Happy objects, happy men? Affect and materiality in vocational training

Abstract

This article investigates the prevailing social inertia of vocational training. Previous research indicates that gendered social norms contribute to sustaining gender segregation. Few studies, however, have paid attention to how the interplay of emotional and material factors impact on gender norms in vocational training. The article builds on an ethnographic study in a Swedish upper-secondary educational programme traditionally dominated by masculinity norms, namely the Building and Construction programme. Employing Sara Ahmed's notion of happy objects, the article centres on vocational students' expressed joy in the practical work and shows how joy contributes to sustaining and challenging dominant masculinity patterns. Though students enjoyed practical work, the study indicates that a particular version of happiness was normalised which ruled out non-heterosexual and female students. The article suggests that further studies of social inertia in vocational training need to account for the interconnectedness of the emotional, material, and corporeal dimensions of gender.

Keywords:

• embodiment
• emotions/affect
• ethnography
• masculinities
• materiality
• secondary education
• vocational education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Magnus Åberg http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8019-2396

Maria Hedlin http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6016-4416