Editorial: Masculinity and Upbringing

Abstract

In contemporary discourse in the humanities and social sciences, but also in journalistic debates, as well, the questions concerning masculinity are becoming increasingly louder – what was it and what is it, also what can/should it be in various constellations of cultural and social changes? Furthermore, is it justified to speak about masculinity in the singular or rather in the plural? And what is the relationship between the “new” conceptualizations of masculinity and upbringing oriented towards it? The authors of the articles placed in the next issue of Horizons of Education, handed to Readers, have undertaken reflection on these questions, recognizing and revealing the meanings of masculinity from different perspectives. They have examined cultural patterns of masculinity and its stereotyping, and – as some of them considered appropriate – submitted them to the critical analysis. They also took up important threads of the crisis of masculinity revealed in selfrelationships and relationships with others – closer and more distant people, which removes from masculinity the odium of being homogeneous and at the same time indisputable, permanently acquired, value. In this context, upbringing for masculinity begins to take on the meaning of a lifelong existential experience with heterochromic and heterotopic features.