Men’s Imperatives. Men, Depression and Work

Abstract

In the previous chapter I began considering the constructed relationship between depression and masculinity. I showed that depression is constructed as undermining the informants as men. I further argued that the illness reconfigures the identity resources available to the ill men, introducing failure as one of them. I argued that masculinity is not so much erased from the men’s identities, but it becomes an ever-unachievable goal. Here I shall focus on how my informants positioned themselves and their illness with regard to work and paid employment. By way of reminder, in Chapter 5 I argued that in the narratives of the men diagnosed with depression, the illness is not so much related to low mood, but, rather, to their inability to cope with life. The interviewees did not speak about sadness, preferring to talk about powerlessness or incapacitation. The core of depression seems being a ‘failed doer’.