Psychotherapists’ Stereotypes of Heterosexual,Gay, and Bisexual Men

This study investigated stereotypes of heterosexual, gay, and bisexual men in a sample of 112 psychotherapists. Stereotypes were assessed with an open-ended measure asking participants to list characteristics that they associated with one of the three groups of men. Thematic analysis of these characteristics yielded 14 stereotype categories, including categories that reflected psychosocial difficulties (e.g., Depressed and Anxious), gender roles (e.g., Female Gender Role Attributes), and personality (e.g., Open-Minded). Sexual orientation differences were found for 8 of the 14 categories. For example, therapists were most likely to associate open-mindedness with bisexual men, traditional male gender role attributes with heterosexual men, and intelligence with gay men. Implications of results for practice and training are discussed.     

Stereotypes and National Identity: Experiencing the “Emotional Brazilian”

In this article, I examine how stereotypes are deployed in the process of experiencing national identities. Specifically, I analyse how a group of Brazilian academics who have studied in Europe and the United States have dealt with stereotypical notions of Brazilians as “warm people” who establish friendship “easily.” Ideas about a “greater emotionality,” which were often seen as negative from a European colonial perspective, are embraced and re-signified by them as a positive feature of Brazilian national identity, particularly when compared to the supposed “closed nature” of some Europeans. I argue therefore that the presence of such stereotypes contributes to reinforce a subjective sense of Brazilianess and also reveals the negotiations of power relations in the process of elaborating Brazilian national identity.     

A Study of Social Workers' Job Satisfaction as Based on an Optimal Model of Care for the Terminally Ill

ABSTRACT

To address the need for empirical evidence on how culture is and should be addressed in child protection work in Australia to ensure equity in service delivery, this study reviewed 120 case files of children from ethnic-minority, Aboriginal, and Anglo backgrounds and conducted 46 qualitative interviews with ethnic-minority client families and the caseworkers who service them. Overall, the results indicated that the issue of culture for ethnic-minority families receives less consideration than it does for Aboriginal families and more than it does for Anglo families, indicating that cross-cultural parity is yet to be achieved. To ensure equity in service delivery, it is important that culture is neither overlooked nor used to essentialize the needs and experiences of ethnic-minority families; balancing the amount of attention that culture receives in child protection work may help “normalize the novel”—that is, reduce the use of cultural stereotypes without reducing the significance of cultural factors in child protection work with culturally nonmainstream families. Mandatory consultation with “multicultural” caseworkers may help get the balance right and warrants future research.     

The Raging Grannies: Defying Stereotypes and Embracing Aging Through Activism

The Raging Grannies are a group of older women who dress as “grannies” and alter the words of traditional songs to communicate political messages. Based on a review of song lyrics, participant observation, and interviews with 15 Grannies, this study explores Raging Granny activism and the strategic adoption of the grandmother identity. The Grannies challenge stereotypes of older women through the fact and forms of their activism, and they see their aged status as empowering and as something to be embraced. Grannies report that the grandmother identity serves a protective function and enhances movement efficacy. This case study adds to the sparse literature on older women's political activism and demonstrates that identity exploration is not restricted to youth-centered movements.     

Age,Wage, and Job Placement: Older Women’s Experiences Entering the Retail Sector

Older women seeking employment often find opportunities limited to low-wage jobs, such as those in retail. We report findings about job placement and starting wages for hourly workers hired at a women’s apparel retailer from August 2006 to December 2009. We examine competing hypotheses regarding the role of age in explaining women’s job placement and starting wages. Although newly hired women age 55+ earn higher wages and are placed in higher-quality jobs than the youngest women (ages 18–22), they are less likely to be placed in better-quality jobs than their midlife counterparts. Overall, wage differences are largely explained by job quality.     

夏洛特·吉尔曼《黄色墙纸》的叙事心理学解读

夏洛特·吉尔曼的《黄色墙纸》作为女性批评家重新挖掘的早期女权主义文本,一直以来在文本的意识形态价值和意义上存在着诸多争议。从叙事心理学角度探讨《黄色墙纸》中形成性别刻板形象的原因是性别角色期待的不同,而自我叙事的策略对女主人公疯癫的意识形态意义解读具有更切实的价值,填补了女权主义解读方式的空白。     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed
Wolfram, Walt and Schilling-Estes, Natalie. American English
Yamada, Haru. Different Games, Different Rules: Why Americans and Japanese Misunderstand Each Other .
Singh, Rajendra. Lectures against Sociolinguistics .
Harvey, Keith and Shalom, Celia (eds.). Language and Desire: Encoding Sex, Romance and Intimacy .     

Girls,boys, money. Economic socialisation,gender, and generations in Italy

The aim of this article is to discuss the issue of economic socialisation in Italy from a gender perspective. What do boys and girls know about money and economy? How do they acquire this knowledge? What roles do the family, school, and the media play?

The empirical material making up the base of our observations is composed of in-depth interviews with a group of Milanese families on the questions of economic socialisation and practices of money management. Gender differences emerge in the construction of the relationship with money by children and young adults: girls, in particular, undergo the strongest pressure, i.e. they are still more driven towards discipline and self-control.

Our results also suggest the need to activate targeted, gender-sensitive training programmes in economic education.     

The benefits of prisoner participation in interdisciplinary learning

Abstract

This paper considers the provision of an inter-disciplinary workshop day held for Social Work, Police and Nursing students at a UK university. The focus of the day was to give the students an insight into the reality of being a mother in prison, and the impact that having a mother in prison has upon children. A key feature of the day was the involvement of a group of imprisoned mothers from an open prison, who shared their experiences and engaged with students in small groups. The workshop allowed the stereotypes that the prisoners and student professionals held in relation to one another to be challenged. The planning, aims, process and outcomes of the day are considered along with feedback from those taking part. Students reported increased awareness of the stigma faced by this often overlooked vulnerable group of service users, an increased recognition of the needs of children with mothers in prison and an appreciation of the power of interdisciplinary working to deliver a good service. The imprisoned mothers welcomed the chance to educate the students about the issues faced by themselves and their children, and they found the experience of participating to be positive and empowering.     

State Policy? Traditional Gender Stereotypes? Relative Contributions of Factors Affecting Positive Work–Family Interface for Working Mothers in Korea

This study explores the gap between policy rhetoric and the reality faced by Korean working mothers, by addressing the following question; whether and to what extent do policy measures for work–family balance contribute to positive work–family interface for working mothers? Although the Korean government has advocated a positive relation between state policy and satisfaction with work–family balance, this is not necessarily the case in practice. To this end, this study focuses on the relative contribution of policy measures to achieve work–family balance reported by working mothers, in relative to traditional gender stereotypes based on Confucian culture as well as working conditions. An empirical analysis with 1,082 Korean working mothers shows interesting findings. First of all, the contribution of policy towards the reported satisfaction in work–family balance is not supported, while the set of traditional gender stereotypes is found to be a negative contributor. Husbands’ psychological support for their wives’ employment, which seems to strengthen the impact of traditional gender stereotypes, follows. The implications of the findings are discussed in depth, by considering the relationships between policy outcomes and traditional gender stereotypes in Korea.