Curriculum vitae
Dr. Philos. Øystein Gullvåg Holter
June 2009
(2001 foto)
Here you will find my publication list, contact information, qualifications, work history, recent publications, and a brief version of my CV.
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Contact information
Centre of Gender Research, University of Oslo E-mail
Qualifications
Sociology magistergrad (University of Oslo, 1980), with social economy and social anthropology as subsidiary subjects. Dr.philos (University of Oslo, 1997).
Background and work history
Øystein Gullvåg Holter was born February 7, 1952, is married, has four children, and lives in Oslo.
1970 Examen philosophicum
1971-74 Sociology intermediate level (mellomfag), thesis on music sociology
1975-78 Worked in printing industry (Emil Moestue)
1979-80 Sociology master (magistergrad)
1980-2008 Employed at the Work Research Institute (WRI), Oslo, with several leave periods financed by the Research Council of Norway and others
1980-83 WRI studies of the work environments of journalists, teachers and oil workers
1981-87 Work/family studies (North Sea oil commuters)
1984-87 Norwegian Social Sciences Research Council (NAVF) stipendiate, early history sociological study of gender and family
1986-89 Nordic comparative project on cohabitating couples (Samliv i Norden) with focus on work/family interaction (team member)
1986-89 Work/family in a ‘technology culture’ study (WRI part of above project).
1987-89 Men in Norway 1988 representative survey (for the Male Role Committee)
1989-93 Men’s life connection (Menns livssammenheng) qualitative study of men’s work patterns and family socialization (financed by The Norwegian Council of Applied Social Research (NORAS)
1993-96 Dr. philos thesis work (see 1997e). Disputation (University of Oslo) in September 1997 (opponents: professors Rita Liljestrøm, Craig Calhoun)
1996-98 Member of business restructuring project team (WRI)
1998-99 Study of flexible work (WRI)
1999: Evaluated to professor competence (WRI)
1999: Nordic Region Men’s Studies Coordinator at NIKK, The Nordic Institute of Women’s Studies and Gender Research, University of Oslo (on leave from WRI)
1999: Evaluated to full professor competence in a WRI evaluation (professors Robert W Connell, Jorun Solheim and Dag Østerberg).
2000-1: Author and freelance projects (on leave from WRI)
2000-3 Critical Research On Men in Europe (CROME, EU FW5, project partner)
2002-4: Work Changes Gender (EU Framework 5, project partner and WP2 coordinator).
2002-5 Velferd, maskulinitet og sosial innovasjon / Welfare, masculinity and social innovation (NCM/Nordic Council Welfare research program, project leader)
2003-6: Kjønn, mestring og deltakelse / Gender, empowerment and participation (Research Council of Norway, project leader)
2004-6: Coordinated Action on Human Rights Violations (CAHRV, EU Framework 6, project partner)
2006 – Fostering caring masculinities (FOCUS EU project) advisor
2006-8 Research director at NIKK, Nordic institute of women’s studies and gender research (two-year leave from WRI position)
2007 – Contributed to start of NGO network initiative, Men against rape
2008 – Professor at the Centre for Gender Research, University of Oslo
Boards, advisory positions, networks
Norwegian Network for Studies of Men initiator 1989, co-ordinating the network in the 1989-91 period, and editing its newsletter Mannsforskning (1989-94).
Member of the board of the Secretariat for Women’s Studie in the Norwegian Research Council (1992-94)
Member of the Norwegian Gender Equality Council (1993-96)
Member of the Research Council (Vetenskapligt råd) of the Swedish Business Academy (Næringslivets Ledarskapsakademi) (98-02)
Supplicant member (1996), member (98-00) of the board of the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of Oslo
1993-2000 Helped initiate the International Association for Studies of Men (IASOM) network. Editor of The IASOM Newsletter (1993 – 2000)
Co-editor of Men and Masculinities (Sage, 1998 – )
Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network associated member (2004 – )
Menn mot voldtekt / Men against rape initiative participant (2007 – )
Research overview
My first study was called The Gender Market (Kjønnsmarkedet) (1980a; 1981a; 1983i), an interview and observation study of partner selection with a focus on gender reification. From 1980 I worked at The Work Research Institute, Oslo, as junior participant in projects on work environments (journalists, teachers, oil sector). Gradually this led to more focused work/family integration projects. I also wrote theory papers like 1982a on gender discrimination as an economic structure, 1982b on heteronormativity and sex (see text), 1984f on gender as forms of value, and 1984d on socialist patriarchy( see text). In 1984 I received a three year grant from the Research Council of Norway, that I used for early historical gender and family system studies.
From the late 1980s, my main field shifted from gender in working life, towards studies of men. In 1988, I designed a survey for the Norwegian Male Role Committee, resulting in 1989a on men in Norway (see also 1989f), and I also published a study of work / family interaction (1990c).
This was followed by a qualitative study of caring men (Holter & Aarseth1993a), theorizing men’s life connections and gender position (the picture shows the Swedish version).
My dr. philos dissertation 1997e contained a social forms analysis of gender-related discrimination patterns, and an attempt to move beyond the feminist critical theory of my 1980s work. Discrimination is not just about “interest”, but also “form”, and in socioeconomic terms this includes gift giving, sharing and redistribution, as well as commodity and capital exchange.
Books from this period include Holter, Karlsen og Salomon 1998 on work life restructuring, and Holter 2003b on men and gender equality in the Nordic experience. Theory papers include 1997a on the rising role of caring, and 2004e on the gendering of violence.
In recent works, I have explored social innovation theory and its possibilities (see eg 2007c and 2007d), as well as more focus on problem areas (see 2009 interview).
Recently
Holter, Øystein Gullvåg; Svare, Helge & Egeland, Cathrine (2009): Gender Equality and Quality of Life – A Nordic Perspective. See text / se tekst
Men and health: Journal of Men’s Health guest editorial
Men against rape interview: Men must take responsibility / Menn må ta ansvar
Recent downloads: “Men and masculinities in conflict and war“, Prio lecture Sept 24, 2008.
Recent archive download: Haukaa, Runa og Øystein Gullvåg Holter: Research as manliness / Vitenskap som mannlighet (1990). In Runa Haukaa og Øystein Gullvåg Holter, eds.: Mannlighet og forståelse (Manliness and understanding) . Rapport fra en konferanse om menn og forskning. NORAS/NAVF, Oslo, p. 8-19
Holter, Øystein Gullvåg; Svare, Helge & Egeland, Cathrine: Likestilling og livskvalitet 2007 [Gender equality and quality of life 2007]. Download survey report (Norwegian)
Holter, Øystein Gullvåg 2008b: Gender and action research.In Berg, Anne Marie; Eikeland, Olav (eds): Action Research and Organization Theory. Peter Lang, Bern.
Holter, Øystein Gullvåg 2008a: Nytt kjønnsforskningsprogram i Norges Forskningsråd. Bulletine 1, 2008, s 16-17. (Outlines why the new gender research program emphasises gender equality theory and what this means.)
Holter, Øystein Gullvåg 2007k. Kjønn som innovasjon og ‘det nye pappasporet’. I: Kvande, Elin; Rasmussen, Bente, red.: Arbeidslivets klemmer – det nye arbeidslivets paradokser. Fagbokforlaget, Bergen. (This is a paper on the ‘daddy track’ in gender equality development).
On new fathers and changing gender contracts: editorial in the Journal of the Norwegian Psychological Association (Holter, Ø 2006e) – See excerpt (in Norwegian).
Recently added to the source materials chapter: dr. philos thesis on social forms analysis (1997e excerpts), on Norwegian families (1993a excerpt); on sexuality (1994g excerpt and 1982b see text), on socialist patriarchy (1984d see text), material from the “Men in Norway 1988” survey, and a 1972/1989 gender equality survey (excerpt).
2004a: “Social Theories for Researching Men and Masculinities: Direct Gender Hierarchy and Structural Inequality”. In Connell, R; Hearn, J; Kimmel, M eds. Handbook of men and masculinities, Sage, Thousand Oaks (2004)
Ferguson, H et al 2004: Ferguson, Harry; Hearn, Jeff; Holter, Øystein Gullvåg; Jalmert, Lars; Kimmel, Michael, Lang, James; Morrell, Robert: Ending gender-based violence: A call for global action to involve men. SIDA Swedish International Development Agency, Stockholm
2004e: “A Theory of Gendercide”. In: Adam Jones, ed.: Genocide and gendercide, Vanderbilt University Press, Norman 2004 (excerpt)
2005a: Work Changes Gender – Men and Equality in the Transition of Labour Forms (co-author). Edited by Puchert, Ralf; Gärtner, Marc & Höyng, Stephan. Barbara Budrich Publishers, Leverkusen
2005e Ar vyrai sugebes? (“Can men do it” Lithuanian edition)
Madsen, Svend Aage; Kaster, Michael; Holter, Øystein Gullvåg; Nielsen, Mette Lykke; Schei, Berit 2005: Gender in professional work with rape victims (Kønnets betydning i det professionelle arbeidet med ofre for voldtægt). Psykologisk og Psykosocial Forskningsenhed, Rigshospitalet, København
Sogn, Lorentzen & Holter 2006: Research on violence in Norway
2007e. Holter, Øystein Gullvåg (red). Män i rörelse. Jämställdhet, förändring och social innovation i Norden (Men in movement – gender equality, change and social inovation in the Nordic region) Gidlunds forlag, Hedemora, Sverige
Views
“But of all materialist analyses of men and masculinity, the most original and far-reaching is the work of Holter (1995, 1997), unfortunately still little known outside of Scandinavia.’ (…) Holter’s ‘social forms analysis’ gives an account of gender, masculinity and femininity, as historically specific features of social life in modernity. They arise not from a timeless dichotomy of bodies but from the specific course of development of the large-scale structures of society.”
Connell, Robert. W.: The Men and the Boys, Polity Press, Cambridge 2000:21-22.
Brief CV
Øystein Gullvåg Holter (b. 1952) is professor at the Centre of Gender Research, University of Oslo. He has a dr.philos. degree in sociology (1997), and has worked as researcher at The Work Research Institute (WRI) and as research director at The Nordic Gender Insitute (NIKK). His research fields include gender equality, gender and masculinities, working life and family studies, and historical sociology. He has published several books in Norway including (translated titles) ‘The Gender Market’ (Pax Oslo 1981), ’Men’ (Aschehoug, Oslo, 1989), ’Work and Family in A Technology Culture’ (Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 1990) and ’Men’s Life Patterns’ (co-author), Gyldendal Oslo 1993. Books in English include ‘Labour of Love’ (co-editor and author), Avebury, Aldershot 1994; ‘Gender, Patriarchy and Capitalism – A Social Forms Analysis’ (dr. philos dissertation, University of Oslo/WRI 1997) and ‘Can men do it? Men and gender equality – the Nordic experience’ (Tema Nord 2003). Organisational experience includes research project and network coordination, Nordic coordination of men’s studies, and membership of boards and committees related to gender equality. Recent projects include “Work Changes Gender” (EU, partner and WP2 research coordinator), “Welfare, masculinity and social innovation” (Nordic, project leader), Coordinated Action on Human Rights Violations (EU, partner), Fostering Caring Masculinities (EU, advisor), and “Gender equality and quality of life” (Norway, project leader).