Fathers, Crises, and Nations

Abstract

Since the 1980s, there has been a broad consensus in literature, albeit written from varying perspectives and with different agendas, that masculinity is in “crisis.”¹ Socially, this crisis manifests itself as a challenge to men’s absolute dominance of the workplace; culturally, it is often played out in the domestic realm. Reading the vast literature on the subject is like walking in a hall of funhouse mirrors. Upon entering the realm of cultural representation, a social diagnosis—the crisis of masculinity— metamorphoses into a crisis of fatherhood.² In this new guise, it is propelled to prominence by a plethora of scholarly works, social movements, and cultural narratives, Hollywood cinema being the most conspicuous among them. From this lofty platform, the crisis of fatherhood is effortlessly launched into the realm of politics, where it morphs yet again—into a crisis of the family.

Father!—to God himself we cannot give a holier name.

William Wordsworth

The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf.

Bertrand Russell