Urbanization

Abstract

Urbanization has changed constructions of manliness in U.S. society since the 1830s, when the nation experienced its first surge of urban expansion. Urbanization (the growth of cities and the built environment) has affected codes of manliness in a variety of ways. Coinciding with processes of economic expansion, such as the market revolution, industrialization, and the emergence of a mass consumer society, as well as a relaxation of traditional communal mores, urbanization has expanded opportunities for articulating and enacting manliness and male sexuality. In addition, the replacement of open space with a built environment can be seen as an expression of male domination of nature. In short, urbanization and articulations of manliness have significantly influenced one another over the course of U.S. history.