Reality TV’s Real Men of the Recession: White Masculinity in Crisis and the Rise of Trumpism

In the 2000s, reality programs showcasing white, working-class men performing hazardous occupations in wilderness settings proliferated on U.S. cable networks. Shannon O’Sullivan argues that this genre represents a reactionary veneration of white, rural, working-class men as “real Americans” amid the Great Recession and current events.

Format: Hardback
Length: 198 pages
Publication date: 11 October 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Shannon O Sullivan's book explores "blue-collar frontier shows," a subgenre of reality television that features white, working-class men performing hazardous occupations in remote, wilderness settings. She argues that the proliferation of these programs represents a reactionary veneration of white, rural, working-class men as "real Americans" during the Great Recession and social movements challenging white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, and capitalism. OSullivan analyzes Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, Ice Road Truckers, and Gold Rush, reframing dominant understandings of social class and challenging the neoliberal tendency to configure identity and social categories as stylized performances delinked from power relations. She also incorporates an analysis of Duck Dynasty, which exemplifies how affluent, white men take up stereotypical white, rural, working-class masculine performances to attain a public perception of masculine authenticity. This book is of particular interest to scholars of media studies, gender studies, television studies, communication, and political rhetoric.

Weight: 444g
Dimension: 159 x 236 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781666900019