296712 , uj:32331
- Description: Abstract: Although migrant masculinities exhibit diverse forms of solidarities in host countries, existing masculinity-migration studies have not duly accounted for how their exercise of agency associated with the construction of masculine respectability results in migrant-migrant contestations among them. This study fills in this gap by interrogating the masculine relationships among African men in Johannesburg. Employing qualitative in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, data was collected from 20 young, male migrants from four African countries - Ghana, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia – across 4 informal business sites in Johannesburg over a period of 6 months. This information was subsequently thematically analysed using Creswell’s (2009) six-step data analysis approach. Findings reveal that in their articulations of masculine respectability, the migrant men create and co-create each other in the social fields that they inhabit through gendered agency. Sometimes such enactments of masculinity are material they construct and reconstruct themselves materially, for instance, as providers and heads of households. At other times, the men turn to other social means to construct self-esteem, including employing past and present cultural and symbolic social resources like educational attainment, age, legal status in South Africa, etc. In the relational contexts that the bodies of the men interact, they mobilise individual and collective agencies to forge useful relationships and solidarities. Yet, these are mostly instrumental in nature thus tend to be frequently disrupted by individual and group senses of respectability that result in tensions among them. The manifest outcomes include verbal and physical contestations and co-constructions, which sometimes are also violent in nature. These, then, lead the men to make calculated decisions to engage minimally with each other while maintaining strategic solidarities. The thesis adds a significant voice to studies on migrant masculinities by interrogating the complex realities and relationships that migrant men are embedded in within host contexts. Ultimately, it presents a critical perspective of masculinitymigration literature that is largely fixated on xenophobia discourses, which tend to locate migrant men as victims during the migratory process. , D.Litt. et Phil. (Sociology)
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