This study aims to investigate how young men experience the norms of masculinity in societywith a special focus on mental illness. Previous research in the field clarifies that there aremasculinity norms in society that men are expected to relate to. Consequences that can occurfrom masculinity norms are a stigmatization of men's mental illness, which can lead to menrefraining from seeking care. Research also shows that men who do not seek care for theirmental illness can develop self-harming behavior. This is a qualitative study with a resultbased on six semi-structured interviews with young men aged 18 to 25. The empiricalmaterial from the qualitative interviews has been analyzed on the basis of a theoreticalframework containing social constructivist perspectives on masculinity, hegemonicmasculinity and homosociality. The results show that young men experience that masculinitynorms affect the jargon between men and that the norms also affect how young men perceivethe difference between what is manly and unmanly. Young men also experience that there areexpectations regarding how they should behave.The results of the study also show that youngmen experience that men and women feel equally bad, but due to the stigma that men have todeal with, they refrain from seeking care for their mental illness. Finally, when men feel thatthey do not live up to the norms of masculinity, it leads to a feeling of exclusion. When theyinstead try to live up to the norms, they become someone they do not identify as. / Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur unga män resonerar om rådandemaskulinitetsnormer i samhället med särskild fokus på psykisk ohälsa. Tidigare forskninginom ämnesområdet tydliggör att det existerar maskulinitetsnormer i samhället som mänförväntas förhålla sig till. Konsekvenser som kan förekomma av maskulinitetsnormer är enstigmatisering av mäns psykisk ohälsa, vilket kan leda till att män avstår från att söka vård.Forskning synliggör även att män som inte söker vård för sin psykiska ohälsa kan utveckla ettsjälvskadebeteende. Detta är en kvalitativ studie med ett resultat som är baserat på sexstycken semistrukturerade intervjuer med unga män i åldrarna 18 till 25. Det empiriskamaterialet från de kvalitativa intervjuerna har analyserats utifrån ett teoretiskt ramverkbestående av socialkonstruktivistiska perspektiv på maskulinitet, hegemoniska maskulinitetsamt homosocialitet. Resultatet visar att unga män upplever att maskulinitetsnormer påverkarjargongen män emellan och att normerna även påverkar hur unga män uppfattar skillnadenmellan vad som är manligt och “omanligt”. Unga män upplever även att det förekommerförväntningar gällande hur de ska bete sig. Studiens resultat synliggör även att unga mänupplever att män och kvinnor mår lika dåligt men på grund av den stigmatisering som mänfår bemöta, avstår de från att söka vård för sin psykiska ohälsa. Avslutningsvis när mänkänner att de inte lever upp till maskulinitetsnormerna leder det till en känsla av utanförskap.När de istället försöker leva upp till normerna, blir de någon som de själva inte identifierarsig som.

Over the last few decades there has been a growing trend in scholarship which has focused upon conceptualisations of gender in the representations of characters in medieval narrative literature. Thus far, depictions of women have received a disproportionate amount of attention to the side-lining of the man, although recently the man has slowly been reinstated. However, questions as to the nature of masculinity and what behaviours constituted an appropriate expression of a man's manliness in the sagas have remained. In this dissertation, I first set out to identify a foundation masculinity from which other representations of masculinity can be said to derive. Two behavioural principles are defined (the ability to provide and the ability to protect) before being explored primarily in the representations of kings and martial champions in a selection of medieval Norse and Irish sagas. Discussion of kings focuses upon the literary depictions of Conchobor mac Nessa and Óláfr Haraldsson, while for the martial champions, representations of Cú Chulainn, Caílte mac Rónáin and characters within four Norse sagas (Njáls saga, Fóstbroeðra saga, Bósa saga ok Herrauðs and Ọrvar-Odds saga) are examined. Given that wider gender studies highlights that a number of variables affect depictions of gender in the medieval sagas, a comparative approach allows scope for an exploration into the impact of geographical location on expressions of masculinity. However, the main research question of this dissertation centres upon an inquiry into the role that status plays in depictions of manliness in characters from the saga. While making a judgement upon the degree of influence of this particular factor, other variables affecting the formation of gender – such as textual purpose and genre – are also discussed.

Traditional understandings of violence by the mentally disordered largely look to mental illness to explain such behaviour. More recently, research has begun to examine the role of alternative factors in driving violent offending in this context. Masculinity is one such factor to which little consideration has thus far been given, in spite of a wealth of literature which associates the construction and maintenance of a masculine identity with violence in the non-mentally disordered context. This thesis proceeds from these current understandings, and examines the nature of the relationship between mental illness, masculinity and violent behaviour. In order to examine this issue, interviews were conducted with a group of 10 male patients diagnosed with major mental illness and with violent offending histories, in a medium secure forensic psychiatric hospital in Scotland. A group of 10 male prisoners serving life sentences in a Scottish adult male prison following convictions for homicide offences were also interviewed, and acted as a comparator group. Following an analysis of these interviews, findings emerged in relation to three key areas of patients’ and prisoners’ accounts: past experiences of violent offending, present experiences of institutional settings, and future hopes for recovery and desistance. In particular, significant similarities and divergences in the experiences of the two groups were apparent, and this thesis advances two key arguments in light of this. Considering first the similarities in patients’ and prisoners’ experiences, it is posited here that for both the mentally ill and non-mentally ill male population the task of constructing and maintaining a masculine identity is a particularly pervasive force in their life histories. It will be demonstrated that for patients and prisoners in this study, masculinity plays a significant role in past violent offending, as well as having important implications for adaptation to present institutional settings, and the creation of a recovered and desisting identity for the future. Second, in looking to the divergences in patients’ and prisoners’ accounts, it is asserted that where major mental illness is present it serves to intercede in these three areas of men’s lives. Extracts from interviews with male patients will illustrate the interceding role of mental illness in violent scenarios from their pasts. In addition, it will be demonstrated that patients’ and prisoners’ respective present situations in institutional settings vary, as diagnosis of mental illness leads patients to be placed in a secure hospital rather than the prison, and the differing nature of these environments results in divergences in adaptation to these settings. Finally, in relation to the future, while prisoners focussed on their hopes for desistance from offending, the diagnosis of mental illness led patients to place recovery from such disorders as the primary process at this point.

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From minstrelsy to hip-hop, the black performer has always been entangled in a complex network of branding, packaging, and promotion. The black body is cultural capital and in hip-hop, the black thug and his dangerous body are the fetishized objects of desire. Despite these exploitative constraints, artists find spaces to enact what little resistance is possible. In the following report, I perform a close reading and close listening of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Otis.” Paying particular attention to the intersections of the visual and the aural, I find that Jay-Z and West encode desire, pleasure, and imagination beneath boastful rhymes and material opulence. Jay-Z and West adopt American symbols of prosperity and freedom and, in disruptive fashion, resignify black masculinity in the cultural imagination. Soul sound, as intoned through Otis Redding and James Brown, lends a politics of brotherhood and radicalism to Jay-Z and West’s articulation of affective black masculinity. I employ a collage-like network of theoretical frames that span performance, sound, and literary theory to trace how race and gender performance codes a discourse of disruption. I find that “Otis” is a type a blueprint—an instruction manual for youth of color to deconstruct, innovate, and feel deeply. Through linguistic and performative codes, Jay-Z and West create a safe space, a cipher for men of color to desire and, in turn, experience pleasure. I trace how Jay-Z and West move closer to a practice of hip-hop feminism and, in a field notorious for rampant homophobia, misogyny, and violence—that’s remarkable. / text

The Reeve’s Prologue in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales represents one of the most prominent medieval narratives of old age. In his bitter tirade the Reeve emphasizes the topics of impotence, sexuality, power and voice through a series of metaphors involving horses, leeks, coals, and medlar fruit. Though the Prologue itself has been extensively discussed, little of the discussion has been in the context of age studies. Nor have scholars paid much attention to the medlar, called by its colloquial name “open-ers.” The Reeve chooses to describe himself and other older men through this unmistakably sexualized and repulsive term, raising paradoxical issues of rottenness and ripeness. He uses the medlar to resist fourteenth-century age culture and reconfigure his identity into a submissive, open one. Where impotence has removed agency and voice, this new identity enables a feminized voice, a claim to desire, and an ability to quyte the Miller for what the Reeve perceived as an ageist story meant to mock him. However, a Lacanian reading suggests that in grappling with his impotence, the Reeve has come to realize the futility of signifying and the difficulties of expressing desire. The Reeve’s Prologue thus exposes the breakdown of desire in the Reeve’s Tale and raises larger questions about the influence of older age on tale-telling, especially in a masculine register. / text

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Literature across a range of social science disciplines highlights the existence of multiple masculinities, performed and negotiated through everyday practices. However, many studies of male consumers have not explicitly addressed how practices construct gender. In consumer research, themes of masculinity have mainly emerged in studies of advertising images, subcultural consumption, brands, events and consumer tribes. Few studies have explored men’s consumption and the construction of masculinity through and across practices. Previous studies also appear to have examined gender, practices and identities at either individual or group levels. This study therefore sought to address the role of consumption in young men's construction of masculine identities, across a range of contexts, and at individual and group levels. Working within the Consumer Culture Theory tradition, these issues were explored through ethnographic research with young Scottish men aged 18-22, developed from contact with members of a football-themed University society. Data on collective practices were generated through non-participant observation followed by participant observation over a 13-month period. Practices included playing, watching and supporting football, visiting pubs and nightclubs, and playing poker. Accompanied shopping trips also formed part of the study. To gain further insights into individual identities long interviews with nine key informants were conducted. The analysis involved the iterative cycle of de-contextualising and re-contextualsing of data strips in the form of detailed reflexive fieldnotes, interview transcripts, photographs and film material. Masculinities emerged as contextualised, shifting and deeply rooted within practices of these young men. Their consumption produced normative ideals within groups. It also played a role in practices during which ‘masculine capital’ was sought. This capital was expressed through knowledge and experience in practices rather than objects and brands. Practices came to resemble games in which this capital was constantly contested. Through these games, groups also negotiated their place within the cultural context of gender relations. Consumption within practices constructed 'invisible’ gender identities through collectively shared meanings of masculinity. However, seemingly normal meanings of masculinity and consumption emerged as highly complex and layered as individuals constructed their multiple selves across practices. Rather than being fixed, consumption and masculinity was constantly (re)negotiated in changing contexts. This layered negotiation process of consumption meanings and masculinity was also reflected in informants’ discourse. This study suggests that various masculinities are 'played for’ through consumption across culturally situated practices. It shows how practices and consumption meanings shift during the negotiation of often contradictory and intertwined layers of gender identities. Methodologically, it offers insights into the challenges of gender differences between researcher and researched, and the role of new technologies such as mobile phones in ethnographic studies. Consumption and marketing messages may therefore allow young men to ‘do’, ‘talk’ and ‘be’ masculine across varying practices and contexts.

This study examines the organisational culture of the Scottish Fire Service, and the political pressures for change emanating from the modernisation agenda of both the United Kingdom and Scottish Governments. Having completed a preliminary analysis of the Fire Service‟s culture, by examining the cultural history of the Scottish Fire Service and the process through which individuals are socialised into the Service, the study analyses the contemporary culture of the Service through research in three Scottish Fire Brigades. This research concludes that there is a clearly defined Fire Service culture, which is predicated on the operational task of fighting fire, based on strong teams and infused with masculinity at all levels. In these circumstances, the Service‟s cultural realities attempt to exclude women and are derisive in their regard for other more marginalised males. Following an analysis of Government driven imperatives for change, being applied to the Fire Service, it is further concluded that the resistance to change, evident within the cultural realities of the Service, can be defined as an attempt to defend one of the last bastions of male identification in the workplace.

This thesis examines the intersection between masculinity and risk in educational settings. It draws on an intensive examination of the field of dance-education in Scotland and an extended period of research with YDance, Scotland’s only state-funded dance education company. Data was gleaned from a combination of qualitative and ethnographic methods including unstructured interviews, planned discussion groups and participant observation. The thesis synthesises the work of Ulrich Beck and with micro-level approaches popular in studies of gender and education through Bourdieu’s meso-level theories of society and social actors. It uses Bourdieu in new ways, both to reconcile these concerns of structure and action and to overcome key problems that have been identified with the work of authors like Butler and Connell. Substantively, the thesis draws attention to the risks which so-called ‘feminised’ activities like dance pose to young masculine identities and the role played by schools in reproducing and tacitly authorising inculcated assumptions about dance, gender and sexuality. The thesis also investigates the various ways in which dance educators attempt to challenge these reified associations and considers some of the unintended consequences of these practices. Despite ostensibly challenging gender stereotypes, many of the steps taken in order to engage boys in dance at school result in the reproduction of strong versions of masculinity and femininity. In attempting to recode dance as a ‘acceptable’ activity for young men, dance educators often disavow the contribution of gay and effeminate men to the art form, downplay the merits of genres like ballet which is perceived to carry particularly strong associations of femininity and homosexuality, and engage – albeit subtly – in misogyny and homophobia. Dance educators are often therefore unintentional agents of the reproduction of inculcated masculinities and gender inequality.