The Unsung Heroes of Ireland

Masculinity, Gender, and Breadwinning among Ireland's 'Euro-Commuters

Bibliographic Data

ID2388367
AuthorsDavid Ralph (0000-0003-1804-4565, Department of Sociology, Trinity College, University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume23
Issue3-4
Pages702-724
Publication date2020-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMen and Masculinities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1097-184X • E-ISSN: 1552-6828
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1097184x18787588
OpenAlexW2884927494
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited61

Here I examine the masculinity/breadwinning nexus among a group of intra-European migrants, namely, those who commute for work between European states-or Euro-commuters. I focus specifically on professional male Euro-commuters, who live in the Republic of Ireland but work in another European Union (EU)-28 country. Examining their mobility decision-making process, I argue that the impetus behind Euro-commuting is strongly influenced by normative gender-based expectations around masculinity and breadwinning. Threatened with socioeconomic insecurity in austerity-hit Ireland, respondents struggled to sustain strongly gendered identities as their families' primary breadwinners. Consequently, by securing professional white-collar work in another EU-28 country, not only is downward social mobility from the Irish middle-class offset but also equally so is the threat to their firmly held masculine breadwinner identities. In securing this employment, then, my respondents were compensating for what they felt to be their 'failed' masculinity during bouts of underemployment or unemployment; they were now performing masculinity 'successfully' by working overseas. Effectively, Euro-commuting is a further means of reasserting hegemonic gender-based identities as middle-class male breadwinners. This mobility thereby contributes to novel patterns of reproducing privileged gender subjectivities

Austerity · Demographic economics · Economic growth · European union · Irish · Masculinity · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Underemployment · Unemployment · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Studies · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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