Chapter 7: Structuralist Criticism

According to Tyson, (1999) structuralism is an interdisciplinary movement of thought which became fashionable though the 1960s and early 1970s – when it acquired a certain radical cachet – but which has left its most durable mark in the fields of linguistics, anthropology and literary theory. What unites structuralist in these different fields is the principle, derived from Ferdinand de Saussure, that cultural forms, belief systems, and ‘discourses’ of every kind can best be understood by analogy with language, or with the properties manifested in language when treated form a strictly synchronic standpoint what sees to analyze its immanent structures of sound and sense. Structure then, is any conceptual system that has the following three properties: (1) the system functions as a unit, its not merely a collection of independent items, (2) the system is dynamic, capable of change, and (3) it is self-regulating, meaning it never moves beyond its own structural system. In other words, “structuralism sees itself as a human science whose effort is to understand , in a systematic way, the fundamental structures that underlie all human experience and, therefore, all human behavior and production” (p. 198). There are two fundamental levels of structuralism – one visible and the other is invisible. The visible world consists of all the countless objects, activities, and behaviors we observe, participate in, and interact with in everyday life, where the invisible worlds consists of structures that underlie and organize all of these phenomena so that we can make sense of them.

Basic to this approach is the idea that we can discern underlying structures behind the often fluctuating and changing appearances of social reality. While the appearance we observe appears to change, the configuration underneath is a frame that holds up the different expression of literature. Structural linguistics is a model built on the notion that a language can be described in terms of a basic set of rules that govern the combination of sounds to produce meanings. For Levi-Strauss and semiotics generally, these underlying structures are categories of mind, in terms of which we organize the world around us. Within the structure of literary genres, we have four structural principals that continue to be erected, but with a different form, these include comedy, romance, tragedy, and irony/satire. As we examine stories written over time, we see that the basic structure of romance is a world of adventure, of successful quests in which brave virtuous heroes and beautiful maidens overcome villainous threats to the achievement of their goals, for example Sleeping Beauty. Irony, is the real world seen through tragic lens, a world in which the protagonists is defecated by the puzzling complexities of life and satire, is the real world seen through a comic lens, a world of human folly, excess, and incongruity where human fragility is mocked, sometimes with biting, merciless humor. Tragedy involves movement form the ideal world to the real world, from innocence to experience, where the hero with the potential to be superior, like a romantic hero, falls from his romantic height into a world of loss and defeat, which he can never rise such, as Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1601). In contract, comedy involves a movement from the real world to the ideal, form experience to innocence, where the protagonist is caught in a web of threatening, difficulties but manages, through various twists in the plot, to overcome the circumstances that have thwarted him and attain happiness.

As we see from the myth of Tristan and Iseult, one of the earliest romance tales second only to Lancelot and Guinevere as a great loves of the Arthurian Legends. The story of their tragic love has been the subject o numerous medieval and modern retellings. A common version of their story is that Tristan brought the maiden Iseult from Ireland to Britain to be the bride of his uncle, King Mark. On their voyage, they drink a potion that made them fall eternal in love with each other. When King Mark learns of their love, he banished Tristan. Tristan sent for Iseult as he was dying, but she arrives after his death and died herself beside his corpse. This is reminiscent of Shakespeare’s tale of Romeo and Juliet who were kept apart by feuding families, the Montague and Capulet. The tension escalates until Romeo reluctantly fights his relative, Mercuto after secretly marring Juliet and kills him in a duel. Friar Lawrence prepares a potion that allows Juliet to fall in deathlike coma as part of an effort to bring realization of the destruction of their family feud, with hope of resolving the conflict. Romeo is unaware of the plot and learns that his love has died, in anguish he too drinks poison and dies. When Juliet wakes, she is overcome with grief and plunges a dagger into herself. In 1961, Arthur Lauet writes a play loosely adapted from Romeo and Juliet, this time set in modern New York City. Instead of warring family, Tony and Maria are the lovers kept apart by the quarrel of two street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets. Eventually a rival gang member murders Tony in the street. While some may consider it a stretch, the recent story by Anne Proulex, which barrowed themes from the previous stories to create a poignant story of forbidden and secretive relationship between two cowboys in Brokeback Mountain. In this raw, powerful story of two young men, a Wyoming ranch herder and a rodeo cowboy, who meet in the summer of 1963 while sheep herding in the high grasslands of the Rocky Mountains. This time, society’s mores around acceptable sexuality is what keeps these two men apart and eventually results in the death of Jack at the hands of homophobic men of the time. Each of these stories has an underlying structure where two lovers are kept apart by circumstances beyond their control, and prevent them from loving one another. Each story ends in a tragic death, reminding us of the loss of potential. Although the characters change, the locations and time of the stories is different, the similarity is undeniable.

Chapter 6: Reader-Response Criticism

According to Tyson, (1999) reader-response criticism focuses on readers’ reaction to literary texts. Where New Criticism focused exclusively on the text itself, reader response acknowledges the interaction between the text and a reader. This theory did not receive much attention until the 1970s, at which time there was awareness that the role of the reader cannot be omitted from our understanding of literature and readers do not passively consume the meaning presented to them by an objective literary text: rather they actively make the meaning they find in literature. Each person may read the same text differently based on the uniqueness of that reader, “in fact, reader-response theorists believe that even the same reader reading the same text on two different occasions will probably produce different meanings because so many variables contribute to our earpiece of the text” (p. 154). Theorists disagree about how our responses are formed and what role, if any; the text plays in creating them, “opinion range from the belief that the literary text is active as the reader in creating meaning to the belief that the text doesn’t exist at all as it is created by readers (p. 157). As such, five headings are loosely organized so we can better understand this idea; they include 1) transactional reader-response theory, 2) affective stylistics, 3) subjective reader-response theory, 4) psychological reader-response theory, and 5) social reader-response theory.

Transactional reader-response theory analyzes the transaction between text and reader. As we read a text, it acts as a interviewer: stimulus to which we reasons in our own personal way. Feelings, associations, and memories occur as we read, and these responses influence the way in which we make sense of the text as we move through it. There are two different modes that we approach text, the first being efferent mode, which focuses on the information contained in the text, as if it were a storehouse of facts and ideas that we carry away with us. The second is aesthetic mode, which we experience as a personal relationship to the text. We focus on the subtleties of its language and encourage us to make judgments. I was reminded of Gestalt psychology, in which images are perceived as a pattern or a whole rather than merely as a sum of distinct component parts. The context of an image plays a key role. For instance, in the context of a city silhouette the shape of a spire is perceived as a church steeple. Where the author provides a positive definition, the reader completes the picture by filling in the “gaps” in the text.

Affective stylistics is the analysis of text that comes into being as it is read and is examined closely, often line by line or even word by word in order to understand how (stylistics) it affects (affective) the reader in the process of reading. This response is then used to show that the meaning of the text does not consist of the conclusion we draw about what the text says; rather, the meaning of the text consists of our experience of what the text does to us as we read it.

In subjective reader-response theory, the focus is not on the text; instead, readers’ responses are the text and meaning is created by readers’ interpretations. In this interaction, the real objects (e.g. tables, chairs, cars, books) are transformed into symbolic objects, because it occurs not in the physical world but in the conceptual world, that is, in the mind of the reader. “Therefore, when we interpret the meaning of the text we are actually in our own symbolization: we are interpreting the meaning of the conceptual experience we created in response to the text” (p. 164).

Psychological reader-response theory looks at the motives and what interpretation reveals about the readers themselves. Our responses to characters are based on our interpretations, which are products of our personal fears, defenses, needs, and desires we project onto the text.

Social reader-response theory is associated with the meaning a text is given by a group process, assumptions established, for example, in high schools, churches, and colleges by prevailing cultural attitudes and philosophies.

The four take away points from this summery are (1) this type of criticism attempts to describe the internal ways of the readers mental process as a creative act and process, (2) no text is self contained, independent of the readers interpretive design, (3) critics study how different readers see the same text differently, and how religious, cultural, and social values effect the reading of the text, and (4) instead of focusing only on the values embedded in the text, this type of criticism studies the values embedded in the reader.

Chapter 5: New Criticism

According to Tyson, (1999) New Criticism is not so new anymore, in fact, she reports that it’s “no longer practiced by literary critics” (p. 117). New Criticism replaced the biographical historical criticism that dominated literary studies in the nineteenth and early decades of the twentieth century. The theory rose to prominence in literary studies from 1940s through the 1960s and has since left an enduring influence on the way we read and write about literature. This theoretical framework continues to have an influence how we approach literary studies; consequently, we should be aware of the contribution and understand those theories that have since developed in reaction against it, namely structuralism and deconstructive criticism that will be covered in subsequent summaries. .
The focus of New Critical effort was “The text itself” as opposed to the writer’s personal and intellectual life as was the focus prior. This shift in attention was significant, no longer was the intent of the author the focus, instead, it was the text itself – “how a literary text means is inseparable from what it means” (p. 120). In this, we examine grammatical elements, choice of words (nouns, adjectives, verbs) and sentence structure to create the work’s “organic unity – the working together of all the parts to make an inseparable whole – is the criterion by which New Critics judged the quality of a literary work” (p. 121). If we change one word, or translate it is to create a new different work, this is to commit the “heresy of paraphrase”.
As Tyson explains, “literary language depends on connotation: on the implication, association, suggestion, and evocation of meaning and of shades of meaning. Thus, for New Criticism, the complexity of a text is created by the multiple and often conflicting meanings woven through it. Moreover, these meanings are a product primarily of four kinds of linguistic devices: paradox, irony, ambiguity, and tension. A paradox is a statement, proposition, or situation that seems to be absurd or contradictory, but in fact is or may be true. She sights the biblical paradox that you must lose your life in order to gain it as an example. She explains “on the surface, the phrase seems self-contradictory: how do you gain an object by losing it? However, the phrase means that by giving up one kind of life, the transitory life of the flesh, you gain another, more important kind of life: the eternal life of the soul” (p. 121). Irony is something that happens that is incongruous with what might be expected to happen, especially when this seems absurd or laughable. For example, In Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello, the title character repeatedly describes treacherous Iago as “honest.” Misled by Iago’s lies, Othello becomes convinced that his innocent wife is dishonest. Othello recognizes Iago’s deceptions only at the tragic conclusion of the play. Ambiguity occurs when a situation in which something can be understood in more than one way and it is not clear which meaning is intended. The example used by Tyson is Tony Morrison’s Beloved (1987) the image of the tree produced by the scar tissue on Sethe’s back implies, among other things, suffering (the “tree” resulted from a brutal whipping, which is emblematic of all the hardship experienced under slavery), endurance (trees can live for hundreds of years, and the scar tissue, itself, testifies to Sethe’s remarkable ability to survive the most traumatic experiences), and renewal (like the trees that lose their lives in the fall and are “reborn” every spring, Sethe is offered, at the novels close, the chance to make a new life) (p. 122). Finally, tension, is the way that opposing elements or characters clash or interact interestingly with each other in a literary work. “For example, in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1949), the concrete image of Willy’s tiny house, bathed in blue light and surrounded by enormous apartment buildings that emanate an angry orange glow, embodies the general idea of the underdog, the victim of forces larger and more numerous than itself.
New Criticism requires us to take a close look at formal elements of the text to help us discover the theme and explain the ways in which those formal elements establish it. For New critics, this is the only way to determine the texts value. By staying within the text in this manner allows us to provide the context within which we interpret and evaluate the work.

Chapter 4: Feminist Criticism

According to Tyson, (1999) “feminist criticism examines the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social and psychological oppression of women (p. 81). An approach that seeks to correct or supplement what may be regarded as a predominantly male-dominated critical perspective with a feminist consciousness. Feminist criticism places literature in a social context and uses a broad range of disciplines, including history, sociology, psychology, and linguistics, to provide a perspective sensitive to feminist issues. Feminist theories also attempt to understand representation from a woman’s point of view and to explain women’s strategies in writing as specific to their social conditions. It examines gender politics in works and traces the subtle construction of masculinity and femininity, and their relative status, positioning, and marginalization within works.

Before continuing to with feminist criticism, it is important to get a few definitions out of the way. Patriarchy is an authority-based system where the father or a male’s power is absolute. A society is considered patriarchal when men establish or inherit a social order where they dominate positions of power and authority or when important achievements and historical events are attributed to the actions of men. For example in religion, God the Father oversees the wellbeing of his children and man is seen as the epitome of his creation, where women are seen as weak for succumbing to temptation of the serpent, eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge and seducing Adam to fall from the grace of God the Father. In religious orders, women are frequently restricted from serving in the priesthood. In politics, men often define the laws and mores of acceptable behavior of women in the society. Here in the United States our founding fathers signed the Constitution and kept women from voting until 1920 when 19th Amendment was eventually passed. What maintains the belief that women are inferior to men is the status afforded their masculinity, which is based on biological difference associated with having a penis (virile, athletic, brave, and sexually aggressive) and gender role differences (stoic, unemotional, logical rational and objective). Traits that are considered feminine include large breasts, narrow waist, fertility, being emotional, affectionate, sympathetic, sensitive, soft-spoken, warm, childlike, pretty, submissive, and compassionate. Given the importance of masculinity, men invest a great deal of effort to maintain a masculine self-image, not to do so is to open criticism of femininity which may be considered a sign of homosexuality. A male who exhibits femininity or insufficient masculinity may be called a "sissy", "pussy", "queer", "bitch", or "faggot", among other things, while a young female who exhibits masculine behavior is sometimes called a "tom boy", to encourage conformity. Consequently, feminist have devoted a great deal of attention to the social construction of gender identity and gender roles.

Feminist critics take for granted that the structures of gender and sexual differences have been enormously influenced in all areas of human existence. We cannot understand history, politics, and culture (which includes literature) until we acknowledge this influence. A feminist critic may argue (about deconstruction and feminist criticism) that one point at which supposedly unified and universal meanings of texts almost always unravel is the assumption that the teacher to unmask the truth that many texts that have been called universal are in fact male-gendered and arise from and support structures that subjugate women.

Chapter 3: Marxist Criticism

According to Tyson, (1999) “economics is the base upon which the superstructure of social/political/ideological realities is build. Economic power therefore always includes social and political power as well, which is why Marxist today refers to socioeconomic class, rather than economic class, when talking about the class structure” (p. 50). This is based on the social and political theory of Karl Marx, a 19th century German socialist philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary. His work is influenced by Hegel's philosophy, the political economy of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, and theorists of 19th century French socialism, to develop a critique of society, which he claimed, was both scientific and revolutionary. This critique achieved its most systematic expression in his masterpiece, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Since its inception and up to the present day, Marxism has been positioned largely outside the political mainstream, although it has played a major role in history. Today, Marxist political parties exist in most countries around the world but as Taylor points out, “there has never been as far as we know a true Marxist society on the face of the Earth. Although Communist societies claimed to be based on the principles developed by Marx, in reality, “oligarchies control the money and the guns and forces its policies on a population kept in line through physical intimidation” (p. 49).

Many of the terms develop by Marx continue to define the attributes of capitalism, which is a system of wage-labor and commodity production for sale, exchange, and profit, which is controlled by private or corporate owned elite who reinvestment of profits gained in a free market. This has created a stratified class system in America of the Haves and Have-Nots, which Marx defied as the bourgeoisie and the working class or proletariat. The working class are forced sell their labor for an hourly rate, which tends to be kept low so that the rich can profit in the market by keeping cost down, which includes labor. In America, we saw an emerging middle class, those individuals who where not part of the very wealthy bourgeoisie who do not produce anything instead they control the means of production, where the middle class not only employ labor but also work themselves. As we have seen over the past forty years, the economy has grown to global scale, referred to as globalization. Marx predicted that the middle class would eventually be destroyed by efficiency (use of technology to replace human labor) resulting in the forced movement of the vast majority of the middle class to the proletariat. An example of this would be many small businesses giving way to fewer larger ones, without increasing the number of petty bourgeois bureaucrats required to administer each company. We saw this process in the early 1980s when many white-collar workers were laid off during recession.

The struggle for equality in a capitalist system continues to create tension given the challenge of diminishing resources and the rapid and dramatic rise in population. The world's population increased from 1.65 billion in 1900 to 3.02 billion in 1960. With world population at 6.5 billion and rising, the richest 20 percent of humanity consumes 86 percent of all goods and services used, while the poorest fifth consumes just 1.3 percent. The wealthy consume 45 percent of all meat and fish, use 58 percent of all energy produced and own 87 percent of the vehicles. Last year the World Wide Fund for Nature reported that humans are plundering the world's resources at a pace that outstrips the planet's capacity to sustain life; we currently consume 20 percent more natural resources than the earth can produce. Humanity's reliance on fossil fuels, the spread of cities, and the destruction of natural habitats for farmland and over-exploitation of the oceans are destroying Earth's ability to sustain life.

Marx believed that the transition to a socialist society would require a revolution of the working class and the dissolution of the capitalist state. Yet many argue that the ideal atmosphere envisioned by Marx has not yet happened. According to Tyson, this may be the function of ideology, which is a belief system or “product of cultural conditioning [which include] for example, capitalism, communism, Marxism, patriotism, religion, ethical systems, humanism, environmentalism, astrology, and karate are all ideologies” (p. 52). The “American Dream” would be considered another example of ideology that blinds the middle class to the oppressive nature of capitalism, which tell them that if they get an education, work hard, and are innovative, they too can become successful, famous, and wealthy. Unfortunately, education and handwork are no guarantee of success, there is evidence that those who work hardest continue to be exploited by the fringe and black market economy, where immigrants, minorities, and other economically disadvantaged members of America pay higher interest and taxes, which subsidize the lives of the truly wealthy.

According to Eric Fromm, the renowned psychoanalyst discusses how the principals of economics also have a strong influence on our love relationships. In his book The Art of Loving, he describes love as status and a commodity that can be exchanged on the market. For example, an attractive woman will leave her blue color boyfriend for a wealthy man who can provide her luxury, in the transaction, the man is able to display a “trophy wife” that he can show off to business associates and friends. This has led to a significant shift in social attitudes, behaviors and institutional regulations surrounding sexuality since Freud opened the door to the bedroom. Since then, sexuality has moved closer to the centre of public debate than ever before sparked by a sexual revolution in America during the1960 and 1970. Writers of the so-called "new left" such as Herbert Marcuse & William Riech fused Marxism and Psychoanalysis to forge a revolutionary sexual radicalism that argued that capitalism sexually repressed the masses in the interests of its life negating and exploitative goals. Capitalism demanded self-restraint and compulsive work, both it was argued were contrary to any liberated and spontaneous sexual expression. Sexual libido had been colonized and brought into the service of capitalism’s nexus of production and consumption. The bourgeoisie a century earlier had forged an identity around the confinement of sexuality within the private domain of the heterosexual family. The anti-authoritarian and revolutionary movements of the 1960s saw the reproductive suburban family along with its morality of self-restraint, hard work, and moral puritanism as an expression of class domination. Sexual freedom was tied to revolutionary outcomes. The so-called "permissive" or "swinging sixties" has become a metaphor for contemporary social conflict. For progressives it is heralded as a time of revolutionary upheaval resulting in social change and redefinition of civil rights including, decolonization, women’s liberation, gay & lesbian liberation, green and peace movements. For conservatives it has become a scapegoat to blame many contemporary problems upon and the call for the return to “traditional family values”. Issues such as pornography, marriage breakdowns, single parent families, welfare state dependency, drugs and youth crime are all seen as having their origins in the "permissiveness" of the sixties.

Tyson, L. (1999). Chapter 3: Marxist Criticism. In L. Tyson (Ed.), Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide (pp. 49-79). New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc.

Chapter 2: Psychoanlytic Criticism

In modern times, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) has become a legendary figure in the history of science. He is remembered as the founder of psychoanalysis, a method for understanding human motivation and a technique for healing the psyche. Whether we realize it or not, psychoanalytic concepts have become part of our everyday lives, most notably when we discuss the unconscious, dreams and psychological defenses. The disadvantage of common usage is that most of us acquire a simplistic idea of what these concepts mean. It is not uncommon for many of these ideas to be smirked away because they have been reduced to psychobabble and have become impossible to understand and perhaps meaningless. Therefore, the challenge of this summery is to convey a concise and clear understanding of Fraud’s theory of psychoanalysis, given the intricacy and complexity of his work and its contribution to critical theory.

According to Tyson, (1999b), the “unconscious is the storehouse of those painful experiences and emotional wounds, fears, guilty desires, and unresolved conflicts we do not want to know about because we feel we will be overwhelmed by them” (p. 15). Freud showed that the individual is basically a nonrational being, driven by such emotional forces as “sexual instincts” and “repressed wishes.” His work was groundbreaking in that he proposed that awareness existed in layers and that there were thoughts occurring “below the surface.” He did some work with hypnosis but turned his attention to dreams, which he called the “royal road to the unconscious”. This had a significant impact on positivism, the belief that people could ascertain real knowledge concerning themselves and their environment and judiciously exercise control over both through rational choice. Freud suggested that believing we have “free will” is a delusion; instead, there is an elaborate system of defenses preventing the contents of our unconscious from becoming conscious. Tyson (p. 18) defines a few of the more interesting psychological defenses:

· Selective perception – hearing and seeing only what we feel we can handle

· Selective memory – modifying our memories so that we don’t feel overwhelmed by them or forgetting painful events entirely

· Denial – believing that the problem doesn’t exist or the unpleasant incident never happened

· Avoidance – staying away from people or situations that are liable to make us anxious by stirring up some unconscious – i.e., repressed – experience or emotion

· Displacement – “taking it out” on someone or something less threatening than the person who caused our fear, hurt, frustration, or anger, and

· Projection – ascribing our fear, problem, or guilty desire to someone else, and condemning them for it, in order to deny that we have it ourselves”

Much of the pain we experience is rooted in our family relationships with mother, father, and siblings interacting in a dynamics pattern of exchanges that continue to influence our behavior and choices as adults. In Freud's controversial doctrine of infantile sexuality, adult sexuality is an end product of a complex process of development that begins in childhood. There are a number of stages we experience associated with a variety of body functions or areas (oral, anal, and genital zones), and corresponding to various stages in the relation of the child to adults, especially to parents. Of crucial importance of the Oedipal complex in boys and Electra complex in girls, which occurs at about four to six years of age, because at this stage of development “the child for the first time becomes capable of an emotional attachment to the parent of the opposite sex that is similar to the adult's relationship to a mate; the child simultaneously reacts as a rival to the parent of the same sex. Physical immaturity dooms the child's desires to frustration and his or her first step toward adulthood to failure. Intellectual immaturity further complicates the situation because it makes children afraid of their own fantasies. The extent to which the child overcomes these emotional upheavals and to which these attachments, fears, and fantasies continue to live on in the unconscious greatly influences later life, especially love relationships (Arlow & Herma, 2004)”

Freud’ postulated that everyone was born with the potential to be bisexual. While he did not view homosexuality as a sickness, he did see it as a result of psychosexual development.

In a now-famous letter to an American mother in 1935, Freud wrote:

"Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation, it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function produced by a certain arrest of sexual development. Many highly respectable individuals of ancient and modern times have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men among them (Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc.). It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime, and cruelty too....

"If [your son] is unhappy, neurotic, torn by conflicts, inhibited in his social life, analysis may bring him harmony, peace of mind, full efficiency whether he remains a homosexual or gets changed...." (reprinted in Jones, 1957, pp. 208-209, from the American Journal of Psychiatry, 1951, 107, 786).

Among the Freudian theories is the seduction theory that involves imagined (interns of the Oedipus complex), and the real seduction of a child. Basically the argument is not seduction experience per se which is significant, but that learning which takes place after an initial seduction scene, the first sexual experience being important in providing a fantasy for subsequent masturbation (Hart 1981). Concerns about homosexual man and women being “potential seducers” of children are of course compounded by the frequent confusion of homosexuality with pedophilia. The pedophile (derived form the Greek for “child lover”) sexually prefers children of either sex for erotic gratification. Probably the most known theory that explains the cause of homosexuality is based on the psychoanalytic concept of fixation of the Oedipus conflict. Accordingly, to this theory, the male child who reaches the stage of development where he separates psychology form his mother and identifies with his father will become heterosexual. If the boy grows up with a domineering mother who prevents his detachment from her or with a distant or hostile father who discourages identification, he will turn out homosexual. It is important to point out that parent may be distant and hostile to a child he may perceive as effeminate or gay, while a mother may be perceived as dominant for protecting her child.

Arlow, J. A., & Herma, J. L. (2004). Psychoanalysis [Electronic Encyclopedia]. Richmond, VA: Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard

Tyson, L. (1999). Chapter 2: Psychoanalytic Criticism. In Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc.

Chapter 1: Critical Theory

In my attempt to understand Critical Theory the one thing that keeps presenting itself over and over is the idea that there is no one unified critical theory, which makes understanding critical theory all the more difficult. As Tyson explains, “with notable exceptions, most theoretical writing – by the big names in the field and by those who attempt to explain their ideas to novice – is filled with technical terms and theoretical concepts that assume a level of familiarity newcomers simply don’t have” (p. 1). What I’ve also learned is that knowing critical theory has become a mark of status among the academic elite, “an education ‘property’ for which students and professors compete, it has also become a costly commodity, difficult to acquire and to maintain at the sate of the art (p. 1). This I suppose is why I have experienced so much anxiety in my attempt to understand the theoretical jargon and make a coherent picture of all the pieces. It is easy to be intimidated by crucial theory, to see one as inadequate, shallow, and even stupid when trying to explain what critical theory is, which is why this summery is my attempt to boil down the rhetoric to understandable terms which anyone who is just learning about critical theory, can easily understand.

So what exactly is critical theory? For me, critical theory is am approach by which we attempt to explain the assumptions and values that underlie written text and to challenge our own interpretations of what we read. When we approach a literature work, we are invited by the author to read the work in a way that carries us along the intended path of the author, what Tyson calls, reading “with the grain.” For example, just sitting down and reading the Great Gatsby, published in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald, for the pleasure and magic of reading a well-known American novel, immersing ourselves in the lives of the characters is considered reading with the grain. However, reading “against the grain” is to “analyze elements in the text of which the text, itself, seems unaware” (p. 8). For example applying a psychoanalytic examination of the characters reveals hidden motives, underlying drives, and wounds of childhood that influences the relationships of the characters (which I will elaborate on more in my summery of chapter 2) or applying a Marxist critique of the story, examining the historical an d economic conditions that shape the lives of the characters (which I cover in my summery of chapter 3). Another approach is from a feminist critique, (covered in my summery of chapter 4) of power dynamics that shape experience between women and men, and what it means to be a woman and a man, which is shaped by economic conditions that influences our relationship to one another.

The so-called “Frankfurt School” of German social thinkers that combined Sigmund Freud’s (May 6, 1856–September 23, 1939) theory of psychoanalysis and Karl Marx’s (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) theory of economics originally developed critical theory. The basic premise stresses that all knowledge is historical, and in a sense biased communication; thus, all claims to "objective" knowledge are illusory. No longer is man the master of his destiny though rational choice, instead, psychoanalysis reveled that he is influenced by irrational and unconscious drives and Marxism revealed that historical and economic conditions are strong determinants of what an individual can experience in life. For additional reading, see Max Horkheimer, (February 14, 1895 – July 7, 1973) a Jewish-German philosopher and sociologist, known especially as the founder and guiding thinker of the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Erich Fromm (March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980) a German-American psychologist and humanistic philosopher. Leo Lowentha, (November 3, 1900–January 21, 1993) an expert on the sociology of literature and mass culture. Herbert Marcuse, (July 19, 1898 – July 29, 1979), is well known for his contribution to the leftist student movement of the 1960s.

In literature critical theory, which is the focus of this book, the intent of authors are no longer the main them of literarily critique, which is captured in the idea “the death of the author,” which refers to the change in attitude toward the role of the author in our interpretation of literature works. “The author is no longer considered a meaningful object of analysis; instead, we focus on the reader; on the ideological, rhetorical, or aesthetic structure of the text or on the culture in which the text was produced, usually without reference to the author (p. 2). As Tyson, discusses, Jacques Derrida’s (July 15, 1930 – October 8, 2004) essays on deconstructive theory of language has been quite influential in the method of deconstruction, an attempt to open a text (literary, philosophical, or otherwise) to a range of meanings and interpretations. Derrida was a student of the French philosopher Michel Foucault (October 15, 1926 – June 25, 1984), known for his critiques of various social institutions, most notably psychiatry, medicine, and the prison system, and for his theories on the history of sexuality. What both of these writers emphasized is that reality is created by a system of power relations built in to discourse (language creates conditions that restrict what we can say, what is forbidden to speak of is also forbidden to think about). Thus, the goal of critical theory is to analyze the written and spoken word.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the historical conditions that shaped this critical approach. Most of the authors mentioned in this summery were either Jewish scholar who survived the Holocaust or writers who studied with the Jewish scholars. These scholars experienced systematic state-sponsored persecution and genocide of the Jews of Europe and North Africa along with other groups during World War II by Nazi Germany. There were other targeted groups, including communists, religious groups, disabled groups, “gypsies”, and homosexuals among other. Those who have experienced such traumatic oppression gain an embodied knowledge that transforms the individual in unimagined ways. Critical theory then is a reflexive understanding of the oppressive and cruel nature of human experience and the resilience of life to endure great hardship.

This is my understanding of critical theory, I invite you to comment on my summery and begin your own critical analysis of what is written here.

Tyson, L. (1999). Everything You Wanted to Know about Critical Theory but Were Afraid to Ask. In L. Tyson (Ed.), Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc.

Timoteo's Statment of Intent

In thinking, keep to the simple.

In conflict, be fair and generous.

In governing, don’t try to control.

In work, do what you enjoy.

In family life, be completely present.

~ Tao Te Ching

The purpose of this statement is to briefly introduce myself as both a macro social worker and social scientist; as well, to offer those reasons why I believe that I am an exceptional candidate for admittance to the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work PhD program. It is my intention to conduct research on social work management with a focus on capacity-building strategies in the field of HIV prevention that 1) strengthens organizational infrastructure for HIV prevention; 2) develop and adapt individual, group and community level interventions specific for Latino HIV prevention and; 3) strengthen community access points and increase utilization of HIV prevention services. The dearth of epidemiologic, behavioral, social science, evaluation, and particularly, intervention research focusing on HIV prevention, care and treatment needs of Latino, especially Latino men who have sex with men, is disconcerting. Ultimately, the aim of my research is to contribute to the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities and to improve the health of all Americans.

Modern society has become increasing complex in the United States, resulting in notable stress on the psychological well being of its citizens[1]. My own development was shaped in a historical context filled with foreign and domestic crises, a threat of nuclear annihilation and ecological devastation, military conflict, terrorism, and an ongoing war on drugs that has led to a deterioration of privacy. I have witnessed tremendous social change including a sexual revolution, the civil rights movement, massive protests and rapid advancement in technology. I have experienced the change of our postwar economy giving way to globalization. As a child, I could not appreciate how this historical backdrop would color my development. At the time, I centered on surviving physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual trauma[2] as well as being born into the pressures that accompany economic hardship^[3]. Applying for this PhD program is not just an academic exercise for me; it is a commitment to see quality of life raised for those born in the lower echelons of power. Therefore, in this statement of intent, I will cover how my experiences define my expectations and aspirations and how I plan to achieve the challenging goal to earn a Doctorate of Philosophy in Social Work.

I am a fourth generation Mexican-American, who self-identifies as Chicano. Like many Chicanos, I dropped out of high school when I was in the eleventh grade. Among Hispanic subcultures, Mexican-Americans have the highest percentage (32.1%) of people with less than a ninth grade education, compared to other Hispanic subpopulations. We also have the lowest proportion of high school graduates, (50.6%) with an even lower number who receive an associate (4%) or bachelor’s (7.6%), consequently only two percent have master’s degrees, and barley one percent have either professional or doctorate[4]. The Denver Public School System did a poor job preparing me for life; I am deaf in my left ear resulting in central auditory processing disorder which was never diagnosed. I was seen as a poor student and was still in remedial courses when I left school to work and help my family make ends meet. Beginning at the age of twelve, I worked forty hours a week during the summer and part-time during the school year doing manual labor. I quickly realized that I was doomed to low pay and a broken back if I did not find another way to earn my livelihood. My military service offered the opportunity to build confidence and discipline. Against the odds, I earned my high school diploma and eventually found my way into a community college, where I was committed to my studies. Eventually I transferred to Fort Lewis College (FLC) where I completed my undergraduate work with honors in psychology and a double minor in sociology and philosophy. While at FLC, I recognized what I learned in the class room I concurrently applied in my extra curricular activates, which included my election to the Student Senate and vice presidency of the then Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender club. What I enjoyed most was tutoring for the Program for Academic Advancement, helping students become independent learners, with a short term goal to improve the student’s grades. It was a matter of time before I discovered that my experience and education made me exceptionally qualified to serve in my community as a social worker.

Graduate School: Boston College

My formal education continued at Boston College, founded by the Society of Jesus in 1863, one of twenty-eight Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. The Graduate School of Social Work provides an innovative curriculum that is sharply focused to meet the needs of a changing society, and remains an international leader in shaping the education of professional Social Workers. I successfully participated in a rigorous training program in Community Organizing Policy Planning & Administration (COPPA). Our faculty of gifted practitioners, skilled researchers and excellent teachers equipped me with the knowledge and skills necessary for planning, implementing, and managing human services through participatory strategies that involve individuals, groups, and organizations. I was fortunate to study with the chair of our department professor Demetrius S. Iatridis, an expert in privatization, social development, critical theory, and social policy[5]. Another special mention would be assistant professor Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes who is exceptional in program planning and evaluation, community, work and family issues. But it was Professor Vincent J. Lynch who teaches the course Social Work Response to the AIDS Epidemic and coordinates the Annual National Conference on Social Work and HIV/AIDS, founded in 1988, that helped me organize my research and give it new direction.

Field placement offered me intensive "hands on" opportunities to develop my professional social work identity. My first year was with The Home for Little Wanders, a nationally renowned, private, non-profit child and family service agency providing services to more than 10,000 children and families each year through 30 different programs. While I was working as a milieu counselor in a residential program, I arranged for my first year field placement to simultaneously take place with the executive team as they prepared for an audit by the Council of Accreditation a year after the merger with Boston Children's Services (BCS) and The New England Home for Little Wanderers (NEHLW). In this position, I was able to examine the relationship between executive management who provides the organizational structure that sets the parameters in which front-line staff provides direct services. It is my hypothesis that quality of care will suffer when management establishes an administration that promotes a provider driven model as opposed to one that is client driven. Under a provider driven model, clients are known by the system and acted on in ways that meet the needs of the provider as opposed to seeing clients as subjects who know and act in their own best interest. Instead of collaborating with clients to develop their strengths, the provider sees problems to be identified and pathology to be managed. Consequently, they set up a system of pariah care that is financially driven as opposed to increasing autonomy and resilience of their clients.

In my thirty plus years of working in nonprofit agencies, as a volunteer or front-line staff person, it has been my experience that few agencies could successfully manage a sustainable organization that also provides quality service. Family Service Association of Greater Fall River is one of those few agencies, which is where I served in my second year field placement. Under the leadership of Donald J. Emond, ACSW, LICSW who is the President and Chief Executive Officer since 1963, the agency has demonstrated their commitment to provide a wide array of high quality programs and services designed to strengthen and support individuals and families and to address the social service needs of a very diverse and changing community. Mr. Emond made it possible for me to enjoy a rich experience that allowed me to take risks and learn about organizational structure and the business of providing counseling and care programs that services more than 17,000 persons a year. During my internship I was given full access to the agency including their client file management and financial administration systems. As part of my learning contract I organized a continuing education diversity training program that brought in local experts to present information on a wide range of topics that included Cambodian and Portuguese culture, public housing, poverty, the sandwich generation, demographic changes, post traumatic counseling and my presentation on the Diversity of the Latino Community. I was the executive team’s facilitator during their strategic planning session and wrote a paper on succession leadership^[6]. I was also the project manager for two different assignments. The first project was the development of a grant to the Massachusetts Workforce Training Fund designed to increase the number of certified nursing assists. The other project was the quality assurance evaluation of Adult Family Care, which is a program designed for people who do not need the continuous 24-hour skilled care of a nursing home or other institutions. It is for those who would rather reside with another individual or family. I will always hold a special place in my heart for Mr. Emond, who showed me acceptances, positive regard and sincere interest in my professional development.

While attending Boston College it was always my intention to return and practice macro social work here in Colorado. As part of my effort to create social change, I noticed that social work management is largely unrecognized as a significant force in shaping the social programs of our time^[7]. Yet, we perform a vital role in developing, implementing, managing, and evaluating social programs^[8]. It is commonplace today to hear social work managers describe their environment as turbulent both in the ecological and institutional components^[9]. That is, the availability and distribution of tangible resources as well as the normative framework for legitimizing social service, which are changing rapidly and will continue to do so well into this new century. I believe that these changes amount to nothing less than a paradigm shift in the expectations placed on social work managers for a greater and wider range of management skills and competencies^[10].

There are five active forces in our environment which are perpetuating these changes. First, the industry is grappling with an overall decrease in the availability of resources while the demand for service increases. The gradual decline of funds from the federal government since the early 1980s exacerbates this imbalance between supply and demand. Second, social problems are becoming more complex and intractable, making them more difficult to remedy with current social service technologies. As the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen, these social problems will become more pronounced. Third, the emphasis on accountability for demonstrating the relationship between services and outcomes (both cost, and quality) is increasing. The ability to show cost-effectiveness of services will be critical to sustaining future funding. Forth, advanced social and information technologies to address the forces have yet to be mobilized. It may already be too late to overcome the lag in technological acumen^[11]. To be successful in this environment will be no small challenge, the demands of leadership today require a great deal of skill in balancing the demands from different stakeholders including, investors, customers, employee’s communities and government agencies. This will require an innovative approach to the many demands of leadership and organizational development.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

My work at Southern Colorado AIDS Project has reinforced the belief that we can no long rely on paraprofessionals to serve as case managers, high-level professional case management services are needed, and research supports the value of professional intervention that effectively integrate clinical and environmental approaches requiring Master’s or Doctoral level education and advance training in interpersonal relations and psychopathology. Individuals with bachelor’s degree may successfully perform case management role if supported and supervised by a highly trained clinician or direct service delivery specialist with a master’s degree.[12] While many case management programs currently ask for little more than a bachelor’s degree this typically limits their authority, credibility and increases the demand for closer supervision.[13] Given the complexity of the case management role, higher levels of education should lead to better services and greater ability to deal with complex fragmented service delivery systems.[14] Then we can be assured that case management will carry out the duties that include: assessing the needs of the patient and family; identifying resources; assisting patient in obtaining network services; coordinate care; negotiate savings for patients and clients; assess appropriateness and medical necessity of care; investigate and develop alternatives; coordinate discharge planning; assist the patient in understanding their condition; assist patient/family in appropriate medical care decisions; represent the client, as a qualified and objective third party; assess quality of care; provide network assistance; provide physician advisor assistance; participate in nationwide coverage and on-site visits.

I applied the principals of the case management model in my capacity-building effort as the HIV/AIDS Regional Resource Coordinator, but instead of serving individuals, my client load was made up of more than thirty different community-based organizations (CBO) across a six state region. In the context of my work with the Regional Resource Network I provided technical assistance in a variety of areas from program development and evolution to community mobilization, marketing and leadership growth, all designed to increase the ability of CBO’s to provide higher quality of care for minority clients. Capacity building is one of the most fashionable, yet least understood terms in the nonprofit sector today. The working definition I applied when referring to capacity-building, meant the development, fostering and support of resources and relationships for HIV/AIDS prevention at individual, organizational, inter-organizational and systems levels. The contemporary view of capacity-building goes beyond the conventional perception of training. The central concerns of management – to manage change, to resolve conflict, to manage institutional pluralism, to enhance coordination, to foster communication, and to ensure that data and information are shared - require a broad and holistic view of capacity development. One of the key requirements in this regard is to recognize that the social whole is more than the sum of its individual components.

AIDS is a difficult topic for policy making and capacity building activates because HIV primarily affect socially disdained groups of people and is associated with sexual- and drug-related behavior, special health policy formation regarding it is intensely political. Nowhere was this more evident then in the review of the scientific literature. It was discovered that research lags far behind the reality of the impact of HIV disease on African American, Asian/Island Pacific, Native Americans and Latino populations. Despite rhetoric about the changing face of AIDS, if the literature is assumed to represent attention to newly and highly affected population, development of culturally responsive services is exceedingly slow. Despite considerable discussion in AIDS service organizations about the particular needs of lesbian and gay HIV-infected people of color, there was not an extensive qualitative or quantitative body of research about those needs in social work, psychology, counseling, sociology, sexology, minority and multicultural studies, social policy, public health and medicine, or health and AIDS education. With out robust, rational research it will be difficult to influence policy makers and advocate for the necessary funding to adequately counter the transmission of HIV in minority communities.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic among Latinos in the United Sates is as complicated as Latinos are diverse. While race and ethnicity alone are not risk factors of HIV infection there are underlining social and economic conditions that may increase the risk of infection in communities of color. Disease prevalence and health outcomes are shaped by factors of social inequality. Race, class and experience of homophobia powerfully shape and organize sexual activity and sexual risk in the lives of men and women of color. Another major obstacle in understanding the impact of social discrimination on health is that most public health models of preventable disease - as well as the majority of public funded prevention programs and practice - continue to locate the source of health risks within the realm of individual behavior. In the case of sexual transmission of HIV, for example, misbehavior is seen to results from deficits in individuals’ level of information and knowledge, in their misguided assessments of risk, in their perceptions of personal vulnerability, or in their ultimate lack of motivation or lack of personal intention to practice safer sex. It is vital to challenge the assumptions of such models of individual risk by locating “risk" within the social context of groups and communities whose disease vulnerability is intrinsically linked to a history of sexual and racial discrimination and poverty.

SCOPE OF RESEARCH

As a social scientist, one that balances theoretical knowledge with the wisdom of experience, my unorthodox techniques clearly emphasize that I am not a traditional student. My approach is rooted in critical social science, which offers an alternative to positivism and interpretive social science. Thus, I am in agreement with Kincheloe and McLaren who stated that the goal of research is to empower.

“Critical research can be best understood in the context of the empowerment of individuals. Inquiry that aspires to the name critical must be connected to an attempt to confront the injustice of a particular society or sphere within the society. Research thus becomes a transformative endeavor unembarrassed by the label ‘political’ and unafraid to consummate a relationship with an emancipatory consciousness.”[15]

I see this model built on the foundation that people do not passively discover reality instead we actively use language to construct a conception of what is “real” through social interaction^[16]. It is my intention to conduct research that builds on the recommendations provided by the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors^[17] in addressing HIV/AIDS policy including:

1. Work to improve access to prevention, care and the treatment services for Latinos regardless of their immigration or citizen’s status. Create, fund, and sustain services tailored to monolingual Spanish speaking and migrant/immigrant Latinos without regard to citizenship status. Create and support HIV prevention and care services to Latinos in and transition from correctional settings.

a. Support basic HIV/AIDS education efforts targeting Latinos. Information about HIV/AIDS including modes of exposure, strategies for preventing HIV infection, the natural history of the disease, the importance of early detection and early treatment, and current treatment approach should be broadly disseminated and constantly updated that is specific to local service areas.

b. Create public information and awareness campaigns that educate Latinos about their rights and entitlements as well as the availability and location of services locally.

c. Build and support local community-based capacity, especially with regard to a cross referral system that established a Latino AIDS health network with other wrap-around social services.

d. Establish and uphold higher standards for culturally competent care and support culturally competent training.

2. Research strategies that develop and support Latino leadership and mentorship programs.

a. Acknowledge and seek out the contributions and council of Latino leaders regarding critical public health issues and decision’s affecting Latino communities.

b. Developed Latino leadership and expertise inside of health departments at the state and local levels, within community-based agencies, faith-based community as well as informal leaders and local heroes.

c. Build and support advocacy capacity in Latino communities on policy issues.

3. Contribute to research on Capacity-Building and Social Work Management for the applied field of practice in HIV/AIDS Prevention among minority populations by focusing on four key capacity building strategies:

a. Strengthen organizational infrastructure for HIV Prevention;

b. Strengthen behavior interventions for HIV Prevention;

c. Strengthen Community Access points and

d. Increase utilization of HIV Prevention Services.

EDUCATIONAL & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Someone once told me, “When it’s time to go for your PhD, don’t try to be a superstar; select a manageable research project, get the piece of paper and get the hell out!” While I have no illusion that I will ever be an academic superstar, anyone who knows me well, knows that I never take the easy way. I have struggled long and hard for this opportunity and while I ache that it was in my nature to conform and submit, it is my constant struggle against the unjust use of authority that fuels my passion. As both a professional social worker and a critical social scientist I know that I am uniquely qualified to contribute to research in HIV prevention among people of color. What I need, to be accepted by a strong confident and capable mentor, who will guide my learning and help me to help my community counter the horrific threat of HIV. Because I see and experience the effects of the systems I attempt to study, I have a difficult time isolating variables and objectifying my subject. I have a knack for seeing complexity and interrelatedness where others see borders. In this program, I hope to learn how to develop a manageable research project and the “how to” of getting published; as well to use those skills to build a career in research and teaching.

CLOSING STATMENT

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe reminds us that “Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.” Given the opportunity, I know that I will be an outstanding student in your program, and will represent Denver University in a proud and professional manner that exemplifies the outstanding education your Graduate School of Social Work has to offer. In the role of activist and social critic I hope to influence the shift from exclusively intraspychic to social ecological models of problems; and an exploration of new models of service deliver with an emphasis on prevention, collaboration, use of indigenous resources, cultural diversity and empowerment. As a social interventionist my goal will be to limit deviance; to resolve social conflict; to facilitate knowledge and enhance skills; to ameliorate psychological problems; to prevent and treat illness; and to promote cultural, spiritual and intellectual life. Please allow me to learn the necessary skills required to share my research with colleagues and contribute to a growing body of knowledge but more important to transmit the information directly to the people, to give them the necessary skills to meet the demands of a rapidly changing society and in essence return POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

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[1] Cushman, P (1990) Why the Self is Empty: Toward a Historically Situated Psychology American Psychologist 45, 5 599-611

[2] Herman, J. (1997) Trauma and Recovery: The aftermath of violence – from domestic abuse to political terror. Basic Books; New York

[3] Sennett R. & Cobb, J. (1972) The Hidden Injuries of Class W. W. Norton & Company New York NY

[4] Ramirez, R. R. & de la Cruz, G. P. (Issued June 2003) The Hispanic Population in the United States: March 2002 U. S. Census Department www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p20-545.pdf

[5] Iatridis, D. (1994) Social Policy: Institutional Context of Social Development and Human Services. Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. Pacific Grove, CA

[6] Dyck, B. Mauws, M. Starke, F. A., Mischke, G. (2002) Passing the baton the importance of sequence, timing, technique and communication in executive succession. Journal of Business Venturing. 17 pp. 143-162.

[7] Patti, R., Poertner, J., & Rapp, C. A. (Eds.) (1988) Managing for service effectiveness in social welfare organizations. New York: Haworth

[8] Austin, M. J. (1981) Supervisory management for the human services. Englewood, Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

[9] Hasenfeld, Y. (Ed.). (1992) Human services as complex organizations. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

[10] Menefee, D. T., & Thompson, J. J. (1994) Identifying and comparing competencies for social work management: A practice driven approach. Administration in Social Work, 18(3), 1-25

[11] Patti, R. J. (2000) The handbook of Social Welfare Management Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

[12] Weil, M. & Karls, , J. M. & associates (Eds.), 1985). Case management and human service practice. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass

[13] Raiff, N. R. & Shore, B. K. (1993) Advanced case management: New strategies for the nineties. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

[14] Haw, m. A. (1995). State-of-the-art education for case management in long-term care. Journal of Case Management, 4(3), 85-94.

[15] Zkincheloe, J. L. and McLaren, P. L. (1994) Rethinking critical theory and qualitative research. In Handbook of Qualitative Research, edited by N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln, pp. 138-157. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage

[16] Searle, J. R. (1995) The Construction of Social Reality The Free Press New York, NY

[17] Ayala, G. (No Date) Addressing HIV/AIDS…Latino Perspectives and Policy Recommendations. National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors available at http://www.nastad.org/pdf/latinodoc.pdf