Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Longshoremen's Negotiation Of Masculinity And The Middle Class In 1950s Popular Culture, Tomaro I. Taylor
Longshoremen's Negotiation Of Masculinity And The Middle Class In 1950s Popular Culture, Tomaro I. Taylor
USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations
This thesis considers mid-20th century portrayals of working-class longshoremen’s masculinity within the context of emerging middle-class gender constructions. I argue that although popular culture presents a roughly standardized depiction of longshoremen as “manly men,” these portrayals are significantly nuanced to demonstrate the difficulties working-class men faced as they attempted to navigate socio-cultural and socio-economic shifts related to class and the performance of their male gender. Specifically, I consider depictions of longshoremen’s disruptive masculinity, male identity formation, and masculine-male growth as reactions to paradigmatic shifts in American masculinity. Using three aspects of longshoremen’s non-work lives presented in A View from …