The Image of Man

In The Image of Man, noted historian George L. Mosse provides the first historical account of the masculine stereotype in modern Western culture, tracing the evolution of the idea of manliness to reveal how it came to embody physical beauty, courage, moral restraint, and a strong will. This stereotype, he finds, originated in the tumultuous changes of the eighteenth century, as Europe's dominant aristocrats grudgingly yielded to the rise of the professional, bureaucratic, and commercial middle classes.

Mosse reveals how the new bourgeoisie, faced with a bewildering, rapidly industrialized world, latched onto the knightly ideal of chivalry. And he shows how the rise of universal conscription created a soldierly man as an ideal type. In England, the nineteenth century gave rise to an educational system that emphasized athletics, team sports, and physical strength, as did the gymnastics movement on the continent. At the same time, ideals of a standard of masculine beauty developed throughout the continent, intertwined with theories of art and personal comportment.

Indeed, in the nineteenth century, the idea of manliness appeared in so many areas of life and thought that it was accepted as a social constant, a permanent endowment granted by nature. Mosse shows, however, that it continued to evolve, particularly in contrast to stereotypes of women and unmanly men - Jews and homosexuals - all considered weak and fearful, unable to control their passions.

Mosse concludes that socialism also made use of this stereotype, while in the twentieth century Fascism took this process to its extremes - mass political rallies glorified the fearless storm trooper as outsiders were stigmatized and persecuted.