ABSTRACT
A body of social and political theory has suggested that late industrial societies have undergone a range of economic, social and cultural changes from the 1960s. Analysts claim that one of the main outcomes of these changes has been that a new significance has been assigned to identity in contemporary Western societies. Identities in modern societies have become sites of scrutiny, debate and reconfiguration. The category of identity has also increasingly acted as a foundation for oppositional political movements. Men’s identities have not been insulated from the social changes that have increased the importance of identity in contemporary societies. This chapter explores the general social changes that have emerged to generate interest in contemporary identities and explores the more specific changes that have promoted new debates and forms of gendered politics around men’s identities.
