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The resources and strategies that 10–11‐year‐old boys use to construct masculinities in the school setting
Author(s) -
Swain Jon
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
british educational research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1469-3518
pISSN - 0141-1926
DOI - 10.1080/01411920310001630017
Subject(s) - masculinity , construct (python library) , ethnography , set (abstract data type) , sociology , resource (disambiguation) , principal (computer security) , pedagogy , gender studies , mathematics education , psychology , computer science , anthropology , computer network , programming language , operating system
The data in this article come from an ethnographic exploration into the construction of masculinities in three junior schools in the UK between 1998 and 1999. The author argues that the construction and performance of masculinity is inextricably linked to the acquisition of status within the school peer group, and he delineates the specific series of resources and strategies that the boys draw on and use in each setting to achieve this. The different meanings and practices at each school, and the different array of resources available, means that there is a different set of options and/or opportunities within each school setting to do boy, and the author classifies these as being either open (possible), restricted (more difficult), or closed (almost impossible). The principal and most esteemed resource used by the boys was physicality and athleticism, and the author highlights the link between masculinity and the body.