Men,masculinities, and gender-based violence: The broadening scope of recent research

Men's relationships to gender-based violence (GBV) have long been an area of sociological inquiry, but until recently men have primarily been framed as perpetrators of violence against women. More recently, research on men and GBV has broadened to include studying men as victims/survivors, as investigators and law enforcement officers, as passive or active bystanders, and as allies in working to address this social problem. We review this research in an effort to bridge these divergent bodies of work; we identify methodological trends and gaps in existing research, make recommendations for improved theoretical and methodological robustness, and suggest that research perspectives on men and GBV have shifted over time as wider understandings of gender and masculinities become more hopeful and more inclusive. While we see optimism and promise in new directions of GBV research, we urge ongoing research to retain the wisdoms and critical perspectives that marked the beginnings of GBV inquiry.     

Community development and the politics of community

In a context in which ‘community empowerment’ isvirtually government policy, it is hardly surprising that thereis almost no area of social policy that is immune from the communitytreatment. Of course, this is not new, despite the zeal withwhich each new initiative is ‘rolled out’. In fact,sometimes it seems that policy development needs to reinventthe wheel of community every decade or so. The question, therefore,is what this ideological recycling of community tells us: first,about the meaning of the term itself; second, about its contemporarysignificance within the wider politics of the state. This articleargues that we need to draw on those historical and theoreticalresources which help us to think our way through to the contemporarycontext. Only an active and engaged recognition of the politicsof community will enable us to get to the root of the problematicyet promising nature of community development.     

‘Show us your frilly,pink underbelly’: Men administrative assistants doing masculinities and femininity

Research on men tokens (or numerical minorities) at work has focused on the processes by which men try to claim hegemonic masculine identities for themselves and how workplace interactants support or reject these attempts. In contrast to masculinity studies, token theory has paid less attention to non‐hegemonic masculinities. Using interviews with men administrative assistants, I develop a more comprehensive understanding of men tokens' gender performances and their significance for gender inequality. I present a four‐part typology: hegemonic masculinity, alternative masculinity, critical masculinity and male femininity. The categories are differentiated along two axes: support for hegemonic masculinity and support for hierarchical, binary gender.     

Men,masculinity and "gender in development"

Articles and training materials on gender issues always talk about women. This focus is logical given the main goal of fostering the involvement of women as equal partners in the development process. The problems faced by men are rarely considered. Moreover, gender training, one of the core strategies of gender and development practice, rarely addresses men's experiences as men. By ignoring the complexities of the male experience, characterizing men as the problem, and continuing to focus upon women as the oppressed, development initiatives attempting to be gender-aware can fail to effectively address the issues of equity and empowerment. The author focuses upon the implications of recent work in feminist theory and questions of masculinity, stressing the need to consider the complex and variable nature of gender identities, and to work with men in exploring the constraints of dominant models of masculinity.     

Out of the shadows?: Grandfatherhood,age and masculinities

Recent years have witnessed an increasing recognition of the role of grandparents in contemporary families. However, there has been little if any research which emphasises the roles and relationships of grandfathers. And while the more limited contribution of grandfathers compared to grandmothers remains a widespread perception, recent studies suggest that the importance of grandfatherhood for men has been considerably underestimated. Through reviewing the place of grandfathers within grandparenthood research, the article argues that understandings of grandfathers in terms of gender difference can be seen to reflect a feminised conception of grandparenting derived from the experience of grandmothers. The article then builds on this review by exploring how intersections of age identity and masculinity may influence the different ways in which grandfatherhood is understood and enacted.     

Backstage discourse and the reproduction of white masculinities

This article documents the shared patterns of private white male discourse. Drawing from comparative ethnographic research in a white nationalist and a white antiracist organization, I analyze how white men engage in private discourse to reproduce coherent and valorized understandings of white masculinity. These private speech acts reinforce prevailing narratives about race and gender, reproduce understandings of segregation and paternalism as natural, and rationalize the expression of overt racism. This analysis illustrates how antagonistic forms of “frontstage” white male activism may distract from white male identity management in the “backstage.”     

The politics of NGO development in China

Since the beginning of reform in the late 1970s, the non-governmental sector in China has burgeoned. This paper analyses its development. It begins by examining competing theories regarding the political impact of the NGO sector. Political scientists employing pluralist or civil society approaches suggest that the development of NGOs is an important force in creating pressures for democratisation. In contrast, those employing a corporatist framework seek to illuminate the mechanisms which the state can use to limit and control the political impact of NGOs. The paper also examines the advantages and disadvantages of close state involvement for the impact of NGOs on socio-economic development. It explicates the legal and regulatory framework for NGOs in China in order to illustrate the ways in which the state seeks to preempt and coopt the formation of autonomous organisations, lending support to the corporatist interpretation. The paper includes case studies of NGOs based on interviews with representatives of NGOs and regulatory organs, published documents and press reports. It places China's contemporary experience with non-governmental organisations in context by comparing it with associational life in traditional China, in developing countries in general, and in communist countries in particular. Finally, the paper analyses the significance of the economic reforms and the impending political succession for NGO development.The author is a graduate student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan. This article was first drafted while she was an intern with the Ford Foundation in Beijing. Peter Geithner, Michel Oksenberg, Craig O'Neill and an anonymous reviewer made helpful comments on earlier drafts. The views expressed in the article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of the Ford Foundation.     

Territoriality,map-mindedness,and the politics of place

Theory and Society - Political sociologists have paid closer attention of late to the territoriality of political communities, and have even begun theorizing the theme of territoriality’s...     

Marx,Irigaray, and the politics of reproduction

Both the concept and practice of reproduction have been newly configured, with reproductive labor assuming an abstract value as social labor and women around the globe work to produce baby commodities which enter the market along with other domestic and imported products. This situation dictates that surrogacy not be treated as an aberration. One must instead reconceptualize the maternal body as a reproductive resource and rethink the relationship between mother and fetus. This paper attempts to develop a materialist analysis of reproductive labor by offering a strategy for renarrativizing the mother. It briefly explains what feminists involved in the pro-abortion movement could gain by incorporating a Marxist understanding of reproductive labor as productive in the strictest sense, and then suggests, through an analysis of the work of Luce Irigaray, the simultaneous need for a self-reflexive renarrativization of the maternal body which may account for women's role as reproductive laborers. Sections are on reproduction, maternal as mimetic matrix, and reproductive ethics and sexual rights.     

The beer talking: four lads, a carry out and the reproduction of masculinities

Discourse analytic research on masculinity has produced some interesting and insightful understandings of male-bonding talk and/or talk around alcohol-related activities. These and other contributions have helped demonstrate the dependence of ‘hegemonic’ masculinities on the discursive subordination of the ‘other’, notably women and gay men. The present study builds on such work by examining the reproduction of masculinities in the context of a group of four young men interacting under the influence of alcohol. The talk was recorded with the permission of the four participants (one of whom is a co-author - GE) and subsequently subjected to discourse analysis. Particular attention is paid to definitions of (male) self and others - women, gay men and men from ethnically different backgrounds - which are negotiated during the interaction. The analysis is discussed in the light of current debates on the discursive reproduction of masculinities.     

The intersection of youth masculinities,decreasing homophobia and class: an ethnography

This article examines the emergence of progressive attitudes toward homosexuality among working‐class boys in a sixth form in the south of England to develop an intersectional analysis of class, youth masculinities and decreasing homophobia. Drawing on three months of ethnographic data collection, I find that working‐class male youth intellectualize pro‐gay attitudes and that homophobic language is almost entirely absent from the setting. I document the presence of homosocial tactility, as well as the valuing of friendship and emotional closeness. However, these behaviours are less pronounced than documented among middle‐class boys, and I use these findings to advance understanding of how class influences the development of inclusive attitudes and behaviours. Inclusive masculinity theory is used to understand these findings, refining the theory and extending it to a new demographic.     

Personalisation,individualism and the politics of disablement

This paper assesses the social policy narrative personalisation, and particularly the implications of the narrative for disability politics. The advantages and disadvantages of positioning specific funding mechanisms within the narrative are explored. It is argued that personalisation is insufficiently aligned with collective aspects of empowerment. More particularly, it disproportionately emphasises improvements in individual autonomy through personalised support, and lacks reference to structural oppression or the need for collective forms of action that bring about structural change. It is further argued that personalisation lack a multi-faceted analysis of disability and disempowerment, and as a result also lacks any vision of a positive alternative society. In assessing personalisation, the positive and negative dimensions of disabled people’s freedom are considered. As a response to the apparent shortcomings of personalisation, the integrated living approach and Centres for Independent Living are considered important elements in an alternative narrative to personalisation.     

Unions,politics, and protectionism

Conventional models of labor relations emphasize “business unionism,” that is, collective bargaining activities and outcomes. We argue that a more realistic model of behavior incorporates the union’s role as an agent of redistribution that seeks to benefit some members and union leaders primarily at the expense of other members, nonunion employees, and consumers. Union power to redistribute wealth is obtained from the special privileges that labor organizations obtain from government. This paper demonstrates how, as political entities, unions and their employers attempt to secure government-sanctioned wealth transfers through protectionism. The authors gratefully acknowledge research support provided by the Sarah Scaife Foundation and the Earhart Foundation.