Theses and Dissertations
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4833-3061
Issuing Body
Mississippi State University
Advisor
Hagerman, Margaret A.
Committee Member
King, Sanna
Committee Member
Leap, Braden
Committee Member
Rader, Nicole
Date of Degree
12-9-2022
Document Type
Dissertation - Open Access
Major
Sociology
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Department of Sociology
Abstract
Schools are a critical site of socialization in which young people learn both formal curricular materials and informal lessons about social structure, agency, and inequality. This study examines the meaning making patterns of teachers and students in sex education classrooms and considers how these patterns reflect the structure and agency relationship between people and the institutions in which they are embedded. Through a series of interviews and using qualitative thematic analysis, I identify themes in how students and teachers discuss their experiences, how these themes relate to broader patterns of social hierarchy, and how sex education can act as a site for the reproduction (and sometimes disruption) of structural patterns of inequality.
Recommended Citation
Thornton, Sarah, "Classified: How Inequality Shapes the ‘Need to Know’ Question in Sex Education" (2022). Theses and Dissertations. 5663.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/5663