The culture and the capital : What, how and why a number of men read

This thesis deals with the leisure-time reading of fourteen men with two different occupations, teachers of technology and directors of companies. The main reasons for writing the thesis are that very little is written about mens reading habits and also statistics that tell that mens reading decline regardless of educational level. The purpose has been to compare the reading and relations to literature between the two groups of men and to find out if any differences have to do with factors such as social background or age. The questions we have asked our collected data has been what, how and why the men read. We have tried not to investigate the work-related reading although we are aware of the difficulty in separating this from the leisure-time reading. We have used a qualitative method both by acquiring the data through structured informal interviews and by analysing the data from a hermeneutical perspective. The theories we have used to analyse the results have emanated from the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, from masculinity studies and from literature research. The main results and analysis of the thesis are the following: We do observe differences between the two groups of men regarding their reading and relations to literature, but we are also aware of similarities between the groups as well as differences inside each group. The teachers of technology more often read quality literature while the directors prefer exciting entertainment literature. How the men read is difficult to answer seeing them as an occupational group since this has more to do with individual behaviour and not even with the kind of literature they read. The reasons for the mens reading finally have more to do with their currant social and occupational relations than with their social background or education.Uppsatsnivå: