Alive with Steve Burns The Masculinity Crisis: Why Men Are Struggling and What Masculinity Should Mean Now with Richard Reeves
Jan 21, 2026
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Masculinity As Net Contribution
- Richard Reeves defines masculinity as giving more to the tribe than you take and being a net contributor to community life.
- This frames masculinity around usefulness, provision, and generating surplus rather than dominance for its own sake.
Masculinity Vertigo From Conflicting Messages
- Reeves calls the current moment one of 'masculinity vertigo' caused by conflicting messages about what men should be.
- Young men receive mixed signals to be both more traditionally masculine and less so, creating deep role uncertainty.
Economic Change Removed The Old Script
- Rapid economic changes mean many women now earn as much or more than typical men, disrupting old provider roles.
- That removal of economic dependency removed a clear script men once used to define their masculinity.
