To stand in line and fit in—About military men's (un)reflected navigation in the armed forces
(2023) In Sociology Compass 17(3).- Abstract
The purpose of the study is to investigate how the everyday experience of being a man in a male-dominated organization and what navigating the organization is like. The study builds on 15 interviews with men of various ages and ranks in the Swedish Armed Forces. The findings revealed three major themes that illustrate how men, and their actions, contribute to producing and re-producing gendered norms. First, the ideal military person is seen to have characteristics that are predominantly male and even though respondents only identify with these characteristics to some extent, the typical male ideal is still prevalent within the Armed Forces. Second, this image is reproduced by an uncritical stance towards the internal workings of the... (More)
The purpose of the study is to investigate how the everyday experience of being a man in a male-dominated organization and what navigating the organization is like. The study builds on 15 interviews with men of various ages and ranks in the Swedish Armed Forces. The findings revealed three major themes that illustrate how men, and their actions, contribute to producing and re-producing gendered norms. First, the ideal military person is seen to have characteristics that are predominantly male and even though respondents only identify with these characteristics to some extent, the typical male ideal is still prevalent within the Armed Forces. Second, this image is reproduced by an uncritical stance towards the internal workings of the organization, relating to career paths and their reliance of traditional gendered roles. Third, the Armed Forces encounter resistance to gender equality work from within the military organization, in both action and inactions. We suggest this is due to a resistance to change and that work with gender equality is minimized to a shadow task that lacks committed men. We conclude that men's reality seems both obvious and unreflected, and these structures are upheld within the Armed Forces.
(Less)
- author
- Linehagen, Frida LU and Wester, Misse LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- gender equality, masculinity, military organization, resistance, Swedish Armed Forces
- in
- Sociology Compass
- volume
- 17
- issue
- 3
- publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85143546476
- ISSN
- 1751-9020
- DOI
- 10.1111/soc4.13056
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Sociology Compass published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
- id
- ac358fd5-c2bb-4e93-920d-8b2ef4bc5f81
- date added to LUP
- 2023-01-20 15:46:07
- date last changed
- 2023-10-26 15:03:52
@article{ac358fd5-c2bb-4e93-920d-8b2ef4bc5f81,
abstract = {{<p>The purpose of the study is to investigate how the everyday experience of being a man in a male-dominated organization and what navigating the organization is like. The study builds on 15 interviews with men of various ages and ranks in the Swedish Armed Forces. The findings revealed three major themes that illustrate how men, and their actions, contribute to producing and re-producing gendered norms. First, the ideal military person is seen to have characteristics that are predominantly male and even though respondents only identify with these characteristics to some extent, the typical male ideal is still prevalent within the Armed Forces. Second, this image is reproduced by an uncritical stance towards the internal workings of the organization, relating to career paths and their reliance of traditional gendered roles. Third, the Armed Forces encounter resistance to gender equality work from within the military organization, in both action and inactions. We suggest this is due to a resistance to change and that work with gender equality is minimized to a shadow task that lacks committed men. We conclude that men's reality seems both obvious and unreflected, and these structures are upheld within the Armed Forces.</p>}},
author = {{Linehagen, Frida and Wester, Misse}},
issn = {{1751-9020}},
keywords = {{gender equality; masculinity; military organization; resistance; Swedish Armed Forces}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
publisher = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
series = {{Sociology Compass}},
title = {{To stand in line and fit in—About military men's (un)reflected navigation in the armed forces}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/soc4.13056}},
doi = {{10.1111/soc4.13056}},
volume = {{17}},
year = {{2023}},
}