Making Sense of Men's Magazines

by Jackson, Peter; Stevenson, Nick; Brooks, Kate

• ISBN13: 9780745621753
• ISBN10: 0745621759
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-10-08
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

The last decade has witnessed the phenomenal growth of the men's magazine market, raising important questions of a more general kind. What is the significance of the rise of men's lifestyle magazines for gender politics? Are we witnessing a backlash against feminism or are they merely harmless fun? Why did ls"new man' give way to the ls"new lad'? What political issues do these questions raise within the context of the information society? Making Sense of Men's Magazines is an original study which enables us to understand the appeal of men's magazines, the ways in which they are constructed and understood, and many of the complex questions they raise for both men and women. Through interviews with editors and key production staff, an analysis of the content of men's magazines and focus group interviews, this work seeks to ls"make sense' of this cultural phenomenon. The authors give particular attention to the gendered and commercial character of men's magazines, and the implications they have for the way we understand capitalism, masculinity and consumption in the modern world. This book makes a major contribution to understanding the role of magazines in contemporary culture and will be essential reading for students of sociology, media and cultural studies and gender studies.

Author Biography

Peter Jackson is Professor of Human Geography at the University
of Sheffield, Nick Stevenson is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Kate Brooks is a postgraduate student in the Department of Geography at the University of Sheffield.



Nick Stevenson is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield


Kate Brooks is a postgraduate student in the Department of Geography at the University of Sheffield

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Reading Magazines

Theorizing Masculinities

Consumption, the Media and Audience Studies

The Media and the Market

The Magazine Market

Contemporary Media Debates

Conclusion: the Instability of Hegemonic Masculinities

Editorial Work

Magazines and Cultural Power

Interviewing the Editors

Editorial Insecurities

Commercial Imperatives Versus Editorial freedom

The 'Necessary Evil' of Advertising

Responding to the Market or Creating a Niche?.Sexy or Pornographic?

Questions of Content

Boys Love Their Girls

Don't You Want Me?.Lexicons of Love or Operator's Manual?.Consumption and the Sociology of the Body

Men's Health Magazines, Anxiety and the Body

Irony and the Cultural Politics of Masculinity

Readings

Discourses and Dispositions

Discursive Repertoires

Constructed Certitude

Discursive Dispositions

Cultural Capital

An Ambivalent Space

Conclusion

Mediated Cultural Power

Masculinity and Contemporary Gender Relations

Commercial Culture

Appendices

Notes

References

Index

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