Masculinity, violence and socioeconomic status in Indonesia

In qualitative interviews conducted during 2009/2010, 86 male interviewees frequently "explained" violence between men in Indonesia as resulting from low socioeconomic status. This paper is not about how violence actually happens, but about how it is explained by Indonesian men. We unpack the discursive assertions of interviewees, and first explore the cultural utility and validity of the "hydraulic pressure" model of male violence found popular in the Indonesian mass media. While some men used this simple model of explosive violence caused by pressure, others acknowledged the active choice of men in marginal economic circumstances to use violence. We then consider this range of explanations for the link between socioeconomic disadvantage and male violence through the lens of Messerschmidt's "compensatory" thesis on violence and masculinity.