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Re-Thinking Masculinity: Discourses of Gender and Power in Two Workplaces

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Re-Thinking Masculinity: Discourses of Gender and Power in Two Workplaces Re-Thinking Masculinity: Discourses of Gender and Power in Two Workplaces. Matthew Shepherd Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography, University of Sheffield. September 1996 Re-Thinking Masculinity: Discourses of Gender and Power in Two Workplaces. Matthew Shepherd Abstract The proliferation of academic studies of men and 'masculinity' in the last twenty years has mirrored the growth of feminist studies of women and gender relations. This thesis reflects upon these theoretical developments and examines the expression of 'masculinity' amongst employees in two contrasting workplaces in Yorkshire. Adopting a Foucauldian approach, it is suggested that 'masculinity' should be analysed as a set of practices which create, maintain and reinforce inequalities between the sexes and that their achievement is situationally contingent. From this perspective, masculinity can only be understood within a framework of power, conceptualised as relational, productive and existent only in its exercise. Critical evaluation of the 'masculinity' literature demonstrates that conventional conceptualisations of 'masculinity' have produced methodological impasses, of which the most problematic is the conflation of 'masculinity' with the study of men. The thesis proposes an alternative framework which recognises that discourses of 'masculinity' relate to the words and actions of women as well as of men and that 'masculin~y' is most profitably understood as a series of discourses - transcending the scale of the individual - which set out the 'rules', expectations and conditions within which everyday gender relations take place. The empirical investigation of these ideas adopts a qualitative approach. In-depth, repeated interviews focusing upon participants' work experiences and home lives were carried out with men and women from the two workplaces - an academic department within a university and a manufacturer of metal products. Interview transcripts were interpreted using an "analysis of discourses" method. The analysis reveals that despite obvious differences in the labour processes of the workplaces, there is considerable continuity in dominant discourses of 'masculinity' regardless of participants' age, social class and, most significantly, sex. These discourses are identified as "reproduction", "breadwinning", "homemaking" and "sexual objectification". The research demonstrates how discourses of 'masculinity' structure gender relations within the workplace at an interpersonal scale - in everyday interactions - and at an organisational scale - as reflected by sexual divisions of labour. It is shown that these discourses can be space-specific, with the negotiation of power in gender relations often more difficult in the workplace than in the home. The thesis concludes by reflecting on the implications of the study for future research on men and 'masculinity' and for geographical studies of gender. It also discusses the potential for a more closely related research agenda between feminism and the study of 'masculinity'. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank everyone who has helped me through this research, in particular Peter Jackson for his support, encouragement, invaluable advice and the use of his books! Thanks are also due to Nicky Gregson for her help and encouragement. I wish to thank many others for their help and guidance along the way. Daniel Gutting deserves a special mention for giving me friendship, discussions, support and a wonderful sense of humour. I would also like to thank all my fellow postgrads in the department, but particularly Tim Lucas, and also 8eth Longstaff. The research would not have been possible without all the people who gave me their time to be interviewed, and to them I will remain indebted. I would also like to thank my parents for keeping faith and my sister, Jane. My greatest thanks are reserved for Carol Talbot who has contributed more to this PhD than she could possibly imagine. Without her love, support, encouragement and ideas both me and the thesis would be considerably weaker. I would also like to acknowledge the financial assistance of the Economic and Social Research Council through receipt of a research studentship. iii Contents List of Tables vii precursor 1 part One: "Method" 13 A. Understanding Masculinity 14 Disciplining masculinity 16 Key issues in masculinity research 18 Defining masculinity 20 a) No admittance: men only 23 b) Reification of sex "differences" 24 c) The trouble with masculinities 25 d) The reduction of structure 27 e) The "history" of "masculinity" 29 Reflections on masculinity 31 Summary 34 What is relevant? 36 Troubling masculinity 39 B. Re-Defining Masculinity 43 Understanding power 44 Defining and adapting the Foucauldian conceptualisation of power 48 Discourse 55 Unequal positions in the regulatory framework: the example of 'authority' in 65 the workplace C. The Spatialisation of Masculinity 66 The socio-spatialisation of 'home' and 'work' spaces 67 The inter-relationship of discursive constructions of masculinity and of 73 'home' and 'work' spaces Alternative readings of 'home' and 'work' 76 Concluding comments 78 C. Researching Masculinity 80 Case study workplaces and study participants 80 The Department 82 South Yorkshire Metal Products 82 iv Interview structure 83 Analysis 85 E. Summary 86 part Two: piscourses of MaSCulinity 90 The expression of dominant discourses 91 1. Discourses of Reproduction 97 Children, careers and the 'naturalising' of discourses 99 "Career women", "career men" and fatherhood: negotiating discourses of 101 reproduction Concluding comments 110 2. Discursive Dialectics: Discourses of "Breadwinning" and "Home 111 Making" and the Practice of Masculinity Between Spaces Negotiation of "breadwinner" and "home maker" discourses: changing men? 117 Taking up a challenge: contesting power by spatialising the discourses of 125 sex a) The car 131 b) Space in the home 132 i) The kitchen 133 ii) The garden 133 iii) The bedroom 134 iv) The study 134 Giving up the fight: the success and failure of negotiating home and work 139 3. Discourses of Sexual ObJectification 143 A case study of sexualising discourse 146 4. Situational Contingency of Masculinity 149 Talking down 150 Conclusions 154 part Three: MaSCulinity and Organisations 157 5. Separate But "Equal"?: The Discursive Construction of Sex 159 "Differences" Through Types of Work a) The sexual division of labour at SYMP - the 'masculinisation' of 159 production work b) The sexual division of labour in the Department - the 'feminising' of 166 teaching Negotiating discourses of women as ancillary 171 Concluding comments 174 6. Managing Masculinity In The SYMP Workplace 176 v "Important" personalities I - Richard Brown 178 Living and working with Richard Brown 191 Summary 197 7. Disguising The Practice of Masculinity 200 Internalisation of promotion criteria and the gendered effects of 'neutral' 203 policies and practices i) Overworking and its effects 205 ii) Conformity to "rules" through 'internalisation' 207 iii) Conformity to personalities 209 "Important" personalities 11 - Peter Collins 213 'Feminising' a man: the case of Peter Collins and Trevor 216 Homosocial reproduction 218 8. The Power of Language: "I'm Not Sexist, But ..... 221 Concluding comments 228 part Foyr: "Conclusions" - Towards a Feminist politics of Mascylinity? 231 A) Sum mary of the Research 232 B) Conclusions from the Research 233 C) Re-Assessing Methodology 242 D) Masculinity and Feminism 242 i) Changing men, not changing masculinities 248 ii) Stressing the differences 252 E) The End and Beyond 253 Appendix One 255 The participants from the Department 256 The participants from South Yorkshire Metal Products 258 The participants in the pilot study 260 Key to transcripts 260 References 262 vi List of Tables Table One: Breakdown of the lecturing staff by sex and status 167 vii PRECURSOR PRECURSOR masculinity may well be geography's best kept secret, highly influential in the discipline's history and so rarely subject to critical scrutiny. (Jackson 1993: 8) It is now widely acknowledged that masculinity has been obscured from academic study and that it has been the "invisible" gender (Kimmel 1993a). Whilst feminist and women's studies have examined women's experiences and the construction of femininity, parallel studies of men have remained comparatively few. However, there is a growing body of work within gender studies devoted to the investigation of men and maSCUlinity. Masculinity is now being 'problematised' (Ramazanoglu 1992). This issue forms the focus of the thesis. Through the presentation and discussion of empirical research in two workplaces the thesis questions the concept of masculinity and contributes to debates on gender in the geographical discipline. It considers why and how masculinity should be studied and indicates ways in which it might be beneficially re-thought. It concludes that masculinity must be understood as substantially more than the 'actions of men' and that its operation is highly complex, dependent upon the construction of discourses which serve as constraining forces upon people's identities, everyday lives and experiences. The Precursor outlines the background to this research, discusses the academic context within which it took place, and sets out the structure of the thesis. My interest in 'masculinity' pre-dated the research, although not consciously. Despite questioning the differences of men and women and pondering my
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