The profession of fire fighting is about teamwork, it is about trusting each other” : Masculine enactments and generational discrepancies within the Swedish fire service

• Dissecting the iconic image of the male firefighter this article offers an understanding of how housing preferences and instrumental use are componential to the professional identity of retired firefighters. Drawing on an ethnographic account at a fire station in Luleå, a small town in the Northern parts of Sweden, the intention is to show how retired firefighters performed masculinity, not through embodied viability, but through housing preferences and instrumental use. Distancing themselves from the residential areas and the instrumental management of their professional heirs, the retired firefighters were thus able to retain their status, despite the fact that they were no longer active as firefighters. Exploring the masculine enactments of the retired firefighters, this article seeks to highlight the dynamic of change within the fire service. In doing so, the intention is to provide a deeper understanding of the temporary constructions of masculine values and ideals that pervade this organization.

Subject headings

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

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

Keyword

firefighting

masculine enactments

generation

instrumental use

housing preferences

Sweden

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)