Structural Health and the Politics of African American Masculinity

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. 68S-72S ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan M. Metzl
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Men ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Risky Behaviors ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Individual Choice ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Barriers To Health

This commentary describes ways in which notions of African American men’s “health” attained by individual choice—embedded in the notion that African American men should visit doctors or engage in fewer risky behaviors—are at times in tension with larger cultural, economic, and political notions of “health.” It argues that efforts to improve the health of Black men must take structural factors into account, and failure to do so circumvents even well-intentioned efforts to improve health outcomes. Using historical examples, the article shows how attempts to identify and intervene into what are now called social determinants of health are strengthened by addressing on-the-ground diagnostic disparities and also the structural violence and racism embedded within definitions of illness and health. And, that, as such, we need to monitor structural barriers to health that exist in institutions ostensibly set up to incarcerate or contain Black men and in institutions ostensibly set up to help them.

scholarly journals Does Diversity Matter for Health? Experimental Evidence from Oakland

2019 ◽  
Vol 109 (12) ◽  
pp. 4071-4111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcella Alsan ◽  
Owen Garrick ◽  
Grant Graziani
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Preventive Care ◽  
Cardiovascular Mortality ◽  
Black Male ◽  
African American Men ◽  
White Male ◽  
Physician Workforce ◽  
Medical Doctors ◽  
Stage Design

We study the effect of physician workforce diversity on the demand for preventive care among African American men. In an experiment in Oakland, California, we randomize black men to black or non-black male medical doctors. We use a two-stage design, measuring decisions before (pre-consultation) and after (post-consultation) meeting their assigned doctor. Subjects select a similar number of preventives in the pre-consultation stage, but are much more likely to select every preventive service, particularly invasive services, once meeting with a racially concordant doctor. Our findings suggest black doctors could reduce the black-white male gap in cardiovascular mortality by 19 percent. (JEL I12, I14, C93)

Gender Differences in the Dating Experiences of African American Young Adults: The Challenge of Forming Romantic Relationships Within the Context of Power Imbalance

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Gordon Simons ◽  
Tara E. Sutton ◽  
Antoinette M. Landor ◽  
Ashley B. Barr ◽  
Chalandra M. Bryant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Dating Relationships ◽  
Using Data ◽  
American Young Adults

Past research has documented that structural factors produce a skewed dating market in African American communities that advantages men over women. Using data collected from a sample of 495 African American young adults (55.8% women, Mage = 22), we tested the idea that African American men can be more selective when choosing dating partners than their female counterparts due to their power advantage. Consonant with this hypothesis, our results indicated that women who had characteristics consistent with men’s mate preferences were significantly more likely to be involved in dating relationships. However, there were no associations between the likelihood of men’s dating frequency or relationship status and whether they typified women’s mate preferences. These findings support the contention that, unlike their male counterparts, African American women may have to compromise their mate preferences and date less desirable partners due to the gendered power disadvantage in the dating market.

The Challenge to White Manhood

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Meyer
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Black Men ◽  
African American Men ◽  
White Men ◽  
Traditionally White ◽  
Workplace Equity ◽  
White Manhood ◽  
Gain Access

This chapter considers how the increase in numbers of African American men at the workplace brought differing and contentious visions of manhood to the automotive factory. White men, who had long dominated the better jobs, divided into two groups: those who strove for the respectability of high-paid union jobs and those who resented others, fearing the loss of their exclusive white privileges. When black men fought for workplace equity, the more conservative whites conducted racial hate strikes to protect traditionally “white” jobs. In reaction, African American workers conducted what might best be labeled “pride strikes” to gain access to better jobs and later to improve the inequitable situation of black women in the automobile factories. These workplace struggles involved robust clashes over differing visions of manhood.

scholarly journals Masculinity and Race-Related Factors as Barriers to Health Help-Seeking Among African American Men

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 150-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wizdom Powell ◽  
Leslie B. Adams ◽  
Yasmin Cole-Lewis ◽  
Amma Agyemang ◽  
Rachel D. Upton
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Barriers To Health

Explaining Mainstream Success

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25
Author(s):  
Loralie L. Wiebold ◽  
Marwin Spiller
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
Black Men ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Apparent Contradiction ◽  
Personal Motivation ◽  
Sociological Work ◽  
Mainstream Society ◽  
Individual Choices ◽  
Depth Interviews

The bulk of sociological work examines African American men who are young, unemployed, and poorly educated. In contrast, we offer a nuanced look at Black men living and working in mainstream society—men in the American mainstream although not always identifying as middle class. From 25 in-depth interviews, our data show an apparent contradiction. We find that men account for their success through their individual choices and declared personal motivation to succeed. Yet, throughout their interviews, these men revealed ways they were exposed to critical interactions and opportunities to a larger social network that provided them with tools for mainstream success. In talking about their experiences, these men shared instances in which their racial identity was questioned.

scholarly journals Bridging Black Male and Female Standpoints through Autoethnographic Cultural Symbiosis in Gloria Naylor’s The Men of Brewster Place

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adishree Vats
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Black Male ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Power Structure ◽  
Gloria Naylor ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Black Females ◽  
Male Characters

The present paper argues that Gloria Naylor in The Men of Brewster Place (1998) spectacularly recreates, from a black female’s viewpoint, a solemn literary leeway for African American men’s narratives, and recommends an obligatory shufti to their hidden lives as to how the apparatuses of dominion objectify, suppress and marginalize African American men as well. These men have also been victimized, marginalized and objectified on the basis of their race, class and sexuality by the stereotypical mainstream power structure just like their female counterparts. Furthermore, the paper endeavours to scrutinize how it is unworkable to accomplish a genuine Black Feminist Standpoint without essentially appreciating Black Men’s Standpoint. Black men, who although are suppressors when it comes to their relationship with black females, simultaneously are also being suppressed beneath the tutelage of the mainstream hegemonistic-cum-stereotypical power system. As a sequel to Naylor’s first novel, The Women of Brewster Place (Naylor, 1983), The Men of Brewster Place attempts to autoethnographically lend some voice to her male characters, who complemented her female characters in the first novel.

scholarly journals Resilience Despite “Integration:” Black Men Educators' Perceptions About and Responsibility to Equitable Representation in K-12 Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah R Gordon ◽  
TeKyesha TK Anderson
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Black Men ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
American Black ◽  
Education Profession ◽  
Education Decision ◽  
Qualitative Phenomenological ◽  
K 12

Almost seven decades after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v Board of Education decision, African American/Black men are still vastly underrepresented in the K-12 public education profession. In this qualitative, phenomenological research study, a small sample of Black men educators who chose to enter and remain in the profession, shared their lived experiences. Three research questions informed this study: (1) What are African American/Black men’s perceptions of their representation in the K-12 public education profession? (2) What are African American/Black men’s perceptions regarding their entrance and retention in the K-12 public education profession? and (3)What are African American/Black men’s perceptions regarding the responsibilities African American men have to and within the K-12 public education profession? Findings show that while Black men are still underrepresented in K-12 public education, they have been resilient in remaining in the field and defining their roles, commitments, and responsibilities despite feelings of isolation, tokenism, and stereotypes.

scholarly journals Precarious Work, Health, and African-American Men: A Qualitative Study on Perceptions and Experiences

2020 ◽  
pp. 002073142098185
Author(s):  
Anna Mullany ◽  
Luis Valdez ◽  
Aline Gubrium ◽  
David Buchanan
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
African American ◽  
Health Research ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Precarious Work ◽  
Neoliberal Ideology

Precarious work has steadily grown in the United States since the rise of neoliberal policies. The continued expansion of this type of work has led to precarious employment as a recognized category within social determinants of health work and to a growing literature within public health research. African-American men are disproportionately vulnerable to precarious work, which in turn contributes to adverse health effects. Nevertheless, African-American men’s experiences of employment and the perceived impact on their well-being remain underexplored. This study was part of the formative exploratory phase of a 5-year community-based participatory research project to examine the biopsychosocial determinants of stress among low/no-income, African-American men. Through thematic analysis of 42 semi-structured interviews, 3 themes emerged: ( a) occupational hazards and health, ( b) internalization of neoliberal ideology, and ( c) constraints of structural factors. Neoliberal economic policies cause material deprivation and exacerbate systemic injustices that disproportionately affect communities of color. The accompanying neoliberal ideology of personal responsibility shapes men’s perceptions of success and failure. Public health research must continue to push against health promotion practices that predominantly focus on individual behavior. Rather than exploring only the granularities of individual behaviors, health problems must be examined through prolonged historical, political, economic, and social disenfranchisement.

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