5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

This panel approaches masculinities not only as an aspect of individual (gender) identity, but also as an aspect of social structure and cultural symbols. As an aspect of the social structure of gender, masculinities reflect social hierarchy among various groups of individuals in gaining access to economic resources, authorities, and sexual/bodily autonomy. As cultural symbols, masculinities convey images and practices of control, mastery, prestige, and strength. The panel highlights the "performative" nature of gender as effects of what people do and therefore interactively developing, rather than what people are born with and therefore immutably fixed, without overlooking the enduring power of gender norms and gendered institutional practices over various groups of men and other individuals. In particular, presenters of the panel intend to illuminate how the neoliberal transformation of the world in general and of South Korea in particular for the past three decades have shaped continuities and discontinuities in multiple embodiments of masculinities.