This report focuses and builds upon work on
‘suicidal masculinities’ (Canetto & Cleary, 2012;
Scourfield, 2005) in order to contribute to sociocultural
explanations of the higher suicide risk
among men of lower socio-economic status in
middle age. I begin by introducing social scientific
research on masculinities. The report then goes on
to explore a variety of ways in which masculinities
might contribute to suicidal behaviour.
In Section 1 I examine the claim that suicide might
be related to the ‘failure’ of hegemonic masculinity
(Scourfield, 2005). In particular, I review research
which has discussed expressions of masculinity
through (a) employment and unemployment, and
(b) fatherhood. I suggest that men in middle age
who are economically disadvantaged might be more
susceptible to ‘failures’ of hegemonic masculinity,
and that this provides a context whereby suicide is
more likely. This discussion draws upon, and lends
support to, work by Fincham and colleagues (2011).