FOOTBALL AND ROMANIAN MASCULINITY. HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED BY THE SPORT MEDIA?

László PÉTER

Authors

László PÉTER Department of Sociology and Social Work in Hungarian, Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, email: peter.laszlo@socasis.ubbcluj.ro https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6058-8385

Keywords:

football, hegemonic masculinity, media, discourses

Abstract

DOI: 10.1515/subbs-2017-0012

The present article is focusing on hegemonic masculinity represented and expressed by the professional footballers. Based on the empirical study using text analysis of leading articles published in central Romanian sport newspapers I draw the ideal-typical picture of the normative model of Romanian hegemonic masculinity in which the domestic coaches play a determinant role. Their personal-individual and collective-professional features like determination, steadiness, honesty, pride, mutual respect, knowledge, tenaciousness, sense of vocation, solidarity, spirit of fighting are the corner points of the constructed Romanian manhood, or hegemonic masculinity during social change. The manliness is traced along the inner characteristic of the coaches but in strong contradiction with the foreign trainers. In this respect I can state that football is connected not only with masculinity but in some respect also with the national characteristics embodied by the Romanian coaches especially those working home.

References

Anderson, E. (2008). I Used to Think Women Were Week: Orthodox Masculinity, Gender Segregation, and Sport. Sociological Forum, 23(2): 257-280.

Archetti, E.P. (1999). Masculinities. Football, Polo and the Tango in Argentina. Oxford-New York: Berg.

Connell, RW; Messerchmidt, J.W. (2005). Hegemonic Masculinity Rethinking the Concept. Gender and Society, 19(6): 829-859.

Connell, RW (1983). Which Way is Up? Essays on Sex. Class, and Culture. Sidney: George Allen & Unwin.

Connell, RW (1990). An Iron Man: The Body and some Contradictions of Hegemonic Masculinity. In Messner, M., A–Sabo, D.F. (Eds.) Sport, Men and the Gender Order: Critical Feminist Perspectives. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, p. 83-95.

Connell, RW (1995). Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Connell, RW (2002). Gender. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Hadas, M. (2003). A modern férfi születése. Budapest: Helikon.

Kimmel, M. (1996). Manhood in America: A Cultural History. New York: Free Press.

Messner, M. (2004). “Still a Man’s World? Studying Masculinities and Sport.” In Kimmel, M.S.–Hearn, J.–Connell, R.W. (Eds.) Handbook of Studies of Man & Masculinities. SAGE Publications, p. 313-325.

Nylund, D. (2007). Beer, Babes and Balls. Masculinity and Sports Talk Radio. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Pásztor, Gy. (2002). „Követem őt? A nemi szerepek változása a kommunista és posztkommunista időszakban.” In Veres, V.–Gyarmati Zs. (Eds.) RODOSZ Tanulmányok III. Kolozsvár: Kriterion, p. 47-51.

Péter, L. (2014). Soccer and Society in Romania. Issues and Problems in Soccer Discourses, Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä.

Trujillo, N. (1991). Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representation of Nolan Ryan and American Sport Culture. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 8(9): 290-308.

Willis, P. (2000). A skacok. Iskolai ellenkultúra, munkáskultúra. Budapest: Új Mandátum Könyvkiadó.