Social Implications of Sexual Identity Formation and Coming Out Process
Chad Mosher's article, "The social implications of identity formation and the coming-out-process: a review of the theoretical and empirical literature" provides a fairly comprehensive look at the theories and realities of individuals asserting their homosexual tendencies to the world. The article is widely written as a source of material and instruction for psychologists who are employed in a therapeutic or counseling capacity with such individuals, as there are implications for them to incorporate into their practice in the article's conclusion. In addition to discussing the two principle theories regarding coming out, essentialism and social constructionism, the author discusses aspects of the theories that are integrated as well as the effect of coming out on both the audience and the homosexual perception. Audiences are stratified into three distinct categories: family members, heterosexuals, as well as homosexuals and those somewhere in between these two dichotomies. Mosher's main point is that by combining various aspects of the two principle theories for sexual identity formation, social work practitioners can better assist individuals through this process.
In order to distinguish the limitations and appeals of each of the theoretical perspectives, the author begins by providing detailed definitions of social constructionism and essentialism. These theories are largely antipodes of one another -- whereas essentialism contends that sexual identity is innate or biologically determined at birth, social constructionism views...
Social Psychology of Hate Groups Content Analysis of the Social Psychology of Hate Groups Over a decade ago, it was already apparent that the Internet had advantages for social organization on the part of marginalized groups -- and that some of these marginalized groups would pose a challenge, as they could be described as "hate groups." A survey of literature on the social psychology of the Internet singles out many factors why
Religion and Spirituality in a Broad Sense Spirituality and religion are two terms that have rather unstable, historically changing definitions, characterized by numerous implied and explicit theological considerations. Further, the general contention is that these definitions are either overly specific or overly generic. A more astonishing fact is, possibly, these researches' level of concurrence that spirituality represents a private, budding, personal and emotional sphere, whilst religion is more public, group-based and
Introduction A far greater number of US citizens become victims of gang-initiated violence as compared to mass shootings or terrorist attacks. Gang members contribute to a disproportionately high percentage of the violence and crimes witnessed in the nation. Roughly two-thousand gang-linked murders are reported across the country per annum, which makes up 13% of overall murders in the nation. America's gang-connected murder rate alone (approximately 2 for every 100,000 individuals) goes
His stance is also one of superiority as he presents himself as the victim of his own vision and artistic expression. In this context, the generic pronoun "they" symbolizes Craig's detachment from the world around him as he feels superior which he believes, is what causes his isolation. Craig's wife, Lotte, is perhaps the most radically changed as a result of traveling through the portal. She becomes convinced that she
Black Colleges Homosexuality In order to create more egalitarian, prosocial, and productive campus environments, it is necessary to understand attitudes toward homosexuality and homosexual students. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students experienced relatively high rates of substance abuse, depression, and stress related to discrimination, difficulties forming social relationships, and low self-esteem (Heck, Flentje & Cochran, 2011). As Kirby (2011) points out, "Having a negative self-concept plays a major role in
Such relationships in childhood begin with the parents, and for Asher, these early relationships are also significant later, as might be expected. However, as Potok shows in this novel, for someone like Asher, the importance of childhood bonds and of later intimate bonds are themselves stressed by cultural conflicts between the Hasidic community in its isolation and the larger American society surrounding it. For Asher, the conflict is between the
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