‘You can’t ask for a Dubonnet and lemonade!’: working class masculinity and men’s health practices

In recent years, much research concerning men's health has focused on men's health-related practices. While this body of research has often sought to contextualise men's health practice it has done so primarily in terms of gender not social class. The need remains therefore to link theories of masculinity and health to broader theories regarding social class and health which highlight the social and economic context of people's lives, in order to develop more complex understandings regarding the interactions between social class, gender and men's health practices. The aim of this article is to explore these interactions via a qualitative examination of the ways in which two groups of working class men living in two contrasting socio-economic areas construct masculinity and how this intertwines with their class position to impact on their health practices. This study highlights how men's conceptualisations of masculinity coupled with their class position informed their understanding of male roles and the expectations that flow from this. It shows how certain risky practices are firmly rooted in the material reality of men's lives, not simply in their gender, and how aspects of masculinity and class position intimately entwine to structure men's health seeking behaviour.