The Masculine Self

Significantly expanded, updated, and improved with 50% new material, this is a comprehensive review of scholarly research and theory in men’s studies. No other book can approach it in its coverage of the volume of men’s studies research, its provision of a theoretical context for understanding the research, and its boxed features--most of which highlight the human aspects of the subject matter. Organized in three parts, the book offers a view of masculinity from a wide variety of perspectives. The first two chapters provide an introduction to contemporary concepts of men and masculinity, as well as the scientific study of sex and gender. In the second section, these concepts are applied to the major schools of psychological theory: psychobiology, social learning, humanism/existentialism, psychoanalysis, and socioculturalism. The last part of the book summarizes “men’s issues:” work, emotion, relationships, physical health, mental health, violence, and the changing definitions of what it means to be male in contemporary society.