Abstract
Differing from the sociological perspectives of scholars such as David Coad, Jeremy Kaye, Matthew Hall, and Brendan Gough who have associated metrosexuality with the post-modern social and cultural condition, Jason Wang’s MRP applies the concept of metrosexuality to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, arguing that metrosexual identity, deeply immersed in consumer culture, is distinguished from, most notably, the tradition of the flâneur and the dandy. Wang theorizes this concept within the context to the mass-printed culture tradition, placing it within the advent of cultural modernity — that is, the expansion of industrialization and urbanization into consumer culture, the rise of capitalism and commercialism. Through the lens of metrosexuality, Wang examines the emergence of new gender identity within the cultural context of everyday life and social relations.
Keywords
Metrosexuality, Urbanity, Modernity, Commodity Culture, Fashion, Masculinity, The Strand.
Supervisor
Dr. Irene Gammel; Second reader: Dr. Lorraine Janzen Kooistra.