ABSTRACT
Two historical processes in the past several decades – the feminist movement and globalization – have affected broader cultural understandings of masculinity and masculinism. The former is a social movement that achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s while the latter is a socioeconomic restructuring process, which, beginning in the 1980s, has been pushed by the powerful capitalist states for the benefit of the rich, the investors, and the major corporations. The feminist movement in North American societies challenged the patriarchal power structure associated with the postwar male-breadwinner model of gender relations. This movement succeeded in advancing gender equality, especially in the workplace, establishing women’s reproductive rights, and politicizing violence against women. But was there any significant change in masculinity? Was there a change in masculinism, an ideology that justifies male domination and women’s subordination? The historical process of globalization, even though it was a response to the crisis of accumulation (profit squeeze), also affected the trajectory of masculinity and masculinism. Did globalization cause a crisis of male-breadwinner model masculinity? What were the responses of diverse groups of men situated differently in the global political economy? To answer these questions, this chapter first examines the changes in masculinity under globalization and then examines the Canadian case. The chapter also offers a new interpretation of the changes in masculinism that have occurred in the postwar era. The chapter concludes with a suggestion for future action to overcome masculinist oppression.
