MEN IN THE PUBLIC EYE Men's domination of the public domain is obvious, yet it is often ignored in social and political analyses. How do public men, in public patriarchies, come to exert such enormous power? How and why do men dominate in the public worlds of work, politics, sexuality, and culture? Jeff Hearn explores these questions and investigates how public worlds construct public men and public masculinities in different and changing ways. These important issues are examined by focusing on the period 1870-1920, when there was massive growth and transformation in the power of the public domains. Jeff Hearn explores the relationships between men's activity in and domination of the public domains, the domination of private domains by public domains, and the intensification of public patriarchies. An under­ lying theme is that the present exists in the past, and the past in the present, and Hearn demonstrates that these historical debates and dilemmas are still relevant today as men search for new, postmodern forms of masculinities. Men in the Public Eye reveals why men's domination in and of the public domains is a vital feature of gender relations in patri­ archies, both past and present. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in the social, political, and cultural dimensions of men and masculinities. Jeff Hearn is Senior Lecturer in Applied Social Studies at the University ofBradford. Critical studies on men and masculinities Jeff Hearn and David H.J. Morgan (editors) Men, Masculinities and Social Theory David Jackson Unmasking Masculinity A critical autobiography David H.J. Morgan Discovering Men Arthur Brittan The Competitive Self (forthcoming) Tim Edwards Erotic Politics (forthcoming) Editorial advisory board Harry Brod (Kenyon College, Ohio) Cynthia Cockburn (City University, London) Bob Connell (University of California, Santa Cruz) Paul Gilroy ( University of Essex) Jalna Hanmer (University of Bradford) Jeff Hearn (University of Bradford) Michael Kimmel (State University of New York) Marianne Krilll (University of Bonn) David Morgan (University of Manchester) Mary O'Brien (Ontario Institute of Studies in Education) Pratibha Parmar ( Writer and Film-maker) Ken Plummer (University of Essex) Rosemary Pringle (Macquarie University, Sydney) Lynne Segal (Middlesex Polytechnic) Victor Seidler (Goldsmiths' College, London) Elizabeth Stanko (Brunel University, London) Jeffrey Weeks (Bristol Polytechnic) Sue Wise (University of Lancaster) Men in the public eye The construction and deconstruction of public men and public patriarchies Jeff Hearn First published 1992 by Routledge Published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OXl4 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY I 0017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an infonna business Copyright© 1992 Jeff Hearn The Open Access version of this book, available at www.tandfebooks.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Hearn, Jeff. Men in the public eye: the construction and deconstruction of public men and public patriarchies/Jeff Hearn. p. cm. - (Critical studies on men and masculinities) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. 1. Men. 2. Patriarchy. 3. Masculinity (Psychology) I. Title. II. Series HQ1090.H44 1992 305.31 dc20 91-44397 CIP ISBN 978-0-415-07619-7 (hbk) ISBN 978-0-415-07620-3 (pbk) Typeset in 10 on 12 Bembo by LaserScript, Mitcham, Surrey Contents List of tables and figures VI Series editor's preface Jeff Heam Vll Preface IX Acknowledgements Xl Foreword Pluralizing perspectives: the present and ilie~n 1 1 Introduction: the problem of public men 11 PART 1 FROM THE MALESTREAM TO PUBLIC PATRIARCHIES 2 Public men in the malestream 25 3 Patriarchy, public patriarchy, and related critiques 43 4 Public patriarchy: some initial implications for men and masculinities 69 5 Public patriarchies, public men, public domains, and public masculinities 74 PART 2 PUBLIC MEN IN PUBLIC PATRIARCHIES 6 Public men as social relations 95 7 Organizations of men (1): size, structures, and hierarchies 140 8 Organizations of men (2): processes, sexualities, and images 170 9 Public men as persons: selves, psyches, and senses 208 Afterword Beyond public men? 227 Notes 232 Bibliography 254 Name index 276 Subject index 282 [v] Tables and figures Tables 1.1 Examples of the ideological gendering of the private and the public 2 3.1 Private patriarchy, public patriarchy, and related concepts 54 3.2 Comparison ofWalby's (1986, 1989) and Hearn's (1987a) approaches to patriarchy 237 Figures 3.1 Types of masculine gender-system 51 3.2 Historical timescales in conceptualizing public patriarchy 55 7.1 Types of organization by gender divisions 244 [vi] Series editor's preface Gender is one of the most pervasive and taken-for-granted features of our lives. It figures strongly in the make-up of all societies. Yet it is easy to see that gender may also create problems - in terms of power, oppression, inequality, identity and self­ doubt. The growth of modern feminism and the associated development of women's studies have brought a deep questioning of women's social position. At the same time feminism and women's studies have provided continuing critical analyses of men and masculinities. In a rather different way the rise of gay liberation and gay scholarship has shown that previously accepted notions of sexuality and gender are no longer just 'natural'. This has led to a recognition that the dominant forms of men and masculinities are themselves not merely 'natural' and unchange­ able. In addition, inspired particularly by important research in women's studies and the need for a positive response to feminism, some men have in recent years turned their attention to the critical study of men. These various focuses on men are clearly very different from the traditional concern with men that has characterized the social sciences, where in the worst cases men have been equated with people in general. Thus men and mascu­ linities are seen not as unproblematic, but as social constructions which need to be explored, analysed, and indeed in certain res­ pects, such as the use of violence, changed. This series aims to promote critical studies, by women and men, on men and masculinities. It brings together scholarship that deals in detail with the social and political construction of parti­ cular aspects of men and masculinities. This will include studies of the changing forms of men and masculinities, as well as the broader historical and comparative studies. Furthermore, because men have been dominant in the writing of social science and production of malestream theory, one area of special interest for critical assessment is the relationship of men and masculinities to [vii) MEN IN THE PUBLIC EYE social science itself. This applies to both the content and 'results' of previous social research, and to the understanding of social theory in all its various guises - epistemology, ideology, method­ ology, and so forth. Each volume in the series will approach its specific topic in the light of feminist theory and practice, and, where relevant, gay liberation and gay scholarship. The task of the series is thus the critique of men and masculinities, and not the critique of femin­ ism by men. As such the series is pro-feminist and gay affirmative. However, this critical stance does not mean that men are simply to be seen or understood negatively. On the contrary, an impor­ tant part of an accurate study of men and masculinity is an appreciation of the positive features of men's lives, and especially the variety of men's lived experiences. The series includes a range of disciplines - sociology, history, politics, psychoanalysts, cul­ tural studies - as well as encouraging interdisciplinarity where appropriate. Overall, the attempt will be made to produce a series of studies of men and masculinities that are anti-sexist and anti­ patriarchal in orientation. Finally, while this series is primarily an academic development it will also at times necessarily draw on practical initiatives outside academia. Likewise, it will attempt to speak to changing patterns of men's practice both within and beyond academic study. Just as one of the most exciting aspects of feminism is the strong inter­ relation of theory and practice, so too must the critical study of men and masculinities and change in men's practice against patri­ archy develop in a close association. Jeff Hearn [viii] Preface Writing exists in spaces. It is in-between: between what can be said and what can be imagined. This writing exists within a number of spaces. It spans time and place - from Bradford (1986-88) to Manchester (1988-89) and back to Bradford (1989-91). It also is in-between: between analysis and experi­ ence; structure and process; modernism and postmodernism; con­ struction and deconstruction; men and masculinities; One and Others; and so on. [ix] Acknowledgements This book is the product of a lot of talking, reading, researching, writing, rewriting, and a lot of inspiration from women, men, and young people. There are very many people, groups, and organi­ zations I'd like to thank for assistance in this process. They include colleagues and students at the University of Bradford, particularly those who have been taking courses on 'men and masculinities'; Paul Wilding and all at the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of Manchester for making me so welcome during 1988-89; the Hallsworth Research Fellowship Committee for their generous award of funds to do much of this work; the Manchester Campus Workshop on the Critical Study of Men and Masculinities for providing continuity and support; the Men, Masculinities and Socialism Group and other men's groups; and librarians at Bradford University, Manchester University, and Bradford Council for their help.