Domestic labour, masculinity and social change: insights from working-class young men’s transitions to adulthood

Abstract

Drawing on a seven-year longitudinal qualitative study in England, this paper presents evidence of how engagement with housework and childcare is regular and normalized for contemporary working-class young adult men. I explain this development with reference to inclusive masculinity theory, but supplement this by incorporating Mannheim’s concept of social generation, as recently adopted by scholars of youth sociology. The paper thus further augments other research that has documented considerable change in the construction and performance of contemporary masculinities – such as an opening up of gendered behaviours and a decrease (but not erasure) of homophobia – among young men across multiple contexts in English-speaking countries.

Keywords:

• Inclusive masculinities
• working class
• domestic labour
• social change
• youth transitions

Notes

1. Generational analyses have also been advocated in relation to sexuality research (e.g. Plummer, 2010), where a similar – though not identical – focus on social and historical contextual factors of each generation is foregrounded.