Abstract
Through interviews and observations, I explore how a group of white working-class boys who have family traditions in auto repair construct notions of masculinity in a public-vocational-school autoshop class in Buffalo, New York. Many of the students in this group say that they plan to open their own garages on graduation. Although there are many facets to the production of a sense of manhood, I focus on the ways in which young white males in a restructuring economy narrate a sense of self grounded in the area of work on a multiethnic shopfloor—a sphere which they ultimately coconstruct around notions of the racially deviant “other.” At present, there is not a lot of literature on identity formation processes among youth who are trained in school to become trades-people, particularly in relation to jobs that are typically coded “male.”
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Addelston, J., and Stirratt, M. In press. The last bastion of masculinity: Gender politics and the construction of hegemonic masculinity at The Citadel. In C. Chang (Ed.), Masculinities and Organizations. Thousand Oakes, CA: Sage.
Amadiume, I. 1987. Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society. London: Zed Books
Ani, M. 1994. Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior. Trenton, NJ: African World Press.
Bluestone, B., and Harris, B. 1982. The Deindustrialization of America. New York: Basic Books.
Butler, J. 1993. Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex.” New York: Routledge.
Connell, R. W. 1995. Masculinities. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Goldman, M. 1990. City on the Lake: The Challenge of Change in Buffalo, New York. Buffalo: Prometheus Books.
Messner, M., and Sabo, D. 1994. Sex, Violence, and Power in Sports: Rethinking Masculinity. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press.
Omi, M., and Winant, H. 1994. Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s. New York: Routledge.
Roediger, D. 1994. The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class. New York: Verso Press.
Sanday, P. R. 1990. Fraternity Gang Rape: Sex, Brotherhood, and Privilege on Campus. New York: New York University Press.
Sennett, R., and Cobb, J. 1972. The Hidden Injuries of Class. New York: Knopf.
Spelman, E. 1988. Inessential Woman: Problems of Exclusion in Feminist Thought. Boston: Beacon Press.
Weis, L. 1990. Working Class without Work. New York: Routledge.
Willis, P. 1977. Learning to Labor: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. New York: Columbia University Press.
Woodson, C. 1933. The Mis-Education of the Negro. New York: AMS Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Marusza, J. Skill School Boys: Masculine Identity Formation Among White Boys in an Urban High School Vocational Autoshop Program. The Urban Review 29, 175–187 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024624926897
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024624926897