This comprehensive introduction to masculine identity politics in Canada offers a range of viewpoints, narratives, and evidence about the contested nature of masculinity. Drawing primarily on author Michael Atkinson's ethnographic research of Canadian men over the past decade, the text explores the idea of masculinity in crisis and the attempt by many men to move beyond this perceived crossroads. Atkinson reviews the historical links between masculinity and social power, the cultural associations between masculinity and violence, the role of masculinity in sports cultures, the problems of masculinity for young men, the mass mediation of masculinity and misandry, and the rise of alternative and 'feminine' masculinities. Never before have men's social roles, statuses, and identities been so open to cultural critique and redefinition; Deconstructing Men and Masculinities provides an engaging sociological narrative to guide readers through this ground-breaking area of study.

Preface Introduction: Masculinity in Crisis? What? A Masculinity Crisis? Really? Defining the Crisis Perceiving the Crisis Summary 1. Men, Power, and Pastiche Hegemony Chapter Objectives Knowing Masculinity and Social Power The Root of It All: Hegemony, Late Modernity, and Fear Late modernity, implosion, and crisis Summary 2. Violence, Residue, and Pastiche Hegemony Chapter Objectives Masculinity, Violence, and Moral Panicking: The Usual Suspects Violence, men, and media panics Spectacle, Self-Violence, and Crisis Subjectivities: Project Mayhem I. Backyard Wrestling II. Laddism III. Bugchasing IV. Ultra-Endurance Running Summary 3. The Lost (and Found) Boys Chapter Objectives Finding Boys through Straightedge Crisis, Callings, and Boyhood Masculinities Doing the Straightedge Vocation Summary 4. Male Femininities, Metrosexualities, and Liquid Ubersexualities Chapter Objectives Real Men Disappearing in a Risk Society Male Femininity Liquid Ubersexuality Ubersexuality and Body Supplementation Summary 5. Sporting Masculinities Chapter Objectives Case Studies in Residual Patriarchy I. Sexual Assault II. Hazing Summary 6. Mass-Mediating Risk Masculinities Chapter Objectives Three Faces of Televised Masculinity I. Unapologetic Men: Take Off, You Hoser II. On the Margins: Boys and Men at Risk III. Boys in Crisis: Atavism as Spectacle Summary 7. The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Chapter Objectives Physical Cultural [Whiteness] Studies Postcolonialism and Whiteness Studies From Libertarianism to Transhumanism The Triumph of the Object-Body No More Mr. White Guy: Humanity+ in Popular Culture Summary Epilogue

Michael Atkinson , Associate Professor, Faculty of Physical Education and Health, University of Toronto, Canada

"[Deconstructing Men and Masculinities is] an up-to-date examination of current trends in the study of (the crisis of) North American masculinity... It's very refreshing to encounter a Canadian sociological perspective on the masculinity crisis, and to consider even that Canadian masculinity (or better, masculinities) might be unique in nature." --James Pettit, Marianopolis College