Full Description
This comprehensive introduction to masculine identity politics in Canada offers a range of viewpoints, narratives, and evidence about the contested nature of masculinity. Drawing primarily on author Michael Atkinson's ethnographic research of Canadian men over the past decade, the text explores the idea of masculinity in crisis and the attempt by many men to move beyond this perceived crossroads. Atkinson reviews the historical links between masculinity and social power, the cultural associations between masculinity and violence, the role of masculinity in sports cultures, the problems of masculinity for young men, the mass mediation of masculinity and misandry, and the rise of alternative and 'feminine' masculinities. Never before have men's social roles, statuses, and identities been so open to cultural critique and redefinition; Deconstructing Men and Masculinities provides an engaging sociological narrative to guide readers through this ground-breaking area of study.
Contents
Preface ; Introduction: Masculinity in Crisis? ; What? A Masculinity Crisis? Really? ; Defining the Crisis ; Perceiving the Crisis ; Summary ; 1. Men, Power, and Pastiche Hegemony ; Chapter Objectives ; Knowing Masculinity and Social Power ; The Root of It All: Hegemony, Late Modernity, and Fear ; Late modernity, implosion, and crisis ; Summary ; 2. Violence, Residue, and Pastiche Hegemony ; Chapter Objectives ; Masculinity, Violence, and Moral Panicking: The Usual Suspects ; Violence, men, and media panics ; Spectacle, Self-Violence, and Crisis Subjectivities: Project Mayhem ; I. Backyard Wrestling ; II. Laddism ; III. Bugchasing ; IV. Ultra-Endurance Running ; Summary ; 3. The Lost (and Found) Boys ; Chapter Objectives ; Finding Boys through Straightedge ; Crisis, Callings, and Boyhood Masculinities ; Doing the Straightedge Vocation ; Summary ; 4. Male Femininities, Metrosexualities, and Liquid Ubersexualities ; Chapter Objectives ; Real Men Disappearing in a Risk Society ; Male Femininity ; Liquid Ubersexuality ; Ubersexuality and Body Supplementation ; Summary ; 5. Sporting Masculinities ; Chapter Objectives ; Case Studies in Residual Patriarchy ; I. Sexual Assault ; II. Hazing ; Summary ; 6. Mass-Mediating Risk Masculinities ; Chapter Objectives ; Three Faces of Televised Masculinity ; I. Unapologetic Men: Take Off, You Hoser ; II. On the Margins: Boys and Men at Risk ; III. Boys in Crisis: Atavism as Spectacle ; Summary ; 7. The Unbearable Whiteness of Being ; Chapter Objectives ; Physical Cultural [Whiteness] Studies ; Postcolonialism and Whiteness Studies ; From Libertarianism to Transhumanism ; The Triumph of the Object-Body ; No More Mr. White Guy: Humanity+ in Popular Culture ; Summary ; Epilogue
