Hegemonic Norms Research Articles

All In: Understanding and Motivating Stakeholders to Create an Equitable Culture of Student Success.

Discourse around Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in the United States has long focused on improving the persistence and academic achievement of students. On the surface, such goals are reasonable and well-intentioned. However, the near-exclusive focus on those two outcomes as shorthand for "success" serves hegemonic norms which preclude the equitable success of all students. Although STEM education research has begun to address the inequitable systems within which students and faculty operate, the language of success has largely not changed. While previous work has aimed to recognize and characterize how normative definitions of success harm students and faculty, they fall short of providing readers with strategies for how to sustainably change these systems of injustice. Utilizing the four frames model for systemic change, this Essay 1) deconstructs the operational definitions of student success among key stakeholders involved in STEM higher education: students, faculty, departments, and institutions; 2) determines how extant policies and practices drive misalignments among these definitions and thwart equity; and 3) highlights three key opportunities for change agents to transform how success is measured and defined within STEM higher education.

Passion as Capital: The Cultural Production of “Good Computer Scientists”

“Do what you love” has become a hegemonic mantra in large swaths of the labor force, and the expectation for workers to be passionate about their work is intense within the technology sector. When we interviewed eight undergraduates at a large Canadian university about what makes someone a “good computer scientist,” participants stressed the importance of passion. Passion was described as a form of capital: to be accumulated and traded for advancement in the labor market. We examine how passion works as a hegemonic norm within this culture, and untangle passion as requiring two distinct processes: conspicuous production (via extracurriculars and internships), and affective passion (via performing interest and enthusiasm for the subject). We explore the relationships and feedback loops amongst conspicuous production, affective passion, and other forms of Bourdieusian capital. In doing so, we uncover the mechanics of the power structures which underlie post-feminist and meritocratic narratives of self-motivated passion.

International sports federations as de facto lawmakers: Queer-feminist explorations of the gendered power of sports law

Abstract This article analyses the law-making power of international sports federations, with a specific focus on their authority of shaping global norms on gender. It explores a variety of international sporting rules from feminist and queer perspectives. These include the ban of rainbow armbands at the 2022 FIFA (Men’s) World Cup, rules on the participation of transgender persons in rugby, gendered and racialized uniform regulations in sports, and the Semenya case concerning the sports participation of women with variations in sex characteristics The analysis asserts that despite being non-state actors, international sports federations are de facto international lawmakers that disseminate hegemonic gender norms reflecting cis-hetero-sexism and white body norms. However, analysing the Semenya case and the decision of the Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in the case shows that the law-making power of international sports federations in shaping gender norms is not absolute but embedded in a transnational network of norms. The article concludes that subjecting international sports federations to a feminist, queer, and anti-racist legal analysis assists in understanding how hegemonic norms on gender circulate transnationally and enhances knowledge on how international law works in practice.

The evolution of family creation via sperm donation: New perspectives on family and parenthood

The presence of diversity constitutes a valuable asset, playing a pivotal role in fostering social cohesion within pluralistic societies. Despite the existence of diverse family structures, there often exists a tendency to compare parenthood and family dynamics against a prevailing hegemonic norm. This norm exhibits variations and is the result of cultural, social, and historical contexts. The objective of this report of our research study is to elucidate the phenomenon of family creation through sperm donation in Germany. Employing qualitative interviews, the individual experiences of two groups who utilise sperm donation as a means of family formation were explored: lesbian couples and solo mothers. A historical perspective on family and sperm donation provides valuable insights into early variations of family concepts. The results are interpreted on a psychodynamic level, amongst other things associated with the concept of ambiguity tolerance, oedipal constellations and triangulation. Further, therapeutic implications of the presented topics are given. This article strives to offer insights and psychodynamic perspectives on the notions and significance of family and parenthood that transcend the constraints of conventional norms.

#BimboTok: a critical discourse analysis of hyper-feminine bimbo identities on TikTok

This study adopts a multimodal approach to critical discourse analysis to unpack the discourses embedded in the performance of hyper-feminine bimbo identities on TikTok. Guided by a social semiotic approach to language, this study analyses a corpus of 16 short-form videos published by self-proclaimed ‘bimbos’ on TikTok, focusing on the lexical and iconographical choices of these texts and how they function contextually to signal broader discourses. This analysis reveals that TikTok influencers frequently reinforce hegemonic norms of gender by incorporating bodily signifiers of patriarchal Eurocentric ideals of femininity and linking signifiers of overconsumption and hyper-femininity in their performance of a bimbo identity. Simultaneously, they contest these hegemonic norms by juxtaposing hyper-feminine images with critiques of patriarchal, Eurocentric, and capitalist structures of inequality. Ultimately, the subversive potential of these representations is ambivalent; there is a marked tension between their stated aims of inclusion and empowerment and the intersection of hyper-femininity with privilege.

Sanctions and Stigma: Regional and Global Ordering in the Gulf Crisis

The Gulf Crisis (2017-21) witnessed Qatar facing sanctions by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain, self-proclaimed as the ‘Anti-Terror Quartet.’ Accusing Qatar of sponsoring Islamist terrorism, the Quartet broke diplomatic relations with Doha and imposed an embargo. In reaction, Qatar affirmed its sovereignty yet sought in parallel to expand and make permanent the US al-Udeid airbase—a marker of US imperialism in the region. To understand such a paradox, this article argues that we must study sanctions in tandem with the stigmatization narratives that legitimate them. Sanctions and stigma work together as performances of norms, which themselves serve to bound an order. This article conceptualizes the Gulf Crisis as an episode of regional order-making reproducing the hegemonic repertoire of the US-led global order. The Quartet employed US-inspired practices of sanctioning ‘rogue’ actors and hegemonic narratives on the fight against terrorism, while Qatar sought to counter this stigma by scaling up the al-Udeid airbase to showcase its pro-US, anti-terror credentials. By attending to the deployment of hegemonic norms—through sanctions and stigma—as tools of regional ordering, this article underlines that the Gulf Crisis ultimately contributed to bolstering the normative architecture sustaining the US-led global order.

The more, the better: queer urban spatialities of Seoul in three films

ABSTRACT Queer space in South Korea’s primate city Seoul has historically remained excluded or invisible across multiple temporalities: in official histories and accounts of the past, in present urban life, and in planning for the future. This is especially noticeable in the municipal government’s numerous revitalization plans which focus on known ‘gayborhoods’ such as Jongno 3-ga. This article identifies and analyzes the structure of differing queer spatialities present in Seoul through close reading and examination of three films: the auteur produced A Cheonggyecheon Dog (2008), the realist documentary Miracle on Jongno Street (2010), and the archival art film Dadaikseon (2018). In these filmic representations, we observe multiple spatialities in Seoul that reflect the precarity and isolation faced by queer individuals in processes of urban redevelopment, the Janus-faced nature of urban space during the night versus the day which can allow or inhibit queer collectivity, and the dynamic erasure of urban spaces which fall outside of hegemonic norms in the face of urban change and gentrification. In the face of the homogenization of Seoul’s urban space, we argue that the identification of a multiplicity of queer spatialities opens up possibility and alternatives to dominant processes and patterns of urbanization, modernization and homogenization – that is, the more non-normative spatialities, the better.

Negotiating Masculinity and Cultural Identity in Americanah: An Analysis of Hegemonic Norms in Nigerian Diaspora Literature

This article delves into the presentation of masculinity and cultural identity in diaspora literature, honing in on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah. The study seeks to understand how cultural expectations and power dynamics contribute to the construction of masculinity within Nigerian diasporic communities, utilizing Connell's theory of hegemonic masculinity. Furthermore, it seeks to examine the impact of cultural fusion on the development of masculinity and cultural identity in male main characters in the chosen novel and to investigate how the intersections of race, gender, and immigrant background converge to influence the formation of masculinity in Americanah. Through a thorough examination of the male characters, the research delves into their engagements with dominant norms while striving to establish their sense of self and connection. The primary discoveries underscore the complex interplay among race, gender, and the immigrant background in moulding not only personal but also communal identities. The investigation pinpoints occurrences of defiance and rebellion against the prevailing masculine norms, while also exploring the potential for cultural amalgamation to redefine conventional ideas of masculinity. This scholarly inquiry enriches the comprehension of the intricate dynamics surrounding masculinity and cultural identification, providing valuable perspectives on the nuances of diasporic encounters and their influence on identity formation within diasporic literary works. In addition, this learned analysis creates opportunities for more inquiries into the relationships among sex, ethnicity, and individuality in contemporary literature, ultimately propelling the awareness of different plots within migrant communities.

Navigating desires beyond growth: the critical role of fantasy in degrowth’s environmental politics and prefigurative ethics

ABSTRACT As a critical environmental political project, the degrowth movement contests the hegemony of economic growth. Much scholarship has sought to unpack degrowth’s proposals to reduce matter and energy throughput and to promote socio-ecological justice, democracy and wellbeing. Few studies, however, examine how the movement sustains itself. In this article, therefore, we explore the role fantasy plays in the movement’s emergence and sustenance. We draw on semi-structured interviews and officially-disseminated documents to examine the discourse of degrowth through a Critical Fantasy Studies lens, arguing that fantasies structure supporters’ desires and sustain the energy lying behind their environmental politics and actions. We suggest that the fantasy of ‘mutual dependence and care’, in particular, affectively fortifies their efforts to contest economic growth’s hegemonic norms and, in doing so, bolsters degrowth’s distributed modes of political action while also allowing its members to cultivate a prefigurative ethics of engagement.

Youth Participatory Action Research for Equitable Urban Design

The Nashville Youth Design Team (NYDT) is a youth participatory action research and design collective based in Metro Nashville-Davidson County, Tennessee, USA. Developing out of a longstanding collaborative partnership between the Civic Design Center, a Nashville-based nonprofit that supports community engagement in urban design and planning, and researchers from Vanderbilt University, the NYDT seeks to improve youth health and well-being through research, design, and advocacy. In this paper we briefly describe the origins and goals of the NYDT before applying the NYDT’s action research process to the team’s most recent project, the Dream City Workshop, to illustrate how the team’s work aims to center youth voices in decision-making spaces and challenge structural inequities within the built environment. The Dream City Workshop is a two hour design thinking workshop, where youth participants are encouraged to create a city specifically designed to meet the needs of young people; a city where the only limit is their imagination. The goal of this workshop is to help young people think creatively to resist hegemonic norms and challenge structural inequities like structural racism and classism to imagine a better and more inclusive city for all. Following a detailed description of the development and implementation of the Dream City Workshop, we consider the strengths and weaknesses of the NYDT’s action research process and the workshop, specifically exploring how the team, through their work, seeks to address structural racism and work towards health equity. We conclude the paper by providing recommendations for others interested in cultivating similar locally focused action research projects and collectives.

Navigating ‘safe’ and ‘non-safe’ queer spaces

Abstract It is well documented that gay people adopt behavioural strategies to navigate the heteronormative expectations and norms of social space. These practices are likely to be particularly pronounced in socially conservative countries which have seen less progress for LGBTQ+ rights. This study examines how two gay men (Rui and Kenni) stylistically negotiate their sexual identities in a socially conservative country – Singapore – by analyzing the variation in two phonetic variables that have been linked to gender and sexuality: Pitch and /s/. We show that both speakers style-shift across queer-friendly and heteronormative environments though the rate and degree of shifting is influenced both by the situated social meanings of the features and the interactional context. Concluding, we argue that research should consider how minoritised individuals are required to style-shift in order to adhere to the hegemonic norms and expectations of society.

Health citizenship reveals ‘extra’ work managing biopolitical risk for immigrants in Canada during COVID‐19: A qualitative study

AbstractOne's health security (i.e., the ability to minimize risks and respond to public health threats) is a conferred right of citizenship but individuals construct identities during the process of securing their health. However, how this occurs, in relationship to the state, remains largely implicit or taken‐for‐granted. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19)' provided a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between oneself and governing social norms of health citizenship. We drew on secondary analysis of data from a previous (published) qualitative descriptive study that was conducted during May to September 2020 of COVID‐19, to explore 72 immigrants' experience (from 21 countries) of health security in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews and analysed using critical realism. The majority of participants were women. We demonstrate how individuals implicitly engaged in ‘extra’ work—gendered and driven by mechanisms of good citizenship—connected to the will to health, against ethopolitical work to regulate risks, of and for themselves, in public discourse. Public discourse tended to follow racialized hegemonic norms, which also reproduced systemic cultural racism. We argue that empathetic understanding of this process is conducive to enhancing one's resistance to stereotypes, and to bolstering immigrants' resilience to seeking health security during public health emergencies.

‘All the same under the skin’: representations of class and gender in Michel Faber’s Under the Skin

ABSTRACT The essay, broadly conceived in two sections, examines the relationship between gender and class in Michel Faber’s novel Under the Skin. The first section utilizes Beverley Skeggs’ ethnography on working-class women in Britain to outline Isserley’s social positioning and how it is associated with negative value. We contend that Isserley’s appearance and employment reproduce the dominant and pathologizing cultural representations of working-class women. Further, the essay argues that Isserley disidentifies as a working-class woman through the discourse of improvement since the representations of her positioning constantly devalue her. In the second section, we shift our focus to the intersection of gender and class in the construction of masculine identity. We argue that the representation of men in the novel replicates that of working-class men in the British context. The essay draws on R.W. Connell’s concept of marginalized masculinities to explore how the lives of men become inferior not just in terms of their bodies but also by failing to align with the hegemonic norms of manhood, such as staying employed, married, and being a provider for the family.

How does a “neutral” rule become a systemic barrier to racial justice? Human rights activism, International Olympic Committee Rule 50, and the neutrality myth in racialized organizations

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the International Olympic Committee’s Rule 50 – a policy prohibiting athlete protest at the Games – as its site of analysis to examine how sport policy becomes contested terrain when being utilized by those in power to reinforce an unjust status quo. Specifically, we drew from critical discourse analysis and Ray’s Theory of Racialized Organizations to better understand how discourses of the neutrality of sport allow for the rule to be utilized to perpetuate hegemonic norms that silence activism among athletes and disguise unequal power relations in global sport governance. Through analysis of the contemporary discourses surrounding the IOC’s recent Rule 50 consultation, we found that those calling for keeping the rule intact framed the issue as an organizational integrity issue, whereas those calling for abolishment and amendments framed the rule as a human rights issue. As such, we critique the continuing effect of the neutrality myth in global sport governance – a harmful racist myth perpetuated by those governing Olympic sport that rests on the false claim of Olympic idealism being free from politics and social ills.

Strategic Invisibility: How Creators Manage the Risks and Constraints of Online Hyper(In)Visibility

This article examines how sexual content creators manage their (in)visibility, as they navigate the constraints of online hyper(in)visibility. So far, research has focussed on how creators more generally attempt to enhance their visibility through social media platforms. Yet, especially for sexual content creators, platform visibility is not straightforward. These creators are hyper(in)visible: facing simultaneous risks of erasure and public scrutiny, harassment, and stigmatization. Drawing on 27 interviews with creators—online sex workers; LGBTQ+ activists; and sex educators—this research outlines the harms of hyper(in)visibility and creators’ tactics for strategic invisibility. These interviews showcase how hegemonic norms make socially marginalized content both hypervisible and invisible, as well as how these dynamics are reproduced and institutionalized on platforms. As they are transgressing hegemonic sexual norms, the interviewees discuss risks of platform surveillance, outing, doxxing, harassment, and capping. Yet, within the confines of platforms, these creators find ways to manage and resist these risks and positively engage with strategic invisibility. Taken together, the analysis shows the need to complicate the notion of creator visibility and sensitize research to how creators seek particular types of visibility, as well as strategic invisibility.

Problematizing prescriptive methods in popular music education: Neo-liberalism, care and Little Kids Rock/Music Will

Music Will/Little Kids Rock has been a key player in the growth of K-12 popular music education in the United States. The purpose of this article is to critically consider the material designed for curricular and instructional use by Little Kids Rock through a critical content analysis of publicly available resources and reports. We examine this material through dual lenses of care and neo-liberalism, as care has been framed as a counternarrative to neo-liberal discourse. Three key themes emerged during data analysis: hero narratives, mix-and-match aims and complex negotiations with neo-liberal values. We close by suggesting that attention be paid to the ways in which methods and practices that may seem to thwart hegemonic norms are often fraught with complexity, and we encourage continued critical reads of educational programming and curricula.

“Hot hoes” and “dirty whites”: racial contestation and fetishization of multiracial and contested white women

The fear of race-mixing through procreation has been strategically propagated in the Unites States as a force for social control, even though interracial intimacies have taken place since the 1600s. Fetishization can be considered an inversion of that fear. In contemporary times, the college and graduate school years constitute seasons wherein individuals learn from interpersonal, romantic, and sexual relationships, and both fear of race-mixing and fetishization show up in this arena. This manuscript considers the narratives of 14 contested white cis women students at a predominantly white postsecondary institution and delineates the construction of the paradoxical “Hot hoe/Dirty white” subjectivity through discourse. The discourses of white supremacy shape the experiences of postsecondary students, ordering romantic and sexual possibilities and engendering subjectivity. Considering racialized subjectivity through discourse illuminates the role of hegemonic norms and adds important insights to contemporary, widespread developmental models of racial identity extant in social science literature.

Later-Life Masculinities: (Re)forming the Gendered Lives of Older Men

Older men are often treated as homogenous, a-gendered, and unmasculine. Drawing on 52 interviews with older men who play walking football in the UK, we explore how their experiences can be understood through a lens of masculinity. Men claimed that walking football offers an outlet for both competition and displaying physical prowess. Their embodied performances were crucial for cultivating a masculine identity which, whilst threatened by the ageing process, sustained their privilege and status. Yet, men also described how modes of care, friendship, and interdependence became central to their experiences. As men aged, the constraints around expressing feelings of intimacy, on account of hegemonic norms recognised in their youth, were loosened. Via the empirical analysis presented, the article contributes to both the study of the lives of older men and the continued absence of older men in masculinity theory.

Employable femininity and multisensorial hierarchies: becoming aesthetic citizens in Nepal’s aviation training industry

ABSTRACT This article discusses Nepal’s private airhostess training industry and trainees’ bodily and personal transformations in relation to hegemonic norms and practices of citizenship. Drawing on ethnographic research in Kathmandu, it examines everyday encounters in a training institute where young women learn to become flight attendants for international and domestic airlines. The article demonstrates that interactions between instructors and trainees make visible and (re)shape notions of employability, urban modernity, and the Nepali nation in relation to bodily appearance, grooming practices, and self-presentation. By acquiring new orientations and habits, trainees are encouraged to overcome some gendered norms while adhering to others in order to embody a particular vision of employable femininity. Analysing how becoming an aesthetic and modern citizen is put into practice in the aviation training industry, the article centres the role of embodied aesthetics and the senses, thereby contributing to a conceptualization of ‘aesthetic citizenship’ as multisensorial.

STRATEGIC (IN)VISIBILITY: HOW MARGINALISED CREATORS NAVIGATE THE RISKS AND CONSTRAINTS OF ONLINE VISIBILITY

Online creators need their content to be ‘seen’; visibility on platforms can provide financial, social, and representational benefits. A lot of vital research has been done on how creators try to enhance their visibility on platforms and struggle with the threat of invisibility. But, especially for marginalised creators, platformised visibility is not without risks. This paper attends to these risks and creators' tactical use of (in)visibility to manage these. Drawing on 27 interviews with creators - online sex workers, LGBTQ+ activists, sex educators - we outline the harms of hypervisibility and users’ tactics for strategic invisibility. These interviews showcase how hegemonic norms hyper- and invisibilise marginalised groups, and how these dynamics are reproduced and institutionalised on platforms. We find that marginalised creators face serious risks from their platformised hypervisibility, not just their invisibilisation. Yet within the structures of platforms these creators still find ways to manage these risks and engage with strategic invisibility. Tactics of resistance exist across groups of marginalised creators. As such, our analysis shows the need to not just gain insight into how creators maximise visibility, but also into how they seek particular types of visibility, as well as strategic invisibility.