Citation

Maier M, Messerschmidt JW. Can. Rev. Sociol. Anthropol. 1998; 35(3): 325-344.

Affiliation

Chapman University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, University of Toronto Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11542273

Abstract

The events surrounding the 1986 decision to launch the Space Shuttle Challenger are reconstructed to illustrate how multiple masculinities, particularly between and among managers and engineers, contributed to that organizational crisis. An analysis of gendered power relations--especially among men--reveals how the construction of particular forms of "masculinities," and the ways in which they are reproduced, rationalized or resisted, vary as a result of contextual changes. Commonalities and differences among these masculinities are discussed. We close by exploring possible contradictions in the construction of organizational masculinities and their implications for organizational practice.

Language: en