narratives of three generations of urban middle-class - eTheses ...

(Jamieson, 1998, 1999, 2011) and inequalities and constraints of power such as “strong
‘local’ or ‘community’ guidelines” even within non-heterosexual intimate relationships
(Heaphy et al., 2002: 256). Giddens’ claims for ‘new universalities and new forms of
global connectedness’ (Heaphy, 2007: 77) are also empirically appraised viz-à-viz postcolonial
appreciation for ‘alternative modernity’ (Chakrabarty, 2002) that argues for local
mediations of global connectedness (Majumdar, 2000) and recognizes ‘otherness’
(Mohanty, 1991; Hall, 1992) rather than erases them (Giddens, 1991: 27). Theories of
reflexive modernity that promote a ‘reconstructivist sociology’ and articulate a sociology
of reflexivity are critically evaluated against the reflexive sociology of Bourdieu and his
concepts of habitus, class distinction and class culture that set limits to and critique the
reflexive nature of reflexive modernity (Heaphy, 2007: 178-179). However, my
theoretical inspiration takes from but also moves beyond the power and difference
framed within Bourdieusian sociology to issues of discourse, difference and otherness
associated with post-structuralist and post-colonial feminism which appreciate
experiences of the marginalized through an emphasis on ‘differences within difference’
(Heaphy, 2007: 176).
The ‘What’ of the Research:
The first chapter of analysis focuses on “Narratives of Male Homosocial Intimacy:
Constructing and Negotiating Masculinities”. Through exploring male homosocial
intimate spaces, the chapter understands how men engage in a continuous process of
constructing, re-enforcing and negotiating with the cultural expectations of masculinities
in the context of their intimate friendships and as part of their intimate heterosexual
identities. How such practices of intimacy overlap with family and kinship practices will
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