Date of Award
12-2014
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Dr. Paul Ciccantell
Second Advisor
Dr. Ann Miles
Third Advisor
Dr. Whitney DeCamp
Keywords
Internet, diffusion, gender, attitudes, comoarative
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
The rapid diffusion of the Internet worldwide generates discussion about the social implications of the Internet. To explore the effect of Internet diffusion worldwide, this study examines changes in reported gender attitudes since the introduction of the Internet. I propose that the diffusion of the Internet fosters egalitarian changes in gender attitudes. Using cross-national data from forty countries over a time span of nearly twenty years, I successfully implement an alternative analysis technique, the slope-slope model, to examine the relationship between rates of Internet diffusion and changes in gender attitudes in the economic, political, and education domains. Internet diffusion affects gender attitudes in the economic domain, but not the political or education domains. As the rate of Internet diffusion increases, fewer people agree that men are more entitled to work than women. The results suggest mixed implications of Internet diffusion worldwide in relation to gender attitudes.
Recommended Citation
Roznowski, Robert, "Diffusion of the lnternet and its Effect on Gender Attitudes: A Cross-National Approach" (2014). Masters Theses. 550.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/550
Included in
Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons