ÖZP 2012/1  S.37-52

Martin Meyrath

On the Hegemony of Neoliberal Masculinities: John McClane and Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg

Keywords: hegemony, ideology, masculinities, Neoliberalism, political theory, cultural studies, popular culture

This paper deals with the hegemony of neoliberal masculinities by example of two representations in contemporary mass media. The (by now former) German Minister of Defence is contrasted with a popular all-action movie figure to show how seemingly contrary characters work to reproduce neoliberal ideology. Hegemonic masculinity is conceptualised as a singular abstraction breeding convergent masculinities and consisting of their intersection.