Despite scholarly interest in changes in masculinity, no study to date offers quantitative measures of nontraditional masculinity ideologies. We identify common denominators of ''new masculinity'' (NM) ideology rooted in therapeutic discourse, which includes themes of authenticity and holistic self-awareness. A theoretical construct of NM was formalized from in-depth interviews and operationalized as the NM Inventory (NMI). The NMI was tested for structural and external validity in two quantitative samples of Israeli men. The inventory demonstrated discriminant validity with traditional and consumer masculinity ideologies, converged with selflabeling as feminist, and was uniquely predicted by lower levels of modern sexism. This suggests stronger associations between NM and feminist attitudes than previously argued. Lay responses confounded between self-labeling as new man and as metrosexual, echoing ambiguities in public rhetoric of NM. As a unique measure of nontraditional masculinity, the NMI can spur more systematic research into variable outcomes of contemporary understandings of masculinity.

Male‐to‐male (homosocial) friendship bonds extend from the public to the private sphere. Relying on in‐depth interviews from a sample of thirty Israeli men sharing a common background of military socialization, this article analyzes how male friends communicate intimacy in public spaces with diverse social and organizational settings. In contrast to the common depiction of men's joking‐relationship as an attempt to maintain autonomy, the author suggests that the homosocial performance is a semi‐arbitrary, ambivalent language of relatedness endorsing closeness. The men participate in humorous interactions involving idioms, nicknames, curses, nonsense talk, aggressive gestures, and embraces. These verbal and bodily expressions send an unclear message that teases the participants and draws them to engage deeper in the interaction, generating a dynamic of seduction. The men's expressive interactions are staged publicly under the guise of instrumental action. It is suggested that although this homosocial staging attempts to erase hints of homoeroticism, it is this very erasure that produces desire as its emergent outcome. Set against the backdrop of instrumental activity, this performance of pleasure serves to empower and privilege male social and organizational networks.

No abstract

Following a critique of prevalent views of men's friendships as lacking in emotional expressiveness, this study introduced an empirical model for male bonding derived from the homosocial perspective in men studies. A concept of male homosocial relatedness (MHR) was proposed that integrates the features associated with dyadic friendship with those of group comradeship. This model takes into account that expression of positive and negative emotions associated with male bonding may vary in social legitimacy across relational settings. An inventory of positive and negative emotions associated with MHR was developed and administered to two groups of male combat and noncombat Israeli soldiers (N = 369). Participants completed self-reports of emotional relatedness toward each of three targets; male unit peers, nonmilitary male best friend, and girlfriend. Findings suggest that the structure of emotional relatedness differed between the homosocial settings (male unit peers and best friend) and the heterosexual setting (girlfriend). This supports the importance of social legitimacy in the homosocial setting. As hypothesized, combat soldiers reported greater emotional relatedness both to unit peers and to (nonmilitary) best friend compared with noncombat soldiers. No comparable difference was found between combat and noncombat soldiers in ratings of emotional relatedness toward girlfriends. We suggest that the impact of homosocial socialization, such as found in combat units, extends beyond the homosocial enclave and legitimizes emotional expressiveness in male dyadic bonds as well.

This article argues that understanding national identity requires a reappraisal of friendship as a political sentiment. Although studies of nationalism underscored the transformation of face-to-face interactions into ties between 'distant others,' they failed to acknowledge how sentiments of friendship may be involved. First, following theorising in political philosophy, the Aristotelian paradigm of civic friendship is conceptually applicable to modern civil society based on characteristics such as volition, commitment and sentiment. Second, feminist scholarship has delineated how an implicit discourse of male fraternity underlies the historical realisations of the modern social contract and mediates the notions of both patriotism and nationalism. Finally, networks of male associations and transformations in collective affection from small settings to large-scale societies contributed to the magnification of a politics of friendship. Consequently, rather than viewing fraternal friendship as a relic of traditional societies, it should be studied as a unique aspect of modern nationalism.