Needing to be ‘in the know’: strategies of subordination used by 10-11 year old school boys



Matthew:

Going in the infants playground/

Richard:

Yeah, they go into the infants, hide behind the trees, and
then they run and bang on the windows in the infants

JS:

[...] So they do silly things, what else?

Robin:

They play silly games...like, they chase the girls all the way
around/

Richard:

And kiss them

Matthew:

Yeah

JS:

But you say, you chase the girls as well?

Richard:

Yeah, but we don’t try and get them, we just try and beat
up each other, so if, like, Candy gets some of us, she
punches us and that

JS:

Right, so it’s a different form of game with the girls

Richard/Matthew:

Yeah

Although there was more resistance to the hegemonic agenda than at Highwoods (and at
Westmoor Abbey) the subordinated type of masculinity found itself swamped by the
sheer numbers of boys embracing the dominant form. The differences were also
recognised by the girls who also categorised the boys into two main groups. They saw
one (group) as ‘trendy’ and ‘new’ in terms of clothing/appearance, linguistic locutions,
and socio-cultural knowledge, and therefore, the ‘popular’ ones; while the other (group)
was the opposite of this and, hence, ‘sad’ and ‘annoying’. The popular group had a
certain style which was seen as a symbolic expression of masculinity, ‘a collective
evocation of an attitude embodied in their movements and appearance’ (Radley 1995:9).

Julia:

They’re the more popular ones...like everyone wants to hang
around with that group

Fiona:

And, I’m not meaning to be rude, but they’re a bit sad

JS:

Right, OK...so sad in what way?

Julia:

Er, they go around annoying the girls

Fiona:

They spread rumours, and try and break the girls up

17



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