1

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3. Describe the main features of the crisis of masculinity and explore its implications
for UK Government policy in one or more of the following areas: social services and welfare;
the labour market; education.

Introduction
There is a common idea of what constitutes masculinity in Anglo-American
societies. Interviews of young men by Katz and Earp (1999) showed that traits such as
toughness, strength, independence and the ability to provide were seen as masculine.
The crisis of masculinity however refers to the impacts of mens struggles to cope with
these types of expectations, which are becoming increasingly unattainable in the western
world. The crisis stems from economic and social roots, and its negative outcomes may be
seen in both the way in which males define themselves, and how these definitions impact
society. This essay will attempt to describe the historical causes of the crisis, why it needs to
be addressed, and explore possible implications for UK Government policy.
A history of gendered employment
Excluding its closing decades, the fear of not finding a place in the job market was not
of upmost concern for most males for the majority of the twentieth century. Traditionally it
was women who lacked social mobility and secure employment, whilst mens stable labour
market positions were under no widespread threat (McDowell, 2014). For this reason,
feminist scholars took this divide to be standard and chose to argue the importance of
womens domestic labour, for it was womens work within the household which facilitated
mens ability to earn a wage (Adkins, 2008). Since the end of the Fordism however, the
importance of the Fordist sexual contract which links employment, marriage and gender has
been severely diminished and gendered expectations of youth have dramatically changed
(McRobbie, 2009). This problem has been further brought to light since the Great Recession.
Before the 2007-2008 financial crisis, UK economic policy was dominated by the
assumption that it would be highly paid service sector industries such as banking and research
that would provide the basis for future economic growth. Following the crisis however, as
service industry jobs were lost, it became clear that many jobs created in times of growth
were in fact low paid, and often part time or temporary (Frade and Darmon, 2005) - a
problem that has been compounded by the Coalition Governments austerity measures
(Beatty and Fothergill, 2013.) Wolkowitz (2006) argues that these types of jobs are often
feminised, in that they value traits stereotypically associated with femininity: docility,
empathy, and a smiling performance for customers the same traits that are seen to be

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lacked by working-class males. The rise in these types of jobs, in combination with trends
such as the longstanding decline of British manufacturing has led to a job market in which
young, working-class men and women must directly compete for positions that highly favour
femininity. This is reflected in the fact that not only is mens share of the labour market
relative to womens decreasing which could be explained solely by rises in female
employment but it is also falling in absolute terms (McDowell, 2003). By 2012 in the UK,
23.8% of men aged 16-24 were unemployed, compared to 17.9% of women (World Bank
2015a, 2015b).
What does this mean for masculinity?
Although the impacts of unemployment have long been understood, it is the influence
of these new types of employment on the male identity which is now coming to the forefront.
Papers such as those by Bauman (2004) and Sennett (2011) warn that rising job market
uncertainty is causing workers to replace the workplace as the basis of their senses of
collectivity and self-identity; instead relying on either their neighbourhoods or visibly
obvious consumption for fulfilment. For example, Campbell (2003) tied car theft and late
night racing in Oxford to the citys declining automotive industry, citing these types of
antisocial behaviour as central to young mens masculinity. Nationwide the group being
particularly affected is white, working-class men who lack academic credentials - a problem
which is being compounded by girls improving education qualifications compared to the
already inferior boys. Before the 1990s, it was boys who had higher educational achievement,
however by 2001 the gender gap had already reversed to the point where 54% of all
university students were women, and 44% of boys compared to 55% of girls achieved good
grades at GCSE or equivalent, additionally, the fact that middle-class boys continue to
perform at least as well as similar females shows just how poor working-class boys - in
particular white working-class boys - attainment has become (McDowell, 2003). Campbell
(1993) suggested that this demographic may find themselves being rejected as husbands;
Giddens (1992) predicted rising physical violence by men against women due to mens
relative decreasing success - an idea supported by Fine and Weiss (1998) findings that young
white men often blamed either women or non-white males for their employment troubles; and
Pritchard (1992) showed young mens suicide rates to be related to unemployment. By the
turn of the millennium, the combination of these predictions had been realised in the UK,
becoming what is now called the crisis of masculinity (Clare, 2010).
The role of the media

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The importance of media with regards to the crisis can be addressed from two
different angles. Its first impact is the reinforcement of the perceived attractiveness of hiring
young women into service industry jobs by shaping the stereotype of young males as violent
hooligans who need to be kept under control (Delmont, 2000). Drugs, violence, the London
riots, and even the financial crisis are all blamed upon some variation of lad culture and
while this may in part be true, rather than creating discourse about how to help young males
and stop these issues, discussion is often phrased in a way that constitutes what is essentially
a vilification of the demographic. Furthermore, even in the world of television fiction, a large
proportion of leading American comedies that portray family life, such as The Simpsons,
Modern Family, Family Guy, Everybody Loves Raymond, Malcom in the Middle etc.
focus upon leading male characters that are liabilities, who regularly cause problems that are
subsequently solved by their sensible, intelligent wives.
The second way the media worsens the crisis is through its handling of males issues,
by making them subordinate. One of the few times the crisis has made mainstream television
was a Channel 4 news (2013) segment in which Jon Snow interviewed one male journalist,
one female social worker and MP Diane Abbott, the then Shadow Public Health Minister,
who was due to give a speech about the crisis to the social policy think tank Demos the next
day. Speaking first, Abbotts opening sentence began with Youve had male abuse of
women for centuries, and although she did go on to describe the crisis simply and correctly,
it was her opening comment which set the tone for the next seven minutes.
I think we need a debate about what constitutes masculine identity. When I was a
child, my father brought home his pay-packet every Friday And if youd asked my father
to describe himself as a man, that is how he would have defined himself. By getting and
providing Its far harder for some men to define themselves in modern society (Channel 4
News, 2013).
While Abbott recognises that employment currently lies at the heart of the issue, it
seems that her reasoning for being worried about the threat facing young mens sense of
masculinity is that it may cause them to act violently towards women. Similarly, the social
workers opening comment was:
Just over a year ago we started a boys project specifically to work with lads around
how they view women The teenage guys who are struggling to figure out: what does it
mean to be a bloke, and how does that mean they treat women? Actually theyre struggling to
find someone who really respects women, who cherishes them, who honours them, and who

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is kind of really positively supporting them, rather than abusing them (Channel 4 News,
2013).
Whether this would have been her response had Abbotts opening comment not
steered the conversation this way is unclear, however it still raises concern is this piece
actually addressing the crisis of masculinity? Or is it something closer to the crisis of mens
mistreatment of women? Neither of the womens points were wrong, indeed on one level
they were entirely correct. The issue of mens violence towards women is one of great
magnitude, however basing an entire segment about the crisis of masculinity which along
with other male specific problems has exceedingly limited airtime - on the abuse of women
illuminates a much deeper problem - that mens issues currently have no place in public
discourse. The question arises therefore, why does the debate fail to mention findings such as
Montgomery et al. (1999), which showed that unemployment in young men predated
symptoms of depression and anxiety, not the other way around? Or Pritchard (1992) which
showed young mens unemployment to be statistically linked with their suicides?
It is this lack of discussion of what constitutes masculinity that lies at the heart of the
issue. By not questioning why men hold certain traits - in particular employment - as
fundamental to masculinity and instead opting to look to a past of nuclear families and bread
winning men as some kind of utopia, the risk is being run of limiting mens possible roles in
society. These types of nostalgic views to a traditional past should not be the base on which
future government policies are made, something particularly worrying when supported even
by high ranking members of the left wing opposition.
Implications for government policy:
Many government policies aimed at getting people into employment may in fact be
exacerbating the problem. For example, just as Sunley et al. (2001) showed New Labours
1998 new deal, which was supposed to improve the employability of over eighteens, to be a
failure, Labours 2009 flexible new deal proved to be just as bad. Just one year after its
inception, Chis Grayling, the then Minister of State for Employment, described it as
chronically mismanaged and fundamentally flawed (Timmins and Barker 2010, p.1), as it
served only as an expensive way to get youth into the same types of low paid unskilled jobs
that they could already find of their own accord.
It is not only the Labour party whose employment policies seem to be missing the
mark however. David Camerons office has announced that those on jobseekers allowance
must work thirty unpaid hours a week for six months in order to keep receiving their benefits
(Prime Ministers Office, 2011). In addition to the common criticisms of workfare, the most

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extreme of which call it analogous to slavery, Peck (2001) argues that these types of
placements, as seen in the United States and Canada, serve to further accentuate the
importance of waged work. In addition to these types of humiliating schemes, the traditional
paths for working-class men to become socially mobile such as working-class educational
facilities and apprenticeship schemes have been discontinued on a grand scale (Charlesworth,
2000).
The summation of these effects is a climate in which young working-class mens
masculinity is based upon providing for a family through jobs, which they cannot get - but
would not be financially viable anyway - in a system that is paradoxically both so
conservative that it is yet to consider alternative forms of masculinity, yet progressive enough
to have completely transformed the roles of females. The solution to the crisis should not
therefore be about finding a way of getting unemployment figures for young males down, and
certainly not through any type of affirmative action, but rather should be one that shifts the
grounding of their self-esteem. Employment issues must be seen as consequences of the
underlying problem, as just one cog in a larger issue, and so schemes handling the labour
market alone are simply treating one symptom of the crisis, not curing it.
Through education and social services, it is imperative that the UK Government
addresses masculinity in the same way that it has supported femininity, in order to grant both
men and women maximum freedom from societally imposed constrictions of gender.

Word Count: 1998

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