JERUSALEM — The Atlantic Monthly looks at the political and cultural consequences of the recession that pervades the Western world, and here is an enlightening excerpt:
In her classic sociology of the Depression, The Unemployed Man and His Family, Mirra Komarovsky vividly describes how joblessness strained—and in many cases fundamentally altered—family relationships in the 1930s. During 1935 and 1936, Komarovsky and her research team interviewed the members of 59 white middle-class families in which the husband and father had been out of work for at least a year. Her research revealed deep psychological wounds. “It is awful to be old and discarded at 40,” said one father. “A man is not a man without work.” Another said plainly, “During the depression I lost something. Maybe you call it self-respect, but in losing it I also lost the respect of my children, and I am afraid I am losing my wife.” Noted one woman of her husband, “I still love him, but he doesn’t seem as ‘big’ a man…”
The weight of this [current] recession has fallen most heavily upon men, who’ve suffered roughly three-quarters of the 8 million job losses since the beginning of 2008. Male-dominated industries (construction, finance, manufacturing) have been particularly hard-hit, while sectors that disproportionately employ women (education, health care) have held up relatively well. In November, 19.4 percent of all men in their prime working years, 25 to 54, did not have jobs, the highest figure since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the statistic in 1948. At the time of this writing, it looks possible that within the next few months, for the first time in U.S. history, women will hold a majority of the country’s jobs…
Communities with large numbers of unmarried, jobless men take on an unsavory character over time. Edin’s research team spent part of last summer in Northeast and South Philadelphia, conducting in-depth interviews with residents. She says she was struck by what she saw: “These white working-class communities—once strong, vibrant, proud communities, often organized around big industries—they’re just in terrible straits. The social fabric of these places is just shredding. There’s little engagement in religious life, and the old civic organizations that people used to belong to are fading. Drugs have ravaged these communities, along with divorce, alcoholism, violence. I hang around these neighborhoods in South Philadelphia, and I think, ‘This is beginning to look like the black inner-city neighborhoods we’ve been studying for the past 20 years.’ When young men can’t transition into formal-sector jobs, they sell drugs and drink and do drugs. And it wreaks havoc on family life. They think, ‘Hey, if I’m 23 and I don’t have a baby, there’s something wrong with me.’ They’re following the pattern of their fathers in terms of the timing of childbearing, but they don’t have the jobs to support it. So their families are falling apart—and often spectacularly.”
Why are action movies — from World War II epics to “Die Hard” to “Gladiator” — so popular among men? I was watching “Troy” on Israeli cable the other day, and I realized the answer: Every man wants to be a hero. It is ingrained in our consciousness by both nature and nurture. (And women secretly — or not-so-secretly — need a hero as well.)
Now, of course, few men will storm the Normandy beaches, battle terrorists in a skyscraper, kill a dictatorial emperor in front of a cheering crowd, or wage an epic battle to take an impenetrable fortress. So men have always done what they can: they work hard at their jobs to provide food, clothing, and shelter for their families. This was the way that they could be heroes — even if they would be somewhat unappreciated or underappreciated.
When feminists cheer the fact that women are becoming more successful in universities and the workplace, they are looking at the issue in term of rational utility. After all, as long as someone is putting food on the table, who cares whether it is the husband or wife? This mindset, however, ignores the fact that economic markets and general society are governed by irrational impulses just as much as rational ones. And both are valid — or, at least, realistic.
When feminists go into the workplace, their motivations are varied. They want to make a political statement; they want to fulfill their personal dreams; and so on. But when men work, their motivation is to fulfill an age-old imperative that has existed for tens of thousands of years — to provide for their loved ones and gain respect as a provider. They want to be heroes. It’s an entirely-different mindset.
And what happens when this existing order disappears? Chaos reigns. In the Middle East, unemployed men with no prospects turn to terrorism to “be a hero,” fight for their perceived greater good, make a difference, and gain respect in their communities. In urban, minority communities in the United States, young men with no education and even fewer job-prospects join gangs because it gives them meaning, a sense of community, and a measure of respect that they would otherwise lack.
In middle-class America, young men are joining “Guyland” by, in part, spending too much time playing video games like “Dungeons & Dragons,” “World of Warcraft,” “Civilization,” and sports games. (Much to the chagrin of women who do not understand the obsession.) Look at it like this: In the current economic-and-feminist climate, men have no outlet through which they can feel like heroes. So, what can they do? They will escape to a fantasy world in which they can be a powerful warrior, a leader of a country, or Curt Shilling leading the Red Sox to their first World Series in eighty-six years. It gives them the feeling of being a hero — just like watching John McClane in “Die Hard” — as well as the feeling of being in control of something when the entire world seems to have lost its way.
If the Western world continues down the current path, it will only be harmful to society. As the Atlantic article notes, the current paradigm of a society in which women have all the responsibility and men do not — inner-city America — only leads to societal breakdown.
Elsewhere: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid agrees. Hat tip: Vox Day.