Boys and machines: gendered computer identities,regulation and resistance |
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| Authors: | Jane Abbiss |
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| Institution: | College of Education , University of Canterbury , Dovedale Avenue, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140 , New Zealand |
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| Abstract: | Students negotiate their masculine and feminine identities as students of information and communication technology (ICT) and computer users as they participate in specialist ICT courses and in other areas of their lives. As they negotiate these roles, they are established in relations of power and authority with the technology and with each other. Case study research relating to students’ experiences in specialist computer courses in a New Zealand secondary school reveals a complex and dynamic picture of identity construction and subjectivity. In constructing their personal identities as computer users, males and females experience the regulatory forces of gender relations while at the same time resisting stereotypes. Students make conscious and pragmatic decisions to pursue particular computing courses and paths as they balance their options in the realisation of their possible selves as computer users and adults in the world of work. These decisions signify regulation by and resistance to gendered power relations. |
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| Keywords: | identity gender gender issues information technology computer science education educational choice |
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