Unreasonable Men Masculinity and Social Theory

In "Unreasonable Men," Victor Seidler argues that the conflation of masculinity and reason has influenced and distorted Western concepts of modernity as well as the dominant forms of social theory and philosophy. This alliance of masculinity and reason is also a source of power that promotes an unreasonable form of reason often used to control women. Under this belief system, emotions are deemed to be too "personal" and "subjective" when contrasted with the "objectivity" of reason and are thus discounted as forms of knowledge. The dominant forms of social theory have worked with a universal and impersonal conception of reason which discounts the value of experience, treating it as the mere effect of language.

This much needed book is the first to show how dominant forms of masculinity are implicated in the traditions of social theory that have emerged since the Enlightenment. The author shows how an 'unreasonable' form of reason has emerged from the separation of reason from emotion, mind from body, nature from culture, public from private, matter from spirit - the dualities that have shaped our vision of modernity. The book argues that men need to explore critically their power and experience which has been rendered invisible by the dominant traditions of social theory. Instead of legislating for others they have to learn to speak more personally for themselves.

Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Nature; Chapter 3 Reason; Chapter 4 Morality; Chapter 5 Freedom; Chapter 6 Identity; Chapter 7 Modernity; Chapter 8 Experience; Chapter 9 Feminism; Chapter 10 Masculinity; Chapter 11 Histories; Chapter 12 Relationships; Chapter 13 Language; Chapter 14 Sexuality; Chapter 15 Dependency; Chapter 16 Conclusion;

Victor Jeleniewski Seidler is Reader in Social Theory in the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths’ College, The University of London. He is the editor of The Achilles Heel Reader.