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Vargas-Sánchez, H. R. (2025). Power and care: a theoretical approach to families and masculinities from intersectionality. Latinoamericana De Estudios De Familia, 17(2), 85–102. https://doi.org/10.17151/rlef.2025.17.2.5
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Authors
Héctor Ricardo Vargas-Sánchez
Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia en el grupo de patrimonio
Abstract
Objective: This theoretical essay explores the intersection between families and masculinities, addressing them as dynamic relational fields shaped by multiple dimensions of difference. Methodology: Based on a rigorous analysis of academic literature, it examines transformations in family models and in the construction of masculine identity, considering how factors such as gender, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation intertwine produce forms of power and care. Results: The theoretical proposal is grounded in contributions from authors such as Butler, Connell, and Crenshaw, among others, which help to question traditional frameworks and reveal new possibilities for the re-signification of masculinities. The implications of these approaches are discussed for understanding care practices and the reconfiguration of roles within the household, highlighting the need to rethink public policies from an intersectional perspective. Conclusion: In addition to the foundational contributions of Butler, Connell, and Crenshaw, this analysis incorporates recent theoretical developments that link intersectionality with critiques of neoliberalism and coloniality. While authors such as Messerschmidt expand the notion of hegemonic masculinity by examining its reconfiguration in contexts of global precarity, applied studies in Latin American contexts reveal how ethnicity and class mediate the configuration of family roles in the region.
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References
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Auxier, B., y Anderson, M. (2021). Social media use in 2021. Pew Research Center, 1(1), 1-4. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021/?gad_campaignid=22378837192
Baldassar, L. (2016). De‐demonizing distance in mobile family lives: co‐presence, care circulation and polymedia as vibrant matter. Global Networks, 16(2), 145-163. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/glob.12109
Bankoff, G. (2020). Old Ways and New Fears. Philippine Studies: Historical y Ethnographic Viewpoints, 68(3/4), 467-476. https://archium.ateneo.edu/phstudies/vol68/iss3/9/
Bargh, J. (1997). The automaticity of everyday life. En Advances in social cognition, 1-61.
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Polity Press.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. Sage Publications.
Beck, U., y Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2002). Individualization. Institutionalized Individualism and Its Social and Political Consequences. Sage.
Bourdieu, P. (2000). Las estructuras sociales de la economia. Manantial.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.
Butler, J. (2017). Cuerpos aliados y lucha política: hacia una teoría performativa de la asamblea (M.J.Viejo-Pérez, Trad.). Paidós.
Castilblanco, A. C. (2023). Las políticas de cuidado en algunos países de América Latina. Una mirada feminista. Ánfora, 30(54), 136-160. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/3578/357875237007/html/
Chen, M., y Bargh, J. A. (1997). Nonconscious behavioral confirmation processes: The self-fulfilling consequences of automatic stereotype activation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 33(5), 541-560. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103197913299?via%3Dihub
Cherlin, A. (2020). Public and private families: An introduction. McGraw-Hill.
Collins, P. H. (1990). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment.Routledge.
Collins, P. H. (2004). Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism. Routledge.
Comisión Económica para América y el Caribe. (2022). La sociedad del cuidado: horizonte para una recuperación sostenible con igualdad de género. CEPAL. https://www.cepal.org/es/publicaciones/82273-la-sociedad-cuidado-gobernanza-economia-politica-dialogo-socialtransformacion#:~:text=La%20construcci%C3%B3n%20de%20la%20sociedad,sostenible%20con%20igualdad%20de%20g%C3%A9nero.
Connell, R. W. (2005). Masculinities (2. a ed.). University of California Press.
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299.
Di Virgilio, M. (2021). Desigualdades, hábitat y vivienda en América Latina. Nueva Sociedad, 77-92.https://nuso.org/articulo/desigualdades-habitat-y-vivienda-en-america-latina/
Duffy, S. W., Tabár, L., Yen, A. M.-F., Dean, P. B., Smith, R. A., Jonsson, H., Törnberg, S., Chen, S.L.-S., Chiu, S. Y.-H., Fann, J. C.-Y., Ku, M. M.-S., Wu, W. Y.-Y., Hsu, C.-Y., Chen, Y.-C., Svane,G., Azavedo, E., Grundström, H., Sundén, P., Leifland, K., … Chen, T. H.-H. (2020).. (2020).Mammography screening reduces rates of advanced and fatal breast cancers: Results in 549,091 women. Cancer, 126(13), 2971-2979. https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.32859
Duvander, A. Z., y Johansson, M. (2019). Does parental leave policy improve gender equality? A cross-national analysis. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 26(2), 219-241. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxy023
Edin, K., y Kefalas, M. (2005). Unmarried with children. Contexts, 4(2), 16-22. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1525/ctx.2005.4.2.16
Esguerra Muelle, C. (2019). Etnografía, acción feminista y cuidado: una reflexión personal mínima. Antípoda. Revista de Antropología y Arqueología, (35), 91-111. https://revistas.uniandes.edu.co/index.php/antipoda/article/view/2085
European Institute for Gender Equality [EIGE]. (2022). Gender Equality Index 2022: The COVID-19 pandemic and care. Oficina de Publicaciones de la Unión Europea.
Eurostat. (08 de 05 de 2023). Eurostat. Obtenido de ec.europa.eu/eurostat: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/index.php?title=Fertility_statistics#Data_sources
Eydal, G. B., Rostgaard, T., y Hiilamo, H. (2018). 15. Family policies in the Nordic countries: aiming at equality. En G. Eydal, y T. Rostgaard (Eds.), Handbook of Family Policy (pp. 195-208). Edward Elgar.
Federici, S. (2020). Beyond the Periphery of the Skin: Rethinking, Remaking, and Reclaiming the Body in Contemporary Capitalism. PM Press.
Federici, S. (2020b). El patriarcado del salario. Criticas feministas del marxismo. Tinto Limón.
Folbre, N. (2021). The rise and decline of patriarchal systems. Verso.
Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas [UNFPA]. (2021). Engaging Men in Gender Equality: Programmatic Approaches in Latin America. https://www.unfpa.org
Ganong, L., & Coleman, M. (2018). Studying Stepfamilies: Four Eras of Family Scholarship. Family process, 7-24.
Giddens, A. (1992). The transformation of intimacy: Sexuality, love, and eroticism in modern societies. Stanford University Press.
Ging, D. (2019). Alphas, Betas, and Incels: Theorizing the masculinities of the manosphere. Men and Masculinities, 22(4), 638-657. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X17706401
Glenn, E. N. (2010). Forced to care: Coercion and caregiving in America. Harvard University Press.
Gutiérrez, V. (1964). La Familia en Colombia. Volumen I: Trasfondo Histórico. Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Gutierrez, M. L. (2008). Las familias en Bogotá. Realidades y diversidad. Editorial Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
Gutierrez M. L. (2008b). Hombres, poder y conflicto: Estudios sobre violencia masculina. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Hirsch, M. (2002). Familiares y extraños: La política del parentesco en la cultura y la historia. Katz.
Hancock, A.-M. (2007). When multiplication doesn’t equal quick addition: Examining intersectionality as a research paradigm. Perspectives on Politics, 5(1), 63–79.
Hochschild, A. R. (2012). The outsourced self: What happens when we pay others to live our lives for us. Macmillan+ ORM.
Kimmel, M. (2008). Guyland: The perilous world where boys become men. Harper.
Messerschmidt, J. W. (2018). Hegemonic Masculinity: Formulation, Reformulation, and Amplification. Rowman y Littlefield.
Miller, B. (2018). Textually presenting masculinity and the body on mobile dating apps for men who have sex with men. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 26(3), 305-326. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1060826518773417
OECD. (2021). Families in the Digital Age. OECD Publishing.
Pachon, X. (2007). La familia en Colombia a lo largo. En L. A. Naranjo, Familias, Cambios y Estrategias (pp. 145-159). Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Parreñas, R. (2015). Servants of globalization: Migration and domestic work. Stanford University Press.
Patterson, C. (2019). Lesbian and gay parenthood. In M. Bornstein, Handbook of parenting (pp. 345-371). Londres: Routledge.
Pichardo, J. G (2021). Dos conceptos de “masculinidad hegemónica”. Murmullos Filosóficos, 1(3), 116-131. https://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/murmullos/article/view/79831
Ranson, G. (2015). Fathering, masculinity and the embodiment of care. Springer.
Robinson, L. (2022). Digital Masculinities: The Mediated Construction of Contemporary Manhood.Palgrave Macmillan.
Sánchez Parra, T., y Lo Iacono, S. (2020). (Re) Productive discourses: Media coverage of children born of war in Colombia. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 39(1), 22-36. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/blar.12976
Sassen, S. (2014). Expulsions: Brutality and complexity in the global economy. Harvard University Press.
Seidler, V. J. (2006). Young Men and Masculinities: Global Cultures and Intimate Lives. Zed Books.
Sharkey, N., y Sharkey, A. (2020). The crying shame of robot nannies: an ethical appraisal. En Machine ethics and robot ethics (pp. 155-184). Routledge.
Smart, C. (2007). Personal life. Polity.
Tovar, P. (2003). Familia, género y antropología: desafíos y transformaciones. Univesidad Nacional de Colombia.
West, C., y Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender y society, 1(2), 125-151. https://www.gla.ac.uk/0t4/crcees/files/summerschool/readings/WestZimmerman_1987_DoingGender.pdf
World Health Organization [WHO]. (2021). Suicide mortality rates (per 100,000 population), 2019. https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/mental-health
Zelizer, B. (2022). What journalism tells us about memory, mind and media. Memory, Mind y Media, 1,e6.
Auxier, B., y Anderson, M. (2021). Social media use in 2021. Pew Research Center, 1(1), 1-4. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021/?gad_campaignid=22378837192
Baldassar, L. (2016). De‐demonizing distance in mobile family lives: co‐presence, care circulation and polymedia as vibrant matter. Global Networks, 16(2), 145-163. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/glob.12109
Bankoff, G. (2020). Old Ways and New Fears. Philippine Studies: Historical y Ethnographic Viewpoints, 68(3/4), 467-476. https://archium.ateneo.edu/phstudies/vol68/iss3/9/
Bargh, J. (1997). The automaticity of everyday life. En Advances in social cognition, 1-61.
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Polity Press.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. Sage Publications.
Beck, U., y Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2002). Individualization. Institutionalized Individualism and Its Social and Political Consequences. Sage.
Bourdieu, P. (2000). Las estructuras sociales de la economia. Manantial.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.
Butler, J. (2017). Cuerpos aliados y lucha política: hacia una teoría performativa de la asamblea (M.J.Viejo-Pérez, Trad.). Paidós.
Castilblanco, A. C. (2023). Las políticas de cuidado en algunos países de América Latina. Una mirada feminista. Ánfora, 30(54), 136-160. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/3578/357875237007/html/
Chen, M., y Bargh, J. A. (1997). Nonconscious behavioral confirmation processes: The self-fulfilling consequences of automatic stereotype activation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 33(5), 541-560. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103197913299?via%3Dihub
Cherlin, A. (2020). Public and private families: An introduction. McGraw-Hill.
Collins, P. H. (1990). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment.Routledge.
Collins, P. H. (2004). Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism. Routledge.
Comisión Económica para América y el Caribe. (2022). La sociedad del cuidado: horizonte para una recuperación sostenible con igualdad de género. CEPAL. https://www.cepal.org/es/publicaciones/82273-la-sociedad-cuidado-gobernanza-economia-politica-dialogo-socialtransformacion#:~:text=La%20construcci%C3%B3n%20de%20la%20sociedad,sostenible%20con%20igualdad%20de%20g%C3%A9nero.
Connell, R. W. (2005). Masculinities (2. a ed.). University of California Press.
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299.
Di Virgilio, M. (2021). Desigualdades, hábitat y vivienda en América Latina. Nueva Sociedad, 77-92.https://nuso.org/articulo/desigualdades-habitat-y-vivienda-en-america-latina/
Duffy, S. W., Tabár, L., Yen, A. M.-F., Dean, P. B., Smith, R. A., Jonsson, H., Törnberg, S., Chen, S.L.-S., Chiu, S. Y.-H., Fann, J. C.-Y., Ku, M. M.-S., Wu, W. Y.-Y., Hsu, C.-Y., Chen, Y.-C., Svane,G., Azavedo, E., Grundström, H., Sundén, P., Leifland, K., … Chen, T. H.-H. (2020).. (2020).Mammography screening reduces rates of advanced and fatal breast cancers: Results in 549,091 women. Cancer, 126(13), 2971-2979. https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.32859
Duvander, A. Z., y Johansson, M. (2019). Does parental leave policy improve gender equality? A cross-national analysis. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 26(2), 219-241. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxy023
Edin, K., y Kefalas, M. (2005). Unmarried with children. Contexts, 4(2), 16-22. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1525/ctx.2005.4.2.16
Esguerra Muelle, C. (2019). Etnografía, acción feminista y cuidado: una reflexión personal mínima. Antípoda. Revista de Antropología y Arqueología, (35), 91-111. https://revistas.uniandes.edu.co/index.php/antipoda/article/view/2085
European Institute for Gender Equality [EIGE]. (2022). Gender Equality Index 2022: The COVID-19 pandemic and care. Oficina de Publicaciones de la Unión Europea.
Eurostat. (08 de 05 de 2023). Eurostat. Obtenido de ec.europa.eu/eurostat: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/index.php?title=Fertility_statistics#Data_sources
Eydal, G. B., Rostgaard, T., y Hiilamo, H. (2018). 15. Family policies in the Nordic countries: aiming at equality. En G. Eydal, y T. Rostgaard (Eds.), Handbook of Family Policy (pp. 195-208). Edward Elgar.
Federici, S. (2020). Beyond the Periphery of the Skin: Rethinking, Remaking, and Reclaiming the Body in Contemporary Capitalism. PM Press.
Federici, S. (2020b). El patriarcado del salario. Criticas feministas del marxismo. Tinto Limón.
Folbre, N. (2021). The rise and decline of patriarchal systems. Verso.
Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas [UNFPA]. (2021). Engaging Men in Gender Equality: Programmatic Approaches in Latin America. https://www.unfpa.org
Ganong, L., & Coleman, M. (2018). Studying Stepfamilies: Four Eras of Family Scholarship. Family process, 7-24.
Giddens, A. (1992). The transformation of intimacy: Sexuality, love, and eroticism in modern societies. Stanford University Press.
Ging, D. (2019). Alphas, Betas, and Incels: Theorizing the masculinities of the manosphere. Men and Masculinities, 22(4), 638-657. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X17706401
Glenn, E. N. (2010). Forced to care: Coercion and caregiving in America. Harvard University Press.
Gutiérrez, V. (1964). La Familia en Colombia. Volumen I: Trasfondo Histórico. Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Gutierrez, M. L. (2008). Las familias en Bogotá. Realidades y diversidad. Editorial Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
Gutierrez M. L. (2008b). Hombres, poder y conflicto: Estudios sobre violencia masculina. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Hirsch, M. (2002). Familiares y extraños: La política del parentesco en la cultura y la historia. Katz.
Hancock, A.-M. (2007). When multiplication doesn’t equal quick addition: Examining intersectionality as a research paradigm. Perspectives on Politics, 5(1), 63–79.
Hochschild, A. R. (2012). The outsourced self: What happens when we pay others to live our lives for us. Macmillan+ ORM.
Kimmel, M. (2008). Guyland: The perilous world where boys become men. Harper.
Messerschmidt, J. W. (2018). Hegemonic Masculinity: Formulation, Reformulation, and Amplification. Rowman y Littlefield.
Miller, B. (2018). Textually presenting masculinity and the body on mobile dating apps for men who have sex with men. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 26(3), 305-326. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1060826518773417
OECD. (2021). Families in the Digital Age. OECD Publishing.
Pachon, X. (2007). La familia en Colombia a lo largo. En L. A. Naranjo, Familias, Cambios y Estrategias (pp. 145-159). Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Parreñas, R. (2015). Servants of globalization: Migration and domestic work. Stanford University Press.
Patterson, C. (2019). Lesbian and gay parenthood. In M. Bornstein, Handbook of parenting (pp. 345-371). Londres: Routledge.
Pichardo, J. G (2021). Dos conceptos de “masculinidad hegemónica”. Murmullos Filosóficos, 1(3), 116-131. https://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/murmullos/article/view/79831
Ranson, G. (2015). Fathering, masculinity and the embodiment of care. Springer.
Robinson, L. (2022). Digital Masculinities: The Mediated Construction of Contemporary Manhood.Palgrave Macmillan.
Sánchez Parra, T., y Lo Iacono, S. (2020). (Re) Productive discourses: Media coverage of children born of war in Colombia. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 39(1), 22-36. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/blar.12976
Sassen, S. (2014). Expulsions: Brutality and complexity in the global economy. Harvard University Press.
Seidler, V. J. (2006). Young Men and Masculinities: Global Cultures and Intimate Lives. Zed Books.
Sharkey, N., y Sharkey, A. (2020). The crying shame of robot nannies: an ethical appraisal. En Machine ethics and robot ethics (pp. 155-184). Routledge.
Smart, C. (2007). Personal life. Polity.
Tovar, P. (2003). Familia, género y antropología: desafíos y transformaciones. Univesidad Nacional de Colombia.
West, C., y Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender y society, 1(2), 125-151. https://www.gla.ac.uk/0t4/crcees/files/summerschool/readings/WestZimmerman_1987_DoingGender.pdf
World Health Organization [WHO]. (2021). Suicide mortality rates (per 100,000 population), 2019. https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/mental-health
Zelizer, B. (2022). What journalism tells us about memory, mind and media. Memory, Mind y Media, 1,e6.
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