'Boozers and bouncers': Masculine conflict, disengagement and the contemporary governance of drinking-related violence and disorder

The links between crime, violence and male offending are now more deeply researchedin a growing international literature that understands much antisocial and criminal behaviour as a social resource for the attainmenta nd protection of masculine identities. Neverthelesst,h e tie betweenm asculinity and nonoffendingh as been much less explored.T his focus group study of understandingso f public drinking-related conflict and violence among young male drinkers and security officers in a combined urban and rural district of New South Wales illustrates the significance and complexity of these links. Masculine concerns inform a readiness for involvement with conflict and its enjoyment through the prominenceo f issueso f social status,g enderp olicing, honoura nd carnival during different social occasions.B ut this must be understoodin relation to the different masculinity 'projects' (Connell, 1995) that contrast security officers with an idealised professional self-image and the majority of drinkers, from a more violent minority. A surprisingly common pattern of 'respectable'm asculine subjectivity informs disengagemenftr om serious violence.T his is often characterisedb y an exaggeratedv iew of the rational male self as safe and in control of most social interaction in dangerousp ublic contexts.T he pitfalls of this may even be enhancedb y the new influence of campaigns around 'risky' public drinking that aim to instill ideals of responsible self-governance.