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Male melancholy: problematizations of sustainability through norm critique as a discursive practice
Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS).
2025 (English)In: Journal of Gender Studies, ISSN 0958-9236, E-ISSN 1465-3869Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

This article analyzes how social and ecological sustainability is problematized and given meaning through a norm-critical feminist perspective on masculinities. The study builds on qualitative interviews with both initiators and participants in a Swedish feminist initiative working norm critically with men and masculinity in relation to sustainability, as well as on the instructive materials guiding the initiatives norm-critical workshops. Drawing on a discourse theoretical framework, the analysis illustrates how neoliberal ideals of individualism and self-improvement are reflected and reproduced through norm critique as a discursive practice, even when that critique aims to challenge dominant norms and structures. Furthermore, the article points towards some political implications of this reproduction in relation to both social and ecological sustainability. By considering how ideology ‘grips’ subjects through the aspect of desire and enjoyment, the paper contributes with a perspective on the affective dimensions that are at play in the relationship between norm critique, neoliberalism, and sustainability discourse.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2025.
Keywords [en]
discourse theory, ecological masculinities, feminism, neo-liberalism, Norm critique, sustainability
National Category
Gender Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-242352DOI: 10.1080/09589236.2025.2529958ISI: 001529046600001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105010950088OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-242352DiVA, id: diva2:1985608
Available from: 2025-07-25 Created: 2025-07-25 Last updated: 2025-11-10
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Olsson, Josefin

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
  • apa
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Output format
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  • text
  • asciidoc
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