The concept of hegemonic masculinity (Connell 1998; Connell, Messerschmidt 2005) has influenced gender studies across many academic fields and has also been criticised by many. This presentation will give a short introduction into theories of hegemonic masculinity and its varieties (Connell, Messerschmidt 2005), especially marginalised masculinity. Masculinities are not homogenous, simple states of being but show different historically and socially fluent dynamics and processes of social construction (Connell 1998; de Beauvoir 2004; Bourdieu 2012).

The presentation will give initial insights into how masculinity is constructed and managed among autobiographical texts and biographical interviews. The interpretation of the data deals mainly with intersections between hegemonic and marginalised masculinity, socially determined paradigms as performance and competition, vulnerability and (dis)ability.

From these insights it will be possible to ask critical questions about how schools and other educational/pedagogical institutions play a role in creating certain images on masculinity. 

During the qualitative research process (Rosenthal 1995; Geertz 2017; Nünning&Nünning 2010), the question of how masculinity is constructed and managed arose. The empirical case studies show how different constructions of masculinity are being presented and seen from the researched persons’ perspective. The following questions will be addressed: - How is it possible to reconstruct masculinity from the material? - How are different forms of masculinity being used? - What is the connection between specific biographical experiences shown in the data material and the cultural trope of being male? - What is hidden behind these specific constructions of masculinities? Keeping in mind that the process of collecting data is an interactional process (Breuer 2003), it also becomes important to analyse the interview situation and the research process in order to find out how masculinity is created and also reproduced in these interactions (Breuer 2003). To us it is important to ask how the researchers in their own subjectivity have an im-pact on the research process. This might be helpful for reflecting on results and data valida-tion.

The presentation aims to develop a better understanding of hegemonic and marginalised mas-culinities (in biographical experiences and cultural tropes) as well as the neoliberal demands on subjects. (Dis)ability and discrimination have an influence on masculinities and their im-portance in terms of self-representation. Our reconstruction shows that performing hegemonic masculinity might be a coping strategy; masculinity can be seen as a form of capital (Bour-dieu 2015). Furthermore the presentation aims to describe our own involvement in constructing and re-producing (stereotypes) of masculinity (Breuer 2003, Bourdieu 2012). Our results lead us to the question of where and how hegemonic masculinities are produced in pedagogical settings and which unconscious effects they have on students (Thielen 2014).

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