ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter we introduced and discussed how our interviewees perceive lad culture and explored their narratives about where and how it is manifest. In this chapter we take these initial explorations further as we analyse staff views on who engages in lad culture, examining the intersections between gender, social class, ethnicity, and age, as well as the spaces and contexts that are perceived to cultivate it. Understanding who is perceived as laddish and in what ways is crucial if we are to theorise lad culture which, as Phipps points (2017a) out, remains under-theorised and requires an intersectional approach. The chapter is structured around key social categories that interviewees used to describe and define who is laddish. Lad culture was very strongly associated with men and masculinities, so we start by discussing gender, exploring the ways in which women and men are positioned in discourses about lad culture. We then move to consider the ways in which staff perceived lad culture to be related to social class, age, and ethnicity. We realise these social categories intersect, but separate them in this chapter for the sake of clarity, while also highlighting the intersections.
