Re-imagining Work and Masculinity in a Postindustrial Society

• This paper discusses the narratives of young working-class men, living in a small town in Sweden that is located outside the regions with economic growth. As in many other European countries, the rate of unemployment among Swedish youth is disproportionally high. Based upon material consisting of in-depth interviews with unemployed young men, the paper will analyze the changed meaning of masculinity in relation to work in a postindustrial society. Since working-class masculinity has traditionally been closely connected to wage labor and to the ability to provide for oneself as well as being the breadwinner of the family, the lack of resources that unemployment implies, means that masculinity and its relational implications must be re-imagined. The young men's narratives can thereby be seen to reflect social and cultural changes that have taken place on a structural level related to the labor market, the educational system, as well as the changed conditions for the formation of social identities. The intergenerational working-class culture on the one hand and neoliberal ideas permeating activities for the unemployed, such as training- and coaching-programs, on the other – serve as reference points for the young men's experience of subordination. In many ways the situation described was marked by deficiency and vulnerability, an effect of the social division of today, where the long-term unemployed are depicted as 'abject others' and even more so if placed in subordinated categories such as (non)working-class males, living in the back country. But what also can be traced in the young men's own narratives are some critical reflections and possible alternative ways of forming social identities and masculinities. This is furthermore related to different kinds of work ethics than the familiar one they have been socialized into when growing up and the other one that they have met as jobseekers.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Genusstudier (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Gender Studies (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora -- Kulturstudier (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities -- Cultural Studies (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Work

gender

masculinity

Child and Youth studies

Barn- och ungdomsvetenskap

Sociology

Sociologi

masculinity

unemployment

post-industrialism

identity

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)