Crime and Masculinities: A Theoretical Review

Ian MahoneyCentre for Social Policy

The Rise of Contemporary Masculinity studies

• “Masculinity refers to those aspects of mens behaviour that fluctuate over time.” (Brittan, 2001:53).

• Initially in response to second wave feminism

• Aim was to address the growing fears of ‘a crisis of masculinity’

Hegemonic, Subordinate and Complicit Masculinities (1)

• Hegemonic masculinity:– Often seen as the benchmark against which other

forms of masculinity are judged.– Can take one of many forms depending upon the

situation and dominant culture at that time (e.g. in the patriarchal home, business competition or a night out).

– Includes patriarchy of which there are apparently three key structures: gender, race and class (Messerschmidt, 1993)

The problems with hegemony

• Is there really only one hegemonic masculinity?– Variations depending upon location and dominant culture.

• Ignorance of class by Connell– Connell glosses over class to favour his idea that men have

most things in common regardless of social status (Hall, 2002:38-40).

– Most crime is committed by 16-24 year old working-class males.

• Why only three structures of patriarchy?– Messerschmidt ignores other key social structures including

sexuality, age and disability (Hood Williams, 2001)

Hegemonic, Subordinate and Complicit Masculinities (2)

• Subordinate– As the culturally dominant masculinity constantly reasserts

itself, it oppresses and marginalises others.– Those who do not conform are frequently subject to

physical, psychological and symbolic violence– E.g. Homosexual and Black masculinities

• Complicit– Very few men conform to the normative definitions of

masculinity.– As a result they must constantly negotiate their position in

order to avoid marginalisation.

Psychoanalytical Approaches

• Masculinities cannot be examined fully without taking into account an individuals life story (Jefferson, 2002).– Mike Tyson was a key case

study• Never expected to live to

40 and thus lived for the now rather than planning for the future.

Other forms of masculinity

• Masculine Women• Gendered pursuits?– Can many of the activities attributed as being ‘manly’ truly be seen as such?

• Context is key.

Masculinities and the Post-Industrial West

• “Typically it seems that men’s gender identities are constructed, compared and evaluated by self and others according to a while variety of criteria indicating ‘personal’ success in the workplace.” (Collinson and Hearn 2001:146).

• “large numbers of youths are now growing up without any expectation of the stable employment around which familiar models of working class masculinity were organized. Instead they face intermittent employment and economic marginality in the long term, and often deprivation in the short term.” (Connell 2005:93)

• Men have fewer resources available to them in times of hardship than women (Young, 1999).– Young women in deprived areas can find a number

of different roles including child rearing and work in the service sectors.

– Men are frequently locked into structural unemployment due to not possessing the necessary transferable skill sets to adapt to service and knowledge led economies.

– Unable to support a family, young men are unable to offer even stability in marriage

Masculinities and Crime

• “It remains a sad yet well known fact that crimes of violence are still a significant, if not growing, problem in many contemporary societies and that the vast majority of violent acts across the world, past and present, are committed by men.” (Edwards, 2006:44).

Why do some men turn to crime?• Cultural, Economic and Social capital are

key.• When traditional methods of reinforcing

masculinity (e.g. employment, or sporting achievement) are unavailable men look to other sources.

• “like gender, crime is a social phenomenon and that “criminal behaviour may indeed serve as a resource for constructing a particular type of masculinity” (Messerschmidt, 1993:27).

• “to understand crimes by men, we must comprehend how class, race, and gender relations are each constituted by a variety of social structures and therefore structured action.” (Messerschmidt 1993:62).

• Masculinities are often seen to be forged in binary opposition to each other.

Key problems

• “The social category ‘men’ is not a discriminator between criminal and non-criminal behaviour, and in a literature which collapses men and masculinity, if ‘men’ is not the discriminator why should masculinity be so?”.

(Hood Williams, 2001:43)• Binary oppositions are too general.

• “the basic assumption here, that crime is explicable as an expression of masculinity, is implausible. For it to have any general application we would have to suppose that the crimes of a career burglar, or those of Frederick West or Frank Beck or Ronald Biggs or Darius Guppy or Jonathon Aitken are explicable in terms of the needs of men to reproduce masculinity or were occasioned by moments when they feel their masculinity is threatened.”

(Hood-Williams, 2001:44)

Summary

• Context is key.• Decline in industry has had a disproportionate

effect upon working-class senses of masculinity.• Crime and masculinity are not intrinsically linked.• Binary definitions are too general and fail account

for variations within structures of patriarchy and masculinity.

• Not all men commit crimes to reinforce their sense of identity.

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