Master class „The traditional man versus the postmodern man” by Iulian APOSTU | Bucharest, Romania

Speaker| Iulian APOSTU, Researcher, Romanian Academy, Institute of Sociology, Bucharest, Romania

Language of presentation | Romanian

Organizer | Romanian Academy, Institute of Sociology, Bucharest, Romania

Co-organizer | LUMEN Association, LUMEN Conference Center, Iasi, Romania

Short description of the event | Analyzing the scientific literature about the relations between men and women we can observe a continuous controversy, a continuous hierarchy, a permanent relationship of domination and tendencies of conformity which, once, had only one winner – the man.

And if anthropological studies show that the first human communities were led by women, gradually, the relationships begin to change in favor of men, due to their role in guaranteeing resources for subsistence. Gradually, societies went on to build an increasingly advantageous status for the man and, at the same time, for the increasingly disadvantaged woman. Thus, the traditional culture very much values  the masculine status, to which all the dominant, decisional roles are associated, with all the prerogatives of authority.Today, contemporary social discourse speaks more and more of the modernity and postmodernity of conjugal partners, but the evaluation of functional behaviors and conjugal roles shows enough traditionality. Many times, in search of the “social desirable”, the social discourse on the relations between men and women is a modern one, with generous openings to postmodernity, but the concrete attitudes that define the relations between men and women is a modern one, with generous openings to postmodernity, but the concrete attitudes that

define the relations between men and women still show hierarchical mentalities, of masculine priority. Of course, we could not say that we could not associate modernity and postmodernity with a number of men, but for another, they feed on a culturally constructed masculine status rather than having a concrete set of qualities that supports this status.

At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the young population (18-35 years) is socialized primarily in families with parents born in environments with a high level of traditionalism, environments that have taught their children elements of functionality that are rather traditional than those describing modern guidelines in conjugality. On the other hand, if in the monographic research of the 1939 Xenia Costa Foru family we find enough women who fought for equity even within the communities that promoted it imperatively, we deduce that for almost a century women have wanted marital equity in their own family. … .But is the man ready to give up the set of advantages with which the masculine status has been spiced up during his traditional period?

Keywords: woman, man, traditionality, modernity, postmodernity.

Event time | Friday, May 28th, 2021