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A feminist study of men's and women's experiences of workplace bullying and sexual harassment
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Lee, Deborah, Dr. (1998) A feminist study of men's and women's experiences of workplace bullying and sexual harassment. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b1751616~S1
Abstract
This thesis addresses both the discourse and dynamics of workplace sexual harassment and
bullying, and on this basis develops an analysis of the relationship between these
discourses, a topic which has hitherto been unexamined. My analysis builds upon a review
of literature on workplace sexual harassment and bullying from 1979 to 1997. The
emergence of the workplace bullying discourse in UK trade union publications, the media
and self-help texts is traced. Empirical data based on interviews is used to explore three
themes: (i) the characters of the workplace sexual harassment and bullying discourses; (ii)
men's and women's experiences of workplace bullying and sexual harassment; and (iii)
how both the workplace bullying and sexual harassment of men and women is
underpinned by gender prejudice.
My main data source is sixty men's and women's accounts of cross-sex or same-sex
workplace bullying and/or sexual harassment in professional/managerial and subordinate
jobs, produced in fifty qualitative, in-depth interviews and ten questionnaires.
I show that many women embrace the workplace sexual harassment discourse to condemn
unwanted male sexual conduct and many workers deploy the workplace bullying discourse
to problematise a range of experiences previously understood as parts of the social
relations of work. My data reveals that workplace bullying is often a campaign in which
allegations of poor work performance are used to encourage an unwanted employee to
resign and/or to set him or her up for dismissal. I demonstrate that the workplace sexual
harassment and bullying of men and women is gendered: men are sexually harassed when
they fail to conform to ideals of hegemonic masculinity and men and women are bullied by
line managers because they do not appear to conform to normatively defined gender roles.
My argument is that while men's and women's experiences of workplace bullying and
sexual harassment might be conceptualised together as examples of 'abuse of power', the
specificities of workplace sexual harassment and bullying must remain visible. As such, I
propose conceptualising men's and women's experiences of workplace bullying and sexual
harassment as a continuum to highlight the similarities and differences between these
experiences.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HF Commerce | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Sexual harassment -- Great Britain, Sex discrimination in employment -- Great Britain, Bullying in the workplace -- Great Britain | ||||
Official Date: | May 1998 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Centre for the Study of Women and Gender | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Elger, Tony, 1946- ; Wolkowitz, Carol | ||||
Sponsors: | University of Warwick ; University of Warwick. Centre for the Study of Women and Gender | ||||
Extent: | iii, 435 leaves | ||||
Language: | eng |
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