On Leadership and Fitting In: Dominant Understandings of Masculinities within an Early Primary Peer Group

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Elsa

This paper argues that the collective dimension of masculinities must be examined in early school years through a descriptive study of young boys’ peer-group relations. It focuses on how peer groups shape behaviour, particularly exaggerated masculine behaviours, and highlights how conventional teacher practices individualise and pathologise group conduct. The study’s data are presented as a narrative snapshot, interpreted using group socialisation theory in a post-structural analysis of power relations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The power of peers

Masculine power hierarchies within and between peer groups

On Leadership and Fitting In: Dominant Understandings of Masculinities within an Early Primary Peer Group Amanda Keddie University of Southern Queensland Abstract This paper argues the importance of examining the collective dimension of masculinities in the early school years through a description of a study into children’s (young males’) peer group relations. Specifically, the paper attends to the significance of the peer group in shaping behaviour, and in particular exaggerated ‘masculine’behaviours, and illuminates the inadequacies of conventional teacher practices that individualise and pathologise group behaviours. The nature and dynamics of the peer group and the way these dynamics interact to form particular understandings of masculinity are illuminated through a snapshot of the study’s data, presented as a narrative. Drawing on elements of group socialisation theory, within a post-structural foregrounding of socio-political relations of power, the contextuality and contingency of the young males’peer group behaviours are interpreted. Introduction In a school dormitory at Trinity Grammar, one of Australia’s most exclusive private schools, a 16-year-old boy is tied to a bunk with school ties by two of his ‘mates’ and stripped to his boxer shorts in the presence of fellow students. On another occasion, in the company of student on-lookers, these same two boys tie him up again. He screams as they ‘indecently’ assault him with, among other such implements, a wooden dildo, dubbed ‘The Anaconda’, that one of the boys had made in woodwork class (ABC 2001a, The Weekend Australian 2001b) . Was this an isolated incident committed by deviant individuals? The principal of Trinity Grammar seems to think so. He rejects the suggestion that his school suffers under a ‘culture of bullying’ and is reported to describe the attacks as the ‘isolated incidents’ of ‘individuals’ (ABC 2001b) . Indeed, only two individuals are formally charged with ‘aggravated indecent assault’ with one other boy found guilty of the The Australian Educational Researcher, Volume 30, Number 1, April 2003 •83 lesser charge of ‘intimidation’ (The Weekend Australian 2001a) . The victim and the victim’s father, however, tell a different story: one of a general and pervasive peer undercurrent of assault and ongoing abuse within which a small band of students reportedly perpetrated more than fifty attacks over three years (ABC 2001b, The Sunday Telegraph 2000) . How could these brutal attacks have occurred in a school that does ‘not tolerate bullies’ and has a ‘clear anti-bullying policy’ (The Daily Telegraph 2000, Cujes 2001)? Why was a culture of ‘rumbling and bullying’ unnoticed by school officials? Why didn’t any of the boys involved speak up (ABC 2001a, ABC 2001b, The Weekend Australian 2001b)? On behalf of the staff at Trinity, and in the school’s defence, the principal states that they ‘were completely unaware anything like this was taking place’(The Weekend Australian 2001b) . It remains, however, that these ‘offences occurred in an environment where the victims were entitled to feel safe and protected’, the magistrate presiding in judgment over the case asserted (The Weekend Australian 2001a) . Many stories of male violence and abuse have fuelled intense concern over the past decade about the construction of masculinities in Australia. Such concern is amplified by a scan of the recent and all too familiar media reports from the USA such as the 1999 shooting spree at Columbine High School where two young males shot dead thirteen students before taking their own lives, in conjunction with analysis of empirical data in an Australian context. Males overwhelmingly dominate the statistics for youth suicide, injury, death, violence, conflict, petty crime and school suspensionsand expulsions (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, Department of Education, Tasmania 1998) . Such data have incited widespread debate concerning the is

FAQs

What does the paper argue about studying masculinities in early school years?

It argues that masculinities should be examined through the collective dimension of children’s peer-group relations, not just individual behaviour.

How does the paper explain the role of peer groups in shaping behaviour?

Peer-group dynamics are presented as significant drivers of conduct, including exaggerated masculine behaviours, with peer culture influencing what is accepted or rejected.

How does the paper critique conventional teacher approaches?

It highlights the inadequacy of teacher practices that individualise and pathologise group behaviours instead of addressing the group context.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Elsa