![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon-1498649896243.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
Based on two years of fieldwork and over 100 interviews, we analyze mixed martial arts fighters’ fears, how they managed them, and how they adopted intimidating personas to evoke fear in opponents. We conceptualize this process as “managing emotional manhood,” which refers to emotion management that signifies, in the dramaturgical sense, masculine selves. Our study aims to deepen our understanding of how men’s emotion work is gendered and, more generally, to bring together two lines of research: studies of gendered emotion management and studies of emotional identity work. We further propose that managing emotional manhood is a dynamic and trans-situational process that can be explored in diverse settings.
References
|
Acker, Joan . 1990. “Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations.” Gender and Society 4:139–58. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Albas, Cheryl, Albas, Daniel. 1988. “Emotion Work and Emotion Rules: The Case of Exams.” Qualitative Sociology 11:259–74. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Anderson, Elijah . 1999. Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City. yNew York: W.W. Norton. Google Scholar | |
|
Bartky, Sandra . 1995. “Feeding Egos and Tending Wounds: Deference and Disaffection in Women’s Emotional Labor.” In Power, Dignity and Social Structure: Readings in Multicultural Social Theory, edited by Rogers, M. New York: McGraw-Hill. Google Scholar | |
|
Bem, Sandra L. 1993. The Lenses of Gender: Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Blumer, Herbert . 1969. Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Google Scholar | |
|
Cahill, Spencer E. 1999. “Emotional Capital and Professional Socialization: The Case of Mortuary Science Students (and Me).” Social Psychology Quarterly 62:101–16. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Cahill, Spencer E., Eggleston, Robin. 1994. “Managing Emotions in Public: The Case of Wheelchair Users.” Social Psychology Quarterly 57:300–12. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Cancian, Francesca M., Gordon, Steven F. 1988. “Changing Emotion Norms in Marriage: Love and Anger in U.S. Women’s Magazines Since 1900.” Gender and Society 2:308–42. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Clark, Candace . 1990. “Emotions and Micropolitics in Everyday Life: Some Patterns and Paradoxes of Place.” Pp. 305–33 in Research Agendas in the Sociology of Emotions, edited by Kemper, T. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Collins, Patricia H. 2004. Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism. New York: Routledge. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Connell, Robert W. 1995. Masculinities. Sydney: Allen and Unwin. Google Scholar | |
|
Copp, Martha . 1998. “When Emotion Work Is Doomed to Fail: Ideological and Structural Constraints on Emotion Management.” Symbolic Interaction 21:299–328. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
DeVault, Marjorie L. 1999. “Comfort and Struggle: Emotion Work in Family Life.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 561:52–63. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Dunn, Jennifer L. 2002. Courting Disaster: Intimate Stalking, Culture, and Criminal Justice. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. Google Scholar | |
|
Elliott, Sinikka, Umberson, Debra. 2008. “The Performance of Desire: Gender and Sexual Negotiation in Long-Term Marriages.” Journal of Marriage and Family 70:391–406. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Erickson, Rebecca J. 2005. “Why Emotion Work Matters: Sex, Gender, and the Division of Household Labor.” Journal of Marriage and Family 67:337–51. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Erickson, Rebecca J., Ritter, Christian. 2001. “Emotion Labor, Burnout, and Inauthenticity: Does Gender Matter?” Social Psychology Quarterly 64:143–62. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Fields, Jessica, Copp, Martha, Kleinman, Sherryl. 2006. “Symbolic Interactionism, Inequality, and Emotions.” Pp. 155–78 in Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions, edited by Stets, J. E., Turner, J. H. New York: Springer. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Fine, Gary A. 1987. With the Boys: Little League Baseball and Preadolescent Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Francis, Linda E. 1994. “Laughter, the Best Mediation: Humor as Emotion Management in Interaction. Symbolic Interaction 17:147–63. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Francis, Linda E. 1997. “Ideology and Interpersonal Emotion Management: Redefining Identity in Two Support Groups.” Social Psychology Quarterly 60:153–171. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Goffman, Erving . 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday. Google Scholar | |
|
Goffman, Erving . 1968. Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior. New York: Doubleday. Google Scholar | |
|
Goffman, Erving . 1974. Frame Analysis. New York: Harper. Google Scholar | |
|
Haas, Jack . 1977. “Learning Real Feelings: A Study of High Steel Ironworkers Reactions to Fear and Danger.” Sociology of Work and Occupations 4:147–70. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Hearn, Jeff . 1998. The Violences of Men: How Men Talk about and How Agencies Respond to Men’s Violence to Women. London: Sage. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Hochschild, Arlie R. 1979. “Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social-Structure.” American Journal of Sociology 85:551–75. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Hochschild, Arlie R. 1983. The Managed Heart. Berkeley: University of California Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Hochschild, Arlie R. 1990. “Ideology and Emotion Management: A Perspective and Path for Future Research.” Pp. 117–42 in Research Agendas in the Sociology of Emotion, edited by Kemper, T. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Holyfield, Lori, Fine, Gary A. 1997. “Adventure as Character Work: The Collective Taming of Fear.” Symbolic Interaction 20:343–63. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Khanna, Nikki, Johnson, Cathryn. 2010. “Passing as Black: Racial Identity Work among Biracial Americans.” Social Psychology Quarterly 73:380–97. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Kimmel, Michael . 1996. Manhood in America: A Cultural History. New York: The Free Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Kipling, Rudyard . 1976. “If.” Pp. 163–64 in The Forty-Nine Percent Majority: The Male Sex Role, edited by David, D. S., Brannon, R. New York: Random House. Google Scholar | |
|
Lewis, Patricia . 2005. “Suppression or Expression: An Exploration of Emotion Management in a Special Care Baby Unit.” Work, Employment & Society 19:565–81. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Lively, Kathryn J. 2000. “Reciprocal Emotion Management: Working Together to Maintain Stratification in Private Law Firms.” Work and Occupations 27:32–63. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Lively, Kathryn J. 2008. “Emotional Segues and the Management of Emotion by Women and Men.” Social Forces 87:911–36. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Lively, Kathryn J., Powell, Brian. 2006. “Emotional Expression at Work and at Home: Domain, Status, or Individual Characteristics?” Social Psychology Quarterly 69:17–38. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Lois, Jennifer . 2003. Heroic Efforts: The Emotion Culture of Search and Rescue Volunteers. New York: New York University Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Martin, Patricia Y. 2005. Rape Work: Victims, Gender & Emotions in Organization & Community Context. New York: Routledge. Google Scholar | |
|
Martin, Susan E. 1999. “Police Force or Police Service? Gender and Emotional Labor.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 561:111–26. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
McCaughey, Martha . 1998. “The Fighting Spirit: Women’s Self-Defense Training and the Discourse of Sexed Embodiment.” Gender and Society 12:277–300. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
McGuffey, C. Shawn . 2008. “Saving Masculinity: Gender Reaffirmation, Sexuality, Race and Parental Responses to Male Child Sexual Abuse.” Social Problems 55:216–37. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Messner, Michael . 1992. Power at Play: Sports and the Problem of Masculinity. Boston: Beacon Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Messner, Michael . 2009. It’s All for the Kids: Gender, Families, and Youth Sports. Berkeley: University of California Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Orzechowicz, David . 2008. “Privileged Emotion Managers: The Case of Actors.” Social Psychology Quarterly 71:143–56. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Pierce, Jennifer . 1995. Gender Trials: Emotional Lives of Contemporary Law Firms. Berkeley: University of California Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Sattel, Jack. W. 1976. “The Inexpressive Male: Tragedy or Sexual Politics?” Social Problems 23:469–77. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Schrock, Douglas P., Boyd, Emily M., Leaf, Margaret. 2009. “Emotion Work in the Public Performances of Male-to-Female Transsexuals.” Archives of Sexual Behavior 38:702–12. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Schrock, Douglas P., Schwalbe, Michael. 2009. “Men, Masculinity, and Manhood Acts.” Annual Review of Sociology 35:277–95. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Schwalbe, Michael . 2005. “Identity Stakes, Manhood Acts, and the Dynamics of Accountability.” Pp. 65–81 in Studies in Symbolic Interaction, edited by Denzin, N. New York: Elsevier. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Schwalbe, Michael, Godwin, Sandra, Daphne, Holden, Schrock, Douglas, Thompson, Shealy, Wolkomir, Michele. 2000. “Generic Processes in the Reproduction of Inequality: An Interactionist Analysis.” Social Forces 79:419–52. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Schwalbe, Michael L., Mason-Schrock, Douglas. 1996. “Identity Work as Group Process.” Pp. 113–47 in Advances in Group Processes, edited by Markovsky, B., Lovaglia, M., Simon, R. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Scully, Diana . 1990. Understanding Sexual Violence: A Study of Convicted Rapists. New York: Harper Collins Academic. Google Scholar | |
|
Sharp, Shane . 2010. “Does Prayer Help Manage Emotions?” Social Psychology Quarterly 73:417–37. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Simon, Robin W., Barrett, Anne E. 2010. “Nonmarital Romantic Relationships and Mental Health in Early Adulthood: Does the Association Differ for Women and Men?” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 51:168–82. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Simon, Robin W., Nath, Leda E. 2004. “Gender and Emotion in the United States: Do Men and Women Differ in Self-Reports of Feelings and Expressive Behavior?” American Journal of Sociology 109:1137–76. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Smith, Allen, Kleinman, Sherryl. 1989. “Managing Emotions in Medical School: Students’ Contact with the Living and the Dead.” Social Psychology Quarterly 52:56–69. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Smith, R. Tyson 2008. “Passion Work: The Joint Production of Emotional Labor in Professional Wrestling.” Social Psychology Quarterly 71:157–76. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Snow, David A. 1999. “Assessing the Ways in which Qualitative/Ethnographic Research Contributes to Social Psychology.” Social Psychology Quarterly 62:97–100. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Snow, David A., Anderson, Leon. 1987. “Identity Work among the Homeless: The Verbal Construction and Avowal of Personal Identities.” American Journal of Sociology 92:1336–71. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Snowden, Jonathan . 2008. Total MMA: Inside Ultimate Fighting. Ontario: ECW Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Stearns, Carol, Stearns, Peter. 1986. Anger: The Struggle for Emotional Control in America’s History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Swidler, Ann . 1986. “Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies.” American Sociological Review 51:273–86. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Thoits, Peggy A. 1996. “Managing the Emotions of Others.” Symbolic Interaction 19:85–109. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
West, Candace, Zimmerman, Donald H. 1987. “Doing Gender.” Gender & Society 1:125–51. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Wilkins, Amy . 2008. “Happier than Non-Christians: Collective Emotions and Symbolic Boundaries among Evangelical Christians.” Social Psychology Quarterly 71:281–301. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Wilkins, Amy . 2010. “‘Everything with a Grain of Salt’: Emotion Strategies and Gender Boundaries among Black University Students.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, August, Atlanta, GA. Google Scholar | |
|
Wingfield, Adia H. 2010. “Are Some Emotions Marked ‘White’s Only’? Racialized Feeling Rules in Professional Workplaces.” Social Problems 57:251–68. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Wolkomir, Michelle . 2001. “Emotion Work, Commitment, and the Authentication of the Self—The Case of Gay and Ex-Gay Christian Support Groups.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 30:305–34. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Zurcher, Louis A. 1982. “The Staging of Emotion: A Dramaturgical Analysis.” Symbolic Interaction 5:1–22. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Zurcher, Louis A. 1985. “The War Game: Organizational Scripting and the Expression of Emotion.” Symbolic Interaction 8:191–206. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI |
