Jockeying for Position: The Construction of Masculine Identities

Abstract

In recent years it has become increasingly difficult for men to ignore the issue of their gendered status. Gone, it seems, are the days when men sat comfortably as the unmarked sex. Instead the 'masculine condition' has been put under the spotlight in a barrage of television and radio programmes, newspaper and magazine articles. The same is also true within the social sciences with a steady stream of new titles about men and masculinity emerging from a range of theoretical perspectives, including sociology (e.g.

Beyond traditional understanding of gender measurement: the gender (re)presentation approach

“…It is only supposedly in applying cognitive assumptions, which stress the importance of internal mental states as opposed to social interaction, that warrant their use (Potter 1998). In particular, Potter and Wetherell (2001a) The extract reveals the extent to which the critique concerning the use of attitude measurement is largely based on a preference for bottom-up as opposed to top-down approaches to discourse analysis (Edley and Wetherell 1997). The bottom-up approach is informed by the work of theorists such as Sacks (1964Sacks ( -1965Sacks ( /1992) and Garfinkel (1967).…”

“…Fine-grained analysis of textual features is undertaken in order to describe the actionorientation of social interaction (Edley and Wetherell 1997). Austin (1962) was the first to identify 'talk as action'.…”

Problems in Place: Using Discursive Social Psychology to Investigate the Meanings of Seasonal Homes

“…These accounts and descriptions constitute "a lexicon or register of terms and metaphors drawn upon to characterize and evaluate actions and events" (Potter & Wetherell,p. 138) and construct individual identities (Davies & Harré, 1990;Edley & Wetherell, 1997;Korobov & Bamberg, 2004). Thus, discursive social psychology represents an alternative between overly mentalistic individual accounts of meaning and disembodied semiotic accounts that ignore how individuals appropriate and apply meanings in their everyday lives.…”

Full Issue

“…It was also clear how insightful Jimmy was in recognising the different forms of masculinity that were on display where he discussed with me the differences between the 'sports personality', e.g. local hegemonic form of masculinity (Connell Redman and Mac an Ghaill (1997, p. 169) suggest is 'muscular intellectualness' (See also Edley & Wetherell, 1997). This front performance helped articulate a form of masculinity that differed to what traditionally defined being a 'proper' man in their community and normally it was not equal to the power held by the more sporty boys (see also Mac an Ghaill, 1994 for a similar process), however for Jimmy trying to cross between these two spheres, was not easy and he felt he was judged and without his best friends in his class he was open to ridicule and felt out of place.…”