The 'Supermen' Club

Organizational Secrecy and Masculine Identity in an Israeli National Security Organization

Bibliographic Data

ID2341268
AuthorsAluma Kepten (0000-0003-4956-5857, The University of New South Wales, Canberra, ACT, Australia, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume49
Issue2
Pages330-349
Publication date2023-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArmed Forces & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0095-327X • E-ISSN: 1556-0848
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0095327x211064917
OpenAlexW4206730233
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited41

How does secrecy shape narratives of militarized hegemonic masculinity? This article assesses a gap at the intersection between theories of masculinities and organizational secrecy. Supported by 15 interviews with current and former male workers of a covert section of an Israeli national security organization, it argues that secrecy is experienced as both an external hurdle and a central component to the way that men internalize masculinity. Unable to access social capital outside the security organization, the respondents of the study construct a social field inside it through which they can assert their masculinity. They do so by conceptualizing their jobs, themselves, and the organization through a prism of sacrificial warriorhood, and actively incorporate secrecy's constraints into a narrative of 'super-men'. This study thus examines secrecy in the context of a militarized environment, showing the experience of masculinity and a perceived lack of power-access among members of a dominant group

Context (archaeology) · Covert · Hegemonic masculinity · Masculinity · Narrative · Political science · Public relations · Secrecy · Sociology · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Middle East Politics and Society · Psychology · Social Psychology

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