University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University or CU) is a collegiate public state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.&nbsp;Within India it is recognized as a &quot;Five-Star University&quot; and accredited &quot;A&quot; Grade by National Assessment and Accreditation Council.

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The University of Calcutta has secured the Fifth position among the Universities of India in the prestigious &quot;Indian University Ranking 2019&quot; list, released by the NIRF of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

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It was established on 24 January 1857, and was one of the first institutions in Asia to be established as a multidisciplinary and Western-style university. Its alumni and faculty include several heads of state, heads of government, social reformers, prominent artists, only academy award winner and Dirac medal winner in India, many Fellows of the Royal Society and five Nobel laureates as of 2019 which is highest in South Asia.

University Of Calcutta

The contemporary Indian society apparently seems to be at a juncture where it claims more number of women to be educated and independent but, on the other hand, the incidents of vicious mental, social and corporeal violations of women are at peak. Amidst all the ongoing blazing talks and movements, this study is a small attempt of delving into the tale of being women, which may help in cognising the discourse which might be at the core of this double-bind social picture. For this purpose, 30 Bengali (Indian) married women were selected through purposive sampling technique for interview, all of whom were within the age range of 18–40 years. Participants had minimum school-level education and belonged to lower middle to upper middle socio-economic status. They were reportedly free from any mental or physical handicap. The data gathered through open-ended semi-structured in-depth interviews were analysed using thematic analysis procedure. Analytical readings of findings explored a socially structured world of women; the becoming rather than being of women. The findings indicated how every sphere of their lives—mental, social or corporeal—seems to be under several mediums of authoritative forces; how their lived life, myths about womanhood and socialisation construct their present life, and how the historicised power-politics of gender craft their conceptualisations of body, rights, independence and subjectivity. This study aspires to contribute to the knowledge of women’s subjective positioning in an attempt to depict the backdrop which makes their lives accessible for violation. © 2019 Department of Psychology, University of Allahabad.

World University root node

Psychology

Psychology and Developing Societies

Be(com)ing a Woman: Body, Authority and Society

This study intended to explore the subsistence of body image dissatisfaction among young female university students, their locus of control and their metacognitive knowledge about their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their body. Thirty female university students (age ranged 21–24 years) participated in the study. Assessment through a screening information schedule confirmed all participants being of normal-weight category (BMI 18.5 to 24.9) on the BMI scale without any present or past diagnosis of eating disorder. The results demonstrated prevalence of body dissatisfaction among majority of participants, who were also seen to have less metacognitive awareness than the rest. © 2015, National Academy of Psychology (NAOP) India.

GENERAL

Psychological Studies

Body Dissatisfaction among Female University Students: Metacognitive Awareness

This study examined the degree of body image satisfaction and its relationship with physical self concept among adolescents and young adults (n = 120) with normal-weight. Analysis of data indicated that majority of the participants were dissatisfied with their body image, with highest dissatisfaction in adult males. In contrast the adolescents with body image dissatisfaction significantly differed from those who were satisfied regarding their views about physical self. Implications of the findings are discussed. © 2014, National Academy of Psychology (NAOP) India.

Body Image and its Relation with the Concept of Physical Self Among Adolescents and Young Adults

Four hundred advertisements published in Bengali periodicals in four different time periods, 1947-48, 1977-72, 1991-92 and 2004-05, were content analysed to determine whether advertising appeals concerning cultural values had changed during these years. Jewellery, cosmetics, garments and banking were the four categories of products/services used in the study. In view of the repetitive appearance of advertisements in the periodicals and the multiplicity of products and available periodicals, a multistage sampling was adopted. Content analysis was done manually by three coders following the procedure laid down by Krippendroff (1980). Findings suggest that advertising trends relating to traditional values and focus on the collective (a cultural tradition), had changed over the years. Traditional values were replaced by trends of modernisation and westernisation and priority to the individual over the collective. The reasons and implications of these findings have been discussed.