This Is How the Patriarchy Has Failed Young Men

Conservatives claim that feminism is destroying men, but the very system men have created is failing then now

A statistic about the difference in political attitudes of Gen Z men and women has been making waves on social media in recent days.

The data shows that young men are becoming increasingly conservative, while Gen Z women are more liberal.

And not just in the USA. This seems to be a global phenomenon.

People are shocked.

They believed that Gen Z was a much more liberal generation than its predecessors. More focussed on social justice, climate change, well-being and work-life balance than the older generations.

And, of course, conservatives blame feminism and the “war on men” for the phenomenon.

But is it a surprise? Have we forgotten that women have long been more left-leaning than men? The Atlantic summarized it well:

Since the beginning of modern polling in the U.S., men had consistently held more conservative positions than women on a range of issues, including welfare spending, homosexuality, and use of force in foreign policy. As the parties became more ideological, the gender gap kept growing — from eight percentage points in 1980, to 12 points in 2000, to 13 points in 2016.

And this makes total sense. When the world is more liberal, women gain equal rights, equal pay, bodily autonomy and the freedom to decide how they want to live their lives.

At first glance, men only seem to lose things. They lose privileges and power. They feel that the “natural” order of things is being overturned.

Suddenly, they’re not entitled to be the decision-makers, earn more money, or refuse to do housework solely on the basis of their gender. And it’s not immediately clear what they get out of it.

Patriarchy told them they were stronger, wiser and more capable than women. And that it is their role to rule and protect the dainty womenfolk and their offspring.

They’ve lost power, and the Conservatives promise to give it back to them.

Capitalism has made it impossible for men to fulfill their traditional roles

Between the end of the Second World War and into the 1970s, economic growth in the USA was considerable. And prosperity was shared.

Family income data show that from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, everyone became richer, and the gap between rich and poor barely changed.

Middle-class men earned good money. They could afford a house, a car and a family. Their wives stayed at home and deferred to their will. Life was good for men.

These are the golden days of economic power and the “American family” that conservatives cite as an example of when America was “great.”

But then came greed.

Over the last 50 years, household income growth has stagnated.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) reports:

Beginning in the 1970s, economic growth slowed, and the income gap widened.

Income growth for households in the middle and lower parts of the distribution slowed sharply, while incomes at the top continued to grow strongly.

The concentration of income at the very top of the distribution rose to levels last seen nearly a century ago, during the “Roaring Twenties.”

In short, the rich rapidly became richer, and lower wages no longer grew. Prosperity is no longer shared.

The average income of the top 1% has quadrupled. It rose by 224%. Meanwhile, the middle 60 percent of incomes rose by only 47%.

Men no longer earn enough money to support a family alone. They can’t fulfill their roles as providers.

But they’re not offered real alternatives to this traditional role, and they’re struggling to redefine their masculinity.

Instead of helping them develop into new men who find fulfillment in other ways, the system keeps doubling down. It insists that they must be strong “alpha males.”

Cartoonish “red-pill” podcasters like Andrew Tate and his minions tell them they have to be “traditional men.” That they have to dominate and lead.

With no plan on how they’re supposed to do this in this society we’ve created.

They’re setting them up for failure and frustration.

Women’s lives have improved due to societal changes

Women, on the other hand, have profited from the way the world has changed.

For example, in 1977, the laws here in Austria changed. Women no longer needed their husband’s permission to work outside the home.

A second income was required to feed a family, so women were allowed to go out into the world to educate themselves, earn money, and build lives.

With education, money, and jobs, they gained autonomy and cast off their traditional role.

Today, women no longer need men to provide for them. They’ve started to outperform men. They’re better educated, healthier, happier and have their own money. More money than many young men.

What they’re asking for now is equality and respect.

But as a wise person once said:

When you’re accustomed to privilege equality feels like oppression

For decades, men have felt let down by this world the patriarchy and capitalism have created. They’ve lost one privilege after the other and have yet to see the benefits of these changes.

They feel oppressed.

Due to the lack of other roles they’re allowed to fill, the only thing they can think of is turning the clock back.

And the futility of trying to do this is driving them into the arms of populist conservative leaders.

Men have a hard time adapting to the loss of their male privileges

Our modern society evolved out of a patriarchal system where men are the primary authority.

For centuries, men believed that their position at the top of the food chain was a law of nature.

Even the church told them so.

Man is the highest form of God’s creation among the animals and the creatures that live on this earth.

Within that patriarchal authority, there was always a strict hierarchy.

When men’s power depended on their ability to wage war, the stronger men were at the top.

Later, it became all about influence and money.

Even men who didn’t see themselves as traditional patriarchs grew up with the expectation they’d be able to rise through that hierarchy. If they did the right things.

They’d earn respect by acquiring status, property and women.

They’d “build a house, plant a tree, and raise a son.”

But 20th-century capitalism added an unexpected dynamic to the patriarchal hierarchy.

The ownership of resources, and therefore power, was suddenly centralized in the hands of a small group.

The average man lost his status and power and, with it, the ability to perform the role he was told he was supposed to fulfill. He lost his place in the hierarchy.

And he’s still struggling with the concept of what the modern man should look like.

Capitalism has stripped men of their power, and they’re blaming feminism

The new hierarchy of power is: a few very rich people who have all the power, and below them, the masses who have no power at all.

Men are no longer needed to maintain the power structure. Without power, they are dispensable for the capitalist system. They have lost their ability to fulfill the role assigned to them by patriarchy.

And many men blame liberal values for their new impotence.

In their minds, feminism, the source of all evil, has upset the balance of nature.

Conservatives are only too happy to fan the flames. A divided population is easier to rule.

Of course, it’s not capitalism’s fault.

It’s those pesky women, the immigrants, the social justice warriors, and all that liberal nonsense.

Please ignore the greedy 1% who are stealing from us all and making it impossible for everyone else to live a stable, fulfilling life.

It’s easy to understand why men lean more to the right

Men lack role models to show them new life plans. They need a roadmap to success in the modern society.

They struggle, and there is no one to fill the void.

But, they don’t need “traditional families” that they can’t provide for.

The traditional values we need to reclaim are the sharing of prosperity between all parts of society and the notion of fairness in the workplace.

The denunciation of corporate greed. The expectation that your contribution is valued. And respect for the planet we live on.

We need to bring back the opportunity to live a life worth living. If we do that, men will stop looking to the right for answers.

Instead of focusing on these pressing issues, society is clinging to the same tired life plan that no longer works for anyone.

Patriarchy has set men up to fail in the modern world and continues to push them toward future failure.

As long as society does not offer men a path to a new, fulfilling masculinity, they will continue to vote conservatively.

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