To Örebro University

The topic of caring in relation to ageing masculinity, specifically how ageing often entails both giving and receiving care, has received increasing attention over the last fifteen years in academic literature as well as representations in literature, art and film. One such film is Arrugas (Paco Roca, 2007) a much-praised Spanish-language film. Adopting the framework of caring masculinities, this paper argues for the empowerment and visibility of the caregiver depicted in Arrugas and analyses Miguel’s role as a male guide in the traditionally ‘feminised’ environment of the nursing home.

The aim of this article is to critically evaluate the concept of caring masculinity/ies, a concept that has gained traction in critical studies on men and masculinities (CSMM) since the publication of Karla Elliott’s 2016 article. Utilizing a rapid literature review, this study analyses 54 peer-reviewed papers published in English-language journals since 2016. The paper begins with an overview of the early development of caring masculinities, tracing its theoretical roots and initial applications. It subsequently categorizes the dominant ways in which the concept has been applied, focusing on typologies, caring practices, and processes of change, as well as on criticism of the concept. The paper then discusses key critical junctions and limitations, particularly on the conflation of attitudes with practice. It finally calls for a more coherent focus on caring practices that emphasizes the importance of intersectionality, the initial feminist promise of the concept and greater attention to the structural barriers that may enable, shape or restrict men’s caring.

This article explores the extent of gender disparities in: (a) formal non-compulsory music education (FNCME), (b) instrument uptake, choice and continuation, and (c) music composition and production within the Swedish adult population. A nationally representative online survey of 1096 respondents aged 18–79 years old was conducted in 2023 and analysed using chi-squared tests and binary logistic regression. Data indicated that gender was the main factor impacting on all three aspects, intersecting significantly with age. This was even when accounting for highest level of educational attainment, employment type, personal income, region and whether respondents were born in Sweden.

The concept of masculinities is used in various ways to describe the behaviors, performances, expectations and construction of ideas of and about men within a given temporal, geographical and social context. Whilst the term masculinity (singular) suggests one dominant norm,  masculinities (plural) indicates that there are different forms and processes. There are several ways of conceptualizing the term. Psychological approaches tend to view masculinities as expressions of individuals’ psyches linked to social norms. Structuralist approaches see them as linked to different configuration of gendered relations within societies whereas constructionist approaches see them as discursive ideals. These approaches are interlinked but how they are studied and theorized differs, depending on researchers’ backgrounds, and all are relevant for understandings of management, managers and managing. 

This addresses debates on masculinity, masculinities, and management. Starting with an outline of what is meant by the term, masculinities, it discusses the conceptual foundations of theoretical and empirical approaches to the topic in terms of psychoanalysis, sex-role theory, and Marxist and feminist critiques. It moves on to discuss how the term has broadened in recent years, before addressing the confusions and critiques of the term. This ranges from poststructuralist, discursive, and queer critiques. It, finally, highlights various applications of this work on masculinities for the analysis of management, managers, and managing.

Despite extensive research on inequalities in music, it remains unclear how power is conceptualized and analyzed within musical practices and institutions. The purpose of this study is to explore contemporary academic research on power in musical practices and institutions. Through a scoping literature review of peer-reviewed articles published between 2013 and 2023, the study examines how inequalities in music are framed and explored. Our findings reveal a strong emphasis on gender, race, and social justice, with music education emerging as the most studied context. Despite frequent references to power, the concept is often left undefined, and research primarily highlights marginalized groups’ experiences rather than the mechanisms through which power operates, limiting its ability to address structural inequities. We suggest that future research further engage with how power operates, is maintained, and contested in musical institutions and practices, with particular attention to dominant groups, material power, and institutional mechanisms shaping inequalities.

Music, in different forms, has historically supported far-right movements. Today, however, as a result of digitalization and fragmentation, there are a wide variety of music styles which are both engaged with and used among far-right movements. This article argues that ideas around masculinism are central to music’s appeal in the international, contemporary, English-speaking far-right in a way that spans aesthetic differences. Using extensive user comments from far-right web forums and video-streaming comments under far-right artists, it argues that both the materiality of the sounding aspects and discourses about the music work to shape interpretations of ‘musical masculinism’. The article first explores how ‘feminized’ music is actively discouraged in contemporary far-right spaces. It moves on to examine music’s reception as it links to masculinism as both a consequence of the sounding properties of the music and ideological judgements about it, with a focus on metal and ‘fashwave’ genres. Finally, it explores how masculinist principles even permeate the positive reception of classical music through appeals to harmony as natural order. Through this, it argues that, despite disparate genre preferences, masculinism is an implicitly core tenet which runs through positive and negative evaluations across a range of different musical styles.

The issue of change has long been a central focus in critical studies on men and masculinities. The issue of if, how and why men and masculinity/masculinities change has been central to feminist strategy as well as a question of explanation. Scholars from a variety of academic disciplines have pointed frequently to contemporary popular music as evidence of broader cultural shifts in changing masculinities, whereby the question of change is viewed in positive terms though exploring open emotional expression, or as stasis, where very little changes. 

Importantly, popular music scholars are interested between the idea of changing representations and what these representations say about culture more generally; both in terms of musical texts as cultural representations and the power of music to shape gendered norms within cultures. Yet the question is how to study and how to ascertain cultural shifts as well as the impact of music is a tricky one. A well-worn sociological critique of musicological research on the issue is twofold: firstly that the tendency to argue on the basis of selected examples seeks confirm a particular interpretation (“cherry picking”); secondly that a methodology which seeks to locate meaning through an analysis of cultural texts does explain how they are interpreted by groups. The counter argument, however, is that sociological approaches reduce music to mere symbol, ignoring the specifically musical properties which convey meaning and failing to offer an explanation as to why and how and why the “music itself” resonates.

This paper focuses on understanding the cultural resonance of popular musics in relation to theories around changing men, masculinity/masculinities. It offers a model which explores the link between text and interpretation through a framework of creation, representation, mediation and reception. In doing so it makes two main arguments: firstly that change is not necessarily progressive or egalitarian, with reference to the way in which right-wing movements mobilise masculinism and the idea of overly emotional men as a central resource in aesthetic critique; secondly that the increasing fragmentation of representations of masculinity in popular music, still require an analysis of the structural conditions under which multiple representations flourish.