Education and Masculinities : Social, Cultural and Global Transformations

Across media, academy and popular culture in western societies there is much talk of an implosion of the modern gender order. As education is often presented as a key site in which a crisis of masculinity is played out, schools have become a focus for practical attempts to reconcile such broader social and cultural transformations through the recalibration of teaching and learning to be more boy-friendly, by increasing male teachers and by masculinising the content of subjects. In this book, however, the authors argue that the relationship between education and masculinities needs to be considered within the 'bigger picture' of local and global-based changes in society. Locating the masculinity question within this bigger picture, the book brings a fresh evaluation of the key issues. It: Searches out the evidence for the suggestion of 'academically successful girls' and 'failing boys' and how this plays out in relation to issues of inequality across class and ethnicity. Explores the main social and cultural approaches to education and masculinities within the broader context of sex/gender relations, including sex role models, masculinity studies, beyond masculinity. Maps current empirical analyses of gender inequality across schools, higher education and the labour market. Produces a critical synthesis which seeks to preserve a materialist core from earlier feminist and gay/lesbian focuses upon patriarchal relations, male organizational domination and systematic sex/gender discrimination, while incorporating insights from more recent reflection on representation, identity and cultural difference with reference to women's/girls' and men's/boys' social experiences and cultural meanings. Explores the complex intersections between different social divisions and cultural differences including sexuality, class, ethnicity, disability, religion and generation. Engages with the main academic accounts of the political search for gender and sexual (in)equality at a time of rapid global change in which alternative global responses from developing countries that illustrate the limits of Western models and sensibilities. The book sets out to make a study of education and masculinities accessible to a wide readership. It offers a critical yet constructive diagnosis of the origins and development of current conditions and controversies enveloping gender relations across educational sites.