Material masculinities

Men and goods in eighteenth-century England

By: Ben Jackson

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Hardcover | 8 April 2025

At a Glance

Hardcover
306 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.6 x 13.8 x 1.91

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$214.49

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Material Masculinities examines the material and consumer practices of over 1000 men from the middling and upper ranks of eighteenth-century society, c.1650-1850. It draws upon evidence from over 35 archives and museum collections to detail how material objects were integral for men in forming identities and shaping experiences. For men of all social ranks, ages, and geographic locations, material knowledge was imperative for masculine social identities to operate in a commercial society. Before the centralised factory and widespread mass-produced goods, men personalised and repaired their goods; products were shaped by men's attitudes and concerns. Objects were tools in men's identity formation and the exercise of social and gendered power. There was a reciprocal relationship between men and goods in this period; men were active agents of material and commercial change driving product and aesthetic innovation.

Industry Reviews

"This is an excellent book. Material Masculinities is the most wide-ranging account to date of men's material experience in the eighteenth century, taking in the whole lifecycle and a fascinating array of goods. This perspective enables Jackson to present significant conclusions about the nature of gender, material culture and the body." - Matthew McCormack, University of Northampton

"This book makes a significant contribution to the literature, going beyond masculinity as a cultural construct to explore its essential materiality. Meticulously researched and drawing on a wide array of sources on middling and elite men from across Britain, it demonstrates the importance of material goods to gendered power and illustrates the many ways in which men shaped goods through product innovation. It is sure to be essential reading for scholars of gender, material culture and consumption." - Jon Stobart, Manchester Metropolitan University

"Material Masculinities is essential reading for those interested in questions of masculinity, material culture and material practices in the eighteenth century." - Kate Smith, University of Birmingham

"A magisterial and often intimate study of eighteenth-century masculine materiality in the making across the life-course." - Karen Harvey, University of Birmingham

"A searching and rigorous study of scores of men and things, from their snuff boxes to their desks to their guns, using a host of new sources chiselled out of more than 35 archives. Jackson explores the history of masculinity through objects, spaces, technologies and material interactions - using texts, objects and images. Material culture, consumerism, taste and fashion are central themes naturally, but Material Masculinity also throws bright new light on education and socialization, religion, age, rank and status, social performance and the presentation of self, the heterosocial, the homosocial and gender. The mental and material world of men 1650-1850 is vividly restored to us." - Amanda Vickery, Queen Mary University of London

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