Les espaces de la masculinité

Cet article examine les liens entre la montée des emplois de service et la construction sociale de la masculinité. Au travers de deux types d’emploi de statut fort différent, il s’agit de montrer comment des caractéristiques traditionnellement associées au féminin font maintenant partie intégrante des attitudes et de la présentation de soi attendues d’employés masculins. On verra également que les inégalités restent fortes quant à la possibilité d’assurer une fonction traditionnellement masculine, subvenir aux besoins d’une famille. In this paper, following sorne brief introductory comments about current directions in British feminist geography, I examine the interconnections between economie restructuring, the rise of service sector occupations and the social construction of masculinity. Through case studies of different forms of service work ­ high and low status - I show how embodied performances that emphasise what are tradftionally seen as characteristics of femininity are now a key part of many of the service occupations undertaken by men. Although both high status and low status occupations demand new torms of workplace performances from male employees, significant inequalities between these types of work remain. Young working class men, for whom the type of manufacturing work thal their fathers might have entered has now disappeared, find ft increasingly difficult to gain access to the sort of work that will enable them to establish independent living and adopt the traditional breadwinner role.