The inertia of Masculinity: Narratives of Creative Aspiration among Arab-Australian youth

Young Arab-Australian men have been the subject of sociological inquiry, on multiculturalism, belonging and nationhood. We address a different facet of young Arab-Australian men’s lives: work and career aspiration. We offer four case studies of working-class Arab-Australian young men from Western Sydney who attempt to adapt to the new economy and job insecurity. Despite lacking the contacts and other social resources, they aspire to creative vocations. Longstanding patriarchal ‘narrative scripts’ of self-employment and independence shape our interviewees’ aspirations. Their creative aspirations challenge communal norms around working life but they do not radically break with the parent culture. Rather, structural economic changes have the altered the rules of social mobility and these young men must weigh up competing forces.