“Slaves with white collars”: Persistent performances of masculinity in crisis

Recent trends in popular culture suggest an emerging discourse of professional masculinity in crisis. This essay examines two illustrative films, Fight Club and In the Company of Men, whose characters bemoan the impending demise of the masculine businessman. To revive him, they (re)turn to what we call a “civilized/primitive” masculinity, embodied by the hardened white man who finds healing in wounds. This subjectivity shrouds the race and class hierarchy on which it rests by overtly appealing to gender division. The current discourse of dominant men in crisis bears remarkable resemblance to historical narratives of masculinity in decline. Ultimately, we argue that this pattern reveals chronic conflicts embedded in particular performances of masculinity and thus, potential vulnerabilities in patriarchal capitalism.