This spring, CSWS resumed the Acker–Morgen Memorial Lecture series after winter weather and pandemic conditions had thwarted the event for the last three years. On May 20, we were thrilled to welcome on campus Dr. Raka Ray, a professor of sociology and South and Southeast Asia studies and dean of social sciences at UC Berkeley. She specializes in gender and feminist theory, domination and inequality, the emerging middle classes, and social movements. Below, political science graduate student Olivia Atkinson offers a personal reflection on Ray’s talk:
Dr. Ray’s lecture, “The Politics of Masculinity in the Absence of Work,” examined what men in India do when faced with structural irrelevance in the workplace. She argued the subject position of masculinity in India requires special attention because subaltern men are largely left behind in an increasingly globalized world. Whereas women in India feel aspiration in the world of work, men feel abjection.
In interviews, Dr. Ray said, she found that young women saw work as something that could save them from the confines of the home while men (many of whom are farmers) felt left behind and overlooked. This created a sense of resentment because so much of masculinity is intertwined with ideas of patriarchal protectionism. Men are taught they should be the provider and protector, which are difficult roles to fulfill without work.
As a student of political science, I was particularly drawn to the political outcomes portion of Dr. Ray’s lecture. Although we have seen some men take a turn to right-wing populism as an outlet for their frustration and anger, Dr. Ray contended that this isn’t the only possible outcome.
Through an analysis of two social movements, Dr. Ray suggests this moment of structural irrelevance offers a space to imagine new modes of solidarity, both economically and politically, through a re-imagining of masculinity as something other than dominance. In a moment where people’s relationship to work has been radically called into question and discussions of the dangers of patriarchal masculinity are gaining popular purchase, Dr. Ray’s work is both timely and thought-provoking.
Throughout the talk, I was reminded that these current moments of contention and frustration (both internationally and in the US) provide a challenge to feminist practitioners—now is the moment for cultivating meaningful relationships and building solid foundations for liberation. How we care for one another matters because work won’t save us—we will save us.
—Olivia Atkinson, PhD Student, Political Science