Men and masculinities: emotions and labor significance

Abstract

Emotional experience by men studied as a social construction have had limited analysis from a masculinity perspective. The objective of this communication is to show how men interweave emotion with work and some masculinity mandates. A qualitative ethnographic approach was used. It was explored personal employment career, family and emotions of 14 men who were unemployed or who had been in a recent period of unemployment. Those men lived in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Mexico. An interpretative ethnographic analytical perspective was used to show variations in the meaning of work and emotions interwoven with masculinity mandates such as provider. Emotions referred by men had positive and negative valences, moral content o mentioned as metaphors. The discussion opens questions to continue the analysis of these issues.