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The Political Economy of Hegemonic Masculinity: Race, Income, and Housework in the United States

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  • Sarah F. Small

Abstract

Macrocultural dynamics of hegemonic masculinity complicate microeconomic negotiations. In this article, I examine hegemonic masculinity as an explanatory framework to understand how gendered work in households differs along income and race dimensions. I use Panel Study of Income Dynamics data to demonstrate how men of different race and income groups respond to their female partner out-earning them, an economic threat to masculinity. Results indicate that upper-income couples with White men have a strong aversion to the situation in which a woman out-earns her male partner. Middle-income White men follow suit, but lower-income White men, and Black men in most income groups, do not. I discuss how these findings relate directly to power, patriarchy, and the hegemonic nature of hegemonic masculinity. JEL Classification : B54, J15, J16

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah F. Small, 2023. "The Political Economy of Hegemonic Masculinity: Race, Income, and Housework in the United States," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 55(1), pages 26-46, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:55:y:2023:i:1:p:26-46
    DOI: 10.1177/04866134221132340
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    feminist economics; race; gender; housework; hegemonic masculinity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B54 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Feminist Economics
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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