A New Psychology Of Men (Paperback)

by Ronald F. Levant (Author), William S. Pollack (Author) "I FIRST PROPOSED the "gender role strain" model for masculinity in the early 1980s (Pleck, 1981)..." (more)
Key Phrases: restrictive affectionate behavior between men, gender role conflict patterns, violating gender role norms, New York, American Psychological Association, Newbury Park (more...)

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Product Description
For the first time in one volume, the leading voices in the study of male psychology authoritatively detail how men's roles are created and how men's attempts to live up to these unhealthy and unrealistic models of masculinity warp men and society.

Inspired by feminist scholars who revolutionized our understanding of women's gender roles, the contributors to this pioneering book describe how men's proscribed roles are neither biological nor social givens, but rather psychological and social constructions. Questioning the traditional norms of the male role (such as the emphasis on aggression, competition, status, and emotional stoicism), they show how some male problems (such as violence, homophobia, devaluation of women, detached fathering, and neglect of health needs) are unfortunate by-products of the current process by which males are socialized. By synthesizing the latest research, clinical experience, and major theoretical perspectives on men and by figuring in cultural, class, and sexual orientation differences, the authors brilliantly illuminate the many variations of male behavior. This book will be a valuable resource not just for students of gender psychology in any discipline but also for clinicians and researchers who need to account for the relationship between men's behavior and the contradictory and inconsistent gender roles imposed on men. This new understanding of men's psychology is sure to enhance the work of clinical professionals-including psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, and psychiatric nurses-in helping men reconstruct a sense of masculinity along healthier and more socially just lines.

About the Author
William Pollack, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, is the codirector of the Center for Men at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, and a founding member and Fellow of the Society for Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity of the American Psychological Association. He is the author of the best-selling book Real Boys. He and his family live in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. Ronald F. Levant is Dean and Professor at the Center for Psychological Studies at Nova Southeastern University. He lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (April 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465039162
• ISBN-13: 978-0465039166
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #365,765 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Males and masculinity . . ., December 3, 2006

By	Ronald Scheer "rockysquirrel" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book provides an extensive and seemingly exhaustive review of research on male psychology from the past 25 years. The editors, Levant and Pollack, are joined by ten or so other researchers focusing on different aspects of the subject. All identify a crisis in male gender identity and espouse a theoretical base that attributes the crisis to a fiercely restrictive ideal of masculinity that males are exposed to from infancy. The features of this ideal include aggressiveness and competition, stoicism and suppression of emotions, avoidance of all traits characterized as "feminine," homophobia, being provider and protector, and so on. Deemed not essentially biological, but the product of socialization, this masculine ideal is reinforced most perniciously through shaming (explored by Steven Krugman in chapter 8) and results in a wide range of anti-social, dysfunctional, and criminal behavior, further confounded in the lives of men from ethnic minorities and gay men, whose issues are also given consideration.

While written chiefly for professionals, this book is accessible to lay readers, and there is much to be gained from it, especially for those troubled by the confusion over the role of men in society and in personal relationships. Though it is not a self-help book, the concerned reader will find much food for thought that is freeing because its report of key research sheds light on how we got to be the way we are and the potential for letting go of expectations of masculinity that are unrealistic and counterproductive.