ABSTRACT
This chapter elaborates on the different dimensions of the state’s masculinism. Feminist-materialist theories of the state explain state masculinism out of social power relations and conceptualize the state as well as masculinism as the result of hegemonic struggles for the institutionalization of societal order. Supplemented by a Foucauldian view of governmentality, state masculinity is conceived as a form of subjectivation, that is, the interplay of individual practices, state institutions and norms. In turn, masculine procedures, norms and ideas – an organizational masculinity – are embedded in the state-bureaucratic apparatus, as is a descriptive masculinity, the presence and over-representation of men – however varying in different national contexts, historical state traditions and gender regimes. In a final step, the chapter presents considerations on the transformation of a state masculinism, which are discussed using the example of empirical research on the increasing importance of affects and emotions in the actions of street-level bureaucrats.
