Skip to main content
Log in

Gender, masculinity and the new economy

  • Published:
The Australian Educational Researcher Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper examines the ‘remaking’ of white working class masculinities in the latter quarter of the twentieth century. It draws on ethnographic data gathered at two points in time in order to interrogate the relation of macro-economic and social relations on individual and group identities; to excavate the social psychological relations ‘between’ genders and races, as narrated by white working-class men; and to explore the nuanced variations among these men. Addressing theoretical, empirical and methodological issues associated with these studies, I argue that the remaking of the white working class can only be understood in relation to gendered constructions within itself, the construction of relevant ‘others’, as well as deep shifts in large social formations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Apple, M. (2001)Educating the ‘Right’ Way: Markets, Standards, God and Inequality, Routledge, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnot, M. (forthcoming) Male working class identities and social justice: a reconsideration of Paul Willis’ ‘Learning to Labour’ in light of contemporary research, in N. Dolby and G. Dimitriadis, eds.,Learning to Labour in New Times, Routledge, New York.

  • Aronowitz, S. (1992)The Politics of Identity: Class, Culture and Social Movements, Routledge, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bettie, J. (2003)Women Without Class: Girls, Race and Identity, University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, P. and P. Ainley (2000) In the country of the blind? Youth studies and cultural studies in Britain,Journal of Youth Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 79–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. W. (1989) Cool guys, swots and wimps: the interplay of masculinity and education,Oxford Journal of Education, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 291–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. W. (1995)Masculinities: Knowledge, Power and Social Change, Polity Press, Cambridge, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. W. (2000) Arms and the man: using the new research on masculinity to understand violence and promote peace in the contemporary world, in I. Breines, R. Connell and I. Eide, eds.,Male Roles, Masculinities and Violence: A Culture of Peace Perspective, UNESCO, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, R. (1979)Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the Twentieth Century, Basic Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, D., J. Etwood, V. Hey and J. Maw, eds. (1998)Failing Boys? Issues of Gender and Achievement, Open University Press, Buckingham, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Everhart, R. (1983)Reading, Writing, and Resistance: Adolescence and Labor in a Junior High School, Routledge, Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorz, A. (1982)Farewell to the Working Class: An Essay on Post-Industrial Socialism, Pluto Press, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howell, J. (1973)Hard Living on Clay Street: Portraits of Blue Collar Families, Anchor Press, Garden City, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, A. (1987) The role of liberal political culture in the construction of middle America,University of Miami Law Review, vol. 42, no. 1, September.

  • Jackson, C. (2002) ‘Laddishness’ as a self-worth protection strategy,Gender and Education, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 37–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenway, J. and L. Fitzclarence (1997) Masculinity, violence and schooling —challenging ‘poisonous’ pedagogies,Gender and Education, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 117–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mac an Ghaill, M. (1994)The Making of Men: Masculinities, Sexualities, and Schooling, Open University Press, Buckingham, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mac an Ghaill, M., ed. (1996)Understanding Masculinities: Social Relations and Cultural Arenas, Open University Press, Buckingham, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martino, W. (1999) ‘Cool guys’, ‘party animals’, ‘squids’, and ‘poofters’: interrogating the dynamics and politics of adolescent masculinities in school,British Journal of Sociology of Education, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 239–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martino, W. and B. Meyenn, eds. (2001)What About the Boys? Open University Press, Buckingham, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogbu, J. (1974)The Next Generation: An Ethnography of Education in an Urban Neighborhood, Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogbu, J. (2003)Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reay, D. (2002) ‘Shaun’s story’: troubling discourses of white working class masculinities,Gender and Education, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 221–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reich, R. (1991)The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for 21st-Century Capitalism, Simon and Schuster, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reich, R. (2002)The Future of Success: Work and Life in the New Economy, Alfred Knopf, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, L. (1976)Worlds of Pain: Life in the Working Class Family, Basic Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sennett, R. and J. Cobb (1972)The Hidden Injuries of Class, Knopf, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walkerdine, V., H. Lacey and J. Melody (2001)Growing Up Girl: Psycho-Social Explorations of Class and Gender, New York University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weis, L. (1990)Working Class Without Work: High School Students in a De-Industrializing Economy, Routledge, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weis, L. (forthcoming a)Class Reunion, Routledge, New York.

  • Weis, L. (forthcoming b) Re-examining a moment of critique, in N. Dolby and G. Dimitriadis, eds.,Learning to Labor in New Times, Routledge, New York.

  • Weis, L. and M. Fine (forthcoming)Working Method, Routledge, New York.

  • Willis, P. (1977)Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs, Saxon House Press, Westmead, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willis, P. (2000)The Ethnographic Imagination, Polity Press, Cambridge, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zinsser, C. (1991)Raised in East Urban: Child Care Changes in a Working Class Community, Teachers College Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

A version of this paper was originally delivered as a keynote address at the meeting of the Australian Educational Research Association, Brisbane, December 2002.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Weis, L. Gender, masculinity and the new economy. Aust. Educ. Res. 30, 111–129 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216800

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216800

Keywords

Navigation