La masculinité dans un monde féminisé : le genre, l'âge et les organisations sociales

Abstract

Résumé Au cours des dernières décennies du xx e siècle, les recherches sur le genre et le vieillissement se sont, dans une large mesure, concentrées sur l’expérience vécue des femmes âgées. Dans cet article, nous revisitons les notions de vieillissement et de genre, en nous centrant sur l’expérience différentielle des hommes au cours de leur vieillesse, c’est-à-dire en comparant leurs réseaux sociaux à ceux des femmes âgées. Nous étudions en particulier la participation des hommes âgés à des organisations sociales : les valeurs intrinsèques et extrinsèques qu’ils attribuent à leur appartenance et la manière dont cela s’accorde avec l’idée qu’ils se font de la masculinité. Nous montrons que l’importance de l’identité masculine du point de vue de l’estime de soi et de l’indépendance subsiste, et que, sauf pour une minorité d’hommes âgés physiquement, fragiles et financièrement défavorisés, des moyens alternatifs permettant de conforter la masculinité jouent également dans la vieillesse.

Hidden in the household: Now it’s men in mid-life

“…Limitations of existing approaches to conceptualizing gender and ageing, both theoretically and analytically, have been well documented Arber, Davidson, Daly & Perren, 2003;Connidis & McMullin, 2002a;2002b;Davidson, Daly, Arber & Perren, 2001;Krueger & Levy, 2001;McMullin, 1995;McDaniel, 2001;Thompson, 1994). Calls for new ways to theorize gender and ageing together, and particularly to focus on ageing men and changing masculinity with life course and social change, have become more insistent (Arber, Davidson, Daly & Perren, 2003;Davidson, Daly, Arber & Perren, 2001;Gradman, 1994;Thompson, 1994).…”

“…The absences are well known: a focus on women in the ageing literature (Arber, Davidson, Daly & Perren, 2003;Davidson, Daly, Arber & Perren, 2001;Thompson, 1994); an even sharper focus on caring and care-giving as a policy and social problem in ageing societies (McDaniel, 1999;2002b;Rice & Prince, 2000); presumptions that men's life courses may simply be less complex (Segal, 1990;Soloman & Szwabo, 1994); and the large-scale overlooking of ageing by gender theory. (See, for example, Ferree, Lorber & Hess (1999) who in "revisioning gender" barely mention ageing.)…”

“…In this literature, there has been a reinforcement of the structured sets of power relations by which the dominant groups, men in their prime years, negotiate changes as they age out of being the powerbrokers of society, or as they are eased out of the economic dominance associated with masculinity and its entitlements to power through ageing or unemployment. There is the beginning of attention to older men's invisibility (Arber, Davidson, Daly & Perren, 2003;Davidson, Daly, Arber & Perren, 2001;Thompson, 1994, for example). What is missing thus far is a focus on men in their prime of life and power who, through a sudden shift in global economics, find themselves out of that position.…”

“…Calls for new ways to theorize gender and ageing together, and particularly to focus on ageing men and changing masculinity with life course and social change, have become more insistent (Arber, Davidson, Daly & Perren, 2003;Davidson, Daly, Arber & Perren, 2001;Gradman, 1994;Thompson, 1994).…”

“…Yet there is a growing insistence that men, too, are gendered subjects (Arber, Davidson, Daly & Perren, 2003;Connell, 1997;Davidson, Daly, Arber & Perren, 2001;Thompson, 1994;Segal, 1990, for example). This, however, poses questions, in part because men and masculinity have been largely invisible in sociological theorizations of gender (Connell, 1987;Ortega, 1958;Thompson, 1994), but of course very prominent as "Everyperson" in much of sociology.…”