White, Male, and Bartending in Detroit: Masculinity Work in a Hipster Scene

Abstract

The hipster scene in Detroit, Michigan, is explored via participant observation and in-depth interviews. Participants used hipster norms as a resource for masculinity dilemmas, including a lack of white- or blue-collar jobs and stable female partners. The analysis examines how these men successfully enacted their progressive values in some arenas (read: gender) but not in others (race relations). More specifically, their emphasis on the creative class, the bicycle as an attainable status symbol, and “bro-mances” served as masculinity balms. These strategies are examples of how homophobia and violence are not always the response to “threatened” masculinity. At the same time, participants enacted a definition of community and specific spatial practices that resulted in a subculture with a white majority within a city with a black majority. This work demonstrates how ethnography is a powerful tool for studying the intersectionality of race, gender, and class in subcultures.