A Critical Investigation of Masculinity in Education: Using a Narrative Method

This chapter treats the concept of masculinit(ies) in two distinct ways. It offers a discussion relating to the notion of masculinit(ies) as a research foci. This construct is problematized by facing up to the methodological paradox of examining the unmarginalized subject and how that can increase in complexity when contextualized within an institutional setting such as education. The popular notion of hegemonic masculinity and the development of the term masculinit(ies) is unraveled to acknowledge the plural condition of how gender can be represented. What can be lost by a treatment of masculinity that relies on an overly sociological approach that is necessarily historical and localized is then briefly examined. By focusing on the research perspective and the common framing of masculinit(ies), a case study of Tom is used to highlight both the possibilities and also the restrictions of how gendered representation can be addressed within an institutionalized environment such as education