‘Men give in to chips and beer too easily’: How working-class men make sense of gender differences in health.

This article, based on qualitative research with working-class men, explores men’s perceptions and experiences regarding gender differences in health. It demonstrates how men put forward a range of behavioural/cultural, materialist/structural and psychosocial factors, which were believed to differen...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness & Medicine Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 146 - 163
Main Author: Dolan, Alan
Format: research Journal Article
Published: Sage Publications Inc. Mar2014
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=94699295&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ccm
    uiTerm: 94699295
    longDbName: CINAHL Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    dissinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        13634593
        53Z
      jtl: Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness & Medicine
      issn: 13634593
      maglogo: Y
    pubinfo:
      dt: Mar2014
      vid: 18
      iid: 2
      pid: 344
      pub: Sage Publications Inc.
      place: Thousand Oaks, California
    artinfo:
      ui:
        94699295
        104034137
        104034137
        10.1177/1363459313488004
        94699295
      ppf: 146
      ppct: 17
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: ‘Men give in to chips and beer too easily’: How working-class men make sense of gender differences in health.
      aug:
        au: Dolan, Alan
        affil: University of Warwick, UK
      sug:
        subj:
          Blue Collar Workers Psychosocial Factors
          Sex Factors
          Health Status Disparities Psychosocial Factors
          Attitude to Health
          Human
          Male
          Qualitative Studies
          Social Determinants of Health
          Life Style
          Great Britain
          Socioeconomic Factors
          Semi-Structured Interview
          Adult
          Middle Age
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Middle Aged: 45-64 years
          Male
      ab: This article, based on qualitative research with working-class men, explores men’s perceptions and experiences regarding gender differences in health. It demonstrates how men put forward a range of behavioural/cultural, materialist/structural and psychosocial factors, which were believed to differently impact men’s health compared to women. A common theme underpinning their explanations was the ways in which men and women were located within two distinct gender categories. These characterisations were used to explain why health-damaging beliefs and behaviours were more prevalent among men and also why men were better suited for certain kinds of jobs, albeit with potential costs to their health. Men also believed that women were protected from the damaging physical and emotional impact of manual employment because of their primary role within the home and because they were less emotionally robust, which required men to shield women from the stresses they experienced. However, men’s emotional withdrawal can also be viewed as another example of how men use whatever resources are available to achieve and maintain dominance over women. Finally, the article demonstrates how a gender- and class-based approach can capture the impact of men’s health-related practices alongside the broader cultural and structural influences on men’s health.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
    refInfo:
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N