Männlichkeit zwischen Biographie und Profession – Berufliches Selbstverständnis von Jungenarbeitern

This thesis focuses on the correlation between biography and professional identity of full-time social education workers for boys. We interviewed social education workers for boys in established institutions for the working with boys in Hesse (Germany) concerning their socialization as male person, their experienced images of manlihood and their construction of masculinity. In this connection we were especially focused on the context of retrospective life-history relating to the concept of professional acting, motivation as well as the consequences of social education work on the social worker´s own gender identity. On this background the present work is a discours in between gender research, biography research and professionalism research. In this way the thesis contributes to the discourse on professionalism and expertness in the acting of social education workers.