Self-Made Men

This book explores how boys from low-socioeconomic status backgrounds disengage from their education, and are resultantly severely underrepresented in post-compulsory education. For those who attend university, many will be first-in-their-family. As first-in-family students, they may encounter significant barriers which may limit their participation in university life and their acquisition of social and cultural capital. Drawing on a longitudinal study of young Australian men pursuing higher education, the book provides the first detailed account of socially mobile working-class masculinities. Investigating the experiences of these young men, this book analyses their acclimatisation to new learning environments as well as their changing subjectivities. The monograph draws on various sociological theories to analyse empirical data and make practical recommendations which will drive innovation in widening participation initiatives internationally. This book will be of interest toscholars interested in widening participation, transitions, social mobility and Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities.

“With a focus on the Australian context, Garth Stahl offers a glimpse into the world of working-class masculinities and the blurring of social class lines. As rigid social class barriers inform the ‘becoming’ and ‘being’ of educated men in diverse – and indeed contradictory ways – Stahl illustrates how working-class masculinities manage to traverse the ivory gates of universities. The result is an important foray examining masculinities and academic achievement with a compelling focus into the world of the under-represented university males who are ‘first-in-family’ to attend university.  As a deep dive into the higher education experience, this book provokes a rethink of the working-class masculinities that we thought we all knew and understood. Our assumptions are challenged as we see the ‘identities in transition’ of upwardly working-class men who navigate higher education, namely universities designed for the upper classes, while finding their own successes in rich and emerging forms of selfhood that challenge our perceptions of the social exclusion typically assigned to upper class institutions such as universities.” (Michael Kehler, Research Professor of Masculinities Studies in Education, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada)

“Garth Stahl’s book highlights the ongoing reality and complexity of structural inequity in, and beyond, higher education. This is a rich exploration of masculinities, through a study of young men who were ‘first in family’ to attend university. Adopting a longitudinal approach, Stahl captures how identities are developed and influenced by class and context over time. Despite widening participation efforts, universities remain reflective of middle class values and can be uncomfortable and challenging places. Importantly, Stahl highlights the centrality of identity and ‘self-crafting’ to men’s aspirations, achievement, and persistence. In doing so, he provides important lessons for universities on how to increase their student success, diversity, and belonging.” (Andrew Harvey, Program Director, Pathways in Place, Griffith University, Australia)

“Anyone looking to build pathways to success for first-generation students in general, and first-generation males in particular should read this book. Garth Stahl implements a longitudinal study that powerfully illuminates the lived experiences of first-in-family males against the backdrop of the contemporary neoliberal university. This book, moreover, insightfully explores “self-crafting” that results as participants enter the socially and economically stratified stage of higher education and negotiate gendered and other subjectivities. Recommendations offered provide a map for implementing policy, programmatic, and pedagogical strategies that can enhance both student retention and success.” (Tracy Davis, Professor & Coordinator of the CSP Higher Education, Western Illinois University, USA)

“Garth Stahl has gifted the higher education and masculinity studies communities with a nuanced examination of the lives of young men transitioning from secondary school into the complex world of universities, where none in their families have gone before. The dynamics of masculinity and class have changed, Stahl deftly shows, and working-class men trying to make their way up the social ladder through higher education now contend with shifting their identities to neoliberal entrepreneurial selves. Weaving together key social theory with the voices of the participants in the First-in-Family Males Project, their teachers, and their families, Self-Made Men powerfully shows how diverse men come to form their subjectivities in a brave new world of higher education where they struggle to juggle ambition, difficult academics, community connection, peer relations, and a concern for fulfilment. The voices of these young men are sure to ring in my ears for some time to come, and I urge everyone invested in widening participation and success in higher education to listen to them, too.” (Marcus B. Weaver-Hightower, Professor of Educational Foundations, School of Education, Virginia Tech, USA)

“Drawing on extensive empirical data, Garth Stahl has produced a rigorous and theoretically informed text that interrogates the intersection between class and gender. Written throughout in an accessible style, Stahl’s contribution to the field of young masculinities studies will be attractive to a wide audience of scholars and students. Readers interested in how young working-class males navigate their way through the often-perilous transition from school to university in neoliberal contemporary society will find the book to be of significant value.” (Andy Harvey, Lecturer in Sports and Exercise Sciences, Swansea University, UK)

Garth Stahl is Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Queensland and former Research Fellow, Australian Research Council (DECRA), Australia. His research interests lie on the nexus of neoliberalism and socio-cultural studies of education, identity, equity/inequality, and social change. Currently, his research projects and publications encompass theoretical and empirical studies of learner identities, gendered subjectivities, equity and difference, and educational reform.