The Manly Working Man

Abstract

This article explores hegemonic and counterhegemonic ideas of masculinity as seen through the political campaigns and programmatic appeals of the Knights of Labor (KOL) in Ontario, 1882 to 1890. The KOL was a movement that sought to unite the working class in opposition to the exploitation of elites. Central to the KOL’s opposition was the creation of a counterhegemonic ideal of manhood. For the KOL, the denial of their rights as workers and citizens was intertwined with hegemonic conceptions of masculinity that denied them manhood. Formulating an alternative conception that portrayed working men as manly and members of unproductive elites as unmanly was, therefore, a central element in the KOL program of opposition. The KOL’s construction ofa counterhegemonic ideal of manhood that was, at once, challenging and accepting of the dominantideal is illustrative of the significance of masculinity, and gender more broadly, to social movements and social debate.