Running head: Italian and american masculinities 1

Italian and American Masculinities

Jesenia Cordero

University of Old Dominion

Author Note

Jesenia Cordero, College of Science, Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jesenia Cordero, College of

Sciences, Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University

Norfolk, VA 23529

jcord009@odu.edu
Italian and american masculinities 2

The article Italian and American Masculinities: A Comparison of Gender Role Norms, is

the article that will be critique on. Furthermore, the study was performed to explored the cross-

cultural differences between Americans and Italians masculine role norms. Data was collected

regarding the social norms perspective of the gender roles. Another aim in the study was to test

the psychological welling between these two ethnicities.

Within the sample there were 152 Italian male students, some had less traditional views

about 9 of the 11 masculine norms of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (Tager &

Good, 2005). It was reported that Italians were less conformity than compare to the American

students, expect for the playboy trait many assume Italian men have. There was a greater

endorsement of being a playboy in Italy within the sample. They found that the masculine norms

of the self-reliance and the emotional control came out to be a negative correlation with positive

relations with others (Tager & Good, 2005). Moreover, this essay discusses the similarity and

differences of Italian men and American men.

Both the American and Italian men are stereotyped; however, they both have different

types of images that people think of them. For, example in the article mention how Italian man

are stereotyped to be within the Mafioso due to influences from movies like The Godfather and

Sopranos (Tager & Good, 2005). Americans tend to be stereotyped as brash (McCrae, 2002).

Overall, both masculine norms contribute to lesser traditional attitudes (Tager & Good, 2005).

Italian men were portrayed to disdain for homosexuality and power over women norms,

but surprisingly was lesser endorsed than the researchers expected (Tager & Good, 2005).

Although they were lesser endorsed, Italians had hidden community of Gay-lebian-bisexual-

transgender (GLBT) and their disparity on position of power males and females (Tager & Good,

2005). Unlike the United States during Obamas presidential, GLBT had some authority and
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were not afraid of exposers with their sexuality. If the contemporary pressures are similar in the

United States and Italy, the sociohistorical circumstances are not, 2005. They seem to live the

same both group of men, but within their environments they act different ways.

The article highlighted the stereotypes mostly of Italians. There could have been more

about United States men. There should have been a bit more details in the social norms enforces

how men react or how they are expected to act like. The graphs help visualizes the measurements

of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI). Purist and Status and The Primacy of

Work was well mention in the article. The discrimination between men and women were not

uniquely associated with the masculinity test (Tager & Good, 2005).

However, the article provided a method result that concluded their hypothesis. It was

mention that the overall conformity to masculine norms, of their hypothesis was, contrary to the

stereotype, that there were no significant differences between Italian men and American men

(Tager & Good, 2005). All in all, the article was well presented and informative.
Italian and american masculinities 4

References

McCrae, R. R. (2002). Cross-Cultural Research on the Five-Factor Model of Personality. Online

Readings in Psychology and Culture, 4(4). doi:10.9707/2307-0919.1038

Tager, D., & Good, G. E. (2005). Italian and American masculinities: A comparison of

masculine gender role norms. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 6(4), 264-274.

doi:10.1037/1524-9220.6.4.264
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