Daubing the Drudges of Fury: Men, violence and the piety of the ‘hegemonic masculinity’ thesis.
STEVE HALL
University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK.
Abstract
A substantial body of empirical work suggests that young, economically marginalised males are the most likely perpetrators and
victims of serious physical violence. Interpreting these findings in a historicised way that has been neglected by the
criminological discourses of the moment suggests that physical violence has become an increasingly unsuccessful strategy in the
quest for social power in liberal-capitalist societies. Although it has been displaced by symbolic violence as the principal
domineering force in capitalism’s historical project, physical violence has not been genuinely discouraged but harnessed as a
specialist practice in a pseudo-pacification process. From this perspective, violence has a complex relationship with liberalcapitalism.
Can the concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ help criminology to deal with this complexity and inform violence
reduction strategies? This article argues that, in the context of pseudo-pacification, the notion that violent males ‘rework the
themes’ of an institutionally powerful ‘hegemonic masculinity’ inverts and distorts the concept of hegemony, which for Gramsci
was the self-affirming cultural production of the dominant political-economic class. Thus the concept of ‘hegemonic
masculinity’ tends to downplay political economy and class power, which suggests that it is too far removed from historical
processes and material contexts to either justify the use of the term hegemony itself or explain the striking social patterns of male
violence. This intellectual retreat is representative of a general political evacuation of capitalism’s global socio-economic
processes, a move that is allowing sparsely regulated market forces to continue the economic insecurity, specialist roles and
corresponding cultural forms that reproduce the traditional male propensity to physical violence.
Key Words
hegemony – masculinity – pseudo-pacification – neocapitalism – dimorphic violence
Steve Hall is a senior lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. He recently codirected
a research project called ‘The Art and Economics of Intimidation’, part of the ESRC Violence Research Programme.
STEVE HALL
University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK.
Abstract
A substantial body of empirical work suggests that young, economically marginalised males are the most likely perpetrators and
victims of serious physical violence. Interpreting these findings in a historicised way that has been neglected by the
criminological discourses of the moment suggests that physical violence has become an increasingly unsuccessful strategy in the
quest for social power in liberal-capitalist societies. Although it has been displaced by symbolic violence as the principal
domineering force in capitalism’s historical project, physical violence has not been genuinely discouraged but harnessed as a
specialist practice in a pseudo-pacification process. From this perspective, violence has a complex relationship with liberalcapitalism.
Can the concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ help criminology to deal with this complexity and inform violence
reduction strategies? This article argues that, in the context of pseudo-pacification, the notion that violent males ‘rework the
themes’ of an institutionally powerful ‘hegemonic masculinity’ inverts and distorts the concept of hegemony, which for Gramsci
was the self-affirming cultural production of the dominant political-economic class. Thus the concept of ‘hegemonic
masculinity’ tends to downplay political economy and class power, which suggests that it is too far removed from historical
processes and material contexts to either justify the use of the term hegemony itself or explain the striking social patterns of male
violence. This intellectual retreat is representative of a general political evacuation of capitalism’s global socio-economic
processes, a move that is allowing sparsely regulated market forces to continue the economic insecurity, specialist roles and
corresponding cultural forms that reproduce the traditional male propensity to physical violence.
Key Words
hegemony – masculinity – pseudo-pacification – neocapitalism – dimorphic violence
Steve Hall is a senior lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. He recently codirected
a research project called ‘The Art and Economics of Intimidation’, part of the ESRC Violence Research Programme.
drudge
drudge
drudge
Daubing the Drudges of Fury: Men, violence and the piety of the ‘hegemonic masculinity’ thesis.
STEVE HALL
University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK.
Abstract
A substantial body of empirical work suggests that young, economically marginalised males are the most likely perpetrators and
victims of serious physical violence. Interpreting these findings in a historicised way that has been neglected by the
criminological discourses of the moment suggests that physical violence has become an increasingly unsuccessful strategy in the
quest for social power in liberal-capitalist societies. Although it has been displaced by symbolic violence as the principal
domineering force in capitalism’s historical project, physical violence has not been genuinely discouraged but harnessed as a
specialist practice in a pseudo-pacification process. From this perspective, violence has a complex relationship with liberalcapitalism.
Can the concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ help criminology to deal with this complexity and inform violence
reduction strategies? This article argues that, in the context of pseudo-pacification, the notion that violent males ‘rework the
themes’ of an institutionally powerful ‘hegemonic masculinity’ inverts and distorts the concept of hegemony, which for Gramsci
was the self-affirming cultural production of the dominant political-economic class. Thus the concept of ‘hegemonic
masculinity’ tends to downplay political economy and class power, which suggests that it is too far removed from historical
processes and material contexts to either justify the use of the term hegemony itself or explain the striking social patterns of male
violence. This intellectual retreat is representative of a general political evacuation of capitalism’s global socio-economic
processes, a move that is allowing sparsely regulated market forces to continue the economic insecurity, specialist roles and
corresponding cultural forms that reproduce the traditional male propensity to physical violence.
Key Words
hegemony – masculinity – pseudo-pacification – neocapitalism – dimorphic violence
Steve Hall is a senior lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. He recently codirected
a research project called ‘The Art and Economics of Intimidation’, part of the ESRC Violence Research Programme.
STEVE HALL
University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK.
Abstract
A substantial body of empirical work suggests that young, economically marginalised males are the most likely perpetrators and
victims of serious physical violence. Interpreting these findings in a historicised way that has been neglected by the
criminological discourses of the moment suggests that physical violence has become an increasingly unsuccessful strategy in the
quest for social power in liberal-capitalist societies. Although it has been displaced by symbolic violence as the principal
domineering force in capitalism’s historical project, physical violence has not been genuinely discouraged but harnessed as a
specialist practice in a pseudo-pacification process. From this perspective, violence has a complex relationship with liberalcapitalism.
Can the concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ help criminology to deal with this complexity and inform violence
reduction strategies? This article argues that, in the context of pseudo-pacification, the notion that violent males ‘rework the
themes’ of an institutionally powerful ‘hegemonic masculinity’ inverts and distorts the concept of hegemony, which for Gramsci
was the self-affirming cultural production of the dominant political-economic class. Thus the concept of ‘hegemonic
masculinity’ tends to downplay political economy and class power, which suggests that it is too far removed from historical
processes and material contexts to either justify the use of the term hegemony itself or explain the striking social patterns of male
violence. This intellectual retreat is representative of a general political evacuation of capitalism’s global socio-economic
processes, a move that is allowing sparsely regulated market forces to continue the economic insecurity, specialist roles and
corresponding cultural forms that reproduce the traditional male propensity to physical violence.
Key Words
hegemony – masculinity – pseudo-pacification – neocapitalism – dimorphic violence
Steve Hall is a senior lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. He recently codirected
a research project called ‘The Art and Economics of Intimidation’, part of the ESRC Violence Research Programme.
