Bringing men and masculinities into political science

Authors:
Rainbow Murray Queen Mary University of London, UK

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Elin Bjarnegård Uppsala University, Sweden

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Article Category:
Research Article
Copyright:
© European Conference on Politics and Gender and Bristol University Press 2024
Online Publication Date:
15 Sep 2023
Pages:
308–325
Publisher:
Bristol University Press
Volume/Issue:
Volume 7: Issue 3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1332/251510823X16920325768482
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Most politicians are men, yet there is a surprising lack of focus within political science on the causes and consequences of male dominance. This article outlines how political science could benefit from greater engagement with scholarship on men and masculinities. The concept of ‘political masculinities’ has focused on the importance of ‘the political’ to masculinities scholarship; we argue for extending this concept to analyse men and masculinities within political science. We identify insights from scholarship on masculinities that would deepen our understanding of power within formal political arenas. We consider how gender and politics scholarship could benefit from expanding its focus on men. We highlight feminist institutionalism as a tool for bringing masculinities into the study of political institutions. We then offer a framework for taking this research agenda forwards, showing how we can better understand male dominance by thinking about how men access, exercise, maintain and reproduce power.

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Rainbow Murray Queen Mary University of London, UK

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Elin Bjarnegård Uppsala University, Sweden

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Corresponding author: Rainbow Murray.

r.r.murray@qmul.ac.uk
Elin.Bjarnegard@statsvet.uu.se

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