European perspectives on men and masculinities: national and transnational approaches

The social relations of home and work represent some of the most fundamental aspects of gender relations in society, and thus some of the most important elements in the construction of men and masculinities. The separation of home and work is both a very real one and an ideological construction. It is at the root of much liberal social science, as well as figuring, in more or less sophisticated ways, in non-feminist (Habermas, 1984, 1987) and feminist (Fraser, 1989) critical theory. In some ways it refers to the distinction between production and reproduction; but an over-simple division into dual spheres has been shown to be theoretically flawed, historically inaccurate (Bose, 1987; Hearn, 1992) and contrary to the experience of some people and some social categories, for example, women of colour (Collins, 1990).