This collection explores the impact of religion on the formation of men and masculinities in twentieth-century Britain. Religion is explored beyond the traditional boundaries of church worship and institutional structures to encompass the diverse cultures of male sexuality, home life, war, work, immigration, leisure and sectarian politics. Issues of change, such as the decline of single-sex associational settings, the theological shifts and changing fortunes of sects, the varying visibility of queer and homosexual cultures, and the shifting boundaries and collapsing distinctions between clergy and laypeople are explored in depth.
Building on the work of the author’s ‘Dislocating masculinity : comparative ethnographies (1994)’, this collection provides a fresh perspective on gender dynamics under neoliberalism. Bringing together a series of short case studies drawn from new ethnographic fieldwork, its subjects range from the experiences of working-class men in Putins Russia to colonial masculinities in Southern Rhodesia, and from young British Muslim men to amateur footballers in Jamaica.