School of Social and Political Sciences - Theses
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ItemThe female body on Instagram: Is fit the new it?( 2014)This thesis examines how the female body is represented on Instagram, an online photo and video sharing mobile phone application. With a specific focus on portrayals of women in images posted to the #fitspiration hashtag, this thesis considers whether representations of the ‘fit’ female body in this space mirror and/or transgress contemporary notions of an ‘ideal’ body as slender, youthful, white and feminine. Based on the results of this research, I argue that representations of the female body on Instagram’s #fitspiration hashtag present ‘fit’ as the new ‘it’ ideal bodily standard for women. By arguing that fit female bodies can be considered as both replicating and extending contemporary notions of an ideal body, this thesis makes a significant and timely contribution to accounts of women’s representations on social media and the field of sociology of the body more broadly.
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ItemAssessing the seriousness of rape: the effect of prior victim-perpetrator relationship, alcohol, and injuries on perceptions of severity, responsibility, and harm( 2005-12)The prevalence of partner and acquaintance rape has given rise to an increasing amount of research into the effects on the victims from the 1970s and 80s onwards. Around the same time, researchers in the area of sexual assault began to investigate whether individuals perceive these types of rape as equally serious as stranger rapes. Substantial research has suggested that this is not the case, however the prevalence of rape supportive attitudes in current society is not definitively known. The current study aimed to isolate the factors of prior relationship, alcohol, and injuries within the context of rape, and investigate how these factors influenced perceived incident severity, perpetrator responsibility, and harm done to the victim. The methodology utilised extended from previous research which made use of text-based vignettes. Participants from two Victorian universities were asked to rate 12 descriptions of hypothetical incidents of sexual assault in terms of severity, responsibility, and harm. A subsample of participants responded to 6 descriptions of hypothetical incidents of sexual assault, and were asked to respond to a number of scales which assessed factors related to victim precipitation and perpetrator premeditation.
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ItemCitius, altius, fortius: a critical and exploratory analysis of sport and drugs discourses in Australian Football League( 2006-09)Performance enhancing drugs in sport typically evokes a strong negative response. To make sense of this response and the drug policies it spurns this thesis undertakes a critical exploratory analysis of the discourses which surround illicit drugs and sport and the intersections between them. It looks at the globalisation of these discourses, assessing its manifestations in the World Anti-Doping Agency. A review of the literature finds that the strong desire to prohibit performance enhancing drugs stems from the global recognition of the cultural import of sport as a conduit for collective representation. Drugs and their symbolic associations with deviance and boundary violation are interpreted as a direct threat to this cultural role and so are vociferously fought. However, this emotionally driven response distracts from the task of addressing the pressures within the competitive sporting world. An analysis of the global impact of these discourses on local context follows. A contextual analysis finds that the Australian Football League, can consume, resist and transform global discourses on drugs and sport. A content analysis of the press news looks at this process at work in a recent scandal of caffeine as a performance enhancing drug. It concludes that rather than simply accepting the direction of the WADA, the debate reflected that the Australian context both magnified the symbolism of drugs in sport and contradictorily attracted increased criticism of it.
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ItemPauline, politics and psychoanalysis: theorising racism in Australia( 1999)This thesis uses a psychoanalytic approach to examine the phenomenon of the rise of the Pauline Hanson and the One Nation political party. Psychoanalysis, as the discipline concerned with developing an understanding of irrationality and the human emotions, is well-placed to tackle issues such as insecurity, resentment and racism. By reviewing the works of a number of psychoanalytic theorists, this thesis suggests ways that they may help us to understand the success of One Nation in Australia. Through this approach, I aim to bring new insights to the study of racism in contemporary Australia. The first part of this thesis consists of a survey of the contentions of six key psychoanalytic theorists. This analysis shows that psychoanalysis affords us an understanding of the subject as a complex being; attached to, and even constituted by, certain images and ideals. In the second section, I suggest ways in which psychoanalytic theory may assist us to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the Pauline Hanson phenomenon. This analysis deals with only a few selected aspects of Hansonism, but to the extent that this can be seen as a synecdoche of the whole, it suggests that the attainment of a full understanding of racism and the human emotions is more complex and difficult task than we often acknowledge.
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ItemThe 'relative generosity' of the minimum wage component of wage increases granted at national wage cases: 1956-1976( 1977)A research project to determine whether the full bench of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission consistently bases its decision to award a minimum wage increase equal to, above or below the percentage increase in the consumer price index, on given economic and political factors.