Men of Richard V. Reeves

Men
de Richard V. Reeves

How should a man be today?

Boys and men are having a hard time. This is the main conclusion reached by researcher (and father of three children) Richard V. Reeves. The enormous amount of empirical evidence that he has collected points to a pronounced economic, psychological, social and educational decline of men in all industrialized countries.

Man has been the main victim of the profound socioeconomic changes of recent decades. In fifty years, gender inequality in education has reversed. The feminization of some professions has harmed men: while women have not stopped entering the labor market, typically male jobs are in retreat.

In this provocative and suggestive book, Reeves opens a difficult debate for our post-feminist world, which once again questions the biological differences between the sexes and the best way to represent them in society. To do this, the author questions the mantra of “toxic masculinity” that has been propagated by a certain sector of feminism. And he invites us to ask ourselves an urgent question: what should a man be like today?

The lives of women have changed for the better, but the lives of many men have remained the same or have even gotten worse, with those who suffer the most from school failure in adolescence and depression, suicide and loneliness in adulthood.

Men offers answers to one of the most pressing problems of our time. The book calls on our outdated public powers to undertake reforms that correct these imbalances, regardless of ideological wars: re-equalizing men and women is what authentic equality requires.

Richard V. Reeves is a senior fellow in Economic Studies, where he holds the John C. and Nancy D. Whitehead Chair and directs the Boys and Men project, and director of the Future of the Middle Class Initiative. His research focuses on economic inequality, the crisis of the middle classes, social and intergenerational mobility, and public policies on the family. He graduated from the University of Oxford and has a PhD from the University of Warwick. He is also a researcher at the Brookings Institution, one of the most prestigious think tanks in the world. In 2017, Politico Magazine included him on its list of the world’s most important thinkers. Between 2010 and 2012 he worked as a political advisor, becoming senior advisor to Nick Clegg when he became vice-president in David Cameron’s government. Reeves is the author of the book Dream Hoarders (Brookings Institution Press, 2017), and a regular contributor to important newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic.