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| kimmel_manhood_in_america [2026/02/06 18:49] – [Architypes of Manhood] smilton | kimmel_manhood_in_america [2026/02/08 14:56] (current) – willmack |
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| As industrialization and the market economy changed the reality of what it meant to be self-sufficient, manhood was increasingly made dependent on economic success. However, the lack of economic stability associated with the market economy meant that the only way to achieve this "success" was to continuously push for greater wealth and renown. Since supporting one's family and achieving independence was crucial to demonstrating manhood, this relentless pursuit became both an ideal and a perceived necessity. Those who didn't thrive in the market economy were then seen as a failure economically but also a failure in cultivating masculinity. (Cameron Spivy) | As industrialization and the market economy changed the reality of what it meant to be self-sufficient, manhood was increasingly made dependent on economic success. However, the lack of economic stability associated with the market economy meant that the only way to achieve this "success" was to continuously push for greater wealth and renown. Since supporting one's family and achieving independence was crucial to demonstrating manhood, this relentless pursuit became both an ideal and a perceived necessity. Those who didn't thrive in the market economy were then seen as a failure economically but also a failure in cultivating masculinity. (Cameron Spivy) |
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| | Kimmel's analysis of the tie between economic success and manhood makes clear how the attitudes of the time saw economic self-dependence as a pillar of masculinity. In the burgeoning era of industrialization kicked off, success came to be associated with not just profit but also ones ability to navigate this new changing sea of business, thus those who were able to do so came to be seen as titans with great financial and social power both in part due to their monetary wealth but also their perceived masculinity. ( J.D.J) |
| ==== Race and Manhood ==== | ==== Race and Manhood ==== |
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| M. Kimmel's second chapter is dedicated to the genealogy of the self-made man version of masculinity. In particular, M. Kimmel examines the gendered origins of the construction of the American West as a place of escape from civilization and effeminate middle-class domestic life. Using a wide range of sources, he argues that the West became associated with crudeness, physical labor, freedom, and ultimately a space for performing masculinity alongside other males. At the same time, this myth of the West led to the popularity of narrative discourses about the lives of famous pioneers, offering a glimpse of "moral sublimity" to men who were unable to go to the West. These arguments indicate a significant role of discursive masculinities and gender relations in the cultural imagination of the American West. - Nikolai Kotkov | M. Kimmel's second chapter is dedicated to the genealogy of the self-made man version of masculinity. In particular, M. Kimmel examines the gendered origins of the construction of the American West as a place of escape from civilization and effeminate middle-class domestic life. Using a wide range of sources, he argues that the West became associated with crudeness, physical labor, freedom, and ultimately a space for performing masculinity alongside other males. At the same time, this myth of the West led to the popularity of narrative discourses about the lives of famous pioneers, offering a glimpse of "moral sublimity" to men who were unable to go to the West. These arguments indicate a significant role of discursive masculinities and gender relations in the cultural imagination of the American West. - Nikolai Kotkov |
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| | Kimmel details how, as the home became an increasingly feminized place, countless men were experiencing the "identity crisis" of the unstable manhood of the Self-Made Man for the first time and found the home to be a place of unease rather than a safe haven from the competition of the working world. In 1849, the California Gold Rush served as a highly desired outlet of freedom for many of these men seeking to escape both the constant questioning of their manhood and the restrictive influence of their wives. Even though these men didn't often "strike gold," so to say, they still found what Kimmel describes as "pure" manhood that was detached from the constant test of being self-made men. (Noah Rutkowski) |
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| ==== The Civil War and Manhood ==== | ==== The Civil War and Manhood ==== |
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| A man who is a perfect example of the title of this section "The Unmaking of the Self-Made Man" is Rev. Russell Conwell. In the face of challenges to the tradition of the "heroic artisan" idea of masculinity posed by increasing financial dependence of men in factories, Conwell still claimed that every man's worth is up to him and a man's origins did not determine his future financial status. These claims made in his "Acres of Diamonds" sermon are significant because it demonstrates the persistence of the ideal "heroic artisan" who could make their own path despite challenges at a time where this idea becoming less and less realistic. (Henry Prior) | A man who is a perfect example of the title of this section "The Unmaking of the Self-Made Man" is Rev. Russell Conwell. In the face of challenges to the tradition of the "heroic artisan" idea of masculinity posed by increasing financial dependence of men in factories, Conwell still claimed that every man's worth is up to him and a man's origins did not determine his future financial status. These claims made in his "Acres of Diamonds" sermon are significant because it demonstrates the persistence of the ideal "heroic artisan" who could make their own path despite challenges at a time where this idea becoming less and less realistic. (Henry Prior) |
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| | GOT TO HERE--WBM |
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