Keeping all the Balls in the Air: Further education and the masculine/managerial subject

Recent studies of managerial practice across organisations have sought to bring the 'man' out of the shadows of management and into a more critical spotlight. In this article we develop further what has become a critical interrogation of men and masculinities in organisations and their managements. In so doing, we discuss the relationship of masculinity as a form of contingent identity work, to controlling and instrumental managerial practice. Drawing on several interviews with FE senior men managers, the article explores the subsequent tensions and contradictions experienced by masculine/managerial actors as they attempt to 'manage' their relationship to the entrepreneurial and highly competitive work cultures of the new FE.

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