French Literature Reviews - 2026
A.-M. Sohn, Be a Man! The Construction of Masculinity in the 19th Century
History, Politics and Society
"Be a man!" - The Construction of Masculinity in the 19th Century
Anne-Marie Sohn
Published on: 19/03/2009
Publisher: Seuil
Collection: L'Univers historique
ISBN: 978-2-02-098314-3
EAN: 9782020983143
Number of pages: 456 pages
Publisher's price: 23.00€
How does one become a man? How is male identity constructed? By tracking down even the most minor incidents and brawls in a century quick to wield knives and cudgels, Anne-Marie Sohn seizes every opportunity to observe first-hand how a manly temperament is forged.
She follows young Frenchmen through the trials they must overcome—at the tavern and the factory, in high school and in the public square—to master masculine words and rituals. She reveals how this socialization relied on the intervention of fathers who served as models, mentors, and censors all at once for their sons. Above all, she demonstrates the decline of a masculinity founded on strength, courage, and honor, giving way to a more peaceful masculinity where speech replaces physical action and mediation supersedes confrontation, a phenomenon closely tied to the advent of democratic procedures.
This history of juvenile masculinity also implicitly outlines the model that governed girls' socialization and weighed heavily on their emancipation.
Contents:
Mastering the masculine habitus
Conquering men's spaces and time
Testing one's virility and internalizing
Crudeness, sexual obsession, and virile apprenticeships
Learning public roles: the soldier as a model
Initiation into citizenship and the political privileges of masculinity
Strong minds and the stronger sex
Like father, like son?
From one masculinity to another
Anne-Marie Sohn.
Professor of Contemporary History at the ENS Lettres et Sciences humaines in Lyon, she has published, among other works, Chrysalides. Femmes dans la vie privée. XIXe-XXe siècles (Publications de la Sorbonne, 1996) and Age tendre et tête de bois. Histoire des jeunes des années 1960 (Hachette, 2001).
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An article about this book can be read on the nonfiction.fr website:
"One is not born a man, one becomes one", by D. Valence.
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And in Libération dated 9/7/09:
The age of manhood under the magnifying glass
19th century. Anne-Marie Sohn examines how male identity is built.
By YANNICK RIPA
ANNE-MARIE SOHN, Sois un homme ! La construction de la masculinité au XIXe siècle, Seuil, 457 pp., 23 euros.
What boy of yesteryear—and perhaps even today—has not one day heard that peremptory injunction, "Be a man!", often uttered to condemn behavior deemed insufficiently manly or to invite postures that anchor the boy in the lineage of adult males? While this command is centuries old, Anne-Marie Sohn quickly shows that it does not refer to a single, static identity, but rather encompasses different realities depending on place, class, and moment throughout the long 19thcentury. This book confirms what early studies on masculinity, a rapidly developing field of research, have revealed: one is not born a man, one becomes one.
It is into this process of becoming and its evolution that the author inquires through archives—a complex investigation because, unlike girls, young men were neither diarists nor letter writers. This silence about the self expresses the peace of mind of those whose identity, being the norm, generates little anxious questioning. Nevertheless, the historian shows that becoming a man entails young men's submission to modes of socialization and involves a whole repertoire of gestures specific to expressing the blossoming of virility.
Beards and muscles. To be effective, these processes must be made visible, first and foremost on the body: the beard—as well as the mustache, a sign of courage initially reserved for officers, whose Napoleonic shadow loomed heavily over the early century—and muscle already pulled boys out of childhood and emphasized strength, at a time when puberty relegated girls to weakness.
The work demonstrates that the conquest of virility involves mastering the "masculine habitus", its spaces (the tavern, the street, brothels) and its time (leisurely and not restricted by night). Young men resorted—often aided by alcohol—to excess, which "magnified the traits of emerging masculinity: aggressiveness, physical violence, a touchy sense of honor". These behaviors challenged parents—the father, the ultimate masculine model, but also the mother with her undeniable influence—as well as agents of social regulation: teachers, police officers, and judges.
Hazing. These adults defined what was permitted and forbidden, revealing their own adherence to the construction of virility: thus we can understand familial indulgence, because the unruly youth expressed, in their eyes, his youth and the bubbling over of his masculinity; even more so, the municipalities that long deemed inter-communal brawls necessary for their male youth; the acceptance of hazing whose cruelty measured virility; and the difficulty everyone had in interpreting high school and university revolts as expressions of burgeoning masculinity versus political acts.
Examined across the four corners of France, the archives give this study a national dimension, despite the heavy presence of urban student youth. These cross-readings finely trace the shifting markers of virility; the historian links this evolution to the rise of individualism, the republican school system, and, even more so, politics, which she notes played a decisive role in the "recomposition of masculinities". She observes its early signs as early as the July Revolution, which, through the freedom it briefly instilled, contributed to an "accelerated acculturation" conducive to the pacification of social mores.
The substance of "Be a man!" was profoundly altered after 1880. Previously—and exclusively so until the 1860s—there dominated a masculinity asserted through violence, often confused with honor (brawls, insults, duels), rooted in the military figure and, even more deeply, in community dynamics. From then on, "a more peaceful masculinity emerged, where speech replaced physical action, where competence took precedence over primary domination, and where mediation replaced confrontation". Nevertheless, this "civilization of mores" in its masculine form did not affect everyone equally.
This work contributes to the broader field of gender history and the social sciences by examining how societal norms shape individual behavior across generations. Situated within nineteenth-century French history, the book investigates the shifting expectations placed upon young males as they navigated schools, military service, and public spaces. By analyzing archival materials that capture everyday conflicts and institutional rules, the author illuminates the underlying structures of authority, family dynamics, and peer pressure that defined coming of age during this transformative era.
Readers interested in cultural history, sociology, and the evolution of gender roles will find this study particularly valuable for understanding the historical roots of modern concepts of manhood. The book helps clarify how physical aggression and notions of honor gradually yielded to verbal mediation and democratic participation. It serves as an essential resource for students and scholars seeking to comprehend the complex interplay between individual socialization, state institutions, and changing social mores in nineteenth-century France.