Homosociality

The concept of homosociality describes and defines social bondsbetween persons of the same sex. It is, for example, frequently used in studies on menand masculinities, there defined as a mechanism and social dynamic that explains themaintenance of hegemonic masculinity. However, this common and somewhat overexploiteduse of the concept to refer to how men, through their relations to other men, uphold andmaintain patriarchy tends to simplify and reduce homosociality to an almost descriptiveterm – one used to point at how men tend to bond, build closed teams, and defend theirprivileges and positions. The purpose of the present article is to investigate, explore,and discuss the concept of homosociality. We will introduce a distinction betweenvertical/hierarchical and horizontal homosociality. Hierarchical homosociality issimilar to and has previously been described as a means of strengthening power and ofcreating close bonds between men and between women to maintain and defend hegemony.Horizontal homosociality, however, is used to point toward more inclusive relationsbetween, for example, men that are based on emotional closeness, intimacy, and anonprofitable form of friendship. Relating this distinction to the concept of anddiscussion on hegemonic masculinity, we will reconstruct and develop a more dynamic viewon homosociality