Chapter 5
MASCULINITY, MACHISMO AND THEIR RELATION WITH
SOME FAMILIAR VARIABLES
Jaime Montalvo Reyna and Cirilo H. García Cadena
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
ABSTRACT
In this study, on one hand, the purpose was to identify if, in the incidence of the machismo, whether
or not there are occurring modifications or changes toward a more equitable conception with
relationship to the women on the part of the men, and on the other, to identify if some family
variables such as the number of children, the stage of the vital cycle, the father's age and the
educational level would have correlation with the level of the father's machismo in urban families of
middle class. An inventory was built for such aim, considering the machismo like an attitude, that is
to say, like a social construction that implies certain beliefs and opinions mainly around the
masculine function or to the "to be man." Concerning the phenomenon of the machismo, the results
apparently indicate that it is possible that a tendency exists towards the decrease of this attitude in the
studied sample. Also, this phenomenon is directly correlated with the age, the years of schooling, the
number of children and the stage of the vital cycle, in such a way that the older in age, to a larger
level of machismo, to a larger quantity of children, a larger level of machismo, to a more advanced
stage of the vital cycle, larger level of machismo and, lastly, at a higher educational level shown by
the parents of these families, a smaller level of machismo. Finally, these results are discussed
emphasizing the similarities and differences with relationship to other alike studies and suggestions
are made regarding future investigations with similar objectives.
INTRODUCTION
The work reported in this chapter is part of an investigation that tried to relate the phenomenon of
the machismo to the familiar structure. The idea arose in a historical-economic-political-cultural moment
in which Mexico was going through; it was the second half of the Nineties, a moment characterized by
political crimes, economic crises, political crises, increase of the criminal indices - mainly in the urban
zones, etc. It is obvious that each factor is interrelated and causality cannot be attributed to some of these
factors above the other. But the formation or vision of the world of each individual can allow to make
conjectures with respect to trying "to explain" the "why’s" of the phenomena that hit more, in our case,
which were the political crimes. And in relation to that, one day, discussing with some of our students
about which would be the psycho-social factor that could be related; not like a causal factor, but like a
necessary factor, although perhaps not enough, so that a person was able to assassinate with cold blood
to another one. The murderer can be a delinquent, a criminal or a police officer, a soldier or a guerrilla,
because there can be a lot of reasons to kill: by money, orders, the name of the country, justice, etc., but
what could all of them have in common? The conclusion we arrived at was that the factor could be the
In: Advances in Psychology Research, Vol. 42 ISBN 1-60021-104-6
Editors: Alexandra Columbus, pp. © 2006 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
2
machismo. Is a super macho needed to suppose that you have the right to end the life of someone else, is
a super macho needed to value the life of others, including one’s own as very little or nothing. Certainly,
there can be machos that are not murderers, and murderers who are not machos, but all of those who rob
or take revenge or things, it is very probable that that man is a super macho; it is not a coincidence that
most of the homicides with the characteristics indicated above are committed by men. Most of the
soldiers are men, most of the police are men, and the war is started by men. We accepted that these are
inferences or mere conjectures, but by the same reason, we were decided to study this phenomenon.
On this way, this work is part of an investigation, that on one side, it had an objective to identify the
incidence of the machismo; that is to say, to investigate if, indeed, as some authors indicate, a
modification or change is occurring or not towards egalitarian conceptions in relation to the women. And
from another side, to identify what type of familiar interactions (familiar structure in terms of Salvador
Minuchin) are related to the parents with high machismo tendency, average machismo tendency and low
machismo tendency, in urban families of middle-class. The similarities and/or differences in three groups
of families with the characteristics of the father above mentioned were identified in relation to each one
of the elements that compose the familiar structure; also, the level of dysfunction in the three groups
were evaluated and compared, understanding that certain types of interactions (structure) that usually are
correlated with the appearance of psychological problems in one or more members of the family are
dysfunctional. Due to the fact that there is no instrument which exists to identify the machismo degree,
an inventory for such aim was constructed, considering the machismo to be like an attitude, that is to say,
like a social construction that mainly implies certain beliefs and opinions around the masculine function
or to "being man."
Then, on one hand, this work was framed necessarily by the gender perspective. Considering that,
what is taken into account is the existence of patriarchal influences that determine certain types of
masculinities, one from whose manifestations it would be the machismo, and by the other hand, the
systemic approach in general and the Structural Model in the individual. This work emphasizes the
founding with relation to the phenomenon of the machismo and its relation with some aspects of the
paternity.
The reproductive processes as well as the paternity are phenomena that have been investigated and
discussed in diverse contexts and by diverse authors (Lerner, 1998; Figueroa, 1995 and 1999; Careaga,
Figueroa and Mejía, 1996). From a gender perspective, this work tries more or less to follow the line
suggested by such contributions relating a typical or apparently typical psycho-social phenomenon of
our culture as it is the machismo, but before we considered necessary to make an analysis of a more
general concept as the one of the masculinity, since there is a need to review it in relation to the
reproductive processes and even more when we talked about studies or investigations focused to the
men. As Hearn and Collinson indicate (1994), this category along with the one of man, is considered
only in an implicit way in social sciences and still in the daily life, therefore, it has remained without
theoretical discussion.
MASCULINITY
Thanks to the studies with gender perspective, little by little begin appear works in where there’s a
meaning assigned to the masculinity concept. For example, Kimmel (1994) considers it like a collection
of meaning in constant change which we constructed through our relations with ourselves, with others
and our world. It is not the manifestation of an inner, static essence and a-temporary, historical and it is
socially constructed. It does not arise from the biological thing, is created in the culture.
Corsi (1995), talks of the existence of a traditional masculine model that characterizes by an
emotional restriction and an obsession by the profits and the success, these two characteristics take to a
type of interaction with the others that implies an affective and sexual behavior restricted, attitudes based
on control models, power and competition, and difficulties for the health care. This type of masculinity
is constructed on the base to avoid everything that is culturally defined as feminine, that is to say, the
fear to the femininity becomes the axis around which is structured the masculine thing.
Jaime Montalvo Reyna and Cirilo H. García Cadena
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Irina Malkina-Pykh
Saint-Petersburg State University
Carlo Semenza
Università degli Studi di Padova
Mehdi Riazi
Hamad Bin Khalifa University
Thomas L Webb
The University of Sheffield
