Strategic Masculine Disinvestment: Understanding Contemporary Transformations of Masculinity and Their Psychosocial Implications

Abstract

Research on men and masculinities is increasingly concerned with contemporary transformations in the way men understand and “do” gender. In particular, burgeoning paradigms like the hybrid masculinities framework have called attention to diverse patterns of practice among men that are seemingly at odds with traditional iterations of hegemonic masculinity. We conceptualize one component of this practice as a concerted process of “strategic masculine disinvestment.” Using new, nationally representative survey data pertaining to men living in the United States, we ask two novel questions about this phenomenon that have not been addressed at the population level. First, who disinvests from traditional masculinity? While masculine distancing tends to be observed among privileged men in qualitative studies, a comprehensive view of which men engage in this practice within the general population is absent from the literature. Secondly, how are contemporary transformations of gender like strategic masculine disinvestment associated with psychosocial functioning? Findings suggest that strategic masculine disinvestment is more common among young and college educated men, but is not necessarily unique to unilaterally privileged men. In fact, men experiencing financial strain are especially likely to disinvest from masculinity. We also observe that strategic masculine disinvestment is consistently associated with poorer psychosocial functioning, including lower levels of mastery and higher levels of anger, anxiety, depression, and non-specific psychological distress. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for studies of men and masculinities and of contemporary transformations of gender more generally.