Men’s embodied occupational narratives: An empirical study revisited

• Autores: Victoria Robinson
• Localización: Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur, ISSN 0340-4528, Vol. 43, Nº. 2, 2018, págs. 364-376
• Idioma: alemán
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• Resumen

  • This article revisits data from a UK ESRC-funded project which previously was used to argue that there are implications of different occupational cultures for the living out of men’s masculine and embodied identities. Examining embodied narratives within occupational cultures commonly stereotyped as ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ (here, the professions of hairdressing, estate agency and firefighting), revealed how men conform to, draw upon and resist, even reinvent the gendered stereotypes associated with these occupations. Such a focus enables men’s embodied narratives to be listened to in terms of their diversity, fluidity and mobility. Through the data, it emerges that the outcome of particular forms of embodied practices can act to not only reinforce, but also to destabilize or undo masculinity in its hegemonic or traditional forms. Here, I revisit some of the conclusions drawn from this original study to re-focus on the men’s telling of their embodied narratives within and cross spheres and over the life course. In so doing, I consider how the researchers in the project could, potentially at least, have interpreted those narratives differently at times. In conclusion, I also raise issues to start to think more comparatively and in an interdisciplinary context, about men’s body narratives.