The Artist as a Contemporary Pattern of Masculinity. Milieu-specific Strategies of Coping with Precariousness

Abstract

Based on a qualitative study on heterosexual female breadwinner couples, this article investigates milieu-specific coping strategies vis-à-vis conditions of precariousness and insecure employment. Against the background of the decline of the male breadwinner model, the study especially focuses on the transformations of masculinity. The article develops the thesis that an “artistic” self-image functions as a specific coping mechanism in the individualized milieu of the educated urban upper middle class.