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1 – 10 of over 5000Gunilla Olofsdotter and Lena Randevåg
This study aims to examine how masculinities are (re)produced in project-based organizations. The authors first investigate the doing of masculinities in everyday work practices…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how masculinities are (re)produced in project-based organizations. The authors first investigate the doing of masculinities in everyday work practices in construction project management. Second, the authors investigate whether there are opportunities to perceive, or do, gender differently in this specific context.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are elicited from a case study of construction project managers working on a infrastructure project. The project managers were interviewed through semi-structured informal interviews regarding their experiences of project work. The analysis was inspired by the competing discourses and practices of masculinity in organizations outlined by Collinson and Hearn (1994).
Findings
The results showed how multiple masculinities coexist and overlap in the project organization and in the everyday practices of project management. Both male and female project managers must adjust to these masculine discourses and act in accordance with a particular context. But the results also showed opportunities to challenge the masculine norms by doing gender differently.
Practical implications
The results of this study highlights opportunities for creating a more gender-equal work environment in the construction industry. The multiple ways of doing masculinity, by both men and women, highlights the possibilities to balance between doing it well and differently. Such knowledge can be used in policy and strategies for equal opportunities for men and women in organizations.
Originality/value
This study provides insights into the (re)production of multiple masculinities in construction project management. This study contributes to the criticism of the normative conceptions that have characterized the literature on project management. The authors add to the tradition of organization studies by arguing that the gender analysis of project management is important to increase understandings of how projects are managed and, in this case, how masculine discourses affect everyday work.
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This qualitative study explores the intersection between organizational masculinity and emotionality within a pre‐hospital emergency services organization. The existence of…
Abstract
This qualitative study explores the intersection between organizational masculinity and emotionality within a pre‐hospital emergency services organization. The existence of multiple masculinities within a male‐dominated and emotion‐laden organization indicates that men who work within this context are required to negotiate multiple forms of masculinities within heavily emotionalised organizational regions or spaces. This study found that there were competing tensions between at least two forms of masculinity within the organisation in question. While militarized and managerial/technical forms of masculinity dominate as the principal hegemonic form, a heroic and caring masculinity is also essential to how the organization in question produces its key services. It is argued that forms of masculinity that are closer to the hegemonic ideal type are not “compensatory”, but have to co‐exist with other, albeit more marginalized, masculinities.
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School exclusion in England is highly gendered, racialised and classed. For instance, boys are three times more likely than girls to be excluded from school and certain groups…
Abstract
School exclusion in England is highly gendered, racialised and classed. For instance, boys are three times more likely than girls to be excluded from school and certain groups, including Black Caribbean boys are subject to disproportionate levels of exclusion. Against this backdrop, I explore the context and consequences of exclusion from English mainstream schooling for young masculinities. The arguments presented also have broader international significance due to a global tendency towards punitive measures in schooling. Through bringing masculinities scholarship into conversation with childhood studies, this chapter aims to present a nuanced theorisation of young masculinities which foregrounds lived experience and is located within the interdisciplinary field of childhood studies. It examines ways in which exclusion and schooling in alternative settings, such as a Pupil Referral school, can shape the identities of boys and their subjectivities. The empirical data demonstrate that excluded boys face severe constraints arising from ways in which they are positioned. Drawing on original qualitative data, it is argued that boys who are categorised in this way demonstrate highly agentic ways of ‘doing boy’. This chapter is underpinned by two questions, firstly, how can we theorise boyhood and school exclusion in ways that recognise excluded boys as agentic and constrained subjects? Secondly, what possibilities for change might our theorisation reveal? This chapter concludes by arguing for intersectional masculinities and strengthened theorisation of childhood studies which explicitly recognises lived experience. Through this discussion, I seek to illuminate the emotional costs of school exclusion and insights into ways to achieve change.
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Michael Kennedy and Philip Birch
The purpose of this paper is to problematise the application of hegemonic masculinity to police practice and culture.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to problematise the application of hegemonic masculinity to police practice and culture.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper offers a viewpoint and is a discussion paper critiquing the application of hegemonic masculinity to police officers, their practice and culture.
Findings
The paper suggests that a broader conceptualisation of masculinity, offered by scholars such as Demetriou (2001), is required when considering policing and its culture, in order to more accurately reflect the activity and those involved in it.
Research limitations/implications
Writings concerning police practice and culture, both in the media and academic discourse, are questionable due to the application of hegemonic masculinity. The application of hegemonic masculinity can create a biased perception of policing and police officers.
Practical implications
The paper helps to engender a more accurate and balanced examination of the police, their culture and practice when writing about policing institutions and encourage social institutions such as academia to address bias in their examination of policing institutions and police officers.
Originality/value
There has been limited consideration in regards to multiple masculinities, police practice and culture.
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Raghunandan Reddy, Arun Kumar Sharma and Munmun Jha
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that Bourdieu’s concept of masculine domination offers a comprehensive social theory of gender as compared to Connell’s concept of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that Bourdieu’s concept of masculine domination offers a comprehensive social theory of gender as compared to Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity through examining the proposition of positive hegemonic masculinity.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper that argues that Bourdieu’s concept of masculine domination offers a comprehensive social theory of gender as compared to Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity.
Findings
The findings demonstrate that Bourdieu’s concept of masculine domination incorporates both discursive and material structures of the gender system that privileges men/masculine over women/feminine, making it a comprehensive social theory of gender.
Research limitations/implications
The concepts of hegemonic masculinity and masculine domination have not been reviewed in the light of emerging perspectives on hegemony, power and domination. The future research could focus on a review of research methods such as institutional ethnography, in examining masculine domination.
Practical implications
Using masculine domination perspective, organizations could identify specific managerial discourses, aspects of work organization and practices in order to eliminate gender-based discrimination, harassment and unequal access to resources.
Social implications
Public policy interventions aimed at inclusive development could examine women’s condition of continued disadvantageousness, through masculine domination perspective.
Originality/value
The authors seek to provide a comparative view of the concepts of hegemonic masculinity and masculine domination, using the categories of comparison that was not attempted earlier.
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– The purpose of this paper is to review the development of the field of knowledge about masculinities, and particularly to show the need for post-colonial perspectives.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the development of the field of knowledge about masculinities, and particularly to show the need for post-colonial perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
Reading major texts in the field and analysing their conclusions, inclusions, and exclusions.
Findings
Study of masculinities is necessary to gain an adequate understanding of the whole field of gender relations. This field is now global, but the consequences of a global field of knowledge are not sufficiently recognized because of the continuing hegemony of the global north in theory, methodology, and academic networks. The coloniality of gender is outlined. Significant contributions from the global south are identified and the issues involved in decolonizing the field of masculinity studies are analysed.
Research limitations/implications
Mainly Anglophone texts discussed.
Practical implications
Redesign of curricula for teaching in this area; redeployment of resources in academic publishing and other knowledge production projects.
Social implications
Knowledge in this area is relevant to HIV prevention, poverty reduction, economic development, prevention of violence, international conflict, and educational attainment.
Originality/value
To stimulate rethinking among scholars in the field of masculinity and gender studies, and through them among those dealing with the practical issues mentioned.
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The rise of “strong man” politics in the Philippines brings attention to manhood narratives. Machismo remains a strong presence in the upper echelons of society, despite gender…
Abstract
The rise of “strong man” politics in the Philippines brings attention to manhood narratives. Machismo remains a strong presence in the upper echelons of society, despite gender equality initiatives and a strong feminist movement. With Rodrigo Duterte portraying the “father-figure” of the nation, one questions what this type of manhood means for the Filipino family.
This study traces the construction of Filipino manhood in relation to the country’s strongest unit of the family. Utilizing a systematic review of seminal outputs on masculinity, this piece explores the definition of Filipino manhood using texts from various Filipino gender and development scholars. Sikolohiyang Pilipino or Indigenous Filipino Psychology frames the identified themes that surround the image of a Tunay na Lalaki or True Man. The labas (outer world) and loob (inner self) are then framed in relation to Filipino men’s roles. Intersections between one’s peer group, socio-economic class, and the situation in the global migration context inform the formation of one’s labas (outer self/identity). The findings indicate that Filipino manhood traits, as seen in one’s loob (inner self) contextualize one’s understanding of manhood’s construction as familial. By unearthing the nuances of manhood in the archipelago, this chapter showcases masculinities from the subaltern and purports possible ways of decolonizing “from below.”
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Research in gender and development (GAD) remains largely preoccupied with women's issues and ignores the gendered nature of masculine experience. While exposing this inconsistency…
Abstract
Purpose
Research in gender and development (GAD) remains largely preoccupied with women's issues and ignores the gendered nature of masculine experience. While exposing this inconsistency in gender research, the present paper highlights the gendered nature of men, and sets an agenda for their inclusion in gender research and planning.
Design/methodology/approach
To engage with the issue, the paper resists an unproblematic understanding of men as a singular formation, and instead builds on cultural and historical approaches which locate masculinity within modes of production.
Findings
Instead of casting men in the problem mode and theorizing masculinity as an ahistorical universal, an attempt is made to delink men from patriarchy. For development to be truly transformative, men's issues should be addressed not just as instruments for women empowerment, but also as subjects in themselves.
Practical implications
The paper, at a very broad level, pleads for a need to re‐vision and “men” stream development that does not ignore women, but accommodates men as gendered subjects.
Originality/value
In this context, power may be seen as embedded in specific modes of production, and not inherent in patriarchy. The paper argues that development agenda should go beyond categorical thinking, include men in gender planning, and create conditions for social justice.
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Purpose – To place contemporary masculinity research in a global context and explore new possibilities for theory and research.Method – Review of international literature, and…
Abstract
Purpose – To place contemporary masculinity research in a global context and explore new possibilities for theory and research.
Method – Review of international literature, and life-history interviewing.
Findings – A full appreciation of the significance of world society for gender analysis requires reworking both theory, to incorporate the perspectives of the global South, and research methods, to allow for the impact of global social forces.
Originality: The chapter develops critical perspectives on masculinity studies; introduces theorists not normally included in this field; and presents two case studies from current field research illustrating the interplay between local history and global social forces.
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Children's film and fiction often portray a witch as either an evil hag or an incompetent older woman yet when the male witch is within the narrative, he is named Sorcerer or…
Abstract
Children's film and fiction often portray a witch as either an evil hag or an incompetent older woman yet when the male witch is within the narrative, he is named Sorcerer or Wizard, suggesting therefore that (unlike the hag) age and gender is not a factor when performing witchcraft. Moreover, the male witch identity is introduced from the position of empowerment and competency rather than prejudice. Witch identities are gendered, and the male witch is underappreciated and overlooked by the historical identity of the female witch.
This chapter analyses how the male witch is presented in selected children's film and fiction through the frameworks of Hegemonic, Hybrid, and Mosaic Masculinity. Hegemonic Masculinity demonstrates the toxic performance of the male witch, indicating to readers and audiences that to be male and a witch, a heterosexual man must be cruel and manipulative. Hybrid Masculinities relate to some patriarchal behaviours such as violent outbursts, that also blend with more empathetic and emotional behaviours. Mosaic Masculinity presents the male witch in a way that is fluid and disrupts the binary of Hegemonic and Hybrid Masculinity.
This chapter acknowledges the absence of presence of the male witch and encourages a more authentic representation of the male witch that is akin to those who practice witchcraft. There are non-toxic examples of masculinity that challenge the potential for stereotyping, hence there is a need for a better representation of what it means to be a witch within popular culture.
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