Masculinities and polycrisis

In recent years, Poland, along with the broader Central and Eastern European region, has faced a series of interconnected crises with far-reaching social consequences. Chief among these is the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has destabilised the region politically, economically, and socially. Closely linked to this is the migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, which has exposed both the state’s limited capacity to manage migration and the intensifying moral panic surrounding it. Another significant and still resonant challenge is the COVID-19 pandemic, which not only strained public health systems but also laid bare existing structural inequalities, particularly in the distribution and valuation of care work—an area still heavily feminised and insufficiently recognised despite its foundational societal role. This session invites contributors to examine these overlapping crises through the lens of gender, and more specifically, the sociology of masculinity, a perspective that remains underdeveloped in Polish sociology despite men and masculinities occupying a central role in narratives of war, crisis, and control (Christensen & Kyed, 2022). For example, young, single male migrants have increasingly been constructed as symbols of danger and disorder in contemporary European discourse, a framing that urgently requires critical sociological engagement (Scheibelhofer, 2017). Similarly, while the pandemic has prompted greater involvement of men in reproductive and care work, research suggests that their contributions remain limited and often symbolic (Kubisa, 2023). To unpack these dynamics, the session will explore how key theoretical tools from the sociology of masculinities, such as hegemonic masculinity (Connell, 2000), caring masculinities (Elliott, 2016), hybrid masculinities (Bridges, 2014), and protective masculinities (Wojnicka, 2022) can deepen our understanding of how gender operates in times of crisis. We also seek to examine how Polish and Central European contexts can contribute to and challenge existing theoretical frameworks within gender sociology, offering new perspectives on how masculinities are shaped and reshaped under conditions of socio-political stress. By bridging gender theory with specific sociological subfields, including the sociology of work, intimate life, and migration, this session aims to foster a more integrated and critical discussion about the role of masculinity in contemporary crises. It invites scholars to consider how masculinities not only reflect but also reproduce or resist the structures of inequality and exclusion that crises so often magnify.