Lucas Gottzén | Stockholm University (original) (raw)
Books by Lucas Gottzén
Sociologi är studiet av samhället och människan i samhället. Med sociologins hjälp kan vi förstå ... more Sociologi är studiet av samhället och människan i samhället. Med sociologins hjälp kan vi förstå hur människor ser på sig själva, hur de relaterar till varandra, hur de organiserar sig och hur samhället förändras. Vi kan också lära oss hur sociala problem skapas och hur ojämlikhet och förtryck reproduceras. Att studera sociologi innebär att hela tiden ha blicken riktad åt två håll: utåt mot pågående sociala förändringar, och inåt mot de teorier och begrepp som utvecklats inom sociologin.
Ämnet har en lång och rik idétradition. Alltsedan sociologin växte fram som en egen disciplin under 1800-talet har enskilda tänkare och teoretiker varit viktiga för utvecklandet av begrepp och tankemodeller. För att förstå och tillägna sig dessa begrepp och modeller krävs oftast kunskap om respektive tänkares hela teoribygge. Sociologins teoretiker presenterar fjorton tänkare som har varit, och fortfarande är, centralfigurer inom sociologin. I varje kapitel beskrivs och diskuteras de centrala teorierna och begreppen hos en enskild sociologisk teoretiker, liksom teoretikerns betydelse för sociologin idag.
Boken vänder sig främst till studenter inom sociologi och andra samhälls- och beteendevetenskaper som möter sociologisk teori för första gången.
Sverige är världens mest jämställda land, med världens mest jämställda män. Åtminstone framställs... more Sverige är världens mest jämställda land, med världens mest jämställda män. Åtminstone framställs det ofta så, både i offentlig debatt och i vardagliga samtal. Denna bild av den normale svenska mannen upprätthålls dock genom att något annat – eller någon annan – skapas som avvikande, annorlunda, obegriplig eller sjuk.
I den här antologin diskuteras hur det som uppfattas som goda handlingar används för att representera det gemensamma, medan våldsbrott, kvinnomisshandel och sexism förklaras som ett verk av Andra män. Är det därför som män som misshandlat kvinnor har så svårt att se sig själva som kvinnomisshandlare? Är det därför som fördomsfulla stereotyper av invandrarmän används som förklaring till brott eller sexism?
Hur kommer det sig i så fall att även feministiska män skapas som avvikande? Och vilka föreställningar utmanas egentligen när äldre män beskriver sina växande bröst som sexuellt laddade och njutbara? Varför kan män med funktionsnedsättning inte debattera hjälp till sex utan att ses som kvinnoförtryckare? Eller varför är pedofilen så närvarande i samtal mellan unga män på ett behandlingshem, medan mäns sexuella våld mot barn är så frånvarande i svenska diskussioner om mäns föräldraskap och män i barnomsorg?
I Andra män diskuterar forskare från antropologi, genusvetenskap, socialt arbete, sociologi och ungdomsvetenskap hur Andra män pekas ut som avvikande, men också hur dessa män hanterar utpekandet.
The dissertation studies how 16 Swedish middle-class parents understand and form their parenthood... more The dissertation studies how 16 Swedish middle-class parents understand and form their parenthood in everyday life. The focus is set on how they involve themselves in their children’s care and education, and how parental identities are negotiated in relation to cultural norms on parenthood. The analysis is based on qualitative methods, in particular interviews and participant observation with video camera in eight families. The study, which is inspired by poststructuralist perspectives on identity formation, shows that the informants position themselves in relation to a norm on involved parenthood, which is negotiated differently depending on social context and gender. The dissertation includes four empirical studies. The first focuses on the subjectivities and dilemmas that are created by parents’ strategies to manage time and childcare. The strategies render everyday life more effective, but the parents also want to be child-centered, which forces them to balance between positions as involved and uninvolved parents. The second study examines how the fathers negotiate their involvement in household work, childcare and time with children. To great extent, they follow the discourse on gender-equal and involved fatherhood, but they at times resist it through drawing on notions of child-centeredness, kinship, and a gendered division of labor. The third study focuses on how parents and teachers negotiate children’s education and rearing. Study four shows how the parents position themselves as involved parents in relation to their children’s homework. In conclusion, the dissertation shows that the parents idealize time spent with the children, but that in everyday life it is hard to get this time. Instead, much time is spent for the child, that is, doing household work and childcare. In both cases, time is child-centered, but time with the child is by the parents seen as “more” involved time.
Papers by Lucas Gottzén
Men and Masculinities, 2012
This article discusses the status of the concept of hegemonic masculinity in research on men and ... more This article discusses the status of the concept of hegemonic masculinity in research on men and boys in Sweden, and how it has been used and developed. Sweden has a relatively long history of public debate, research, and policy intervention in gender issues and gender equality. This has meant, in sheer quantitative terms, a relatively sizeable corpus of work on men, masculinities, and gender relations. There is also a rather wide diversity of approaches, theoretically and empirically, to the analysis of men and masculinities. The Swedish national context and gender equality project is outlined. This is followed by discussion of three broad phases in studies on men and masculinities in Sweden: the 1960s and 1970s before the formulation of the concept of hegemonic masculinity; the 1980s and 1990s when the concept was important for a generation of researchers developing studies in more depth; and the 2000s with a younger generation committed to a variety of feminist and gender critiques other than those associated with hegemonic masculinity. The following sections focus specifically on how the concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used, adapted, and indeed not used, in particular areas of study: boys and young men
Akerlund, N. & Gottzén, L. (2017) Children’s voices in research on children exposed to intimate partner violence: a critical review. Nordic Social Work Research 7(1): 42-53. doi:10.1080/2156857X.2016.1156019
This article discusses how qualitative research with children exposed to intimate partner violenc... more This article discusses how qualitative research with children exposed to intimate partner violence deals with methodological issues of children’s voices. Violence researchers argue for the need to see children as competent social actors, di erentiate between groups of children, attending to adult– child asymmetry in research and acknowledging children’s individual experiences. However, little is said about how children’s voices are produced in their local, cultural and societal contexts. There is also an ignorance of the politics of representation, which may hamper the development of ethically responsible research on children exposed to intimate partner violence.
Neuman, N., Gottzén, L. & Fjellström, C. (2015) Narratives of progress: Cooking and gender equality among Swedish men. Journal of Gender Studies, doi: 10.1080/09589236.2015.1090306.
Feminist food studies have repeatedly identi ed a dichotomy of ‘masculine’ self-oriented cooking ... more Feminist food studies have repeatedly identi ed a dichotomy of ‘masculine’ self-oriented cooking as leisure and ‘feminine’ other and care-oriented foodwork (meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning up after meals). However, recent research suggests that there is a great deal of variety and contradiction in men’s accounts of their cooking practices. For example, men may nd cooking a tedious and stressful responsibility and foodwork a fatherly duty. This article draws on interviews with 31 Swedish men from 22 to 88 years of age, and explores stories about cooking and foodwork as part of their everyday lives and their life transitions and how these relate to broader notions of food and gender equality. The data illuminating the men’s stories can be synthesised into two narratives of progress: a narrative of progress in gender equality in Sweden, where men’s participation in household labour has become taken for granted, and a narrative of culinary progress among Swedish men in general and among some of the interviewed men themselves. We agree with previous scholars who have argued for a reconsideration of the simplistic picture of men’s cooking as only being for the self and for leisure. We further show how the men express foodwork as a self-evident responsibility, regardless of whether the men nd it fun or not, and that a desirable masculinity is represented by a man whose cooking skills have progressed beyond the survival level and who is more gender equal than what are perceived to be less-progressive men from previous generations and foreign cultural backgrounds.
Jewkes, R., Morrell, R., Hearn, J., Lundqvist, E., Sikweyiya, Y., Blackbeard, D., Lindegger, G., Quayle, M. & Gottzén, L. (2015) Hegemonic masculinity: Combining theory and practice in gender interventions. Culture, Health & Sexuality 17(s2): 112-127
The concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used in gender studies since the early-1980s to exp... more The concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used in gender studies since the early-1980s to explain men's power over women. Stressing the legitimating power of consent (rather than crude physical or political power to ensure submission), it has been used to explain men's health behaviours and the use of violence. Gender activists and others seeking to change men's relations with women have mobilised the concept of hegemonic masculinity in interventions, but the links between gender theory and activism have often not been explored. The translation of 'hegemonic mas-culinity' into interventions is little examined. We show how, in South Africa and Sweden, the concept has been used to inform theoretically-based gender interventions and to ensure that men are brought into broader social efforts to build gender equity. We discuss the practical translational challenges of using gender theory broadly, and hegemonic masculinity in particular, in a Swedish case study, of the intervention Machofabriken [The Macho Factory], and illustrate how the concept is brought to life in this activist work with men. The concept has considerable practical application in developing a sustainable praxis of theoretically grounded interventions that are more likely to have enduring effect, but evaluating broader societal change in hegemonic masculinity remains an enduring challenge.
Gottzén, Lucas (2016) Displaying shame: Men’s violence towards women in a culture of gender equality. In Hydén, M., Gadd, D. & Wade, A. (eds.) Response-based approaches to the study of interpersonal violence (pp. 156-175). New York & London: Palgrave Macmillan.
This chapter explores the relation between shame, violence and social network responses. Shame ha... more This chapter explores the relation between shame, violence and social network responses. Shame has been pointed out as a pivotal emotion in order to understand men’s violence, that repression of shame generates men’s aggression and violent behaviour. Drawing on a larger qualitative study of 44 men that participate in violence intervention programs in Sweden, the chapter shows that violence against women is considered as a shameful act that runs counter to dominant cultural norms of a gender-equal masculinity and that is connected to notions of assaultive men being evil. Instead of primarily seeing shame as causing violence or as an effect of violence, I argue that male perpetrators use shame in order to manage anticipated and actual negative responses to their violence. More specifically, displaying shame is a resource in order to give violence meaning and make the perpetrator intelligible and, consequently, less evil.
![Research paper thumbnail of Kvinnomisshandlaren och maskulinitetens monstruösa framtid [The woman batterer and the monstrous future of masculinity]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/38636555/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Gottzén, Lucas (2015) Kvinnomisshandlaren och maskulinitetens monstruösa framtid. Tidskrift för genusvetenskap 36(1/2): 7-27
In this article, the monstrous “woman batterer” is used as a figuration and made a point of depar... more In this article, the monstrous “woman batterer” is used as a figuration and made a point of departure in order to destabilise masculine ontology. The monster is here seen as a deviant figure that gives meaning to the normal, but also as a figure that blurs the borders between the strange/unfamiliar and the known/familiar due to its contingent ontological position. This argument is developed by analysing two sources of material: a newspaper column by a conservative male author, which shows how partner-violent men are understood as monstrous woman batterers, who are seen as the Other of “normal”, gender-equal Swedish men, and qualitative interviews with 44 partner-violent men, demonstrating that they distance themselves from the “woman batterer” figure and see it as a deviant and monstrous masculinity they do not want to be associated with. The fact that “normal” men cannot completely disassociate from the monster makes it threatening – it endangers the ontological coherence of masculinity. Paradoxically, the woman batterer therefore enables a “monstrous future” – it opens up for a volatile and vulnerable masculine becoming.
In the recent national elections in Sweden, the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD) – a ri... more In the recent national elections in Sweden, the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD) – a right wing party with roots in the white power movement – got 13% of the electorate. No racist or populist party has ever received such widespread support in a parliamentary election in Sweden, not even in the 1930s. With this we can no longer say that SD’s entry to the Swedish parliament four years ago was an anomaly but rather a part of a wave of far-right parties, normally with distinct cultural racist platforms, such as the Front National in France, Jobbik in Hungary, the Partij voor de Vrijheid in the Netherlands, and the Nationaldemokratische Partei in Germany. Racist parties are now common in most national parliaments around Europe as well as in the European Parliament.
Although not a special call, the articles in the current issue of NORMA: Nordic Journal for Mascu... more Although not a special call, the articles in the current issue of NORMA: Nordic Journal for Masculinity Studies could be read as contributing to spatial aspects of men and masculinities. This is perhaps not that surprising since all individuals, including men, live their lives in different places. It is however not self-evident that researchers explore men’s places and spaces, neither as physical environments nor as dimensions of men’s subjective and lived experiences. On the contrary, in Western culture men have most often been seen as transcendent, as not restricted to their bodies and physical surroundings, while women have been more or less ‘doomed’ to their immanence (Ferguson 1993). Spatiality has at the same time been defined by the gender order, where men have been able to move relatively freely and which has contributed to the production of Man as an unmarked norm and men’s relation to place and space as being at once evident and invisible...
en analys av maskulinitet och förebyggande verksamheter -en anal l l lys av maskulinitet och före... more en analys av maskulinitet och förebyggande verksamheter -en anal l l lys av maskulinitet och förebyggande verksamheter -en analys av maskulinitet och förebyggande verksamheter en analys av maskulinitet och förebyggande verksamheter 2 © Ungdomsstyrelsens skrifter 2013:1 ISSN
Youth sports have been recognized as an arena for men to meet increased cultural expectations of ... more Youth sports have been recognized as an arena for men to meet increased cultural expectations of being involved in their children’s lives. Indeed, in contrast to other child care practices, many men are eager to take part in their children’s organized sports. Drawing on an ethnographic study of middle-class families in the United States, this study examines how men juggle two contrasting cultural models of masculinity when fathering through sports—a performance-oriented orthodox masculinity that historically has been associated with sports and a caring, inclusive masculinity that promotes the nurturing of one’s children. Through a detailed analysis of how fathers’ sports involvement unfolds on the ground, we show how men, in order to portray themselves as “good” fathers, attempt to strike a balance between pushing their children to excel and supporting them regardless of their performance. We propose that although men may value inclusive masculinity when fathering through youth sports, at the same time they exercise orthodox masculinity in other domestic domains.
This article discusses the status of the concept of hegemonic masculinity in research on men and ... more This article discusses the status of the concept of hegemonic masculinity in research on men and boys in Sweden, and how it has been used and developed. Sweden has a relatively long history of public debate, research, and policy intervention in gender issues and gender equality. This has meant, in sheer quantitative terms, a relatively sizeable corpus of work on men, masculinities, and gender relations. There is also a rather wide diversity of approaches, theoretically and empirically, to the analysis of men and masculinities. The Swedish national context and gender equality project is outlined. This is followed by discussion of three broad phases in studies on men and masculinities in Sweden: the 1960s and 1970s before the formulation of the concept of hegemonic masculinity; the 1980s and 1990s when the concept was important for a generation of researchers developing studies in more depth; and the 2000s with a younger generation committed to a variety of feminist and gender critiques other than those associated with hegemonic masculinity. The following sections focus specifically on how the concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used, adapted, and indeed not used, in particular areas of study: boys and young men in family and education; violence; and health. The article concludes with review of how hegemonic masculinity has been used in Swedish contexts, as: gender stereotype, often out of the context of legitimation of patriarchal relations; “Other” than dominant, white middle-class “Swedish,” equated with outmoded, nonmodern, working-class, failing boy, or minority ethnic masculinities; a new masculinity concept and practice, incorporating some degree of gender equality; and reconceptualized and problematized as a modern, heteronormative, and subject-centered concept.
Research on children’s consumption has been dominated by traditional socialization theories. Howe... more Research on children’s consumption has been dominated by traditional socialization theories. However, by taking the adult consumer as a self-evident goal, such perspectives have been inadequate to describe children’s own experiences of consumption. In this chapter, I discuss children’s consumption and becoming, but avoiding the particular teleology of traditional developmental theories – that there is an adult final stage in children’s consumption socialisation. Instead, I propose a different way of understanding children’s consumption departing from the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Fèlix Guattari. This poststructuralist framework helps us to understand children (as well as adults) as incomplete and developing ‘becomings’, where their identity, agency and consumption are created in relation to, and in dependence of other humans and non-humans. Drawing on a large ethnographic study of family life in Sweden, the chapter shows that parents foreground children’s learning and incompetence. Parents see themselves as experts of consumption arguing that children need to become responsible consumers. The children emphasise their own competence, but at times take an adult perspective on consumption.
Few theories have had such an impact on (critical) studies on men and masculinities as Raewyn Con... more Few theories have had such an impact on (critical) studies on men and masculinities as Raewyn Connell’s framework of hegemonic masculinity. It has been used in order to explore and analyze men’s patriarchal and homosocial relations in society at large as well as in local settings, such as families, schools and workplaces (Hearn et al., 2012). At the same time the concept has been increasingly criticized (e.g. Nordberg, 2000; Demetriou, 2001; Howson, 2006; Beasley, 2008) and alternative theo- ries have been presented (e.g. Hearn, 2004). My aim here is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages with Connell’s concept, and contrast it with parts of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s framework, which has been growing in popularity among feminist researchers.
Sociologi är studiet av samhället och människan i samhället. Med sociologins hjälp kan vi förstå ... more Sociologi är studiet av samhället och människan i samhället. Med sociologins hjälp kan vi förstå hur människor ser på sig själva, hur de relaterar till varandra, hur de organiserar sig och hur samhället förändras. Vi kan också lära oss hur sociala problem skapas och hur ojämlikhet och förtryck reproduceras. Att studera sociologi innebär att hela tiden ha blicken riktad åt två håll: utåt mot pågående sociala förändringar, och inåt mot de teorier och begrepp som utvecklats inom sociologin.
Ämnet har en lång och rik idétradition. Alltsedan sociologin växte fram som en egen disciplin under 1800-talet har enskilda tänkare och teoretiker varit viktiga för utvecklandet av begrepp och tankemodeller. För att förstå och tillägna sig dessa begrepp och modeller krävs oftast kunskap om respektive tänkares hela teoribygge. Sociologins teoretiker presenterar fjorton tänkare som har varit, och fortfarande är, centralfigurer inom sociologin. I varje kapitel beskrivs och diskuteras de centrala teorierna och begreppen hos en enskild sociologisk teoretiker, liksom teoretikerns betydelse för sociologin idag.
Boken vänder sig främst till studenter inom sociologi och andra samhälls- och beteendevetenskaper som möter sociologisk teori för första gången.
Sverige är världens mest jämställda land, med världens mest jämställda män. Åtminstone framställs... more Sverige är världens mest jämställda land, med världens mest jämställda män. Åtminstone framställs det ofta så, både i offentlig debatt och i vardagliga samtal. Denna bild av den normale svenska mannen upprätthålls dock genom att något annat – eller någon annan – skapas som avvikande, annorlunda, obegriplig eller sjuk.
I den här antologin diskuteras hur det som uppfattas som goda handlingar används för att representera det gemensamma, medan våldsbrott, kvinnomisshandel och sexism förklaras som ett verk av Andra män. Är det därför som män som misshandlat kvinnor har så svårt att se sig själva som kvinnomisshandlare? Är det därför som fördomsfulla stereotyper av invandrarmän används som förklaring till brott eller sexism?
Hur kommer det sig i så fall att även feministiska män skapas som avvikande? Och vilka föreställningar utmanas egentligen när äldre män beskriver sina växande bröst som sexuellt laddade och njutbara? Varför kan män med funktionsnedsättning inte debattera hjälp till sex utan att ses som kvinnoförtryckare? Eller varför är pedofilen så närvarande i samtal mellan unga män på ett behandlingshem, medan mäns sexuella våld mot barn är så frånvarande i svenska diskussioner om mäns föräldraskap och män i barnomsorg?
I Andra män diskuterar forskare från antropologi, genusvetenskap, socialt arbete, sociologi och ungdomsvetenskap hur Andra män pekas ut som avvikande, men också hur dessa män hanterar utpekandet.
The dissertation studies how 16 Swedish middle-class parents understand and form their parenthood... more The dissertation studies how 16 Swedish middle-class parents understand and form their parenthood in everyday life. The focus is set on how they involve themselves in their children’s care and education, and how parental identities are negotiated in relation to cultural norms on parenthood. The analysis is based on qualitative methods, in particular interviews and participant observation with video camera in eight families. The study, which is inspired by poststructuralist perspectives on identity formation, shows that the informants position themselves in relation to a norm on involved parenthood, which is negotiated differently depending on social context and gender. The dissertation includes four empirical studies. The first focuses on the subjectivities and dilemmas that are created by parents’ strategies to manage time and childcare. The strategies render everyday life more effective, but the parents also want to be child-centered, which forces them to balance between positions as involved and uninvolved parents. The second study examines how the fathers negotiate their involvement in household work, childcare and time with children. To great extent, they follow the discourse on gender-equal and involved fatherhood, but they at times resist it through drawing on notions of child-centeredness, kinship, and a gendered division of labor. The third study focuses on how parents and teachers negotiate children’s education and rearing. Study four shows how the parents position themselves as involved parents in relation to their children’s homework. In conclusion, the dissertation shows that the parents idealize time spent with the children, but that in everyday life it is hard to get this time. Instead, much time is spent for the child, that is, doing household work and childcare. In both cases, time is child-centered, but time with the child is by the parents seen as “more” involved time.
Men and Masculinities, 2012
This article discusses the status of the concept of hegemonic masculinity in research on men and ... more This article discusses the status of the concept of hegemonic masculinity in research on men and boys in Sweden, and how it has been used and developed. Sweden has a relatively long history of public debate, research, and policy intervention in gender issues and gender equality. This has meant, in sheer quantitative terms, a relatively sizeable corpus of work on men, masculinities, and gender relations. There is also a rather wide diversity of approaches, theoretically and empirically, to the analysis of men and masculinities. The Swedish national context and gender equality project is outlined. This is followed by discussion of three broad phases in studies on men and masculinities in Sweden: the 1960s and 1970s before the formulation of the concept of hegemonic masculinity; the 1980s and 1990s when the concept was important for a generation of researchers developing studies in more depth; and the 2000s with a younger generation committed to a variety of feminist and gender critiques other than those associated with hegemonic masculinity. The following sections focus specifically on how the concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used, adapted, and indeed not used, in particular areas of study: boys and young men
Akerlund, N. & Gottzén, L. (2017) Children’s voices in research on children exposed to intimate partner violence: a critical review. Nordic Social Work Research 7(1): 42-53. doi:10.1080/2156857X.2016.1156019
This article discusses how qualitative research with children exposed to intimate partner violenc... more This article discusses how qualitative research with children exposed to intimate partner violence deals with methodological issues of children’s voices. Violence researchers argue for the need to see children as competent social actors, di erentiate between groups of children, attending to adult– child asymmetry in research and acknowledging children’s individual experiences. However, little is said about how children’s voices are produced in their local, cultural and societal contexts. There is also an ignorance of the politics of representation, which may hamper the development of ethically responsible research on children exposed to intimate partner violence.
Neuman, N., Gottzén, L. & Fjellström, C. (2015) Narratives of progress: Cooking and gender equality among Swedish men. Journal of Gender Studies, doi: 10.1080/09589236.2015.1090306.
Feminist food studies have repeatedly identi ed a dichotomy of ‘masculine’ self-oriented cooking ... more Feminist food studies have repeatedly identi ed a dichotomy of ‘masculine’ self-oriented cooking as leisure and ‘feminine’ other and care-oriented foodwork (meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning up after meals). However, recent research suggests that there is a great deal of variety and contradiction in men’s accounts of their cooking practices. For example, men may nd cooking a tedious and stressful responsibility and foodwork a fatherly duty. This article draws on interviews with 31 Swedish men from 22 to 88 years of age, and explores stories about cooking and foodwork as part of their everyday lives and their life transitions and how these relate to broader notions of food and gender equality. The data illuminating the men’s stories can be synthesised into two narratives of progress: a narrative of progress in gender equality in Sweden, where men’s participation in household labour has become taken for granted, and a narrative of culinary progress among Swedish men in general and among some of the interviewed men themselves. We agree with previous scholars who have argued for a reconsideration of the simplistic picture of men’s cooking as only being for the self and for leisure. We further show how the men express foodwork as a self-evident responsibility, regardless of whether the men nd it fun or not, and that a desirable masculinity is represented by a man whose cooking skills have progressed beyond the survival level and who is more gender equal than what are perceived to be less-progressive men from previous generations and foreign cultural backgrounds.
Jewkes, R., Morrell, R., Hearn, J., Lundqvist, E., Sikweyiya, Y., Blackbeard, D., Lindegger, G., Quayle, M. & Gottzén, L. (2015) Hegemonic masculinity: Combining theory and practice in gender interventions. Culture, Health & Sexuality 17(s2): 112-127
The concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used in gender studies since the early-1980s to exp... more The concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used in gender studies since the early-1980s to explain men's power over women. Stressing the legitimating power of consent (rather than crude physical or political power to ensure submission), it has been used to explain men's health behaviours and the use of violence. Gender activists and others seeking to change men's relations with women have mobilised the concept of hegemonic masculinity in interventions, but the links between gender theory and activism have often not been explored. The translation of 'hegemonic mas-culinity' into interventions is little examined. We show how, in South Africa and Sweden, the concept has been used to inform theoretically-based gender interventions and to ensure that men are brought into broader social efforts to build gender equity. We discuss the practical translational challenges of using gender theory broadly, and hegemonic masculinity in particular, in a Swedish case study, of the intervention Machofabriken [The Macho Factory], and illustrate how the concept is brought to life in this activist work with men. The concept has considerable practical application in developing a sustainable praxis of theoretically grounded interventions that are more likely to have enduring effect, but evaluating broader societal change in hegemonic masculinity remains an enduring challenge.
Gottzén, Lucas (2016) Displaying shame: Men’s violence towards women in a culture of gender equality. In Hydén, M., Gadd, D. & Wade, A. (eds.) Response-based approaches to the study of interpersonal violence (pp. 156-175). New York & London: Palgrave Macmillan.
This chapter explores the relation between shame, violence and social network responses. Shame ha... more This chapter explores the relation between shame, violence and social network responses. Shame has been pointed out as a pivotal emotion in order to understand men’s violence, that repression of shame generates men’s aggression and violent behaviour. Drawing on a larger qualitative study of 44 men that participate in violence intervention programs in Sweden, the chapter shows that violence against women is considered as a shameful act that runs counter to dominant cultural norms of a gender-equal masculinity and that is connected to notions of assaultive men being evil. Instead of primarily seeing shame as causing violence or as an effect of violence, I argue that male perpetrators use shame in order to manage anticipated and actual negative responses to their violence. More specifically, displaying shame is a resource in order to give violence meaning and make the perpetrator intelligible and, consequently, less evil.
Gottzén, Lucas (2015) Kvinnomisshandlaren och maskulinitetens monstruösa framtid. Tidskrift för genusvetenskap 36(1/2): 7-27
In this article, the monstrous “woman batterer” is used as a figuration and made a point of depar... more In this article, the monstrous “woman batterer” is used as a figuration and made a point of departure in order to destabilise masculine ontology. The monster is here seen as a deviant figure that gives meaning to the normal, but also as a figure that blurs the borders between the strange/unfamiliar and the known/familiar due to its contingent ontological position. This argument is developed by analysing two sources of material: a newspaper column by a conservative male author, which shows how partner-violent men are understood as monstrous woman batterers, who are seen as the Other of “normal”, gender-equal Swedish men, and qualitative interviews with 44 partner-violent men, demonstrating that they distance themselves from the “woman batterer” figure and see it as a deviant and monstrous masculinity they do not want to be associated with. The fact that “normal” men cannot completely disassociate from the monster makes it threatening – it endangers the ontological coherence of masculinity. Paradoxically, the woman batterer therefore enables a “monstrous future” – it opens up for a volatile and vulnerable masculine becoming.
In the recent national elections in Sweden, the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD) – a ri... more In the recent national elections in Sweden, the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD) – a right wing party with roots in the white power movement – got 13% of the electorate. No racist or populist party has ever received such widespread support in a parliamentary election in Sweden, not even in the 1930s. With this we can no longer say that SD’s entry to the Swedish parliament four years ago was an anomaly but rather a part of a wave of far-right parties, normally with distinct cultural racist platforms, such as the Front National in France, Jobbik in Hungary, the Partij voor de Vrijheid in the Netherlands, and the Nationaldemokratische Partei in Germany. Racist parties are now common in most national parliaments around Europe as well as in the European Parliament.
Although not a special call, the articles in the current issue of NORMA: Nordic Journal for Mascu... more Although not a special call, the articles in the current issue of NORMA: Nordic Journal for Masculinity Studies could be read as contributing to spatial aspects of men and masculinities. This is perhaps not that surprising since all individuals, including men, live their lives in different places. It is however not self-evident that researchers explore men’s places and spaces, neither as physical environments nor as dimensions of men’s subjective and lived experiences. On the contrary, in Western culture men have most often been seen as transcendent, as not restricted to their bodies and physical surroundings, while women have been more or less ‘doomed’ to their immanence (Ferguson 1993). Spatiality has at the same time been defined by the gender order, where men have been able to move relatively freely and which has contributed to the production of Man as an unmarked norm and men’s relation to place and space as being at once evident and invisible...
en analys av maskulinitet och förebyggande verksamheter -en anal l l lys av maskulinitet och före... more en analys av maskulinitet och förebyggande verksamheter -en anal l l lys av maskulinitet och förebyggande verksamheter -en analys av maskulinitet och förebyggande verksamheter en analys av maskulinitet och förebyggande verksamheter 2 © Ungdomsstyrelsens skrifter 2013:1 ISSN
Youth sports have been recognized as an arena for men to meet increased cultural expectations of ... more Youth sports have been recognized as an arena for men to meet increased cultural expectations of being involved in their children’s lives. Indeed, in contrast to other child care practices, many men are eager to take part in their children’s organized sports. Drawing on an ethnographic study of middle-class families in the United States, this study examines how men juggle two contrasting cultural models of masculinity when fathering through sports—a performance-oriented orthodox masculinity that historically has been associated with sports and a caring, inclusive masculinity that promotes the nurturing of one’s children. Through a detailed analysis of how fathers’ sports involvement unfolds on the ground, we show how men, in order to portray themselves as “good” fathers, attempt to strike a balance between pushing their children to excel and supporting them regardless of their performance. We propose that although men may value inclusive masculinity when fathering through youth sports, at the same time they exercise orthodox masculinity in other domestic domains.
This article discusses the status of the concept of hegemonic masculinity in research on men and ... more This article discusses the status of the concept of hegemonic masculinity in research on men and boys in Sweden, and how it has been used and developed. Sweden has a relatively long history of public debate, research, and policy intervention in gender issues and gender equality. This has meant, in sheer quantitative terms, a relatively sizeable corpus of work on men, masculinities, and gender relations. There is also a rather wide diversity of approaches, theoretically and empirically, to the analysis of men and masculinities. The Swedish national context and gender equality project is outlined. This is followed by discussion of three broad phases in studies on men and masculinities in Sweden: the 1960s and 1970s before the formulation of the concept of hegemonic masculinity; the 1980s and 1990s when the concept was important for a generation of researchers developing studies in more depth; and the 2000s with a younger generation committed to a variety of feminist and gender critiques other than those associated with hegemonic masculinity. The following sections focus specifically on how the concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used, adapted, and indeed not used, in particular areas of study: boys and young men in family and education; violence; and health. The article concludes with review of how hegemonic masculinity has been used in Swedish contexts, as: gender stereotype, often out of the context of legitimation of patriarchal relations; “Other” than dominant, white middle-class “Swedish,” equated with outmoded, nonmodern, working-class, failing boy, or minority ethnic masculinities; a new masculinity concept and practice, incorporating some degree of gender equality; and reconceptualized and problematized as a modern, heteronormative, and subject-centered concept.
Research on children’s consumption has been dominated by traditional socialization theories. Howe... more Research on children’s consumption has been dominated by traditional socialization theories. However, by taking the adult consumer as a self-evident goal, such perspectives have been inadequate to describe children’s own experiences of consumption. In this chapter, I discuss children’s consumption and becoming, but avoiding the particular teleology of traditional developmental theories – that there is an adult final stage in children’s consumption socialisation. Instead, I propose a different way of understanding children’s consumption departing from the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Fèlix Guattari. This poststructuralist framework helps us to understand children (as well as adults) as incomplete and developing ‘becomings’, where their identity, agency and consumption are created in relation to, and in dependence of other humans and non-humans. Drawing on a large ethnographic study of family life in Sweden, the chapter shows that parents foreground children’s learning and incompetence. Parents see themselves as experts of consumption arguing that children need to become responsible consumers. The children emphasise their own competence, but at times take an adult perspective on consumption.
Few theories have had such an impact on (critical) studies on men and masculinities as Raewyn Con... more Few theories have had such an impact on (critical) studies on men and masculinities as Raewyn Connell’s framework of hegemonic masculinity. It has been used in order to explore and analyze men’s patriarchal and homosocial relations in society at large as well as in local settings, such as families, schools and workplaces (Hearn et al., 2012). At the same time the concept has been increasingly criticized (e.g. Nordberg, 2000; Demetriou, 2001; Howson, 2006; Beasley, 2008) and alternative theo- ries have been presented (e.g. Hearn, 2004). My aim here is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages with Connell’s concept, and contrast it with parts of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s framework, which has been growing in popularity among feminist researchers.
The contributions to this issue of NORMA all deal with issues of men and politics, and to some ex... more The contributions to this issue of NORMA all deal with issues of men and politics, and to some extent also to so-called masculinity politics, that is, politics where masculinity is at the centre (Connell 1995). As within other feminist research, politics have been explored within Critical Studies on Men, partly by studying different men’s movements. Raewyn Connell (1995), for instance, identifies four different men’s movements in the West: masculinity therapy, the gun lobby, gay liberation, and exit politics. We could also add the groups of men that organize themselves around child custody disputes (Autonen-Vaaraniemi 2010, Collier and Sheldon 2006) as well as different forms of Christian men’s groups (Gavanas 2004) to Connell’s examples of masculinity politics. Apart from the gun lobby, all these groupings have had more or less strong representations in the Nordic countries...
This article concerns generation and food morality, drawing on video recordings of dinners in Swe... more This article concerns generation and food morality, drawing on video recordings of dinners in Swedish middle-class families. A detailed analysis of affect displays during one family dinner extends prior work on food morality (Ochs, Pontecorvo, & Fasulo 1996; Grieshaber 1997; Bourdieu 2003; Wiggins 2004), documenting ways in which participants may shift between distinct generational positions with respect to affects and food morality (from “irresponsible child” to caretaker positions). In our recordings, an elder sibling is shifting between a series of contrasting affective stances (Ochs & Schieffelin 1989; M. Goodwin 2006; Stivers 2008), linked to generational positions along an implicit age continuum: positioning himself, at one end of the continuum, as his young brother's accomplice, and at the other as an adult, a serious guardian of food morality. This study shows that generational positions are not fixed, but are positions adopted as parts of language socialization and interactional events.
The present paper explores middle-class fathers' educational work by studying how they and their ... more The present paper explores middle-class fathers' educational work by studying how they and their partners are involved in their children's education at home, in school, and how they investigate school options and make decisions about educational issues. Drawing on data from an ethnographic study of 30 dual-earner couples in the Greater Los Angeles area, this article analyses how fathers position themselves in relation to discourses on parental involvement in education. In order to demonstrate the variety of ways fathers are involved three case studies are presented. It is illustrated how the men, by drawing on a discourse on involved fatherhood, position themselves in line with an ideal of parental involvement in education. Fathers who are doing less educational work than their spouses offer accounts for not taking a greater educational responsibility by drawing on a breadwinner discourse or by depicting mothers as gatekeepers of father involvement.