/library/oar/handle/123456789/36816 Thu, 25 Dec 2025 11:11:15 GMT 2025-12-25T11:11:15Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/37237 Title: The perfect pair : women negotiating embodiment Abstract: This study explores women’s subjective understanding of their breasted embodiment from a sociological and feminist point of view. In a society and culture where breasts are sexualized and their main function often side-lined, little attention has been paid to women’s subjective experiences of their breasts. This study starts from the premise that the body is a “lived body”, meaning that the body, the mind, and society are all intertwined. The way we speak of our bodies cannot be separated from our physical experience of them. Exploring breasted embodiment is one aspect which can add further insight into understanding women’s embodiment in everyday contexts. The study documents the narratives of 26 women from different backgrounds, adopting an interpretative research design and using semi-structured in-depth interviews to collect the data. Data was analysed using a thematic approach and presented in narrative form. The results show that women’s understanding of breasted embodiment is complex, at times conflicted, and tied to the specific contexts within which they interact. Some women’s dissatisfaction with their breast size is often the result of an objectifying male gaze, as well as the result of not matching beauty ideals often prescribed by the media. Findings also suggest that women tend to value their breasts on the basis of their appearance, rather than on their functionality. The decision to undergo surgery, purely for cosmetic reasons, stems from the desire to fit within normative standards of femininity and to further align one’s sense of self to one’s desired body. Age, breastfeeding, and breast cancer are all factors which affect women’s perception of their own breasts and, their embodiment. Description: M.A.SOCIOLOGY Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/37237 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/37236 Title: Who in the world are you? : a sociological inquiry of the lived experiences of cultural hybrids Abstract: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the lived experiences of individuals who identify with multiple cultural identities. As this world becomes increasingly global and more and more individuals migrate, it is becoming increasingly common for individuals to identify with more than one culture and/or nationality. The rationale for this inquiry has its roots in a determination to understand the potentially complicated process of how cultural hybrids negotiate their identities throughout their lives. A qualitative methodological approach was used in this dissertation. Nineteen participants, twelve females and seven males aged twenty-five years and over were involved in this study. Their narratives were collected in a semi-structured interview format. Snowball sampling technique was utilized to recruit this purposive sample. The participants who participated in this research had i) a Maltese and a foreign parent and/or ii) have lived outside of Malta for at least five years when they were young and/or iii) identify with more than one culture, one of them being the Maltese culture. The narratives were audio-taped and later transcribed. When a thematic analysis of these interviews was conducted, several themes emerged. All participants underlined that the fact that they had been exposed to multiple cultures in their formative years, meaning that they identified with multiple cultures, at a different extent, depending on the issue and/or the context. During the analysis of the narratives it was clear that the participants felt that although initially it had been painful to become accustomed to multiple cultures, they felt enriched from this experience, which made them feel superior over others who had not benefitted from this exposure. It was also evident that the fact that they lived in and in-between cultures, they were more conscious that identity – gender, sexual, etc. – involved performativity. They felt that in their advantageous position as insiders/outsiders of different cultures, they attained the cultural competence to reflectively decide which aspects of which cultures they could utilize in their own lives. Another interesting issue which emerged in these discussions, was the issue of 'home‘ and belonging‘. For some home embodied a space/place, for others this was linked to people they felt close to. Competence in two or more languages was essential to help them feel connected to peers or significant others. Initially acculturation in two or more cultures was perceived in negative light because it proved painful, and those involved were often ostracized by the in group. With time though they feel they have benefitted. This experience has helped them acquire cultural intelligence — namely openness, appreciation of cultures and empathy. Intersectionality, standpoint and performativity theories provided the epistemological underpinnings in this research study. Description: M.A.SOCIOLOGY Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/37236 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/37231 Title: Material girls? : consumer culture in the everyday life of primary school children in Malta Abstract: This research explores the relationship between consumerism as a culture in itself and children as a social group within society, without assuming that they are in any way less able or inferior to adults. This research was done through participant observation and also interviews with the children and also the adults responsible for them; parents and teachers. Child-centred methods were used to carry out this research in order to be able to collect more reliable and valid data. A qualitative research design was used; an ethnographic research design was used with participant observation in a girl’s primary school together with individual interviews with the children and the adults responsible for them. Thematic analysis was applied to the interview data and the themes identified were: Social Status and Consumerism, Identity and Consumerism and Media. The key finding is that children are influenced by consumerism and its promoters such as advertising agencies and marketing companies. The children use consumable materials to measure their relative social status among their peers and to gain a sense of belonging. The children also use material objects to express their identities. The media is very popular among children and this is what makes children so influenced by it. Description: M.A.SOCIOLOGY Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/37231 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/37230 Title: The experience of multiculturalism in schools in Malta : a qualitative exploration Abstract: This dissertation focuses on the experience of multiculturalism in schools in Malta from a sociological perspective. Drawing on a number of scholarly works, multiculturalism is analysed both in terms of the changes brought about by the increase in pupils with different national, ethnic and religious backgrounds, and in terms of a political project that deals with these changes. First-hand information was gathered and generated by means of a case study of a particular State Secondary school in Malta. Qualitative interviews were carried out with pupils of different national backgrounds, with teachers of various subjects and with the Head of school and an Assistant Head. Two expert interviews were also carried out and relevant statistics were consulted to put the case study in a wider national context. The findings indicate that mere contact with individuals having different national, ethnic and religious backgrounds does not automatically translate into meaningful contact. The lack of leader training and of stimuli to foster meaningful contact are having a negative impact on the multicultural schooling experience resulting in frustrations, doubts, dilemmas, conflict and peer victimisation despite the coping methods employed by leaders (teachers, Assistant Heads and Heads) in the school, and the positive perceptions about multiculturalism held by both pupils and leaders. A multicultural project which focuses on cultivating active citizenship based on equality despite diversity is not being implemented in the school. The situation is one of a mixture of assimilation and indifference towards multicultural differences, with the Maltese language and the Catholic religion still having a stronghold on the schooling experience despite the increase in multilingualism and religious pluralism. Description: M.A.SOCIOLOGY Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/37230 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z