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Beyond (but not too much) the male breadwinner model: a qualitative study on child care and masculinities in contemporary Italy∗

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2016

Francesco Della Puppa  and
Francesco Miele
Francesco Della Puppa*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Laboratory for Social Research (La. Ri. S), Education and Applied Psychology (Fisppa), University of Padua, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Italy
Francesco Miele
Affiliation:
Bruno Kessler Foundation, Trento, Italy
*
∗Corresponding author. Email: francesco.dellapuppa@unive.it
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Abstract

This study draws on the results of qualitative research conducted in Verona, north-eastern Italy, collecting data from in-depth interviews and examining the ways in which different masculinities emerge in the sphere of child care. The presented research takes as its theoretical frame of reference the plural conception of masculinity developed by Connell during the last 20 years, analysing the dynamics of hegemony and subordination among different masculinities present in some families. The research contributes to the strand of men's studies which analyses the masculinities emerging from practices usually associated with fatherhood. Contrary to the findings of other studies carried out in Italy in the same context, the male breadwinner model seems to have lost strength and legitimacy. The research shows that a multiplicity of social actors (members of couples, educational personnel and users of the early childhood services, employers of parents, local and national institutional actors in the Italian scenario) are constructing and legitimising a ‘male helper’ model of masculinity, which seems more appropriate to the context of reference than other models of masculinity and which is emerging as the hegemonic masculinity in the considered social and geographical context.

Keywords

men's studiesmasculinitieschild caremale breadwinner modelchildhood serviceshegemonic masculinity
Type
Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , May 2015 , pp. 167 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

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