Lucas Gottzén

Teaching mainly at the Master's Programme in Child and Youth Studies and courses on Ph.D. level.

Lucas Gottzén is professor of Child and Youth Studies. After his Ph.D. in Child Studies at Linköping University (2009), he has acted as postdoctoral researcher at the University of California–Los Angeles (2009-2010), senior lecturer at Uppsala University (2013-2014) and research fellow and senior lecturer at Linköping University (2010-2015), where he was appointed as "docent" (associate professor) in 2013. In 2015, he joined Stockholm University as a senior lecturer and was promoted to full professor in 2017.

Gottzén takes feminist and critical perspectives on youth, gender and sexuality, particularly focusing on affect and violence. He has also studied food and cooking, fatherhood, family life, intergenerational relations, and school-based violence prevention. His current research is primarily focused on young men, sex and pleasure; the "manosphere" (i.e. online men’s rights activism), and the intersection of masculinity and political extremism.

Gottzén is the author of Av det känsligare slaget (Makadam 2019), which explores the role of affect and gender in young and adult men's intimate partner violence; and Genus (w. M. Eriksson, Liber 2020), an introduction to feminist approaches to, and critiques of the concept of gender. He is co-editor of Andra män: Maskulinitet, normskapande och jämställdhet (w. R. Jonsson, Gleerups 2012); Sociologins teoretiker (w. U. Lögdlund, Gleerups 2014, new rev. ed. 2021); Routledge International Handbook of Masculinity Studies (w. Mellström & Shefer, Routledge 2020); and Men, Masculinities and Intimate Partner Violence (w. Bjørnholt & Boonzaier, Routledge 2021). He has served on the editorial board of Gender & Society, is currently on the board of Boyhood Studies and Gender and Justice. He is also Senior Editor of NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies.

Research projects

Young adults in parental co-residence: Social conditions, experiences and aspirations (Vetenskapsrådet 2026-2028)

Music and Far-Right Extremism Online (MuREX) (Vetenskapsrådet 2025-2027)

YOU-DARE – YOUth Debunking the gendered Arguments of far-Right Extremism (Horizon Europe 2025-2028)

Previous projects:

Masculinity, masculinist politics and political extremism in the Nordic (Nordforsk/ NOS-HS 2023-25)

Young men and sex: between risk and pleasure (Public Health Agency Sweden 2022-2024)

Masculinity and violent extremism (Swedish Center for Preventing Violent Extremism & Swedish Gender Equality Agency 2021-2022)

Parents' and friends' responses to young men's intimate partner violence (Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare 2016-2020)

Evaluation of Mentors in Violence Prevention in Swedish Schools (Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions 2018-2020)

Evaluation of Mentors in Violence Prevention (Swedish National Agency for Education 2015-2017)

Grandparents' responses to intimate partner violence: Children's experiences and perspectives (Children's Welfare Foundation Sweden 2014-2015)

Femicide across Europe (COST Action 2013-2016)

Men’s violence against women in intimate relations: A study of the perpetrators' social networks. (Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare 2010-2015)

International network on responses to interpersonal violence: Research across countries and disciplines. (Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare 2011-2013)

Hegemonic masculinities and men in Sweden and South Africa: Theorizing power and change (Swedish Research Council 2009-2011)

Involved fatherhood and men's parental practices in Sweden and the U.S. (Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare 2009-2010)

A complete list of publications can be found in my CV pdf, 363.8 kB.

In selection:

Gottzén, L., Fangen, K. & Qvotrup Jensen, S. (2026). Masculinity, masculinism and political extremism (Special issue). Journal of Gender Studies.

Gottzén, L. & Switzer, R. (2026). Building the fascist body: Combat sports, violence and masculinity in far-right extremism. Critical Studies on Terrorism.

Areschoug, S. & Gottzén, L. (2026). The inconvenience of heterosex: Young men’s experiences of sexual consent and violations. NORA: Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research.

Gottzén, L. (2025). Exploring the link between masculinity and violent extremism: Remasculinization as individual and political project. Sociology Compass, 19(8), e70100.

Gottzén, L. (2025). Vulnerability, sovereign masculinity and male identity politics in the manosphere. Gender and Justice, 1(1), 13–31.

Gottzén, L. (2025). Big boys hiding in their bedrooms: Exploring representations of men’s arrested development in post-millennium Hollywood cinema. In Lafrance, M., Deslauriers, J-M., Tremblay, G. & Hoebanx, P. (Eds.), The forgotten realities of men: Critical reflections on masculinity in contemporary society (pp. 315–330). Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press.

Gottzén, L. & Areschoug, S. (2025). Young masculinities and political subjectivity in and beyond the manosphere. Young, 33(5), 431–439.

Darwish, M., & Gottzén, L. (2025). The contemplative man: ”Positive” affect and masculinity in ecofascist visual communication. Journal of Gender Studies, doi: 10.1080/09589236.2025.2479797

Botto, M., & Gottzén, L. (2024). Swallowing and spitting out the red pill: Young men, vulnerability, and radicalization pathways in the manosphere. Journal of Gender Studies, 33(5), 596–608.