James W Messerschmidt
Biographic Data
| ID | 168589 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James W Messerschmidt |
| GIVEN NAMES | James W |
| FAMILY NAME | Messerschmidt |
| SIGNATURE | MESSERSCHMIDT J W |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Southern Maine |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4097-7759 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2175 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1988 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Legitimation as linchpin
The concept of hegemonic masculinity maintains a distinctive status within the social sciences and humanities. Yet there never has been an examination of Connell’s changing conceptualization of the term throughout her scholarship, and specifically when and why she integrated ‘legitimation’ into her definition of hegemonic masculinity. The authors address this oversight by providing a detailed retrospective on the concept from its embryonic concep…
Interrogating “political masculinities”
This article interrogates the concept of “political masculinities” in terms of its usefulness as an analytical category. The article covers four major areas associated with the concept. First, some critical questions concerning the dichotomy between studying “men in politics” and “political masculinities” are offered. Second, concerns are raised regarding specific terms used in the current definition of political masculinities. Third, probing que…
A Kaleidoscope of Identities
Contemporary theoretical tools in the social sciences and humanities hinder an understanding of the dynamic interplay between reflexivity and routine in the formation of sex, gender, and sexual identities. In A Kaleidoscope of Identities, James W. Messerschmidt and Tristan Bridges build on the work of feminist sociologists in examining the relationship among situational interaction, accountability, and relational and discursive social structures …
Masculinidad hegemónica. Repensando el concepto
El concepto de masculinidad hegemónica ha influenciado los estudios de género en varios campos académicos, pero también ha generado serias críticas. Les autores rastrean el origen del concepto en una convergencia de ideas de principios de la década de 1980, y mapean su aplicación cuando se expandió la investigación sobre hombres y masculinidades. Al evaluar las principales críticas, les autores defienden el concepto subyacente de masculinidad, qu…
Donald Trump, Dominating Masculine Necropolitics, and Covid-19
Gender Reckonings
Vivid narratives, fresh insights, and new theories on where gender theory and research stand today Since scholars began interrogating the meaning of gender and sexuality in society, this field has become essential to the study of sociology. Gender Reckonings aims to map new directions for understanding gender and sexuality within a more pragmatic, dynamic, and socially relevant framework. It shows how gender relations must be understood on a larg…
And now, the rest of the story
Nine Lives
Sociologists and criminologists have long known that there is a relationship between masculinity and crime, for gender has been advanced consistently as the strongest predictor of criminal involvement. Nine Lives, written by one of the most respected authorities on the subject of gender and crime, provides a fascinating account of the connection am
The Salience of 'Hegemonic Masculinity
This article argues that the concept of 'hegemonic masculinity' remains highly salient to critical masculinities studies. The author outlines Raewyn Connell's initial formulation of the concept, how that initial model of hegemonic masculinity has been historically misinterpreted, the reformulation of the concept by Connell and Messerschmidt, and the recent scholarly amplification of the concept. The author concludes that Connell's original emphas…
Osama Bin Laden and His Jihadist Global Hegemonic Masculinity
This article examines for the first time the jihadist global hegemonic masculinity of Osama bin Laden. Based on Bin Laden's public statements translated into English, the authors examine how in the process of constructing a rationale for violent attacks primarily against the United States, he simultaneously and discursively formulates a jihadist global hegemonic masculinity. The research adds to the growing interest in discursive global hegemonic…
Masculinities and Femicide
The relationship between masculinity and femicide has been virtually ignored in the literature on both masculinities and femicide. The aim of this paper then is to concentrate on the relationship between masculinities and femicide by first briefly summarizing feminist theorizing in the 1970s and 1980s and its relation to the emergence of Raewyn Connell’s concept of “hegemonic masculinity.” Following that, new directions in scholarly work on hegem…
Joan Acker and the shift from patriarchy to gender
Feminist sociologist Joan Acker is most commonly cited as one of the first to theorize how gender gets institutionalized in organizations and workplaces. But this project was actually an application of a more general theoretical turn in the field Acker was promoting. Acker was centrally involved in an important feminist sociological conversation about whether we should continue to theorize and study ‘patriarchy' or whether our focus should shift …
Crime as Structured Action
James W. Messerschmidt’s groundbreaking book Crime as Structured Action demonstrates that to understand crime, we must understand how crime operates through a complex series of gender, race, sexual, and class practices. In the second edition of this powerful book, Messerschmidt updates both structured action theory as well as several of the original case studies, and he includes a new case study that further brings structured action theory to lif…
Masculinidade hegemônica
O conceito de masculinidade hegemônica tem influenciado os estudos de gênero em vários campos acadêmicos, mas ao mesmo tempo tem atraído um sério criticismo. Os autores traçam a origem do conceito a uma convergência de ideias no início dos anos 1980 e mapeiam as formas através das quais o conceito foi aplicado quando os estudos sobre homens e masculinidades se expandiram. Avaliando as principais críticas, os autores defendem o conceito de masculi…
Hegemonic Masculinities and Camouflaged Politics
Analyzing the speeches of the two Bush presidencies, this book presents a new conceptualization of hegemonic masculinity by making the case for a multiplicity of hegemonic masculinites locally, regionally, and globally. This book outlines how state leaders may appeal to particular hegemonic masculinites in their attempt to sell wars and thereby camouflage salient political practices in the process. Messerschmidt offers a fresh historical perspect…
Engendering Gendered Knowledge
The appropriation of concepts long established as salient contributions to gender theory and research recently has come under scholarly scrutiny. In this article, the author contributes to this dissection of crucial gender concepts by assessing the recent academic appropriation of the reformulated concept of 'hegemonic masculinity' and how this appropriation engenders gendered knowledge. The author first briefly revisits the concept of hegemonic …
The Struggle for Heterofeminine Recognition
No criminological research has yet examined how embodied interaction in a particular local in school, gendered milieu, may be related to engaging in sexual offenses by adolescent girls outside school boundaries. Additionally, studies of adolescent sexual offending by girls are appallingly gender and sexuality blind; no research considers the impact of both gender and sexuality on such girls. This work seeks to remedy these two crucial oversights …
Doing Gender
C andace West and Don Zimmerman wrote Doing Gender at a time (the 1980s) when a paradigm shift in feminist social science was occur ring. The long-standing conception of sex roles had suffered fundamental feminist critique for a variety of reasons, none more important than its eclipsing of interrogations of power and inequality (Lopata and Thorne 1978). For those second-wave feminist perspectives that did highlight power and inequality-such as Ra…
And Now, the Rest of the Story
Masculinities, Crime and
Gender consistently has been advanced by sociologists as the strongest predictor of criminal involvement: it explains more variance in crime cross‐culturally than any other variable. As an explanatory variable, then, gender would seem to be critical. Yet early theoretical works in the sociology of crime were gender‐blind. That is, although acknowledging that the vast majority of those who commit crime are men and boys, the gendered content of the…
Holding Your Square
Hegemonic Masculinity
The concept of hegemonic masculinity has influenced gender studies across many academic fields but has also attracted serious criticism. The authors trace the origin of the concept in a convergence of ideas in the early 1980s and map the ways it was applied when research on men and masculinities expanded. Evaluating the principal criticisms, the authors defend the underlying concept of masculinity, which in most research use is neither reified no…
Flesh and Blood
Sociologists and criminologists have long known that there is a relationship between masculinity and crime. Indeed, gender has been advanced consistently as the strongest predictor of criminal involvement.Flesh and Bloodprovides a fascinating account of the connection among adolescent gender diversity, the body, and assaultive violence. The book is divided into four parts. In Part I, the author explores the history of criminology as a discipline,…
On gang girls, gender and a structured action theory
Badfellas
Hegemonic Masculinity
The concept of hegemonic masculinity has influenced gender studies across many academic fields but has also attracted serious criticism. The authors trace the origin of the concept in a convergence of ideas in the early 1980s and map the ways it was applied when research on men and masculinities expanded. Evaluating the principal criticisms, the authors defend the underlying concept of masculinity, which in most research use is neither reified no…
Masculinidade hegemônica
O conceito de masculinidade hegemônica tem influenciado os estudos de gênero em vários campos acadêmicos, mas ao mesmo tempo tem atraído um sério criticismo. Os autores traçam a origem do conceito a uma convergência de ideias no início dos anos 1980 e mapeiam as formas através das quais o conceito foi aplicado quando os estudos sobre homens e masculinidades se expandiram. Avaliando as principais críticas, os autores defendem o conceito de masculi…
The Salience of 'Hegemonic Masculinity
This article argues that the concept of 'hegemonic masculinity' remains highly salient to critical masculinities studies. The author outlines Raewyn Connell's initial formulation of the concept, how that initial model of hegemonic masculinity has been historically misinterpreted, the reformulation of the concept by Connell and Messerschmidt, and the recent scholarly amplification of the concept. The author concludes that Connell's original emphas…
Engendering Gendered Knowledge
The appropriation of concepts long established as salient contributions to gender theory and research recently has come under scholarly scrutiny. In this article, the author contributes to this dissection of crucial gender concepts by assessing the recent academic appropriation of the reformulated concept of 'hegemonic masculinity' and how this appropriation engenders gendered knowledge. The author first briefly revisits the concept of hegemonic …
Becoming 'Real Men
Previous studies of adolescent male sexual violence have ignored-among other issues-offender agency and gender. The life-history method offers a means to explore both. In this article, the life histories of two adolescent male sex offenders are juxtaposed and analyzed. Although both boys initially launched a hegemonic masculine project, bodily and sexual practices institutionalized in the school presented 'masculinity challenges' to both boys and…
Holding Your Square
Making Bodies Matter
Previous studies of adolescent male violence have ignored, inter alia, offender agency, body, and gender. The life-history method offers a means to explore, concurrently, all three. In this article, the life histories of two white working-class adolescent male violent offenders are juxtaposed and analysed. Although both boys initially constructed culturally idealized hegemonic masculinities, bodily and sexual practices institutionalized in the sc…
Doing Gender
C andace West and Don Zimmerman wrote Doing Gender at a time (the 1980s) when a paradigm shift in feminist social science was occur ring. The long-standing conception of sex roles had suffered fundamental feminist critique for a variety of reasons, none more important than its eclipsing of interrogations of power and inequality (Lopata and Thorne 1978). For those second-wave feminist perspectives that did highlight power and inequality-such as Ra…
Gender Reckonings
Vivid narratives, fresh insights, and new theories on where gender theory and research stand today Since scholars began interrogating the meaning of gender and sexuality in society, this field has become essential to the study of sociology. Gender Reckonings aims to map new directions for understanding gender and sexuality within a more pragmatic, dynamic, and socially relevant framework. It shows how gender relations must be understood on a larg…
Donald Trump, Dominating Masculine Necropolitics, and Covid-19
And Now, the Rest of the Story
On gang girls, gender and a structured action theory
A Kaleidoscope of Identities
Contemporary theoretical tools in the social sciences and humanities hinder an understanding of the dynamic interplay between reflexivity and routine in the formation of sex, gender, and sexual identities. In A Kaleidoscope of Identities, James W. Messerschmidt and Tristan Bridges build on the work of feminist sociologists in examining the relationship among situational interaction, accountability, and relational and discursive social structures …
Masculinities, Crime and
Gender consistently has been advanced by sociologists as the strongest predictor of criminal involvement: it explains more variance in crime cross‐culturally than any other variable. As an explanatory variable, then, gender would seem to be critical. Yet early theoretical works in the sociology of crime were gender‐blind. That is, although acknowledging that the vast majority of those who commit crime are men and boys, the gendered content of the…
Osama Bin Laden and His Jihadist Global Hegemonic Masculinity
This article examines for the first time the jihadist global hegemonic masculinity of Osama bin Laden. Based on Bin Laden's public statements translated into English, the authors examine how in the process of constructing a rationale for violent attacks primarily against the United States, he simultaneously and discursively formulates a jihadist global hegemonic masculinity. The research adds to the growing interest in discursive global hegemonic…
Masculinities and Femicide
The relationship between masculinity and femicide has been virtually ignored in the literature on both masculinities and femicide. The aim of this paper then is to concentrate on the relationship between masculinities and femicide by first briefly summarizing feminist theorizing in the 1970s and 1980s and its relation to the emergence of Raewyn Connell’s concept of “hegemonic masculinity.” Following that, new directions in scholarly work on hegem…
And now, the rest of the story
Joan Acker and the shift from patriarchy to gender
Feminist sociologist Joan Acker is most commonly cited as one of the first to theorize how gender gets institutionalized in organizations and workplaces. But this project was actually an application of a more general theoretical turn in the field Acker was promoting. Acker was centrally involved in an important feminist sociological conversation about whether we should continue to theorize and study ‘patriarchy' or whether our focus should shift …
The Struggle for Heterofeminine Recognition
No criminological research has yet examined how embodied interaction in a particular local in school, gendered milieu, may be related to engaging in sexual offenses by adolescent girls outside school boundaries. Additionally, studies of adolescent sexual offending by girls are appallingly gender and sexuality blind; no research considers the impact of both gender and sexuality on such girls. This work seeks to remedy these two crucial oversights …
Legitimation as linchpin
The concept of hegemonic masculinity maintains a distinctive status within the social sciences and humanities. Yet there never has been an examination of Connell’s changing conceptualization of the term throughout her scholarship, and specifically when and why she integrated ‘legitimation’ into her definition of hegemonic masculinity. The authors address this oversight by providing a detailed retrospective on the concept from its embryonic concep…
Interrogating “political masculinities”
This article interrogates the concept of “political masculinities” in terms of its usefulness as an analytical category. The article covers four major areas associated with the concept. First, some critical questions concerning the dichotomy between studying “men in politics” and “political masculinities” are offered. Second, concerns are raised regarding specific terms used in the current definition of political masculinities. Third, probing que…
Commonalities, Conflicts and Contradictions in Organizational Masculinities
The events surrounding the 1986 decision to launch the Space Shuttle Challenger are reconstructed to illustrate how multiple masculinities, particularly between and among managers and engineers, contributed to that organizational crisis. An analysis of gendered power relations--especially among men--reveals how the construction of particular forms of "masculinities," and the ways in which they are reproduced, rationalized or resisted, vary as a r…
From Marx to Bonger
Contemporary socialist criminologists concentrate their analysis of crime on production relations, ignoring the co-determination of reproduction and thus the role gender plays in crime by men and women. The author argues that this omission has occurred by reason of the theoretical work of Marx and Engels, as well as other socialist 'criminologists' of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The importance of the paper lies in its demon…
From Marx to Bonger
Contemporary socialist criminologists concentrate their analysis of crime on production relations, ignoring the co-determination of reproduction and thus the role gender plays in crime by men and women. The author argues that this omission has occurred by reason of the theoretical work of Marx and Engels, as well as other socialist 'criminologists' of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The importance of the paper lies in its demon…
Masculinities and crime
Crime as Structured Action
The author of this volume skillfully demonstrates that a vital component to understanding crime is to be able to view it as more than a single activity. James W. Messerschmidt argues that crime operates subtly through a complex series of gender, race and class practices and these interwoven elements must be seen as part of all social existence, not viewed independently
Commonalities, Conflicts and Contradictions in Organizational Masculinities
The events surrounding the 1986 decision to launch the Space Shuttle Challenger are reconstructed to illustrate how multiple masculinities, particularly between and among managers and engineers, contributed to that organizational crisis. An analysis of gendered power relations--especially among men--reveals how the construction of particular forms of "masculinities," and the ways in which they are reproduced, rationalized or resisted, vary as a r…
Making Bodies Matter
Previous studies of adolescent male violence have ignored, inter alia, offender agency, body, and gender. The life-history method offers a means to explore, concurrently, all three. In this article, the life histories of two white working-class adolescent male violent offenders are juxtaposed and analysed. Although both boys initially constructed culturally idealized hegemonic masculinities, bodily and sexual practices institutionalized in the sc…
Crime as Structured Action
The Baby Boomers' Bad Boys
Becoming 'Real Men
Previous studies of adolescent male sexual violence have ignored-among other issues-offender agency and gender. The life-history method offers a means to explore both. In this article, the life histories of two adolescent male sex offenders are juxtaposed and analyzed. Although both boys initially launched a hegemonic masculine project, bodily and sexual practices institutionalized in the school presented 'masculinity challenges' to both boys and…
On gang girls, gender and a structured action theory
Badfellas
Flesh and Blood
Sociologists and criminologists have long known that there is a relationship between masculinity and crime. Indeed, gender has been advanced consistently as the strongest predictor of criminal involvement.Flesh and Bloodprovides a fascinating account of the connection among adolescent gender diversity, the body, and assaultive violence. The book is divided into four parts. In Part I, the author explores the history of criminology as a discipline,…
Hegemonic Masculinity
The concept of hegemonic masculinity has influenced gender studies across many academic fields but has also attracted serious criticism. The authors trace the origin of the concept in a convergence of ideas in the early 1980s and map the ways it was applied when research on men and masculinities expanded. Evaluating the principal criticisms, the authors defend the underlying concept of masculinity, which in most research use is neither reified no…
Masculinities, Crime and
Gender consistently has been advanced by sociologists as the strongest predictor of criminal involvement: it explains more variance in crime cross‐culturally than any other variable. As an explanatory variable, then, gender would seem to be critical. Yet early theoretical works in the sociology of crime were gender‐blind. That is, although acknowledging that the vast majority of those who commit crime are men and boys, the gendered content of the…
Holding Your Square
And Now, the Rest of the Story
Doing Gender
C andace West and Don Zimmerman wrote Doing Gender at a time (the 1980s) when a paradigm shift in feminist social science was occur ring. The long-standing conception of sex roles had suffered fundamental feminist critique for a variety of reasons, none more important than its eclipsing of interrogations of power and inequality (Lopata and Thorne 1978). For those second-wave feminist perspectives that did highlight power and inequality-such as Ra…
The Struggle for Heterofeminine Recognition
No criminological research has yet examined how embodied interaction in a particular local in school, gendered milieu, may be related to engaging in sexual offenses by adolescent girls outside school boundaries. Additionally, studies of adolescent sexual offending by girls are appallingly gender and sexuality blind; no research considers the impact of both gender and sexuality on such girls. This work seeks to remedy these two crucial oversights …
Hegemonic Masculinities and Camouflaged Politics
Analyzing the speeches of the two Bush presidencies, this book presents a new conceptualization of hegemonic masculinity by making the case for a multiplicity of hegemonic masculinites locally, regionally, and globally. This book outlines how state leaders may appeal to particular hegemonic masculinites in their attempt to sell wars and thereby camouflage salient political practices in the process. Messerschmidt offers a fresh historical perspect…
Engendering Gendered Knowledge
The appropriation of concepts long established as salient contributions to gender theory and research recently has come under scholarly scrutiny. In this article, the author contributes to this dissection of crucial gender concepts by assessing the recent academic appropriation of the reformulated concept of 'hegemonic masculinity' and how this appropriation engenders gendered knowledge. The author first briefly revisits the concept of hegemonic …
Crime as Structured Action
James W. Messerschmidt’s groundbreaking book Crime as Structured Action demonstrates that to understand crime, we must understand how crime operates through a complex series of gender, race, sexual, and class practices. In the second edition of this powerful book, Messerschmidt updates both structured action theory as well as several of the original case studies, and he includes a new case study that further brings structured action theory to lif…
Masculinidade hegemônica
O conceito de masculinidade hegemônica tem influenciado os estudos de gênero em vários campos acadêmicos, mas ao mesmo tempo tem atraído um sério criticismo. Os autores traçam a origem do conceito a uma convergência de ideias no início dos anos 1980 e mapeiam as formas através das quais o conceito foi aplicado quando os estudos sobre homens e masculinidades se expandiram. Avaliando as principais críticas, os autores defendem o conceito de masculi…
Masculinities and Femicide
The relationship between masculinity and femicide has been virtually ignored in the literature on both masculinities and femicide. The aim of this paper then is to concentrate on the relationship between masculinities and femicide by first briefly summarizing feminist theorizing in the 1970s and 1980s and its relation to the emergence of Raewyn Connell’s concept of “hegemonic masculinity.” Following that, new directions in scholarly work on hegem…
Joan Acker and the shift from patriarchy to gender
Feminist sociologist Joan Acker is most commonly cited as one of the first to theorize how gender gets institutionalized in organizations and workplaces. But this project was actually an application of a more general theoretical turn in the field Acker was promoting. Acker was centrally involved in an important feminist sociological conversation about whether we should continue to theorize and study ‘patriarchy' or whether our focus should shift …
Osama Bin Laden and His Jihadist Global Hegemonic Masculinity
This article examines for the first time the jihadist global hegemonic masculinity of Osama bin Laden. Based on Bin Laden's public statements translated into English, the authors examine how in the process of constructing a rationale for violent attacks primarily against the United States, he simultaneously and discursively formulates a jihadist global hegemonic masculinity. The research adds to the growing interest in discursive global hegemonic…
Nine Lives
Sociologists and criminologists have long known that there is a relationship between masculinity and crime, for gender has been advanced consistently as the strongest predictor of criminal involvement. Nine Lives, written by one of the most respected authorities on the subject of gender and crime, provides a fascinating account of the connection am
Sociology (25 works) · Gender Studies (19 works) · Political science (16 works) · Gender Roles and Identity Studies (15 works) · Politics (12 works) · Gender Studies (11 works) · Gender, Feminism, and Media (11 works) · Law (11 works) · Masculinity (11 works) · Psychology (11 works)