All the same under the skin
Representations of class and gender in Michel Faber's Under the Skin
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3608978 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mayank Jha (0000-0002-6151-7148, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, corresponding author), Ansu Louis (Indian Institute of Technology Ropar) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 281-299 |
| Publication date | 2025-02-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Gender Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0958-9236 • E-ISSN: 1465-3869 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09589236.2024.2349923 |
| OpenAlex | W4396750535 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 34 |
The essay, broadly conceived in two sections, examines the relationship between gender and class in Michel Faber’s novel Under the Skin. The first section utilizes Beverley Skeggs’ ethnography on working-class women in Britain to outline Isserley’s social positioning and how it is associated with negative value. We contend that Isserley’s appearance and employment reproduce the dominant and pathologizing cultural representations of working-class women. Further, the essay argues that Isserley disidentifies as a working-class woman through the discourse of improvement since the representations of her positioning constantly devalue her. In the second section, we shift our focus to the intersection of gender and class in the construction of masculine identity. We argue that the representation of men in the novel replicates that of working-class men in the British context. The essay draws on R.W. Connell’s concept of marginalized masculinities to explore how the lives of men become inferior not just in terms of their bodies but also by failing to align with the hegemonic norms of manhood, such as staying employed, married, and being a provider for the family
Aesthetics · Doing gender · Epistemology · Ethnography · Hegemony · Michel foucault · Political science · Politics · Social class · Sociology · Working class · Anthropology · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · History · Philosophy · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics
“Do You Know Where the Light Is?” Factory Farming and Industrial Slaughter in Michel Faber’s Under the Skin
Hitchhiking
Masculinity, Labour, and Neoliberalism
Redundant Masculinities
Formations of Class and Gender
The Decline of the Male Breadwinner Model
Fear in Fearn
Gendered work
The toilet paper
Navigating the stigmatised identities of poverty in austere times
The effect of categorization as food on the perceived moral standing of animals
Immobility and insecure labour markets
Why Do People Stigmatise the Poor at a Time of Rapidly Increasing Inequality, and What Can Be Done About It
Of Humans, Pigs, Fish and Apes
Animals, Women, and Weapons
Illegitimate Subjects
It's a Question of Words, Therefore
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |