Summary: | Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1973. Sociology Bibliography: leaves 120-125. This exploratory study examines the contingencies of subjective career growth and sex role commitment in the lives of publicly known homosexuals. The survey, test, and interviews employed in this investigation were conducted during six months field work in Minneapolis, Minnesota. -- The different adaptations which self-enhancing and self-degrading homosexuals make in order to manage their discreditable status were assessed. An analysis of the homosexual actor's familial, peer group, sub-cultural, and occupational interaction patterns was also carried out. A chronological examination follows the homosexual actor from the scene of his first same-sex experience, through self-admission and coming-out, to management of his present sex status, including his perceptions and feelings about aging. -- The theoretical background employed is symbolic interactionist and phenomenological. Emphasis is placed on the dynamic process of commitment emergence and change, unified by career. Hypotheses are generated, through-out, for future verification and replication.
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