Masculinity and Morality: Working-class Men and the Politics of Recognition in Russia

• In Event: Masculinity and Russia's War in Ukraine

Abstract

This paper draws on ethnographic research with working-class young and middle-aged men in different parts of Russia between 2004 and the present day to examine, first, how they have responded to material and symbolic marginalisation at different points in their lives, and second, how they have been co-opted into support for the Putin administration. The first part of the paper outlines how the men in the research develop a form of moral subjectivity as an antidote to neoliberal governmentality, which positions them as abject losers. The paper then argues that this moral subjectivity has acted as a touchstone for the politics of recognition in Russia, as Putin’s statism and militarism raise the moral status of working-class men.

Author

• Charlie Walker, U of Southampton