Lectures / 01/04/2009 7:30 pm

Men with power: Is there a crisis of masculinity in the global ruling class?"

There has been much talk of a "crisis of masculinity" in recent decades. As women have gained in authority, men are supposed to have lost their way. This idea is often illustrated with stories about violent working-class youth, or with stories about troubled middle-aged white collar workers. Usually these stories come from rich countries such as Austria and Australia, though they are sometimes told about Arab countries or about India. But what about the men who hold major power on a world scale - the owners of capital and the managers of the international corporate economy? Is there a crisis of masculinity among them? Does the financial meltdown and the recession have a gender dimension? In this lecture, I will talk about the findings of recent research into the gender patterns of corporate management, including my own research. I will ask participants to think about their own experience of business and public sector managers in Austria and Europe, and discuss what changes might be happening in gender relations and gender ideologies today.