Dissertation Research: Conceptions of Gender-Based Harassment in France and the United States

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Guided by theories from several subfields of sociology including the sociology of culture, social problems, and social movement framing analysis, this doctoral dissertation research project will examine the dramatic differences in the way "sexual harassment" is defined in France and the United States. It asks four central questions: 1) What are the major differences between sexual harassment definitions in each country? 2) How can such international variation be explained? 3) How is sexual harassment defined differently across distinct levels of discourse, e.g. law, media, corporations, and social movements? 4) How can such intra-national variation be explained? To answer these questions, multiple several types of data analysis will be performed, including content analysis of legal statutes, jurisprudence, internal regulation, and media reports. The study further draws on 58 in-depth interviews with a series of sexual harassment "specialists," or people who play an important role in defining this issue in the public realm: lawyers, activists, public figures, human resource personnel and union activists. Interviews will determine how respondents conceptualize sexual harassment. The study should also contribute to theory-building in cultural sociology, comparative sociology and sociology of gender. It should improve understanding of how civil rights and legal wrongs are collectively determined. Its cross-national project design will facilitate new insights regarding the role national legal systems, political structures, social history and cultural expectations play in this process.