Deviance. Topic Questions
University of Wollongong
Research Online
Faculty of Arts - Papers
Faculty of Arts
1993
What Is Hegemonic Masculinity?
Mike Donaldson
University of Wollongong, miked@uow.edu.au
Publication Details
Donaldson, M, What Is Hegemonic Masculinity?, Theory and Society, Special Issue: Masculinities, October 1993, 22(5), 643-657.
Copyright 1993 Springer. The original publication is available here at www.springerlink.com.
Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the
University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW
Library: research-pubs@uow.edu.au
Theory and Society, Vol.22, No.5,
Special Issue: Masculinities, Oct., 1993, pp.643-657.
What Is Hegemonic Masculinity?
Mike Donaldson
Sociology, University of Wollongong, Australia
Structures of oppression, forces for change
A developing debate within the growing theoretical literature on men and masculinity concerns the relationship of gender systems to the social formation. Crucially at issue is the question of the autonomy of the gender order. Some, in particular Waters, are of the opinion that change in masculine gender systems historically has been caused exogenously and that, without those external factors, the systems would stably reproduce.(1) For Hochschild, the "motor" of this social change is the economy, particularly and currently, the decline in the purchasing power of the male wage, the decline in the number and proportion of
"male" skilled and unskilled jobs, and the rise in "female" jobs in the growing services sector.(2) I have argued that gender relations themselves are bisected by class relations and vice-versa, and that the salient moment for analysis is the relation between the two.(3)
On the other side of the argument, others have been trying to establish
"the laws of motion" of gender systems. Connell, for instance, has insisted on the independence of their structures, patterns of movement. and determinations, most notably
Research Online
Faculty of Arts - Papers
Faculty of Arts
1993
What Is Hegemonic Masculinity?
Mike Donaldson
University of Wollongong, miked@uow.edu.au
Publication Details
Donaldson, M, What Is Hegemonic Masculinity?, Theory and Society, Special Issue: Masculinities, October 1993, 22(5), 643-657.
Copyright 1993 Springer. The original publication is available here at www.springerlink.com.
Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the
University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW
Library: research-pubs@uow.edu.au
Theory and Society, Vol.22, No.5,
Special Issue: Masculinities, Oct., 1993, pp.643-657.
What Is Hegemonic Masculinity?
Mike Donaldson
Sociology, University of Wollongong, Australia
Structures of oppression, forces for change
A developing debate within the growing theoretical literature on men and masculinity concerns the relationship of gender systems to the social formation. Crucially at issue is the question of the autonomy of the gender order. Some, in particular Waters, are of the opinion that change in masculine gender systems historically has been caused exogenously and that, without those external factors, the systems would stably reproduce.(1) For Hochschild, the "motor" of this social change is the economy, particularly and currently, the decline in the purchasing power of the male wage, the decline in the number and proportion of
"male" skilled and unskilled jobs, and the rise in "female" jobs in the growing services sector.(2) I have argued that gender relations themselves are bisected by class relations and vice-versa, and that the salient moment for analysis is the relation between the two.(3)
On the other side of the argument, others have been trying to establish
"the laws of motion" of gender systems. Connell, for instance, has insisted on the independence of their structures, patterns of movement. and determinations, most notably