Abstract
In this article I demonstrate the process through which mice—generally characterized as meek and frightened creatures—are used symbolically by the participants in a study I conducted among boys on a high school basketball team to define masculinities that are consistent with what Connell (1995) calls hegemonic masculinity. I use ethnographic data, gathered as an assistant coach of the team, to argue that in managing their interaction with rodents, the young men and coaches, through their talk, transform their orientation to these creatures by constructing the rodents in a manner that encourages aggressive responses. Although the participants' use of mice is part of an idioculture (Fine 1987) that may be distinctive to the team, the meanings they create are consistent with a broader set of meanings and evaluations of men and masculinity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Adler, P. A., & Adler, P. (1987). Membership roles in field research. Newbury Park: Sage.
Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality. New York: Doubleday.
Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interaction: Perspective and method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Bush, L. (1999). Am I a man?: A literature review engaging the sociohistorical dynamics of black manhood in the United States. The Western Journal of Black Studies, 23, 49–57.
Canada, G. (2001). Learning to fight. In M. Kimmel & M. Messner (Eds.), Men's lives (pp. 100–103). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Carrington, B. (1998). Sport, masculinity, and black cultural resistance. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 22, 275–298.
Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Connell, R. W. (2000). The men and the boys. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Dade, L. R., & Sloan, L. (2000). An investigation of sex-role stereotypes in African Americans. Journal of Black Studies, 30, 676–990.
Denzin, N. (1992). Symbolic interactionism and cultural studies: The politics of interpretation. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Doss, B., & Hopkins, J. R. (1998). The multicultural masculinity ideology scale: Validation from three cultural perspectives. Sex Roles, 38, 719–741.
Edwards, H. (1969). The revolt of the black athlete. New York: Free Press.
Fine, G. A. (1987). With the boys: Little league baseball and preadolescent culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Fine, M., & Weis, L. (1996). Writing the “wrongs” of fieldwork. Qualitative Inquiry, 2, 251–274.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday.
Harris, I., Torres, J. B., & Allender, D. (1994). The responses of African American men to dominant norms of masculinity within the United States. Sex Roles, 31, 703–719.
Hunter, A., & Davis, J. E. (1992). Constructing gender: An exploration of Afro-American men's conceptualization of manhood. Gender and Society, 6, 464–479.
Jackson, R. (1997). Black “manhood” as xenophobe: An ontological exploration of the Hegelian dialectic. Journal of Black Studies, 77, 731–750.
May, R. A. B. (2000). Race talk and local collective memory among African American men in a neighborhood tavern. Qualitative Sociology, 23, 201–214.
May, R.A. B. (2001a). The Sid Cartwright incident and more: An African American male's interpretive narrative of interracial encounters at the University of Chicago. In N. K. Denzin (Ed.), Studies in symbolic interaction (pp. 75–100). New York: Elsevier Science.
May, R. A. B. (2001b). The sticky situation of sportsmanship: Contexts and contradictions in sportsmanship among high school boy basketball players. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 25, 372–389.
Mead, G. H. (1961).Mind, self, and society. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Messerschmidt, J. (2000). Nine lives: Adolescent masculinities, the body, and violence. Boulder: Westview Press.
Messner, M. (1990). When bodies are weapons: Masculinity and violence in sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 25, 203–219.
Messner, M. (2001). Boyhood, organized sport, and the construction of masculinities. In M. Kimmel & M. Messner (Eds.), Men's lives (pp. 88–99). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Mills, C. W. (1959). The sociological imagination. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mitchell, M. (1999). The black man's burden: African Americans, imperialism, and notions of racial manhood 1890–1910. International Review of Social History, 44(7), 77–99.
Steffy, B., Cannie, M., English, F., Mitchell, J., & Stevenson, Z. (2003). Northeast County school district audit. Iowa: Curriculum Management Systems, Inc.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
May, R.A.B. Of Mice, Rats, and Men: Exploring the Role of Rodents in Constructing Masculinity Within a Group of Young African American Males. Qualitative Sociology 27, 159–177 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:QUAS.0000020691.72140.4c
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:QUAS.0000020691.72140.4c