Tankar om manlighet
en intervjustudie med manliga studenter
MasculinityConnellR. W.ManlighetSocializationSocialisationPresent dayNutidQualitativeKvalitativSocial changesTheory of social workSociala förändringarTeorier om socialt arbeteSocial Sciences
This paper is a qualitative analytic study of the views regarding masculinity of six male university students. The author means to view the gender issue from a male point of view and analyze the empiric result using well known theory on the subject. The main questions of the essay are: What, according to my respondents, is masculine and non masculine? Does the university influence this view, and if so how? How is it to be a man in the society of today? The paper is based around interviews of the six subjects, recorded and transcribed and analyzed in a systematic outline. From this outline relevant themes has been constructed and compared with the theory. The author's conclusion is that the respondents views on masculinity is very similar to those presented by the theory, a reflection of classic and modern views on the subject, the strong, courageous, self dependent man in control of himself and his surroundings. Two themes, sexuality and power, both closely linked to masculinity were hardly mentioned at all, however. The former was mainly due to lack of questions regarding the subject. The latter can be explained by theory. R. W. Connell says that the link between power and masculinity can be viewed as harsh critique by many (heterosexual) men, who therefore prefer not to talk about it. The author also concludes that the respondents views has been influenced by their years of university studies and experience and that it is in the interaction with other people that the views are formed. A final conclusion is that views on masculinity are cultural creations that change over time and at the present there are both ups and downs to being a man, mainly ups.