Men of the World

Genders, Globalizations, Transnational Times

Here's a rare work in masculinity studies - one in which men as subjects, men as such, are present and visible, their societal power unflinchingly delineated and challenged. Men of the World will be seized upon by academics and activists facing up to the persistence, proliferation and transnationalization of patriarchies.

In this lively and engaging new book Jeff Hearn looks back over nearly 40 years in feminist-framed studies of men and masculinities, and also forward to the futuristic scenarios through which gender power is currently evolving in ‘transpatriarchal’ contexts.

This is an important, thought-provoking and incredibly timely book from one of the leading scholars in the field of men and masculinities. It takes debates in new directions and raises new and vital questions about the interconnections between men, gender relations and globalization. Theoretically engaged whilst remaining grounded in lived experiences and contemporary debates, it problematizes what it means to consider men ‘transnationally’, drawing attention to the complexities of moves to greater transnationalizations that are reshaping gender relations. It adds greatly to our understanding not just of the ‘transnational turn’ within gender studies but also of what it means to speak of ‘men’ as a gender category in the first place. I cannot praise this wonderful book highly enough.

Anyone who wants to move beyond the current orthodoxy in both globalization studies and masculinity studies will be delighted with Men of the World. In transnationalizing men and masculinities and gendering globalization, this book utilizes a material-discursive frame to interrogate men’s practices in the global arena. It advances the critical studies of men in the context of intersectionality, transgender studies, sustainability studies and the analysis of transnational patriarchies. It also grounds this analysis in personal memories of a life dedicated to changing men, reminding us that our own positioning in gender relations provides opportunities for developing a progressive politics that can challenge the hegemony of men locally and transnationally.

Fascinating book.  Read it - if only to discover what this consistently innovative writer means by 'the abolition of men'.

This is an important book, very accessible for students, and the best introduction to the literature on men and masculinities that we have. Indeed it is the best introduction to virtually all the problems posed by men and masculinities, given that it explains in detail how and why these problems are—in general—deferred to concepts,categories and agencies that obscure the good work that Hearn—and a very few others—are engaged in.

The author surprises us in the last few pages in which he ponders about the real implication of all the changes envisaged in all the different focuses described in previous chapters. Hearn quotes it in one of his fragments: “it is time to take apart the taken-for-granted category of ‘men’ – and instead create, produce, improvise, practice, make, a large number of possible gender positions” (p. 201). In summary, the book outlines new elements for understanding the changes that the globalization and reflective modernity are defining around the social play of men. 

Readers of the book who are familiar with Hearn’s previous work will recognise his material-discursive perspective. This means that the author does not want to separate the body from feelings, subject from object and national and transnational processes from each other. At a time when millions of people are fleeing from war, I regard this approach as particularly important. Violence, emotions and bodies are very closely connected and it does not take us long to realise that it is mostly men’s actions that have caused this suffering. Researchers therefore need to continue to make global processes visible from a critical perspective of men and masculinities. Seen from a wider perspective, the need to understand these kinds of processes from a gender perspective does not just concern...Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities. The content of the book could, for example, enrich subjects such as global history and other humanistic, social scientific disciplines with critical knowledge. In this sense the book could attract many different kinds of readers.

Sociologist Hearn addresses the overwhelming silence in globalization scholarship regarding gender relations, specifically exploring how transnational processes inform constructions of men, and how notions of manliness in turn shape various transnationalizations. The author couples postcolonial theory with feminist and critical gender theory to deconstruct the hegemony of men. He works from and simultaneously deconstructs the perspective of what he terms "the privileged center of the political and economic North." Hearn highlights the important role that positioning and location play in shaping understandings of masculinities and men.

Jeff Hearn’s Men of the World is a thought-provoking and inspiring analysis of the many permutations that transnational patriarchies have on society. Men are at the center of this analysis and questions of how gender relations are shaped and can change are richly and thoroughly debated... The  project is ambitious, and Hearn provides a rich theoretical argumentation interspersed with autobiographical vignettes in which he seeks to deconstruct and analyze his own positionality and privilege... Men of the World should find its place in the bookshelves of scholars in gender and sexuality studies, as well as grassroots campaigners and activists.