The resources and strategies that 10–11-year-old boys use to construct masculinities in the school setting

Abstract

The data in this article come from an ethnographic exploration into the construction of masculinities in three junior schools in the UK between 1998 and 1999. The author argues that the construction and performance of masculinity is inextricably linked to the acquisition of status within the school peer group, and he delineates the specific series of resources and strategies that the boys draw on and use in each setting to achieve this. The different meanings and practices at each school, and the different array of resources available, means that there is a different set of options and/or opportunities within each school setting to do boy, and the author classifies these as being either open (possible), restricted (more difficult), or closed (almost impossible). The principal and most esteemed resource used by the boys was physicality and athleticism, and the author highlights the link between masculinity and the body.

Notes

Department of Education and Professional Studies, King's College London, Franklin Wilkins Building, London SE1 9NN, UK. Email: [email protected]