F eminist and g ender t heories

Feminist and Gender Theories  
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works in part through the production of exemplars of masculinity (e.g., professional sports 
stars), symbols that have authority despite the fact that most men and boys do not fully live 
up to them.”
This brings us to a second vital concept in Connell’s work: “patriarchal dividend.” 
Connell uses this term to refer both to the honor and prestige and to the more material 
dividends men accrue under patriarchy, the point being that this dividend is not uniformly 
distributed among men, but is, nevertheless, universally distributed among them. In other 
words, though men as a whole may gain from living in a patriarchal gender order, not all 
gain in the same way or to the same degree. Patriarchal systems are intertwined with a 
wide variety of other hierarchical relations (e.g., class, race, nation, region, generation, 
sexual orientation); consequently, not all men receive the same share of the patriarchal 
dividend. 
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As illustrated in Figure 7.5, in terms of the theoretical model used in this book, “patriarchal 
dividend” and “hegemonic masculinity” might be conceptualized as twin terms, the former 
highlighting the costs and benefits of the gender order as played out at the level of the indi-
vidual; the latter highlighting, as indicated previously, dominant patterns of masculinity, at 
both the cultural and social structural levels. As Connell (2000, p. 11) states, “Masculinities 
are defined collectively in culture, and are sustained in institutions.” In other words, in terms 
of the question of order, Connell’s work is thoroughly multidimensional. As a sociologist 
and historian, Connell is most interested in “collective masculinities,” which she defines as 
Figure 7.5
Connell’s Basic Concepts and Theoretical Orientation