Is populism fueled by a feeling of manhood under attack? If gender is its driving force, are there better ways to respond?
COVID-19 delivers a stark warning: the global surge of populism endangers public health. Wronged and Dangerous introduces "viral masculinity" as a novel way to meet that threat by tackling the deep connection of our social and physical worlds. It calls us to ask not what populism says, but how it spreads.
Leading with gender without leaving socioeconomic forces behind, it upends prevailing wisdom about populist politics today. You do not need to know or care about gender to get invested. You only need to be concerned with our future.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Part 1: Gender as an Acquired Taste
1. Reality in Hard and Soft
2. Strongmen versus Sober Women
3. From Binary to Biodiversity
4. Of Masks and Men
5. Gender as a Matter of Life and Death
Part 2: The Feel of New Populisms
6. This Is Populism
7. Crash Course
8. New Populism
9. Anger, Downrising
10. The Problem with Anger Management
Part 3: Probable Cause
11. Class and Culture, of Course
12. Aggrieved Masculinity as Animation
13. Perish the Thought of Gender
14. Identity Politics for the Universal Human
15. Not Another Masculinity Crisis
Part 4: Virality and Virility
16. Culture Wars Can Kill
17. Dear Manosphere
18. Metaphor Matters: Poison or Pandemic?
19. Identity Politics 2.0
20. We the Sleepwalkers
About the Author :
Karen Lee Ashcraft is Professor of Communication at the University of Colorado Boulder. She grew up in the lap of white evangelical populism and her research examines how gender interacts with race, class, sexuality, and more to shape organizational and cultural politics.
Review :
“Toxic masculinity is pervasive in contemporary politics and Ashcraft offers the best analysis to date. Wronged and Dangerous is also a sensitive engagement in the troubled politics of belonging, resentment, and anger.” Craig Calhoun, Arizona State University
“At once personal, searching, and accessible, and often funny, Ashcraft’s gender analysis charts a humane path forward through the political storms of wounded masculinity.” John Durham Peters, Yale University
"Ashcraft’s persuasive account of how unhappy masculinities form the bedrock of right-wing populism provides cause for concern: misogynistic dragons we thought had been slain are now rousing. Aimed at an intelligent, general readership, it is a manifesto and call to action; intellectually rigorous, compassionate, thought-provoking and an excellent read. Its ideas should become part of our everyday conversations." Nancy Harding, University of Bath
