Masculinities, Violence and Culture

Book excerpt: This exciting and unique new book offers a post-modern analysis linking the contemporary social crisis of masculine subjectivity and the law and order crisis over escalating violence. In doing so it examines the major biological, psychological, sociological, and anthropological theoretical models of masculinity and violence, and formulates an integrated theoretical approach to the relationship between violence and masculinity. In essence, the book focuses on violence as a gendered activity - specifically a masculine activity. Early chapters define and theorize both violence and masculinity, and subsequent chapters focus on representations of violence and masculinity in popular culture. Familiar but insightful examples from cartoons, fiction, television, and the movies are used to illustrate the construction of masculinity in popular culture as well as the range of images of violence that dominate our senses. Drawing from diverse literatures and traditions, this engaging book is directed to advanced undergraduate and graduate students as well as professionals in Criminology, Legal Studies, Psychology, Sociology, Gender Studies, and Cultural Studies. Because of its theoretical aspects, it will be of interest to students and scholars in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, as well as in the United States.