SOAN 390 | Men and Masculinities

This course offers a critical analysis of what it means to be a man using a sociological lens. Feminist scholars made gender visible, problematizing both femininities and masculinities in order to challenge and transform unequal gender relations. Yet until recent decades, men were rather invisible as men, as gendered beings, in academic research. Building on the insights of gender studies, the course emphasizes the socially constructed, power-laden, and historically and culturally variable character of masculinities in its multiple forms. Readings highlight the individual, interactional, and institutional processes through which men become men and "do masculinity" in relation to both women and other men. Using an intersectional approach, the course also explores how masculinities are shaped by other axes of difference and inequality, including class, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age. Masculinities are analyzed across multiple contexts over the life course, including intimate relationships, schools, families, workplaces, and organizations. Diverse forms of masculinities in the United States as well as masculinities in Mexico, Russia, and Western Europe will be considered.