Violence and Young Masculinities

This chapter will discuss the benefits of adopting a psychosocial approach in understanding young masculinities and violence in South Africa. Examples based on authors’ field work experience are used to show the value of psychosocial theory in researching young masculinities and violence. Violence is also mediated by intersections of culture and race, particularly in township areas, and this chapter will demonstrate how psychosocial theory provides a rich tool of analysis in identifying contradictory desires, conflict, and emotional compromises within dominant and subordinated forms of masculinities. It is also through this deep analysis of emotional costs and tensions that young men are seen to experience anxieties in living out masculinities.