Masculine Leadership through Succession's Logan Roy: A Content Analysis

Abstract

Masculine leadership roles are represented in the media with a series of set behaviors, these behaviors are linked to idealistic masculine views. The importance of this research lies in examining a powerful male role in the media and using its discrepancies or lack thereof, as a method to continue assessing world views on masculinity. Understanding masculine leadership requires an extensive view on the societal constructs that have created aspects of masculine leadership to remain dominant and assertive, while displaying lack of emotion and relentlessness in a position of power. The research will provide answers to questions regarding competence in masculine leadership styles and understanding why male leaders’ expectations must exhibit behaviors that correlate to traditional male norms. Males tend to be much more represented in the media, through social cognitive theory, it is safe to assume that behaviors focused in the media as masculine are adapted by young male viewers. The research will extend this observation by determining which masculine leadership behaviors are most represented in a successful television development. The analysis conducted includes a quantitative content analysis that summarizes masculine leadership behaviors using the conformity to Masculine norms inventory (CMNI), in the HBO Series Succession’s main protagonist Logan Roy, portrayed by actor Brian Cox. This male figure was chosen based on his leadership qualities which display behaviors seen as masculine, or considered affluent in society, such as an individual with political influence, power, social capital and fundamentally holding a relationship with masculine expression. The results will be based on patterns of behavior in Emotional Control, Risk-Taking, Violence, Dominance, Winning, Self-Reliance, Playboy, Primacy of Work, Power over Women, Disdain for Homosexuals and Pursuit of Status.