Lads, machos and others: developing ‘boy-centred’ research

Abstract

This chapter provides some background to our project by investigating recent research which has explored the construction of masculine ‘identities’ through ethnographic, observational and interview methods. We are particularly interested in research that addresses the topic of boys’ experiences by allowing them to speak about it openly and in detail, rather than research which, for example, measures achievements, attitudes or behaviours. We are also concerned to maintain a view of masculinity in its relational aspects — that is, to understand how it comes to be constructed in relation to femininity- and how, in the context of ‘masculinity’ itself, there might be many varied ‘masculinities’, alternative ways of ‘doing boy’. Other key topics explored in research on masculinities and gendered identities include the ways in which what counts as being female or male is contested and resisted and how gendered identities are differentiated by, for example, social class and ‘race’.