This book is the first I know of specifically about masculinity and management. The title of the introductory chapter by the editors, 'Breaking the Silence' reflects the fact that, although there are now many books by men about men and masculinity, particularly from the therapeutic perspective, little has been written by men on masculinity and work.
So in my view this is a very welcome book. And it has some very interesting insights about men and masculinity in management. Unfortunately, as far as the lay reader is concerned, it is an academic volume written, I presume, mainly with other academics mind. It contains a lot of social science jargon, long words, convoluted sentences and academic references in brackets after every other sentence. In short, it is not easy to read. It is a compilation of chapters by academic social scientists, both men and women. The chapter subjects are: Breaking the Silence - On Men, Masculinities and Managements; The Gender of Bureaucracy; Masters and Men in the Transition from Factory Hands to Sentimental Workers; Technocracy, Patriarchy and Management; The Quest for Embodiment in Managerial Work; Entrepreneurialism and Paternalism in Australian Management: A Gender Critique of the 'Self-Made' Man; Entrepreneurialism, Masculinities and the Self-Made Man; Quiet Whispers ... Men Accounting for Women, West to East; Multinational Masculinities and European Bureaucracies; Gendering and Evaluating Dynamics; Seduction and Succession: Circuits of Homosocial Desire in Management; Managing Universities: Is it Men's Work.
Two of the main themes of the book are: the ways in which men value 'rationality' and logic, perceived by men as masculine traits, over sentimentality, irrationality, emotional behaviour - perceived by men as the undesirable characteristics of women; and men seeing women as a negative 'Other', to be controlled and kept at bay. These tie in to psychological analyses of hegemonic masculinity.
Lehman makes the point (crucial in my view) in her chapter on accountancy that the issue is not how men and women are different, but '...to critique the system which encourages men to be a particular way - detached, competitive, individuated'. Lehman quotes R D Hines: 'Thus what is at stake in these debates 'goes far beyond the suppression of women, to embrace the suppression of the values, perceptions, and ways of thinking, feeling, being and acting that are associated with the Universal Feminine or Yin'.
This brings in an aspect of the debate which I think is lacking in this book, and desperately needs to be addressed by men. It is clear to me that the world would be a better place if our managements and workplaces did indeed include much more of the Universal Feminine. What is not clear to most men, I believe, is why on earth they should get on this bandwagon. I think we men need to find out and elucidate how we suffer ourselves in this world of rationality, logic and control, and negation of the Feminine - for our own sakes, and for the sake of women and the world at large. For if men are to change, we need to articulate reasons for change for our own sakes. I am talking about things like ill health, living narrow lives when we focus strongly on work and ignore relationships, family and children.
The book is valuable in pointing out the many links between hegemonic masculinity and management. Management as a rational process of control, putting distance between managers and their staff, partly by using numerical or other information to assess their performance. The authors point out that, in a circular process, management is both a reflection of masculinity and also helps reproduce it. There is discussion of the 'glass ceiling' which women find when trying to get promoted to the upper echelons of management. Caught in a double bind, women both have to take on masculine values, and at the same time retain attributes associated with the feminine. When Ann Hopkins took Price Waterhouse to court in the US for sexism in not promoting her to partner, critics suggested '...she should walk more femininely, talk more femininely, wear jewellery and make-up'. Fortunately, the judiciary disagreed, and Price Waterhouse were forced to promote her.
Roper's chapter, Seduction and Succession, takes issue with the view that men are somehow devoid of emotions at work. He argues that men do in fact carry out a certain kind of emotional work, and that sexual attraction and seduction between heterosexual men at work is an important dynamic to consider.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject, and definitely to anyone involved in a bureaucracy, or management structure. I feel quite sure rnyself that this will soon become a rapidly expanding area of exploration in management studies, for men as well as the many feminists who have written about it already. I only hope future books will be more enjoyable to read!
Steve Banks
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