THE MOST CITED WAYS TO BE A MAN: IMPLICATIONS OF HIGHLY CITED ARTICLES ON MEN AND MASCULINITIES

Abstract

Theoretical framings, methodological approaches, and socio-spatial contexts influence the development of research on men and masculinities in important ways. Viewing high citation counts as an indication of significant visibility and varied engagement, this paper employs a qualitative meta-analysis of the most cited articles on men and masculinities from three influential journals: Gender and Society, Gender, Place and Culture, and Men and Masculinities. By synthesizing multiple frames of analysis, this study identifies dominant patterns in each journal’s most cited articles’ findings, conceptual engagements and methodology. Gender and Society has a large number of articles on domestic labour, of which a majority applied quantitative methodologies. Most articles from Gender, Place and Culture focus on concepts of place and positionality. Finally, the most significant pattern in Men and Masculinities was a large number of papers that relied primarily on secondary research for their studies. Beyond these idiosyncratic patterns within each journal, the concept of hegemonic masculinity is dominant across all three journals. Overall, this paper finds a large variation in the articulation and use of dominant methodological and theoretical approaches in the sample, where several articles fail to even apply and explain these approaches effectively. This would suggest that dominant approaches in research on men and masculinities are not necessarily applied productively. Additionally, this variation in academic quality reinforces past claims that the citation count of a research paper does not equate to the paper’s academic value. Thus, this study points towards more conscientious research practices in academia.