Young Adults' Constructions of Masculinities: A Discourse Analysis
| Autor: | Ta-Wei Wang, 王大維 |
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| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Druh dokumentu: | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Popis: | 99 “Masculinities” is the central issue in the field of men’s studies, and also an important concept to understand men’s psychological processes and life experiences. Earlier research on the psychology of men usually defined “masculinities” based on essentialism, while recent developments of social constructionism offer an alternative viewpoint to understand “masculinities” as construction processes, but a group of innate traits. Poststructuralism even treats “masculinities” as linguistic or discursive constructions. The purpose of this study was to explore how a group of young adult men construct their masculinities based on social constructionist, feminist, and poststructuralist thoughts. Discourse analysis is the research method of this study. Analytic strategies from Discursive Psychology (DP), Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA), and Feminist Poststructuralist Discourse Analysis (FPDA) were used to analyze five male participants’ narratives about their experiences as men. Data were taken from qualitative interviews conducted by the researcher. Several thematic “gendered” stories were extracted from the transcribed texts for use to analyze the discursive constructions of masculinities. The major results include two parts: First, in the individual case analysis, each participant performs the characteristics of his constructions of masculinities in the narrating and the narrated events with different styles. Most participants draw in dominant discourses to construct their masculine identities; while on the other hand, they also draw in alternative discourses to construct their masculine identities. Both of these discourses offer possibly conflicting subjective positions for the participants to take on and result in “ideological dilemmas.” The masculine identities that the most participants perform are diverse, fluid, and contradictory. Second, in the integrative analysis, the three major discourses which are related to the constructions of masculinities in the five participants’ narratives are: 1. Masculinities Discourses (including sub-discourses such as “Men As Power,” “Competence and Competition,” “Tough Guys,” “Traditional Men,” “Being A Man Is Hard,” “Tender Men,” and “Young Boys”); 2. Related Gendered Discourses (including sub-discourses such as “Gender Differences,” “Misogyny,” “Heteronormativity,” and “Gender Equality”); and 3. Social-Cultural Discourses (including sub-discourses such as “Indigenous Culture,” “Western Culture,” “Moral,” and “Academic”). These discourses do not exit independently, but connect with each other via interdiscursivity. A discourse may affiliate to/ally with another, or it can contradict/compete with another. Each participant’s constructions of masculinities are more or less influenced by these discourses. Their subjectivities may be positioned by these discourses, but in can be vice versa that they utilize these discourses to position themselves. The strategies that each participant uses when encountering a dominant or alternative discourse are different. He may accept or submit to the discourse, or he may resist or challenge it. Based on the two dimensions of agency and the content of discourses, the discursive constructions of masculinities can be classified into four styles, namely Rebellious/Resistant, Traditional, Transitional, and Hegemonic. A man’s constructions of masculinities can move among these four styles. The majority of the participants are mostly towards the Traditional style of masculinities, and only one participant is between the Rebellious/Resistant and Transitional styles, while none belongs purely to Hegemonic style. Based on the analysis above, this study tries to empirically analyze the constructions of masculinities to inquire the plural forms of masculinities of young adult men in Taiwan. The results can offer implications for counseling psychologists, gender equity educators, or other helping professionals to offer better services for men. |
| Databáze: | Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations |
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