Doctoral Dissertation by Ivna Ivanković Successfully Defended Under the Mentorship of Assoc. Prof. Marijana Kompes, PhD

On Friday, 26 September 2025, doctoral candidate Ivna Ivanković successfully defended her dissertation titled “Values and Femininity: Value Orientations and Images of Femininity from the Second Half of the 20th Century” as part of the doctoral program Sociology: Values, Identity and Social Change in Croatian Society at the Catholic University of Croatia (CUC). The dissertation was supervised by Assoc. Prof. Marijana Kompes, PhD, mag. phil., with Assoc. Prof. Ivana Brstilo Lovrić, PhD, serving as co-supervisor.

The dissertation defense committee consisted of Assist. Prof. Damir Mravunac, PhD (Chair), and members Prof. Stjepan Kušar, PhD, and Prof. Anka Mišetić, PhD, from the Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb.

In her dissertation, Ivanković explored the reconstruction of the image of femininity and the reproduction of normative conceptions of femininity in the era of the (post)modern visual turn. The quantitative research was conducted within a post-positivist paradigm through an online survey on a convenience sample of 541 respondents. The study examined how participants described normative and non-normative representations of twelve globally known women (photographs) through the character dimension of masculinity and femininity, and how sociological profiles differentiate respondents in their aesthetic preferences.

Some of the dissertation’s key insights concern the aesthetic preferences of modern, traditional, non-religious, and religious respondents regarding normative and non-normative photographic representations of women, as well as which features act as diminishers of preference within a traditional worldview.

The committee members praised the dissertation, highlighting the importance and relevance of the topic, and recommended its publication as a book.

Congratulations to Ivna Ivanković on the successful defense of her doctoral dissertation!