View article

Connell’s theory on masculinity has dominated this field since 1987. Hegemonic masculinity and its dynamic relationship with femininity and other masculinities has passed from a conceptual model to a widely used framework for research and debate about men and masculinities. Connell proposed that masculinities and the relationships between them are necessary to interpret and furnish meaning to the behaviours of men. Connell’s formative work on multiple masculinities and the power/dominance relationship between masculinities is challenged in a new framework. Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, which marries the relevance of social structures and interaction in the development of the masculine habitus, is applied to masculinity. West and Zimmerman’s ‘doing’gender thesis and Butler’s concept of performative gender are presented to shift the focus away from social structures, in order to demonstrate that …