5.1. Content analysis trends
Findings from the quantitative content analysis of the visual texts will be followed by the findings from the qualitative narrative analysis verbal data. A total of 371 photographs from 29 participants were included in the final data set. The content analysis was preliminarily completed and then reworked in order to refine category definitions and more systematically recount instances, yielding the final content analysis.
5.1.1. Themes
Seventeen theme categories were identified and tabulated. These were the 'visible' or probable orientations of the photographs, confirmed where necessary by information from the interview. Of the 371 photographs, 305 were given one of the 17 coding
categories (f = 82.1%), with 52 of them being coded in more than one category (f = 14%) and 66 of the photographs falling outside of the categories (f = 17.9%). There were no notably occurring common themes among these 66 photographs. A rank-ordered list of the categories (descending) most identified in the total sample was developed, the categories according to participant representation (N) with actual number of photographs within the group (Np) used as the deciding criteria in the case of ties. In the case of a further tie, the spread of the category was considered and its explicitness within the data.
Comparative lists for the data groupings according to school and 'race' were developed in the same way. The category lists suggested key areas of convergence and divergence among the sample groups. 'School activities' was the only category to occur in the top three for each sample group. This suggested that the school context might be considered an important context in which meanings of masculinity were situated. Other categories presented differentially across groups suggestive of different configurations of practice among the groups. Particular anomalies, such as the appearance of a category in the top
three for one group and at the bottom of the list for all others was taken as an indication of a notable inter-group difference. One such anomaly was the 'work activities and household chores' category which was the second most represented category in the School B sample group yet was not represented at all in the School A groups apart from one individual from the School A Black group. This suggested a notable difference between the sample groups in which the School B group considered work activities and household chores as more important contexts for meanings of masculinity than School A participants. Similarities were noted, for example, the high rating of the 'cars' category for the School A Black and School B groups as compared with other groups. This category was allocated where cars were the main subject either as a poster or magazine or as photograph of the family car. Included were several photographs of boys in front of teacher's cars, confirmed by the interviews to be the main subject of interest in the image.
Total Sample (N=29; Np=371) School activities Sports participation Family members IT or media Cars
Clothing fashion Work or chores Religious activities Music consumption Appearance Card games Sports consumption Music performance Non-relational sexuality Trophies
Animals
Cigarettes/alcohol
School A Mixed (N=20: Np= 225) School activities Sports participation Family members Religious activities Music consumption Card games
Sports consumption IT or media
Cars
Music performance Appearance
Non-relational sexuality Clothing fashion Trophies Animals
Cigarettes/alcohol Work or chores
School B Black (N=9; Np- 146) School activities Work or chores Family members Clothing fashion Cars
Sports participation IT or media
Appearance Religious activities Music performance Music consumption Trophies
Non-relational sexuality Animals
Table 2.1 Rank order of thematic categories for complete data set and school samples (most frequent descending)
School A Black (N=6, Np=68) School activities Sports participation Cars
Family members Clothing fashion IT or media Religious activities Sports consumption Cigarettes/alcohol Non-relational sexuality Work or chores
Card games
School A White (N=9, Np=97) School activities Sports participation Music performance Card games Family members Non-relational sexuality Music consumption Trophies
IT or media Appearance Cigarettes/alcohol Sports consumption
School A Indian (N=4, Np=50) Religious activities Family members School activities Sport participation Music consumption Sport consumption Trophies
Cars
Clothing fashion Card games Appearance Animals
Table 2.2. Rank order of thematic categories across sample groups (most frequent descending)
'Sports participation' figured prominently for the School A Black and most highly for the School A White groups. This suggested that for these groups this was a context closely associated with meanings of masculinity. This category did not feature in the top five for School A Indian and School B Black groups, suggesting less importance. A notable feature was that although 'sports participation' was less elevated for the School A Indian group, the 'sports consumption' category was elevated relative to other groups. This suggested a different configuration of practice for the School A Indian group around sport and the meanings of masculinity. The sports codes identified for both 'sports participation' and 'sports consumption' analysed in relation to N suggested a differential pattern of identification with sporting codes. There was a notable split between rugby against soccer and basketball as 'racially marked' sports (see Figure 3). The School B sample was largely identified with soccer only, whereas the School A Black sample was identified with soccer, basketball and cricket.
Photograph 1: In the computer classroom (School B)
I
Photograph 2: Participant in his brother's car (School B)
Photograph 3: Magazine collection (School A)