Sentimental Equipment: New Zealand, the Great War and Cultural Mobilisation

<p>During the First World War, New Zealand society was dominated by messages stressing the paramount importance of the war effort to which the country was so heavily committed. Reflecting the total nature of the conflict, these exhortations regularly linked individual duties to the war effort and associated that effort with larger, or higher, purposes. It is often perceived, or presumed, that the dominance of this material arose from general wartime hysteria or was the result of imposed propaganda - with all the manipulative trickery that term connotes. Either way, such perceptions dovetail with notions that the war represents a historical rupture and that wartime discourse might be characterised as insincere, inauthentic and abnormal. Challenging this interpretation, this thesis considers wartime messages as emblematic of deeper cultural sentiments and wider social forces. Specifically, it argues that they represented the results of a cultural mobilisation; a phenomenon whereby cultural resources were mobilised alongside material resources. Consequently many pre-existing social dynamics, debates, orientations, mythologies, values, stereotypes and motifs were retained, but repurposed, in response to the war. A range of subjects illustrating this phenomenon are surveyed, including collective identity, anti-Germanism, gender archetypes, gender antitypes and social cohesion. This study highlights two major dimensions of the phenomenon: firstly, the relationship between the pre-war social/cultural landscape and the mobilised results; and, secondly, how the ideological war effort operated by layering meanings upon wartime developments. Analysing these aspects of cultural mobilisation sets New Zealand‘s military involvement in a broader context and enriches our historical understanding of the society which entered and fought the Great War.</p>

Sentimental Equipment: New Zealand, the Great War and Cultural Mobilisation

<p>During the First World War, New Zealand society was dominated by messages stressing the paramount importance of the war effort to which the country was so heavily committed. Reflecting the total nature of the conflict, these exhortations regularly linked individual duties to the war effort and associated that effort with larger, or higher, purposes. It is often perceived, or presumed, that the dominance of this material arose from general wartime hysteria or was the result of imposed propaganda - with all the manipulative trickery that term connotes. Either way, such perceptions dovetail with notions that the war represents a historical rupture and that wartime discourse might be characterised as insincere, inauthentic and abnormal. Challenging this interpretation, this thesis considers wartime messages as emblematic of deeper cultural sentiments and wider social forces. Specifically, it argues that they represented the results of a cultural mobilisation; a phenomenon whereby cultural resources were mobilised alongside material resources. Consequently many pre-existing social dynamics, debates, orientations, mythologies, values, stereotypes and motifs were retained, but repurposed, in response to the war. A range of subjects illustrating this phenomenon are surveyed, including collective identity, anti-Germanism, gender archetypes, gender antitypes and social cohesion. This study highlights two major dimensions of the phenomenon: firstly, the relationship between the pre-war social/cultural landscape and the mobilised results; and, secondly, how the ideological war effort operated by layering meanings upon wartime developments. Analysing these aspects of cultural mobilisation sets New Zealand‘s military involvement in a broader context and enriches our historical understanding of the society which entered and fought the Great War.</p>

The ‘troubled rebel girl’ and the ‘boy-next-door’: The apparent inversion of gender and love archetypes in 13 Reasons Why, Élite and Sex Education

Teen series play a central role in the socialization process of young people, since they offer portrayals and models that young people can relate to, identify with or modify and break. Previous studies have shown that teen series continue to perpetuate a stereotyped gender representation and usually reproduce a heteronormative relationship model based on the myth of romantic love following the storyline of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. The present study consists of a close reading of three popular current Netflix teen series: 13 Reasons Why (2017–present), Élite (2018–present) and Sex Education (2019–present). The results show an inversion of the gender archetypes of Beauty and the Beast. The three female protagonists are ‘badasses with a good heart’, embodying the typical archetype of the ‘Beast’, while the three male protagonists are patient, caring, innocent and even virginal, embodying the archetype of the ‘Beauty’. However, unlike in the classic model, the boys fail in their attempts to save their beloved from themselves, and the girls end up suffering irreparable consequences. The tragic end of the female characters condemns them to the impossibility of a redemption that has traditionally been granted to males.

Mythoanalytical conceptualization of leadership in the sociology of the imagination of G. Durand

Paper dwells upon the theoretical and methodological foundations of leadership, considering key approaches and archetypal theories in modern value changes. The author notes the basis of the classical typology of leadership by M. Weber as manifestations of prereflective, emotional and rationalized trust in the leader. The typological foundations of archetypal leadership patterns based on dominant charisma, context and basic needs are identified. The possibilities of applying the basic ideas of the sociology of the depths of G. Durand in modern concepts of leadership are revealed, drawing attention to the problems of interpreting gender archetypes and their synergistic effects as stabilizing attractors. The main provisions of the philosophy of G. Durand are investigated, emphasizing the possibility of overcoming the logocentric worldview prevailing in Western culture and opening the horizons of visualizing living semantic complexes of archetypes and myths. These categories are proposed to be considered as the primary cognitive and emotional assets of leadership to substantiate the sources of the innovative and self-realization potential of modern leaders. The article analyses the peculiarities of applying mythoanalysis in political leadership, which is undergoing modifications under the diurnal and nocturne regimes in heroic, dramatic and mystical narratives. Paper investigates the features of the mythocritical and mythoanalytic method of G. Durand. It is noted that mythoanalysis expands the mythological narrative to the socio-cultural context of an epoch, country, period, universal social practices, building an ideal myth-model even outside of historical time in the eternal return of myth. The conceptual reformatting of the archetypes of gender leadership discourse in the communicative foundations of moral influence is considered. The communicative aspects of leadership in masculine and feminine motives of hunting and caring archetypes are determined.

Pal Joey Goes to Hollywood

The 1957 screen adaptation of Pal Joey—starring Frank Sinatra as Joey, Rita Hayworth as Vera, and Kim Novak as Linda—redeems Joey. Now a singer rather than a dancer, Joey genuinely falls in love with Linda. In the end Joey gets the girl. The film promotes a set of emerging gender archetypes that defy middle-class, suburban constructions of masculinity and femininity. Joey’s stage-to-screen evolution—from heel to swinging bachelor—is mirrored by Linda’s transformation from stenographer to sex kitten. Both of these archetypes are responses to what cultural theorists have called the postwar “crisis” in masculinity. The character Vera too is altered. As played by Rita Hayworth, she is tamed by Joey. The anxiety over contested gender roles is reflected in the alteration of the original score, which is reworked, repurposed, and in some cases eviscerated in order to promote the ethos of the film.

Entre agujas y catecismo. Representaciones de género y estrategias políticas en el trabajo. El Sindicato de Costureras de Buenos Aires y la campaña en defensa del trabajo a domicilio (1936-1946) = Between Needles and Catechism. Gender Representations and Political Strategies in Labour. The Seamstresses Trade Union from Buenos Aires and the Campaign in Pursuit of Home Work (1936-1946)

Este artículo analiza el papel del Sindicato de Costureras de Buenos Aires, ideado por la Acción Católica Argentina (ACA), en un periodo que abarca desde sus orígenes hasta la llegada del primer peronismo. A través de un ejercicio de historia social con perspectiva de género se presentan las estrategias de la Asociación de Mujeres de la Acción Católica (AMAC) en los ambientes laborales, y también el proselitismo que desarrollaron las católicas con las trabajadoras de la industria textil durante este periodo. En esta investigación se muestran los arquetipos de género y el ideal de feminidad de la cultura católica en Argentina, que atravesaban la pertenencia social de las católicas y de las costureras. Finalmente, se realiza una aproximación a la campaña por la defensa de la Ley de Trabajo a Domicilio que enarboló la ACA, concluyendo cómo los discursos proteccionistas se encontraron en perfecta consonancia con las representaciones de género del peronismo y del catolicismo social.AbstractThis paper analyses the role of the Seamstresses Trade Union from Buenos Aires, conceived by the Argentinian Catholic Action (ACA) between its origins and the arrival of First Peronism. Through Social History and Gender Studies this article is focused on Female Catholic Action strategies over the working environments. Also, it researches the proselytism that Catholic women did against women workers from the textile industry among this period. Furthermore, the article presents gender archetypes and femininity ideal from the Catholic culture in Argentina, which outperform the social class of Catholics leaders and the seamstresses. Finally, this paper shows an approach to the campaign in defence of the «Ley de Trabajo a Domicilio», led by the ACA. Conclusions shows that these speeches where in perfect accordance with Peronism and Social Catholicism gender representations.

Adapting Pal Joey

This chapter on the liberal movie adaptation of Rodgers and Hart’s Pal Joey situates the musical in the context of postwar America, when traditional forms of gender and domesticity were being challenged and replaced by something more sexually ‘progressive.’ In the film, Joey is now a singer rather than a dancer, vulnerable rather than a heel, and he gets the girl in the end. The chapter explores how the film’s promotion of a set of emerging gender archetypes that defy traditional, middle-class, suburban constructions of masculinity and femininity is reflected in a new treatment of the score, which is reworked, repurposed, and in some cases eviscerated in order to promote the ethos of the film. A good example is the film’s presentation of the song ‘The Lady Is a Tramp’ (an interpolation from Babes in Arms), which, in Sinatra’s version, emphasize[s] that he is offering his body to her. The chapter concludes that despite the lyrics, it is Joey who plays the part of the ‘tramp.’

Soldiers and superheroes needed! Masculine archetypes and constrained bodily commodification in the sperm donation market

Extant research on bodily commodification emphasizes contexts, where market actors can pursue commodification in relatively unconstrained ways. However, scant research examines how marketers foster bodily commodification in markets, where institutional constraints limit the value which can be extracted, produced and/or exchanged. We fill this gap by studying sperm donation services in the United Kingdom and Australia, where a number of governmental regulations limit bodily commodification and value creation processes. Using an archival analysis of visual and textual material, we find that sperm banks in these constrained contexts strategically rely on the marketing of masculine archetypes as a source of value. This article delineates the concept of constrained bodily commodification and its marketing implications. Moreover, it evidences sociocultural discursive mechanisms by which marketers attempt to overcome constrained commodification issues. Specifically, we emphasize the role of gender archetypes as a resource, which allows sperm banks’ marketers to transfer identity value to the donor and donation experience. Finally, this article also has implications for the theorizing of value creation by expanding our understanding of how value is created during consumer disposition processes.

“Toxic Masculinity” in the age of #MeToo: ritual, morality and gender archetypes across cultures

Purpose This paper aims to take the “toxic masculinity” (TM) trope as a starting point to examine recent cultural shifts in common assumptions about gender, morality and relations between the sexes. TM is a transculturally widespread archetype or moral trope about the kind of man one should not be. Design/methodology/approach The author revisits his earlier fieldwork on transnational sexualities against a broader analysis of the historical, ethnographic and evolutionary record. The author describes the broad cross-cultural recurrence of similar ideal types of men and women (good and bad) and the rituals through which they are culturally encouraged and avoided. Findings The author argues that the TM trope is normatively useful if and only if it is presented alongside a nuanced spectrum of other gender archetypes (positive and negative) and discussed in the context of human universality and evolved complementariness between the sexes. Social implications The author concludes by discussing stoic virtue models for the initiation of boys and argues that they are compatible with the normative commitments of inclusive societies that recognize gender fluidity along the biological sex spectrum. Originality/value The author makes a case for the importance of strong gender roles and the rites and rituals through which they are cultivated as an antidote to current moral panics about oppression and victimhood.