Meadows Robert, Arber Sara, Venn Susan, Hislop Jenny
Department of Sociology, Centre for Research on Ageing and Gender, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey.
Sociol Health Illn. 2008 Jul;30(5):696-710. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2008.01088.x. Epub 2008 Apr 28.
Recent literature has highlighted the sociological significance of sleep and has suggested that sleep offers a 'window' onto the gendered nature of our lives. Yet within this body of work men's sleep has been largely ignored. This paper seeks to rectify this omission and situates itself at the intersection between literature on the sociological aspects of sleep and social-constructionist-orientated writings on men's health. It draws upon qualitative data from 40 men to investigate male understandings of, and attitudes towards, sleep. At first glance, it could be suggested that men have little regard for sleep, and are prone to taking risks with their dormancy. Viewed in this way sleep becomes an instrument used in the negotiation of status and power and intrinsically bound up with the demonstration of masculinities. Yet, men's relationship with sleep is more complex than this. Amongst other things, the men within the present study were embroiled in a function/non-function dichotomy. Sleep was seen as needed for the praxis of 'father', 'worker', 'husband' and 'mate' but was also considered as something which should not get in the way of performing these roles.
近期的文献强调了睡眠的社会学意义，并指出睡眠为洞察我们生活中的性别本质提供了一个“窗口”。然而，在这一系列研究中，男性的睡眠情况在很大程度上被忽视了。本文旨在纠正这一疏漏，将自身置于关于睡眠社会学层面的文献与以社会建构主义为导向的男性健康著作的交叉点上。它借鉴了40名男性的定性数据，以调查男性对睡眠的理解和态度。乍一看，可能会认为男性不太重视睡眠，且容易在睡眠方面冒险。从这个角度看，睡眠成为了在地位和权力谈判中使用的一种工具，并且与男性气质的展现内在地联系在一起。然而，男性与睡眠的关系比这更为复杂。除此之外，本研究中的男性陷入了一种功能/非功能二分法之中。睡眠被视为“父亲”“工作者”“丈夫”和“伴侣”角色实践所必需的，但同时也被认为不应妨碍履行这些角色。
