‘I feel proud because I made them stop fighting’: boys’ affective-discursive practices of discouraging physical aggression

ABSTRACT

Amidst essentialising discourses that circulate through educational spaces (e.g. that ‘boys will be boys’ or that boys are inherently aggressive), there is a need for more research that explores adolescent identities as complex and relational. This study considers the affective-discursive practices that both constrain and enable teenage boys to discourage physical fights. Critical discourse analysis techniques, informed by critical affect studies and feminist poststructuralism, were applied to interviews with four young men to illuminate how dynamic ways of ‘doing boy’ are always under creation. The discussion calls for moving beyond an individualistic discourse of ‘good choices’ in response to peer aggression, instead working more collaboratively with youth to examine the affect-laden discourses and relationships that shape themselves and their societies.

KEYWORDS:

• Masculinities
• peer aggression
• friendship
• affective-discursive practices
• critical discourse analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by US National Institute of Justice: [Grant Number 2015-CK-BX-0022].

Notes on contributors

Emma M. McMain

Emma M. McMain is a doctoral candidate in Educational Psychology at Washington State University. Her current research works toward a decolonial and feminist conceptualization of social-emotional learning for social justice. More generally, she engages in critical feminist analysis of media texts and youths’ lived experiences.