UNE Center for Global Humanities presents ‘The Peculiar Condition of the Human Male’ on Feb. 6

Across the United States and Western world, boys and men are struggling.

The profound economic and social changes of recent decades have advanced the positions of girls and women, which has been a wonderful development, but over the same time boys and men have lost ground in the classroom, workplace, and family. And yet, our institutions and laws have failed to respond. Mired in their own ideological warfare, conservative and progressive politicians alike have failed to provide thoughtful solutions.

A lecture at the University of New England Center for Global Humanities will examine this phenomenon and suggest new approaches to mitigate its effects when scholar Richard Reeves presents “The Peculiar Condition of the Human Male” on Monday, Feb. 6, at 6 p.m. at the WCHP Lecture Hall in the Parker Pavilion on UNE’s Portland Campus.

Reeves is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he holds the John C. and Nancy D. Whitehead Chair and directs the Future of the Middle Class Initiative. His research focuses on the middle class, inequality, and social mobility. His publications for Brookings include his latest book, “Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It,” (2022) and “Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do about It.” (2017). In addition, he is a contributor to The Atlantic, National Affairs, Democracy Journal, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times and is an adviser to the American Family Survey and to the Equity Center at the University of Virginia. 

In this lecture, Reeves will examine the structural challenges facing boys and men and offer fresh solutions that turn the page on the corrosive narrative that plagues this issue. Ultimately, he will argue that helping the other half of society does not mean giving up on the ideal of gender equality.

This first lecture of the Spring 2023 season for the Center for Global Humanities will be followed by three more between now and the end of April. Lectures at the Center are always free, open to the public, and streamed live online. For more information and to watch the event, please visit: https://www.une.edu/events/2023/peculiar-condition-human-male