ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the contribution of the education system and the peer group to the formation of boys’ masculinities. The boys’ sense of ethnic identity and, in some cases, their experience of racism-either as victims or perpetrators or both-also contribute to the way they think of themselves as masculine, and are discussed at length later in the chapter. To a considerable extent, the school authorities and the boys’ peer groups were pulling in different directions, with the schools trying to shape attitudes to gender and ‘race’ to reflect egalitarian values and with many of the boys expressing still quite sexist and racist attitudes. Although masculine identities are, of course, defined primarily in gender terms, other influences than gender relations help to construct them. Prominent among these are class, ethnicity/nationality, youth culture and the media. This chapter begins with a brief overview of some of the main factors influencing the formation of masculinities in British society, with particular reference to the immediate post-war period-our point of departure.
