Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Summer 2015 Gender Stability and Change: The Differential Characterization of Men and Women in Popular Country Music from 1944 through 2012 Clayton Cory Lowe Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the Gender and Sexuality Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, and the Sociology of Culture Commons Recommended Citation Lowe, Clayton Cory, "Gender Stability and Change: The Differential Characterization of Men and Women in Popular Country Music from 1944 through 2012" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1299. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1299 This thesis (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. GENDER STABILITY AND CHANGE: THE DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF MEN AND WOMEN IN POPULAR COUNTRY MUSIC FROM 1944 THROUGH 2012 by C. Cory Lowe (Under the Direction of Nancy L. Malcom) ABSTRACT This research is a longitudinal study of differential depictions of men and women in top country music from 1944 through 2012. The study attempts to understand the gender system as theorized by Ridgeway using the analytic heuristics of cognitive sociologists and the methods of ethnographic content analysts. Findings include the various axes upon which women and men are differentially characterized over time including men and women's behaviors within romantic relationships, involvement in deviance and crime, work and the use of economic capital, their bodies, and differences in cultural capital such as education.