From Getting Ahead to Getting Back on One's Feet

Performing Masculinity as a Self-help Reader

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2388288
AutoresScott Mclean (0000-0002-6573-7615, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, autor de correspondencia), Laurie Vermeylen (University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
Año2019
Volumen22
Número4
Páginas716-737
Fecha de publicación2019-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMen and Masculinities (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1097-184X • E-ISSN: 1552-6828
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1097184x17724188
OpenAlexW2743524882
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas58

Despite the fact that millions of men engage in self-help reading, there has been little scholarly research about the reception of self-help texts by male readers. We explore how men read self-help books through presenting the results of forty-five qualitative interviews with readers of books in the domains of career and financial success, health and well-being, and interpersonal relationships. Our interviewees expressed awareness of the stigmatized role of the male self-help reader and performed two patterns of masculinity, influenced by hegemonic ideals, within this context: the resourceful man getting ahead in life; and the wounded man getting back on his feet. A small proportion of our interviewees challenged conventional notions of masculinity, demonstrating the potential for men to read self-help books in diverse ways. Our findings shed important insight into how men read self-help books and into the performance of masculinity in the context of such reading

Hegemonic masculinity · Masculinity · Political science · Sociology · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · History · Psychology · Social Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges