“If Your Manhood Is Threatened, You Have to Fight Back”: A Review on Capitalist Masculinity and Mass Shooting Literature

ABSTRACT This review examines how capitalist structures and gender ideologies combine to shape modern forms of masculine identity and contribute to the emergence of mass shootings in the United States. Integrating Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity with Marx's theory of alienation and historical‐materialist feminist critiques, it introduces the notion of “capitalist masculinity” as a state‐enforced ideal linking male worth to economic provision, dominance, and emotional restraint. Drawing on empirical data from the Violence Project and the National Institute of Justice, the review demonstrates that young men facing economic precarity and social isolation are disproportionately represented among mass shooters. It further explores how online subcultures and echo chambers validate extremist ideologies and model violent scripts. By situating violence within a structural and intersectional framework, this work challenges explanations that focus solely on individual pathology or firearm access. The review concludes that addressing mass shootings requires both policy reform and a fundamental reimagining of masculine norms under capitalism.