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The Everyday Lives of Men PDF

207 Pages·2009·0.6 MB·English
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The Everyday Lives of Men: An Ethnographic Investigation of Young Adult Male Identity Peter Gill Victoria University Thesis Submitted for a Doctor of Philosophy Degree at Victoria University, Faculty of Arts, Education, and Human Development, School of Psychology, 2008 Everyday Men ii Abstract There has been increasing social debate in recent times surrounding men’s identities, men’s health and wellbeing, and men’s place within contemporary western society. The purpose of this thesis was to contribute to new knowledge of these issues through an ethnographic exploration of two small sub-cultures of young adults. Utilising participant observation the researcher described in detail the ways in which masculinities were constructed in everyday life. The researcher spent over 2 years as a participant observer of a small group of men from a gymnasium in Melbourne, which followed a briefer but still illuminating period spent with a group of men from a small community in Australia. An ethnographic approach and a non-clinical and non- deviant sample were used to build in-depth knowledge from a neutral lens that did not assume an existing male deficit or crisis. The major findings revolved around the complexity of the male social networks, including the men’s need for belonging and in particular same sex friendships, the implicit and explicit rules of engagement, rational reflective discussion, and male engagement in their social worlds. In addition this thesis illuminated the salient masculine discourses for constructing and negotiating identities, which included heterosexual attraction, competition and social comparison, and biological predispositions and simplicity. This thesis also presents a dynamic psychosocial theory of male identity, and illustrates the relevance of this theory to the everyday lives of men. The men were shown to both collectively and individually negotiate and construct their identities by utilising the key processes of identification, sublimation, and reflection. By combining both phenomenological and discursive research methods the researcher was able to illustrate in everyday life the dialectic between the social and subjective elements of identity. The researcher also discusses the challenges he faced as an ethnographic fieldworker, and contributes to the development of improved understandings of the practical requirements of fieldwork, such as time, support, and flexibility. Everyday Men iii Acknowledgements Thankyou to my supervisor Marion Kostanski for her support, guidance, and hard work over the last 5 or so years. Marion’s supervision has helped me to critically evaluate and push the boundaries of known theory and practice, develop my writing and reporting techniques, and develop an academic career. I’d like to thank my associate supervisor Chris Sonn for his continued guidance and support over the last 5 last years. Chris was particularly helpful in developing, analysing, and understanding this project. I’d like to thank the participants of this study for their friendship and invaluable contributions. I’d also like to thank Lutfiye Ali, Joe Losinno, Andrew Jago, Romana Morda, and Kerry Gill who all made significant contributions. In addition, I’d like to thank all my friends and family for supporting me through this process. Everyday Men iv Declarations I, Peter Gill, declare that the PhD thesis entitled ‘The Everyday Lives of Men: An Ethnographic Investigation of Young Adult Male Identity’ is no more that 100,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except when otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work. Signature. Date. Everyday Men v Table of Contents Abstract ..........................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................iii Declarations ..................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents...........................................................................................................v List of Tables ..............................................................................................................viii List of Figures ...............................................................................................................ix Preface ..........................................................................................................................ix Glossary of Australian Slang .........................................................................................x Chapter 1......................................................................................................................11 Introduction..............................................................................................................11 Epidemiological Data...........................................................................................11 Gender Role Theory.............................................................................................12 Developmental Theory.........................................................................................13 Social Constructionist Theory..............................................................................14 Dynamic Psychosocial Identity Theory ...............................................................14 Aims.....................................................................................................................15 Design ..................................................................................................................16 Contribution to Knowledge..................................................................................16 Thesis Overview ..................................................................................................17 Chapter 2......................................................................................................................19 Revisiting the World of Men ...................................................................................19 Crisis of Masculinity? ..........................................................................................22 Men’s Physical Health and Well-Being...............................................................23 Men’s Psychological Health and Well-being ......................................................27 Consistencies........................................................................................................28 Changes................................................................................................................28 Male Emotions .....................................................................................................30 Male Friendship ...................................................................................................34 Summarising Men’s Health Statistics ..................................................................35 Young Men ..........................................................................................................36 The Rural Setting .................................................................................................37 Summary ..............................................................................................................39 Chapter 3......................................................................................................................41 A Dynamic Psychosocial Theory of Identity and Well-being .................................41 Cornelius Castoriadis ...........................................................................................42 The Psychoanalytic ..............................................................................................43 Relational/Interpersonal Aspects .........................................................................44 The Developmental ..............................................................................................45 Social Learning Aspects ......................................................................................45 Overall..................................................................................................................46 Reflectivity...........................................................................................................47 Identity .................................................................................................................49 Identity and Psychosocial Well-being .................................................................52 Summary ..............................................................................................................59 Chapter 4......................................................................................................................61 Psychosocial Identity Development in Early Childhood .........................................61 Birth .....................................................................................................................63 Triadic Phase........................................................................................................65 Everyday Men vi Oedipal Phase.......................................................................................................66 Sublimation Phase................................................................................................72 Summary ..............................................................................................................74 Chapter 5......................................................................................................................77 Reflecting on Practice: Negotiating the Competing Needs of Participants, Researcher, and Institution.......................................................................................77 Connecting the Social and the Psychological through Fieldwork .......................78 Critique of the ‘known’ Process ..........................................................................81 Chapter 6......................................................................................................................92 Methodology ............................................................................................................92 Ethnographic Description ....................................................................................92 Summary ..............................................................................................................93 Context and Participants ......................................................................................93 Data Collection ....................................................................................................95 Participant Observation and Focus Groups..........................................................95 Participant Observation and Individual Interviews..............................................97 Analysis................................................................................................................98 Participant Observation and Focus Groups..........................................................98 Participant Observation and Individual Interviews............................................101 Participant Validation ........................................................................................102 Researcher’s Positioning....................................................................................103 Chapter 7....................................................................................................................104 Contextualising the Subcultures of Men................................................................104 Study 1: Men in the Rural Village .....................................................................104 Study 2: Beyond the Grunt, the Men of the Gym ..............................................108 Study 2: Ethnographic Participant Observations and Description.....................112 Chapter 8....................................................................................................................114 The Characters .......................................................................................................114 Stan the Wedding Leper.....................................................................................114 Profanity Aaron..................................................................................................117 The Golden Greeks ............................................................................................118 My Brush with Celebrity ...................................................................................121 The Computer Technician..................................................................................122 The Mighty Hawks ............................................................................................124 Grumpy Old Men...............................................................................................127 Reflections on the Group ‘Fit’ ...........................................................................129 Positioning the Data...........................................................................................131 Chapter 9....................................................................................................................133 Men Talk................................................................................................................133 Conversational Style and Language...................................................................134 Motivations and Behaviours ..............................................................................140 Shared Values ....................................................................................................149 Defining Man (Masculine Discourses) ..............................................................158 Summary ............................................................................................................165 Chapter 10..................................................................................................................169 Discussion ..............................................................................................................169 Dynamic Psychosocial Male Identity ................................................................171 Overview............................................................................................................176 Skills and Competencies ....................................................................................177 Connection with Friends and Friendship Circles...............................................179 Everyday Men vii Intimate Relationships .......................................................................................183 Independence and Autonomy ............................................................................186 Reflectivity.........................................................................................................188 Chapter 11..................................................................................................................191 Conclusion .............................................................................................................191 Approach............................................................................................................191 Findings..............................................................................................................192 Limitations and Future research.........................................................................196 Implications........................................................................................................196 References..................................................................................................................197 Everyday Men viii List of Tables Table 1. Early childhood developmental transformation from primary imagination to social imagination 62 Table 2. Methodological Summary 94 Table 3. Summary of Findings: Conversational styles, motivations and behaviours, and discourses 134 Table 4. The three major lenses for conceiving of men’s well-being contextualised by the Process of Dynamic Psychosocial Reflection 173 Everyday Men ix List of Figures Figure 1 Age specific suicide rates per 100,000 population 2005 36 Preface This thesis contains some strong language that might offend. In order to accurately represent the everyday lives of men, the author included excerpts which sometimes contain strong language. Everyday Men x Glossary of Australian Slang Slang Word/Phrase Meaning bowl bronzer someone who makes a mess on the toilet butch masculine female cause because chip on their shoulder someone who is defensive cunt derogatory term e.g. worse than Ashole dingo type of Australian dog dona blanket, quilt, duvet em them for’em for them geez jesus get’em get them gota got to guna going to muck around mes around nuts testicles old man father on tap to have unlimited aces to pea heart mentally week in competitive situations puting on size gaining muscle density sayin saying snubed to ignore soft/week as piss mentally and/or physically week sorta sort of sucked in taken advantage of tal popy person with high social standing ute type of car with a rear tray for storage wana want to ya you yep yes

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