Making Men of Them: Male Socialization for Warfare and Combative Sports

The debate over whether violence and aggressive behavior is innate or learned has been rekindled by several recent publications. Regardless of the merits of this debate, cross-cultural data indicate that the levels of both interand intra-group aggressive behavior differ among societies. Moreover, males in some societies exhibit what has been termed “hypermasculine” behavior. This behavior is characterized by high levels of physical aggression as well as other markers, such as excessive use of alcohol or other drugs, destructiveness, and general belligerence. In this paper, we examine the relationships among socialization for aggression, fortitude, and competitiveness among boys and adolescent males and several indicators of a masculinist ideology. We do the same for the socialization variables and several hypermasculine behaviors.