This comprehensive introduction to masculine identity politics in Canada offers a range of viewpoints, narratives, and evidence about the contested nature of masculinity. Drawing primarily on author Michael Atkinson's ethnographic research of Canadian men over the past decade, the text explores
the idea of masculinity in crisis and the attempt by many men to move beyond this perceived crossroads. Atkinson reviews the historical links between masculinity and social power, the cultural associations between masculinity and violence, the role of masculinity in sports cultures, the problems of
masculinity for young men, the mass mediation of masculinity and misandry, and the rise of alternative and 'feminine' masculinities. Never before have men's social roles, statuses, and identities been so open to cultural critique and redefinition; Deconstructing Men and Masculinities provides an
engaging sociological narrative to guide readers through this ground-breaking area of study.
Preface
Introduction: Masculinity in Crisis?
What? A Masculinity Crisis? Really?
Defining the Crisis
Perceiving the Crisis
Summary
1. Men, Power, and Pastiche Hegemony
Chapter Objectives
Knowing Masculinity and Social Power
The Root of It All: Hegemony, Late
Modernity, and Fear
Late modernity, implosion, and crisis
Summary
2. Violence, Residue, and Pastiche Hegemony
Chapter Objectives
Masculinity, Violence, and Moral Panicking: The Usual Suspects
Violence, men, and media panics
Spectacle, Self-Violence, and Crisis
Subjectivities: Project Mayhem
I. Backyard Wrestling
II. Laddism
III. Bugchasing
IV. Ultra-Endurance Running
Summary
3. The Lost (and Found) Boys
Chapter Objectives
Finding Boys through Straightedge
Crisis, Callings, and Boyhood Masculinities
Doing the
Straightedge Vocation
Summary
4. Male Femininities, Metrosexualities, and Liquid Ubersexualities
Chapter Objectives
Real Men Disappearing in a Risk Society
Male Femininity
Liquid Ubersexuality
Ubersexuality and Body Supplementation
Summary
5. Sporting
Masculinities
Chapter Objectives
Case Studies in Residual Patriarchy
I. Sexual Assault
II. Hazing
Summary
6. Mass-Mediating Risk Masculinities
Chapter Objectives
Three Faces of Televised Masculinity
I. Unapologetic Men: Take Off, You Hoser
II. On the Margins:
Boys and Men at Risk
III. Boys in Crisis: Atavism as Spectacle
Summary
7. The Unbearable Whiteness of Being
Chapter Objectives
Physical Cultural [Whiteness] Studies
Postcolonialism and Whiteness Studies
From Libertarianism to Transhumanism
The Triumph of the
Object-Body
No More Mr. White Guy: Humanity+ in Popular Culture
Summary
Epilogue
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Michael Atkinson is an associate professor in the Faculty of Physical Education and Health at the University of Toronto. Before arriving at U of T, Atkinson taught research methods at the School of Sport and Exercise Science at Loughborough University in the UK. Atkinson has also taught in the
School of Kinesiology at the University of Western Ontario and in the sociology departments at both Memorial University and McMaster University. Throughout his academic career, Atkinson has researched and taught courses in the sociology of bodies, sport, health and wellness, deviance and crime,
popular culture, subcultures, youth, and research methods. He locates his work within three substantive areas: masculinities, violence, and liminality.
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