“To be Good as a Manager”: Masculinities and Everyday Life Within Transnational Corporations in Colombia and Ecuador//“Ser bueno como gerente”: Masculinidades y vida cotidiana en corporaciones transnacionales en Colombia y Ecuador

Abstract

This article examines the role of homosociality in the definition of power hierarchies within transnational corporations and the ways by which these firms control the sexual life of their managers to preserve patriarchy. It is based on the ethnographic research that I carried out to study masculinities among corporate elites in Colombia and Ecuador. More than being a good manager, to be good as a manager requires to perform traditional codes of masculinity, to actively participate in male homosocial rituals, and to act both as a sexualized, desirable, heterosexual man and as an exemplary father for the corporate family.