Masculinity Manoeuvres: Critical Discursive Psychology and the Analysis of Identity Strategies

Abstract

In this paper we want to return to a particular historical moment (the mid 1990s) and to the identity struggles of a group of young white middle-class men as they negotiate their place within regimes of hegemonic masculinity. We first researched and wrote about this group of young men some ten years ago now (Edley and Wetherell, 1997). Our aim in turning back to this work is to argue for a particular 'take' on gender, discourse and identity. We want to highlight the benefits of approaches to discourse and gender which incorporate both fine-grain micro analysis and more macro-cultural perspectives. Our work is within the broad tradition of discursive psychology (c.f. Potter and Wetherell, 1987; Edwards and Potter, 1992) but unlike forms of discursive psychology which follow conversation analysis (e.g. Edwards, 2006; Potter, 2000; 2005) we seek to combine the study of discourse in action with analyses of the broader social context (Edley and Wetherell, in press; Wetherell, 1998; in press; Wetherell and Edley, 1998; 1999). Indeed, we believe that it is impossible to make sense of gender identities as these appear in the flow of everyday life without this dual focus

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