Summary

Men & Masculinities is a new title in the Routledge Major Works series, Critical Concepts in Sociology. In five volumes, this set brings together canonical and cutting-edge material in the field to make sense of a rapidly expanding area of research.

The sociology of masculinity began to assume real significance from the late 1980s onwards, when it emerged out of the second wave of feminist research sweeping through American, European and Australasian universities at that time. In theoretical terms, scholars in the field primarily adopt sociological and psychoanalytical perspectives, while also connecting to psychological and philosophical understandings. Over the past decade there has been a surge in the number of publications that focus on aspects of global masculinities; there is now published research into Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Mexican, Indian, Caribbean, French, Spanish and African masculinities. Within the US there is also a burgeoning literature on Black and Latino masculinities in numerous contexts.

The sheer scale of this growth in research output - and the breadth of the field - makes this Routledge collection especially timely, and while it covers the primary concepts and discussions which have come to inform this field of study over the past thirty years or so, the collection also brings together material reflecting new debates and new areas of research from across the world.

With examples from every key writer and researcher who has contributed to the field over the past three decades, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in context, Men & Masculinities is an essential reference collection destined to be valued by scholars and students as a vital research resource.