Political Masculinities, Crisis Tendencies, and Social Transition: Toward an Understanding of Change

Abstract

This introduction to the special issue on “Political Masculinities and Social Transition” rethinks the notion of “crisis in masculinity” and points to its weaknesses, such as cyclical patterns and chronicity. Rather than viewing key moments in history as points of rupture, we understand social change as encompassing ongoing transitions marked by a “fluid nature” (Montecinos 2017, 2). In line with this, the contributions examine how political masculinities are implicated within a wide range of social transitions, such as nation building after war, the founding of a new political party in response to an economic crisis, an “authoritarian relapse” in a democracy, attempts at changing society through terrorism, rapid industrialization as well as peace building in conflict areas. Building on Starck and Sauer’s definition of “political masculinities” we suggest applying the concept to instances in which power is explicitly either being (re)produced or challenged. We distinguish between political masculinities that are more readily identified as such (e.g., professional politicians) and less readily identified political masculinities (e.g., citizens), emphasizing how these interact with each other. We ask whether there is a discernible trajectory in the characteristics of political masculinities brought about by social transition that can be confirmed across cultures. The contributors’ findings indicate that these political masculinities can contribute to different kinds of change that either maintain the status quo, are progressive, retrogressive, or a mixture of these. Revolutionary transitions, it seems, often promote the adherence to traditional forms of political masculinity, whereas more reformatory transition leaves discursive spaces for argument.

A double-headed hydra: Marine Le Pen’s charisma, between political masculinity and political femininity

“…At the same time, as argued by Starck and Luyt (2018), hegemonic masculinity (and femininity) change over time. A figure such as current New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, suggests that feminine caritas can now combine somewhat with a woman's rational-bureaucratic political career.…”

“…Scholarship on political masculinity has flourished in recent years (e.g. Starck & Luyt, 2018;Starck & Sauer, 2014). This growing body of multi-disciplinary work examines a wide range of political masculinities, ranging from specific national contexts, historical periods, moments of crisis, political leaders, and diverse ideals of citizenship.…”

Right-wing populism as gendered performance: Janus-faced masculinity in the leadership of Vladimir Putin and Recep T. Erdogan

“…Although a number of scholars have addressed gender in conjunction with populism, they have tended to focus on particular aspects without yet successfully drawing together the multiple layers of populism and gender. Excellent work has been done on a range of topics, including the gendered discourses of particular populist parties (Meret and Siim 2012); the machismo of particular leaders (Sperling 2014;; the role of paternalistic metaphors in right-wing populist rhetoric (Norocel 2010a(Norocel , b, 2013Conniff 1999); the othering of opponents as male homosexuals (Claus and Virchow 2017); the effects of populist policies on women (Fernandes 2007;Kampwirth 2010;Abi-Hassan 2017;Harteveld and Ivarsflaten 2018); as well as the "anti-gender" ideologies of some right-wing populist movements (Kuhar and Paternotte 2017;Perreau 2016). Mudde and Kaltwasser (2015) have made perhaps the broadest attempt to bring together gender and populism, analyzing cultural and ideological factors in South American left-wing populism and Northern European right-wing populism, but they conclude that the results leave a "somewhat muddled picture" (p. 35).…”

Enemy number one or gay clown? The Russian president, masculinity and populism in US media

“…Building on works that analyze the construction of the political as masculine (e.g. Starck & Luyt, 2019;Starck & Sauer, 2014;Williams, 2012) and the utilization of masculinity to make politics (e.g. Katz, 2016;Messerschmidt, 2010Messerschmidt, , 2016, I am interested in the ideas and meanings concerning representations of Putin's masculinity within the US context.…”