Romanian Students’ Social Schemata and Perceptions of Masculinity

This book intends to investigate whether empirical evidence can be supplied as to the activation of gender schemata by young Romanian female readers during their textual encounter with an allegedly expectation-challenging text about male bodies and masculinities. Such evidence is indicative of potentially schema-refreshing effects such a text could have upon Romanian readers who are proficient in English. Analysing the gender dimension in the schemata likely to be activated by young Romanian female intellectuals provides further insight into the language and social practices specific of such readers as a ‘community of practice’. Novel viewpoints on the reception of Western hegemonic and alternative masculinities within an Eastern- European, post-communist cultural environment will emerge. It is in the intention of this book to reveal whether a readership like young Romanian female intellectuals is still traditionally-minded and gender-schematic with respect to alternative masculinities or has become psychologically ready to acknowledge the pluralisation of masculinities.