The dynamics of masculinity as a prerequisite for the deformation of the gender order: historical aspects

The authors identify and comprehensively analyze a number of historical factors that work to emasculate the social resource of masculinity, which is a prerequisite for the deformation of the modern gender order. In the authors' interpretation, masculinity is a special internal state associated with the manifestation of firmness, perseverance in the course of achieving goals in the context of counteracting external circumstances or overcoming one's own psychological barriers. It has both internal and external (social) sources, while acting both in individual and collective forms. There are four models of masculinity that are more or less associated with violence. Within the framework of historical processes, the authors identify four factors that lead to the decline of masculinity (primarily those of its forms that are associated with violence) not only due to a decrease in its functional demand, but also due to changes in environmental conditions. These are: 1) the law of techno-humanitarian balance, which implies the growth of cultural and ideological means aimed at curbing the use of violence in conflict resolution and strengthening the peaceful component in political culture; 2) technological changes that serve as the basis for the overall evolution of military affairs. Military revolutions, fundamentally changing the nature of military clashes, have transformed military thinking and military spirit. In modern conditions, which actually cross out personal contact on the battlefield, and minimize the feeling of danger for the more technically equipped side, this naturally deforms the fighting spirit, reducing the demand for the resource of masculinity; 3) a spiritual and cultural factor, which implies the dynamics of balancing options for fighting and trading spirits that are opposed to each other. In different epochs, the mutual correlation of trading and fighting spirits changed under the influence of mostly objective circumstances. In modern times, the superiority of the trading spirit and the subordination of the fighting spirit to it are strengthened and consolidated; 4) the institutional factor, which consists in the development of the state as an institution regulating violence and striving for a monopoly on its use. In the course of the development of the state system, the latter imposes additional control mechanisms on society, at the same time placing in a rigid, mainly administrative and legal framework, options for the use and implementation of power resources and, accordingly, masculinity.