Steven Roberts – författare

This book addresses the recent marginalisation of class theory in youth sociology. The authors argue for the importance of reinstating class analysis as central to understanding young people’s lives in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Their analysis recognises that in periods of social change, class relationships and processes can and do get reconfigured, but by drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, they show that class, while being dynamic, remains core to shaping the everyday lives of young people.

Students and scholars across a range of areas including the sociology of youth, sociology of education, social work and social policy will find this book of interest. 

Young Working Class Men in Transition uses a unique blend of concepts from the sociologies of youth and masculinity combined with Bourdieusian social theory to investigate British young working-class men’s transition to adulthood. Indeed, utilising data from biographical interviews as well as an ethnographic observation of social media activity, this volume provides novel insights by following young men across a seven-year time period. Against the grain of prominent popular discourses that position young working-class men as in ‘crisis’ or as adhering to negative forms of traditional masculinity, this book consequently documents subtle yet positive shifts in the performance of masculinity among this generation.

Underpinned by a commitment to a much more expansive array of emotionality than has previously been revealed in such studies, young men are shown to be engaged in school, open to so called ‘women’s work’ in the service sector, and committed to relatively egalitarian divisions of labour in the family home. Despite this, class inequalities inflect their transition to adulthood with the ‘toxicity’ of neoliberalism - rather than toxic masculinity - being core to this reality.

Problematising how working-class masculinity is often represented, Young Working Class Men in Transition both demonstrates and challenges the portrayal of working class masculinity as a repository of homophobia, sexism and anti-feminine acting. It will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as youth studies, masculinity studies, gender studies, sociology of education and sociology of work.

Young Working Class Men in Transition uses a unique blend of concepts from the sociologies of youth and masculinity combined with Bourdieusian social theory to investigate British young working-class men’s transition to adulthood. Indeed, utilising data from biographical interviews as well as an ethnographic observation of social media activity, this volume provides novel insights by following young men across a seven-year time period. Against the grain of prominent popular discourses that position young working-class men as in ‘crisis’ or as adhering to negative forms of traditional masculinity, this book consequently documents subtle yet positive shifts in the performance of masculinity among this generation.

Underpinned by a commitment to a much more expansive array of emotionality than has previously been revealed in such studies, young men are shown to be engaged in school, open to so called ‘women’s work’ in the service sector, and committed to relatively egalitarian divisions of labour in the family home. Despite this, class inequalities inflect their transition to adulthood with the ‘toxicity’ of neoliberalism - rather than toxic masculinity - being core to this reality.

Problematising how working-class masculinity is often represented, Young Working Class Men in Transition both demonstrates and challenges the portrayal of working class masculinity as a repository of homophobia, sexism and anti-feminine acting. It will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as youth studies, masculinity studies, gender studies, sociology of education and sociology of work.

Introductory chapters provide significant foundational scope for research on the sociology of gender. Following this, a diverse array of contributors present insights into important and emerging concepts such as femininities, masculinities, intersex identities, sexuality, and transnational feminisms. Within the Research Handbook, gender is explored on multiple levels, from individual to institutional, and it ultimately paints a comprehensive picture of the sociology of gender that crosses continents and develops an inclusive perspective.

This Research Handbook is beneficial to students of sociology and social policy, as well as those studying gender within other disciplines such as business and management. Researchers and academics looking for contemporary analyses will also find this to be an important resource.