Men Not Reading Fiction : A Qualitative Study

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to investigate the reading habits of six men who do not read fiction. The reason for my interest is the fact that men statistically read less fiction than women, and that there are few existing studies of this subject. The study investigates why these men do not read fiction, their attitudes towards literature, their reading habits, their leisure-time interests and if they experience fiction from other activities. Furthermore the study includes a discussion of whether or not there might be a connection between the men’s reading habits and their identity as men, as well as a discussion of all of the above in relation to their social background. The study is built on qualitative interviews among six men. The theories used to analyse the results have emanated from the research of Elaine Millard, showing that boys view reading as an activity for women, as well as from Sten Furhammar’s model for reading preferences. The result shows that the men often read for utilitarian purposes. They read to acquire knowledge, which they think fiction cannot provide. Some of them stress the lack of habit to read fiction. Some indicate that fiction is for women. The importance for some of the men that reading should be useful, might be attributable to their male identity. One of the respondents differs from the others since he previously used to read a great deal of fiction, but stopped a few years ago. This study shows a considerable relationship between parental encouragement to read and/or social background and the men’s reading habits as adults.Uppsatsnivå: