By Jindy Mann
The modern industrial age could be said to have begun in 1767 when textile maker Richard Arkwright deployed the first independently powered textile machine in Derbyshire, England (McGuire, 2022). What had previously been a cottage industry powered by human labour quickly became machine driven mass production. At a stroke, humans were further separated from raw materials and their natural sources, and became operators of mass production mediated by machines. This invention, and those that soon followed, fundamentally altered the scale at which goods could be produced, the energy required to do so and the nature of labour relations between owners and workers. We must, however, go back further than this to understand the origins of the extractive capitalism we see today, and the multiple social changes that were required and engineered to enable it.
Until the 15th century, feudalism and serfdom were the prevailing economic and social environment in Western Europe. Through a contemporary lens, this period might be regarded as primitive in terms of working conditions but was marked by two important dynamics. First, work was mainly for subsistence rather than for surplus and accumulation, and second, men and women worked together for their shared needs where “no social separation existed between the production of goods and the reproduction of the work-force; all work contributed to the family’s sustenance.” (Federici, 2004, p.19). This transformed with changes to land ownership and the emergence of money as the primary means of exchange. Workers who had previously farmed their own land or subsisted from common land, now saw it privatised with the advent of enclosures by nobility and landowners. At the same time, landowners were able to hire workers for money, at a lower cost and with fewer responsibilities than for serfs living and working on their own land. Labour now became a marketplace. Workers became employees, unavoidably participating in what Marx described as the “primitive accumulation” of capital, or what has also been described as “accumulation by dispossession” (Harvey, 2003).
The corresponding shift in gender relations was stark. Women’s primary role became that of labour reproduction, while men, almost exclusively, became the owners of capital and the providers of labour. This emergent system of patriarchy and capitalism was enforced with increasing brutality, not least the witch hunts across Europe (Federici, 2004). This also sowed the seed for a form of masculinity in which the feminine itself became deviant, subversive, and inconvenient for the necessary rationalism of work and economic growth. This was further accelerated in the 17th century by the Mechanical Philosophy of Descartes and his peers. Mind-body dualism, the notion of humans as machines, a human body that was a “contrivance, artifact, or a kind of gadget” (Snider, 2000, p.310) was the essential underlying philosophy for the exploitation needed to fuel the industrial revolution. The changes this brought, including social upheaval, was an origin point for rapid industrialisation and a form of masculinity in which men become both godlike and machinelike: the mind conquers the body, and the body conquers the natural world. The body itself became a source of extraction and exploitation, whilst the role of women became reproduction of the labour force, the role of men was to either control labour or, on the whole, to provide it through their bodies (Federici, 2004). Colonialism and slavery, engines of this new capitalist mindset, became a perfect conjunction of this notion, with humans forcibly reduced to assets and property - it is perhaps no coincidence that Descartes saw animals as unthinking automatons with no feelings or soul (Snider, 2000). This period and its subsequent evolutions is the genesis of two present day cultural forces that are fundamental to the climate crisis; the pursuit of perpetual growth fuelled by destruction of the natural world, and forms of patriarchal masculinity that create social injustice and inequity whilst simultaneously repressing men.
"This emergent system of patriarchy and capitalism was enforced with increasing brutality, not least the witch hunts across Europe"
Extractive capitalism has ravaged the planet by exploiting the natural world, human rights and health via the cultural systems that enable it (Monbiot, 2019). Modern patriarchy has been central to this, a social structure that is “male-centered, male-identified, male-dominated” and prioritises control and domination of others (Becker, 1999, p.22). In the context of sustaining capitalism, patriarchy fundamentally oppresses men as well as women, as a system of power that “demands of men that they become and remain emotional cripples. Since it is a system that denies men full access to their freedom of will, it is difficult for any man of any class to rebel against patriarchy, to be disloyal to the patriarchal parent, be that parent female or male” (Hooks, 2004, p.27). This modern patriarchy has spawned a hegemonic masculinity (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005) that favours unchecked forms of aggression, competition and dominance above all else, characteristics central to modern capitalism. This extends to power over the natural world with the belief that it can be bent to man’s will and is a “resource” to be used and depleted to the point of destruction. Referencing Descartes directly, James Hillman described this belief that we are separate from nature as “a thinking disorder” (Need, 2015). Hegemonic masculinity has become particularly pronounced in the post-industrial age, with sharply defined and repressive gender roles that still emphasise women as carers and sources of reproduction, and men as responsible for economic prosperity. At the same time, men are struggling with the role they are required to play in this, where 73% of global suicides occur in developed economies with 75% of these being men, a ratio that is broadly consistent across OECD countries (Vijayakumar, 2004). The statistics for alcohol and substance abuse are similarly stark, and men are still significantly less likely than women to access talking therapies and support they might need (Mental Health Foundation, 2022).
Exploring the underlying male psychology of this contemporary masculinity, James Hollis (2006) describes the three promises a boy unconsciously makes to enter into this notion of manhood: disconnection from intimacy, disconnection from intuition, and conforming to an external set of rules based on productivity, accumulation and other external markers of success. These promises are a perfect initiation into the needs of extractive capitalism – emotionally repressed men, unquestioningly competing with each other as isolated individuals in a form of “auto-exploitation” where they are simultaneously oppressor and victim (Han, 2015). In recent years, resistance to mitigating, or even accepting evidence of the climate crisis has intensified. With it has emerged a new distortion of masculine identity that combines seemingly disconnected strands in an attempt to counter an underlying anxiety. This growing social and political movement co-opts a backlash against the progress that has been made in dismantling patriarchal structures and cultural norms that have created more rights and equality for not just women but also people of colour and queer people. The political scientist, Cara Daggett describes this as a “petro-masculinity” (Daggett, 2018) in which there is a convergence between “climate change, a threatened fossil fuel system, and an increasingly fragile Western hypermasculinity” (p.29). These compound and amplify each other in myriad ways. For example, petro-masculinity preys on the notion that progressive social change is stripping power from men, particularly white men. At the same time, it reaches into the past to create a new fantasy of male potency, a sub-ordinating women, removing gay rights, promoting white supremacy, and legitimising violence - including violence against our ecosystems. Once again, femininity becomes the enemy and must be destroyed, a brutal attack on the male psyche as well as on people and planet. Thus, car ownership, for example, has become politicised in a similar way to gun ownership, portrayed as an attempt to strip masculine power from the sovereign individual. One recent example is the political and public backlash in the UK over the proposed extension to London’s low-emissions zone (Brown, 2023).
"Petro-masculinity preys on the notion that progressive social change is stripping power from men, particularly white men. At the same time, it reaches into the past to create a new fantasy of male potency"
In Dagget’s analysis, all of these components need to be understood in the context of authoritarianism: “burning fossil fuels can come to function as a knowingly violent experience, a reassertion of white masculine power on an unruly planet that is perceived to be increasingly in need of violent, authoritarian order” (Daggett, 2018, p.34). As she points out, this is made explicit in political figures like Donald Trump and Jair Bolsanaro who promote fossil fuels like coal with zeal, pursue the destruction of natural habitats and revel in their misogynist, racist and “anti-woke” credentials. It is not an overstatement then to suggest that fossil fuel extraction and environmental destruction serve as a compensatory function for a masculine identity that has been mutilated by unchecked capitalism and progressive social change, providing neither jobs and economic security nor patriarchal power. This psychosocial consideration of how we might respond to the ecological challenges we face is an important one. If we accept the possibility that our most pressing challenge now is to mitigate the extent of climate crisis and prepare for the impacts of it, we must consider questions such as the cultivation of resilience in our populations and the “valued norms and behaviours” we wish to maintain in functioning human societies (Bendell, 2018, p.23).
If some level of collapse or significant upheaval is inevitable, what might become essential is a renewed emphasis on different forms of social infrastructure like localised production, food sourcing and healthcare, circular economies, mass transitions to cleaner industries, decentralised political structures and citizen led decision-making. We will also be required, whether we wish to or not, to confront our relationship with existential questions of death and suffering, and to ask questions such as “what can we bring back to help us with the coming difficulties and tragedies?” (Bendell, 2018, p.24). All of these require social, relational, and co-operative traits that are inherently human, yet might present a significant shift from our current cultural and social norms. From a gender perspective, the prevailing norm might be considered a “false masculine” (Lushwala, 2012), a masculinity adopted by all genders that is stripped of nurturance and empathy but is capable of it. Addressing the impacts of climate breakdown, attempts to limit it and, perhaps most importantly, the adaptation that societies will need to make in response to collapse, must consider much more than political, technological and economic solutions. What is also required is an understanding that what has led us to this environmental crisis is deeply intertwined with questions of personal identity, cultural hierarchies and social inequities, such as “the collective desires of those whose identities are most tied to petrocultures.” (Daggett, 2018, p.35).
"If we accept the possibility that our most pressing challenge now is to mitigate the extent of climate crisis and prepare for the impacts of it, we must consider questions such as the cultivation of resilience in our populations and the “valued norms and behaviours” we wish to maintain in functioning human societies"
Regardless of what future scenarios we may envisage, the activism and work to address them will need focus on the social and psychological, as much as the practical aspects of our predicament. Within this, there will need to be a tipping point in consciousness that emancipates men, and many women, from the masculine identities and patriarchal structures that imprison them, oppress others and destroy our ecology. In their place, an empowered and positive sense of male identity is needed, one that provides a sense of purpose - saving civilisation must surely be the ultimate mission. An identity that might also draw on both old and new masculine archetypes, integration of the masculine shadow, and normalises that which might in fact be innate to the masculine but has been repressed. As James Hollis (1994) puts it “in order to activate true maleness, the images must be drawn from the deep well… and not from the neurotic, overcompensated, self-alienating precincts of patriarchy” (p.84).
References:
Becker, M. (1999). Patriarchy and Inequality: Towards a Substantive Feminism. University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 1999: Iss. 1, Article 3.
Bendell, J. (2018). Deep adaptation: a map for navigating climate tragedy. [online] insight.cumbria.ac.uk. Available at: https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/4166/
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Connell, R.W. and Messerschmidt, J.W. (2005). Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept. Gender & Society, 19(6), pp.829–859.
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Need, N. (2015). James Hillman on Changing the Object of our Desire. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFa0X06hLOU
Science and Industry Museum (2019). Richard Arkwright: Father of the factory system. [online] Science and Industry Museum. Available at: https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/richard-arkwright.
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