A Man in Crisis or Crisis of Men? Masculinity and Societal Challenge in the 1970s in Sweden

Abstract

‘Individual crisis’, as a psychological term, was introduced in a Swedish context in the late 1960s. In this article, ‘individual crisis’ is analysed as a concept in order to understand how masculinity and emotion came to matter in Sweden in the 1970s—not least to bring about gender equality in Swedish welfare society. With ‘individual crisis’ as the empirical starting point for pinpointing the way men were to create a new identity and how new psychological knowledge circulated in society, it is possible to analyse which masculinity ideals and norms existed at the time. The focus of this article is on self-help and debate books that drove the discussion in the 1970s.