Sociology in drama: The women of Euripides.
Item
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Title
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Sociology in drama: The women of Euripides.
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Identifier
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AAI9432381
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identifier
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9432381
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Creator
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Shind, Evelyn K.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Charles Winick
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Date
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1994
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, Social Structure and Development | Literature, Classical | Women's Studies
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Abstract
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This study examines ways of thinking about women in Athens during the latter half of the fifth century B.C. It is based on and illustrated by a genre not often explored by sociologists--drama--namely the Greek tragic dramas of Euripides. The study is intended as a contribution to the better understanding of the diachronic affinities of a society's art, culture, dominant mentality, and the structure of its social relations. Sorokin (1957) in his study of change in these spheres maintains that they are interdependent and coherent wholes, manifestations of one system, and therefore, the process of change, once begun, assumes a parallel development in all domains. At a more fundamental level, Mead (1934) and others who have used the approach of Symbolic Interactionism endeavored to show that human consciousness must be understood as socially emergent, as a thought process that arises between the actor and his social environment. Ideas, though developed by the individual, originate in the group, and encompass artistic expression as well.;A primary hypothesis tested was that the real substance of Euripides' dramas is the social thought peculiar to Athens in the latter half of the fifth century. The method used was a qualitative content analysis of Euripides' nineteen extant plays. It is appropriate because it allows for more non-content than content text when analyzing a small and fragmented sample. Content analysis is also uniquely suited for historical research.;The information elicited was primarily in the nature of values, norms, and social attitudes of Athenian society, as they related to free and slave women, and was inferred from the utterances and behavior of various characters as the plots dictate. To determine the extent to which the information elicited was reliable, the interpretations were interrelated with the more conventional historical evidence of the period. All told, Euripides' images of women proved to be quite accurate.;This study is also relevant to changing sex roles, and will be of interest to feminists, and those concerned with how thoughts and attitudes about women have changed over time, and how they vary according to ruling class, ethnicity, and structure of social relationships.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
