Crisis of Masculinity in Haryana

This article engages with the complexity of masculinities in present Haryana, generated by increasing numbers of unmarried, unemployed men as well as elderly men, and the relation this bears to power by uncovering those aspects of political economy in contemporary Haryana that shape these complexities. Operating in the era of new technologies, globalisation and consumerism, this combination is leading to greater aggression and violence, worsening gender equations and encouraging a greater exploitation of other subordinate categories, consolidating repressive social forces and strengthening casteism. Such masculinities also afford an unprecedented role to illegal and unconstitutional bodies like caste panchayats and thereby also strengthen highly regressive trends in society.