Grandfatherhood: shifting masculinities in later life

Drawing on qualitative interview data, this article examines how grandfatherhood relates to the assertion and transformation of masculinities in later life. Recent attention to ageing and masculinities has identified how older men are challenged to succeed in maintaining connections to hegemonic mas...

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Egile Nagusiak: Mann, R, Tarrant, A, Leeson, G
Formatua: Journal article
Hizkuntza:English
Argitaratua: SAGE Publications 2015
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author Mann, R
Tarrant, A
Leeson, G
author_facet Mann, R
Tarrant, A
Leeson, G
author_sort Mann, R
collection OXFORD
description Drawing on qualitative interview data, this article examines how grandfatherhood relates to the assertion and transformation of masculinities in later life. Recent attention to ageing and masculinities has identified how older men are challenged to succeed in maintaining connections to hegemonic masculinity in light of altered family and life circumstances. We consider men’s engagement with grandfatherhood as a means for so doing, illustrating how men make sense of the role through continuity with hegemonic masculinity. While grandfathers describe emotionally intimate and affectionate relationships with their grandchildren, their accounts reflect desires to re-affirm previous connections to masculinities. Attention to the way individualised masculinities are re-negotiated in later life can help to explain how men are making sense of the new family opportunities that arise from being a grandparent. Such an analysis of grandfatherhood, we argue, also offers significant critique of hegemonic masculinity and its distinction to non-hegemonic masculinities intersected by old age.
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spelling oxford-uuid:7f4a4bc3-3a4e-453c-95cf-a2026c57702d2022-03-26T21:16:04ZGrandfatherhood: shifting masculinities in later lifeJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:7f4a4bc3-3a4e-453c-95cf-a2026c57702dEnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordSAGE Publications2015Mann, RTarrant, ALeeson, GDrawing on qualitative interview data, this article examines how grandfatherhood relates to the assertion and transformation of masculinities in later life. Recent attention to ageing and masculinities has identified how older men are challenged to succeed in maintaining connections to hegemonic masculinity in light of altered family and life circumstances. We consider men’s engagement with grandfatherhood as a means for so doing, illustrating how men make sense of the role through continuity with hegemonic masculinity. While grandfathers describe emotionally intimate and affectionate relationships with their grandchildren, their accounts reflect desires to re-affirm previous connections to masculinities. Attention to the way individualised masculinities are re-negotiated in later life can help to explain how men are making sense of the new family opportunities that arise from being a grandparent. Such an analysis of grandfatherhood, we argue, also offers significant critique of hegemonic masculinity and its distinction to non-hegemonic masculinities intersected by old age.
spellingShingle Mann, R
Tarrant, A
Leeson, G
Grandfatherhood: shifting masculinities in later life
title Grandfatherhood: shifting masculinities in later life
title_full Grandfatherhood: shifting masculinities in later life
title_fullStr Grandfatherhood: shifting masculinities in later life
title_full_unstemmed Grandfatherhood: shifting masculinities in later life
title_short Grandfatherhood: shifting masculinities in later life
title_sort grandfatherhood shifting masculinities in later life
work_keys_str_mv AT mannr grandfatherhoodshiftingmasculinitiesinlaterlife
AT tarranta grandfatherhoodshiftingmasculinitiesinlaterlife
AT leesong grandfatherhoodshiftingmasculinitiesinlaterlife