OPPOSING STANDARDS WITHIN THE CULTURAL WORLDVIEW: TERROR MANAGEMENT AND AMERICAN WOMEN'S DESIRE FOR UNIQUENESS VERSUS INCLUSIVENESS

Two different standards within American women's overall cultural worldview were examined in two studies: standing out and fitting in. American culture prescribes and values uniqueness, yet gender norms for women prescribe and value inclusiveness. Thus, unlike American men, American women encounter incongruent cultural norms that make it unclear which she will uphold when faced with thoughts of death. We hypothesized that, for women (and not men), gender salience would moderate worldview adherence. Using standard terror management manipulations, American women were subjected to a self or gender prime (Study 1) as well as a non-gender-group prime and compared to men (Study 2). Results showed that under mortality salience, women primed with gender identified more with their gender group, were more likely to behave inclusively, and were more likely to desire affiliation. In contrast, those primed with the self, a non-gender-group prime, as well as men, were more likely to desire uniqueness. These findings suggest that, for an American woman, both inclusiveness and uniqueness are responses to mortality salience, depending on her momentary reference point.     

Gaining access to shiftworkers through labor unions

In this paper, we provide the procedures used to gain access to shiftworkers who served as subjects in a work-sleep study. Our experiences in gaining the cooperation of labor union organizations and their members are described in detail, as are characteristics of the surveyed workers.     

Gabrielle Suchon,Freedom, and the Neutral Life

ABSTRACT

A central project of Enlightenment thought is to ground claims to natural freedom and equality. This project is the foundation of Suchon’s view of freedom. But it is not the whole story. For, Suchon’s focus is not just natural freedom, but also the necessary and sufficient conditions for oppressed members of society, women, to avail themselves of this freedom. In this paper I, first, treat Suchon’s normative argument for women’s right to develop their rational minds. In Section 2, I consider Suchon’s three necessary and sufficient conditions for freedom and the manners in which women are blocked from meeting them. The normative argument together with the obstacles to women meeting the conditions for freedom raises the question of how to get women into a position where they can enjoy the freedom to which they are entitled. In Section 3, I outline Suchon’s answer: women must live a life without attachment. I argue this answer situates Suchon both chronologically and theoretically between the Béguines, a medieval women’s spiritual movement, and twentieth-century feminist separatism. I conclude that Suchon’s view of freedom is radical, both for its time and ours, and deserves greater attention from historians of philosophy and of feminist thought.