Abstract
Men, Masculinities and Violence by Anthony Ellis is ethnography of violent men in several urban areas across the north of England, which means that the author went to the homes, pubs, streets, football matches and day-to-day spaces the men occupied. Every probation worker will recognize the accounts offered by the men, but the unique insight Ellis offers due to his contact time in the spaces occupied by participants is worth the exploration – particularly in the contemporary probation landscape where high case-loads and administrative commitments make leaving the office increasingly untenable. The author’s ‘use of self’ to gain access to the world of the participants and reflections on the consequences will also be of interest to practitioners and researchers alike.
In summary, the book forms an analysis of the subjective lives of the men and their masculine identities within the context of the neoliberal capitalist society. Rightly, Ellis highlights the lack of attention to gender and class in relation to violent men, despite the overwhelming evidence that men are, in the majority, responsible for violent crime and many are from post-industrial, deprived and marginalized communities. While the national statistics and media report a drop in criminality, Ellis argues that for the men and communities featured in the ethnography the drop in violence and crime is not apparent. By the author’s own admission the book is political and ethical, laudably seeking to contribute to a dynamic and critical criminology that represents the ‘harms throughout the social order’ (p. 16).
The book is methodically structured with Chapter 1 offering the rationale and justification for the study, laying the theoretical foundations for the argument expounded in Chapter 7, for an integrated theory of why men are violent. This is motivated, in part, by the argument that previous theoretical traditions have treated interpersonal violence as ‘tangential’ (p. 37) to something else, for example, football violence, rather than critiquing the violence itself and the subjectivities of the perpetrators. Chapter 3, ‘Top Lad’, provides an in-depth case study of Darren and provides the ‘analytical threads’ (p. 56) that are developed in Chapters 4, 5 and 6. It recounts Darren’s criminality and violence at different stages in his life history. The rich description of Darren’s experiences in childhood, his violent heritage, motivation to use violence as a resource to avoid humiliation and shifting towards a ‘nothing to lose mentality’ (p. 57) in his youth is a reminder of the scale of the task of working with men who have violent histories. The picture that emerges is one where interpersonal violence does not sit neatly with biological, sociological or criminological theory. Ellis conveys the subjective factors for this violence that are personal, and the complex humanity of the participants is conveyed through his own feelings of empathy with people who he knows have committed serious violent acts.
In Chapter 4, ‘Born to Fight’, the threads from Darren’s narrative of violence in childhood and youth, subsequent emotional consequences and how they shaped the masculine identities of the participants are developed. From the brothers Gary and Paul, then Liam and Paul, we really get a sense of how they are ‘toughened up’ (p. 125) in their early years. In Neil’s story, Ellis’s analysis suggests that he lives his life with a fear that is normalized into a ‘stoic manner’ (p. 73), where violence and threats are just part of the everyday. From Vince we get the sense of humanity in the trauma from his early years defending himself from stronger attackers. All the narratives are unique, but the common feelings of shame, humiliation and the indignity of being dominated by a violent other inform and shape their responses to interpersonal violence as adults.
In Chapter 5, ‘Handy Lads’, the focus is on violence against others and victimization, using three case studies to examine the subjectivity of the perpetrators, emotions and masculine identities that lie behind the violence. In Chapter 7, ‘Shadow World’, Ellis synthesizes his findings with literature to answer his central question of why some men are physically violent. This is achieved by considering the themes of violent trauma; early exposure to violence; competition at the core of capitalism’s economic system; violent subjectivities; the influence of the family context and, finally, the participants’ own internal struggles. The author confronts his own stoicism in relation to violence in the final chapter, ‘Rolling with the Punches’, and the overspill of the research into his own life is compelling, honest and familiar.
This book is well worth a read for practitioners, academics and students who are exploring gender, class and violence. It is an ethnography that brings together current theoretical understanding of interpersonal violence and creates a new ‘critical psychosocial perspective’ (p. 127) to view this phenomenon. Ellis recognizes the messiness of the trauma, marginality, insecurity and masculine cultures revealed in the participants’ accounts, and this is done with honesty, skilful analysis and a reflexivity that reveals the author’s own narrative in the findings.