Modern Masculinity In Crisis: Rise Of The Beta Male
I am increasingly concerned with rising trends of male suicide (men and boys) and extroverted male mass violence/vengeance events in our world.
I know this is a long post, but I feel an urgency to sound an alarm.
PLEASE read the entire post! It’s of vital importance for the future.
HYPOTHESIS: As a consequence of 40-years of social change experimentation characterizing patriarchal masculinity as the root cause of modern society’s woes, the archetypes and ideals of masculinity are systematically ostracized through the systematic and purposeful diminution and devaluation of traditional male roles in every culture.
Through series of punitive measures impacting the societal, educational, and vocational worth of men displaying any hints of classical masculinity, alongside rampant deconstructionist portrayals of fathers as being socially-inept buffoons — weak, spineless “boy-men” in constant need of correction, mothering, and scorn (think Homer Simpson or any father-figure in typical TV sitcoms) — modern society has ostracized and ridiculed the ideals of masculinity for both boys and men, stunting their emotional and psychic maturity and forcing them into submissive beta-male roles within an increasingly feminized culture.
Efforts to “tame” traditional male behavior have left men confused as to what society expects of them. These taming methods begin early in a boy’s life. Due to evolutionary drives deeply entrenched with their psyche and physiology, boys possess a certain wildness, with instincts to establish social ranking between each other. Whether in pairs of individuals or groups, every boy seeks to test another boy. These testings appear in various forms: “My dad is stronger than your dad”, “my hero can beat up your hero”, or “I’m stronger than you.” Every boy possesses an instinctual drive, known by evolutionary and behavioral psychologist as Dominance Hierarchy — and modern society has decreed it to be patriarchal, destructive, culturally constructed, and unnecessary. But does the elimination of boyhood aggression lead to balanced masculinity or is it damaging the developing psyche of young boys?
In an Advances in Genetics article, “Self-Structuring Properties of Dominance Hierarchies: A New Perspective” (2011), Ivan Chase and Kristine Seitz note “ In many small groups of animals and human children of around eight or ten members or less, dominance hierarchies often take a classical linear form,” where boy A dictates the entire group of boys, then boy B dominates the entire group except boy A, and so on.
The primary role of dominance hierarchies, other than differentiating a boy’s social ranking, is the formation of order and stability within those groups of boys. Each boy knows his place on the playground. Behavioral expectations, or the rules of that playground, find their genesis within dominance rankings, determine by the dominant boy and enforced by those under his influence. Each boy is expected to follow them. Failure to comply contain consequences.
If boy D challenges his determined rank, he is usurping the balance of the playground and risking ridicule and violence in hopes obtain a higher level of influence, prestige, and privilege. In the vast majority of species inhabiting our planet, any challenge to existing male dominance hierarchies result in displays of aggressive posturing . Picture two boxers facing each other before a fight — chest-to-chest, eyes locked in hopes one will blink and back down. In order to determine the best of the two, a fight must occur wherein the winner determines the ranking of each. If the champion prevails, he retains his position and privilege. If the challenger wins, the champion is demoted and the challenger takes his place as the dominant male boxer.
Dominance hierarchies are universal in animal kingdoms, established across every ecosystem through millions of years of evolution. Crabs, birds, primates, and humans all have similar contests of aggressive posturing, often ending in violence. Elevated dominance ranks are not easily usurped. Fights for dominance can be vicious, but at times a necessary method of maintaining societal order.
“We (the sovereign we, the we that has been around since the beginning of life) have lived in a dominance hierarchy for a long, long time. We were struggling for position before we had skin, or hands, or lungs, or bones. There is little more natural than culture. Dominance hierarchies are older than trees”
(Peterson, 2017).
With belittled societal expectations and diminished cultural relevance, modern men are left feeling purposeless — unaccepted, unheard, and segregated from life. Social segregation leads to isolation. Isolation and insignificance lead to detachment and the devaluation of life. The end-result is a self-identification as the victim. Victimhood, left unchecked and unaddressed, leave the modern male with two options: the abdication of any responsibility to life, or worse … much worse; a desire for retribution — vengeance — against the cause of their perceived wrongs, the world around them.
Irresponsible men are useless to society. They are the boy-men that have casual sex with women, impregnate them, and disappear. They are modern-day Peter Pans, fools lacking wisdom and honor, refusing to “grow-up” and take their place in the world of men. Where Peter Pans are mostly harmless, worthy of ridicule but not effecting society at large, vengeful men are a nightmare. They represent the darkest, most sinful and hateful, aspects of masculinity; full of reasons to hate and possessing the means to return that hate upon the world. Vengeful men are a dangerous cancer upon the earth. The possess a determined will to right their perceived wrongs. Their hatred for life itself always turns to mass acts of brutality.
While attempting to correct the overbearing, tyrannical stereotypes of machismo, our modern culture has unwittingly blockaded males from accessing the 4 archetypes of mature, masculine identity: The Good King (in his fullness), the Lover, the Warrior, and the Wise Sage/Magician.
By discouraging masculinity during attempts to “tame” wild young boys and men, society has bred a generation of timid beta-males; immature, selfish, childish, weak, narcissistic, and vengeful boy-men (possessing a man’s physique while simultaneously acting out an immature boy’s psychology) … a generation of Peter Pans who refuse to grow up and take their positions as men of interpersonal and societal impact.
In the early 20th-century, famed psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, defined the archetypes of mature masculinity. Picture a set of 4 triangles (see image above), where the top vertex of each triangle represents the fully mature and socially effective male, while the two base vertices represent the shadow or bipolar chaotic, immature masculine types for each. The immature beta-male lives somewhere in the spectrum of the shadow vertices: for example, in the Good King archetype, the shadows represent the Tyrant and the Weakling; for the powerful Warrior, the Sadist and the Masochist; for the wise Sage, the Detached Manipulator or the Denying Victim; for the kind Lover, the Addicted Lover or the Impotent Lover.
Given enough time, beta-males, living out the base vertices of these archetypes, will eventually feel victimized, isolated, and resentful. These affects are a DANGEROUS combination for boys and men.
Without a mature community of men to initiate boys into mature manhood, without consistent training leading to boys into each of the four mature archetypes by establishing expectations of masculine behavior and enforcing consequences when immaturity arises, the psychic and emotional growth of young men will be stunted, producing severe, adverse personal and societal effects. If we miss the opportunity to acknowledge the impacts of societies taming of the masculine, we should not be surprised as we watch a continued increase in male suicides, mass/vengeful violence, and what’s recently being described as an en-mass “check-out” of men and boys from their vital societal roles.
I believe that beta-males, whether man or boy, can only find these missing initiations and the healing of their masculine souls through active participation in mature, local, face-to-face masculine communities.
If men are unable to find and engage in these types of communities, the future of our society is in peril.
CITATIONS
Peterson, Jordan B. (2011). 12 rules of life: An antidote for chaos. Toronto: Random House Canada.
