ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explores the notion that the discourse on masculinity in seventeenth-century Spain produced no viable ideations of manly conduct. It traces a third vector of change in masculine conduct codes, that of adaptability. While the word 'adapt' did not gain widespread use in early modern Spain, contemporary writers exploited the linguistic and rhetorical resources available to them to confront issues associated with mutability and accommodation. Cultivating fame, practicing dissimulation, and adapting to new situations require what Norbert Elias calls 'detachment'. Elias's theory of 'involvement and detachment' is less well known than the overarching trajectory of his 'processes of civilization', but it sheds light on Spanish writer's success in generating new models of masculine virtue. For Elias, the earliest human societies did not enjoy the luxury of separating themselves from the barrage of hostile forces to which they were subject.
