Masculinity and Fatherhood in England c. 1760–1830

Abstract

This chapter explores the ways in which a research agenda focused upon gender and identity advances the history of men as fathers.1 It suggests that our understanding of fatherhood is enriched when historians use a conceptual framework informed by four themes that have emerged from the theorising of masculinities: the plurality of masculinities, the concept of a hierarchy of masculinities, the recognition that masculinities are constructed in relation to each other, not simply in opposition to femininities, and that masculinities change over time and place.2 This chapter also proposes that explicitly addressing the relationship between manhood, fatherhood and fathering offers new directions for research into masculinity more broadly.3