Masculinities in the COVID-19 Era

The objective of this paper is to establish an ideology that disseminates the differences between cultures, identities, and genders rather than their similarities. For this purpose, we worked with the assumption that the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of multiculturalism, identity and masculinity would underline the reductionism of migratory flows, gender identities and even masculinity to its minimum expression by confining it to exclusive attributes. In this way, the ideology becomes evident when analyzing the differences and similarities between multiculturalism with respect to interculturalism, masculinity before other feminine, lesbian, gay or transsexual identities, as well as youth in relation to other generations. Based on the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of multiculturalism, identity and masculinity, the categories were related to highlight the ideology in comment. In this sense, a documentary study was carried out with a selection of sources indexed to repositories in Latin America, during the period from 2019 to 2021, considering the ISSN and DOI register, as well as its link with the keywords –migration, youth, multiculturalism, identity, masculinity. A content analysis matrix was developed and a model for the study of migrant youth identities in relation to the attributes linked to their masculinity was specified. The essay is registered in the area of Social Sciences, Social Work discipline, but it can also be evaluated from social psychology, since the concepts of gender identity have been proposed and developed from that discipline. The work was funded by the General Directorate of Academic Personnel Affairs (DGAPA), Program for Support to Research and Technological Innovation Projects (PAPIIT) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Theory of masculinities

Multiculturalist policies seek the inclusion of migrant communities in relation to the native population where welfare is prevalent, although such management instruments favor the marginalization of migrant groups located in the periphery of cities. In this way, multiculturalism is associated with the assimilation hypothesis in which a dominant culture is imposed on other peripheral cultures, a phenomenon known as coinage [1]. In other words, migrant communities, as dominated cultures, can arrive at equity as long as they conform to the guidelines of the dominant culture in a short period of time to balance the powers that subdue it.

E l process of reproduction of social domination is mediated by self-knowledge of the dominant culture, because if it is able to identify their needs and expectations, can target the requirements of its values and norms and customs. This is a selective process in which the values are concentrated in a valuation nucleus that consists of linguistic and discursive competence for local resources between migrants and native people. Those who were trained from a multicultural perspective did not always reach the values required for diversity and in cases where self-learning prevailed, citizens were more aware of respect for cultural differences and similarities [2]. The theory of multiculturalism postulates that modern societies can only be developed with the help of cultures that are willing to assimilate a universal system, such as English and multimedia communication, in order to achieve a parity of their abilities, since that the opportunities are generated to the extent that the market offers the corresponding jobs to the fittest people and that they perform better in the event of unforeseen changes in the modes of citizenship and inclusive participatory lifestyles.

In contrast, interculturalism ensures that the accelerated development of the most competitive cultures is not enough, but it is also necessary that those cultures that do not share the values of recognition and individual success can contribute to the dynamics of society and to the development of their systems Economic, labor and educational [3]. In cultures, dialogue prevails over their values, and this is understood as a system of parity of forces, prevention of disagreements and overcoming conflicts between the parties that are not necessarily opposed, but rather ignorant of their common objectives. The difference between multiculturalism and interculturalism lies in the degree of commitment, dialogue and concertation not only of the principles of life, but also of an approach to social co-responsibility, citizen cohesion and national identity. In this way, the attachment to the place, the sense of belonging and community, as well as the attachment to a stage is fundamental to observe interculturalism while multiculturalism is often observed by tolerance rather than the acceptance of difference and coexistence [4]. With diversity that is to say that while the dialogue of differences, proclaimed by interculturalism, generates tolerance and not this debate, multiculturalism lacks self-criticism because it establishes as a guiding axis the values and norms of a dominant culture without considering the capacities of Other dominated cultures. It is true that multiculturalism expects the other peripheral cultures to reach the development of nuclear culture, but it avoids the possibility that the dominant culture questions itself about the essence of its principles and based on it renounces its privileges, leaving a more equitable scenario regarding the management and administration of funds and resources [5]. Both essences, interculturalism and multiculturalism underline the importance of differences between groups that generate the sense of belonging to a group and the comparison with their group of belonging with respect to a reference group.

Studies of masculinities

A youth identity is “the appropriation of who one is from identifications and differentiations. In that sense, it involves a double look of the group and the other groups with which it interacts. Or, from an intergenerational conflict with respect to adult generations. It is a self-recognition with respect to other peer groups or different generations. In this way, differentiation and similarity between groups constitutes a first approach to youth identities that, due to their degree of claim and appropriation, generate rejection rather than the acceptance of other peer groups or different generations. The youth identity is rather “the ability to be recognized and feel useful socially.”, Since it not only distinguishes it from adulthood, but also links the category with Human Development and its dimensions of income and poverty. It indicates a degradation of society in general and inherent to the youth sector. In this way, social vulnerability rather than marginalization is predominant in contexts where multiculturalism prevails [6]. In other words, the inclusion policies based on the tolerance of a dominant culture with respect to migrant cultures, generate juvenile identities that are violated rather than marginal, since the first term refers to a latent exclusion and the second to a self-exclusion would answer and counter- cultural, a choice of life and style of social participation in the face of the denial of the contribution of young people to the multicultural system.

The theory of youth identities, unlike multiculturalism and interculturalism, observes in the denial of opportunities and capacities the central problem of migrant youth. In an opposite sense, multiculturalism implies the inclusion of migrant youths provided that these groups have the skills and job training that the multicultural system requires to facilitate equity between cultures. In that same sense, interculturalism only refers to dialogue without considering the imaginary; symbols, meanings and meanings from which the migrant youth leave, and which may be opposed to the social representations of the youth born [7]. Indeed, migrant youths suffer a multidimensional exclusion that lies in their values and norms, their uses and customs opposed to those of the hegemonic culture, or, their capabilities limited to the opportunities that youths despise. In this context, migrant youths build an identity that may have gone against the dominant culture, but now their priority is rather in recognition of their traditions and sense of community. It is a process in which migrant youths produce an identity adjusted to the ideal of masculinity that lies in the challenge, the control of emotions and the recognition of achievements.

Modeling of masculinities

Associated with heterosexuality, control, power, domination, strength, success, rationality, self-confidence and security, masculinity has been defined as opposed to other gender identities as Female. The gender ideology that highlights the attributes wielded to the male identity bypasses the contributions of other feminine, lesbian, gay, transgender and transgender. In addition, it limits the analysis of such attributes as indicators of a single gender identity, an exclusivity that would only be in masculinity, thereby defining masculinity as a hegemonic and one-dimensional identity without deviations or pathologies that reduce its attributes and confine it to A common identity [8]. Therefore, the theory of masculinity is one that studies ideology; the influence and power behind the exclusive attributes of masculinity that cannot be observed in other identities and whose attributes cannot be analyzed in masculinity either. In other words, masculinity is the result of a process of evolution that other identities cannot reach and much less achieve with attributes other than those associated with masculinity. It is a hegemonic ideology in which identities are reduced to a minimum, including masculinity by confining it to the aforementioned attributes [9]

The present work has discussed the categories of multiculturalism, identity, masculinity and youth to highlight an ideology that underlines the importance of decisions and actions aimed at risk rather than co-responsibility. Thus, this essay highlights the importance of discussing the convergence of categories in order to study the differences between cultures, identities and genders. Unlike the reviewed studies in which the boundaries of cultural, identity, youth or gender groups are observed, this article highlights the importance of observing concatenation between categories to observe the diffusion of an ideology that limits an ethic of care, dialogue and consultation between the parties to the conflict. In other words, the legitimacy of a system of violence over the construction of public peace prevails. In that sense, it is necessary to deepen the indicators that reduce gender identities, migratory and native flows, as well as generations to their minimum expression. The relationship between masculinity and migration is a criticism of the dominant masculinity and the claim of the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and transvestite gender identities. From this fact, the theory of masculinity is built in which the values of challenge are highlighted, decision making in contexts of uncertainty and risk behaviors as hallmarks of new masculinities and their coexistence with other gender identities.

The studies of migrant masculinities focused in principle on the analysis of gender attributes such as the personality of the leader to lead to the analysis of the classic social movements of resources and identities and the new social movements of gender. Studies of masculinity revealed the rationality bias attributed to men and women with a certain profile of deliberation, planning and systematization of information. This contributed to the emergence of feminist studies from a critical posture of rational masculinity and emotional femininity. Within the framework of multiculturalism and interculturalism, migrant youth identities with male orientation are the result of tolerance and inclusion policies that consist of the legitimacy of a dominant masculinity - athletic body, rational decision making and systematic action - with respect to other gender identities, mainly the feminine one, since dialogue and co-responsibility, intercultural values are associated to the feminine identity through the ethics of care. In contrast, the ethics of justice in which rationality, audacity and systematization are linked to masculine identity, supposes a multicultural vision in which migrant cultures conform to the values of the dominant culture. Therefore, the new masculine identities are the result of multicultural systems that move towards interculturalism in which governance would be its indicator par excellence. The new youth masculine identities are a reflection of the transition towards more participatory, deliberative and consensual societies, although the objective of this essay is rather to demonstrate the limits of both multicultural and intercultural systems regarding the new masculine identities, since some They exacerbate their positions and others merge with other gender identities. Therefore, the model for the study of migrant youth identities with masculinity characteristics would include trajectory hypotheses between the dependency relationships of the categories used in the present work.

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