Jeff was born and brought up in London, UK, in what was then a working-class area, Charlton, between Greenwich and Woolwich, South-East London, in what could be called a respectable working-class family.
Going to grammar school meant entering the world of the middle classes and was bit of a shock. There, Geography was the favourite subject, so that was what he ended up studying at university, Oxford University – and so an even greater class shock. Social and Political Geography, especially in Southern Africa, was his main concern there. He did his Finals in May ’68, a time of cultural and political change, before turning to Urban Planning and then Sociology, ‘up the road’ at Oxford Brookes University. He worked for a few years in urban and regional planning, first on Social and Economic Evaluation at Hertfordshire County Council, and later on Demography and Housing at Northampton Development Corporation. There, he realised the power and impact of organisations, and so it was back to university to study Organisation Studies at Leeds University, in the north of England – which also introduced the study of groups and group process, diverse notions of career, and the beginnings of gendered approaches to organisations.
The next move was to the University of Bradford, teaching initially social policy, organisations and groups, and sociology, and later gender, men and masculinities, and social theory. It was also at Bradford that Jeff became involved in both studies on gender, sexuality and organisation, working a lot with Wendy Parkin and David Collinson, and (anti-sexist/profeminist) men’s groups, childcare campaigns and local activism. In due course this led to realising the close links and overlaps between personal, political and theoretical questions and agendas. It was also at the University there that he completed his PhD on social planning, social theory and theories of patriarchy, ending after 21 years there as head of department. One of the most important collaborations at Bradford was with Jalna Hanmer in research projects and policy development on men’s violence to women.
In 1995 Jeff moved to the Faculty of Social Sciences at Manchester University, based in Social Policy, the first Professorial Research Fellow awarded in the Faculty. With that move, questions around geographical location revived with a specific interest in transnational processes, in part through involvement in various EU-funded projects, and from 1997 long-running collaborations with colleagues in South Africa. In 2003, he transferred from Manchester to University of Huddersfield, UK, as Professor of Sociology.
In the late 1990s he moved to Finland, and since has had many links in the Nordic region. In 1999 he was a founder member of Profeministimiehet, and activist group of men. This has meant involvement in many European and international projects and collaborations, both academic and policy in orientation. In terms of academic bases, these have included visiting professor at Åbo Akademi University and Tampere University, working at Hanken School of Economics in Finland as Professor of Management and Organisation (now Emeritus), at Linköping University in Sweden as Professor of Gender Studies, where he was also Co-Director of GEXcel Centre of Excellence. In Hanken, he has been founder member of the Gender Research Group, and Research Director, GODESS (gender, organisation, diversity, equality, social sustainability) Institute. He is also currently Senior Professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, based initially in Gender Studies, but since 2022 in Human Geography. In Örebro, Jeff has been a founder member of the Research Group on Critical Studies on Men and Masculinities, and the Centre for Violence Studies. He has previously been: Professor II in Sociology and Human Geography, Oslo University, Norway; Affiliated Professor, Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies, Lund University, Sweden, including as part of the Crisis Research Theme; Professor Extraordinarius, University of South Africa; and visiting professor in many universities. A major international collaboration has been as a co-founder of RINGS: The international Research Association of Institutions of Advanced Gender Studies.
Since initial studies and working in Geography and Urban Planning, the interest in place and space, including social, organisational, virtual and embodied space, has been a strong undercurrent. Having worked over many years in the social sciences, gender studies, organisation studies, social policy, and sociology, a broad critical approach to questions of social and political change has been central. Probably, the most known area of work is critical studies on men and masculinities. There are several other broad areas of long-term interest: organisations, management and work, with special emphasis on gender, sexuality, diversity and intersectionality; violence and violations, especially men’s violence to women and children; information society and ICTs; age and ageing; and international, global and transnational studies, including the implications of decoloniality/postcolonialism for ‘centres’ and the global North. Further research interests include: social theory, methodology, material-discursive analysis; autoethnography, memory work; and cultural studies. Current research focuses mainly on transnationalisations, ICTs, age, men and masculinities, sexuality, violence, work, and organisations.
Most cited earlier books include: ‘Sex’ at ‘Work’, with Wendy Parkin, 1987/1995; The Gender of Oppression, 1987; The Sexuality of Organization, edited with Deborah Sheppard, Peta Tancred-Sheriff and Gibson Burrell, 1989; Men in the Public Eye, 1992, on the historical construction of ‘modern’ men; Men as Managers, Managers as Men, edited with David Collinson, 1996; The Violences of Men, 1998, on interviewing men on violence to women; Gender, Sexuality and Violence in Organizations, with Wendy Parkin, 2001, which also prompted interest in the impact of ICTs; and Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities, edited with Michael Kimmel and Raewyn Connell, 2005, bringing together key work on these studies.
More recent books include Rethinking Transnational Men, edited with Marina Blagojević and Katherine Harrison, published 2013 with Routledge, and the authored book, Men of the World: Genders, Globalizations, Transnational Times completed in 2015 with Sage. A collective book derived from collective memory work with older men, Men’s Stories for a Change, was published 2016, with the US publisher, Common Ground Publishing, and Aging & Society. Revenge Pornography: Gender, Sexuality, and Motivations, with Matthew Hall, was published with Routledge in 2017.
Further recent books include: Engaging Youth in Activist Research and Pedagogical Praxis: Transnational Perspectives on Gender, Sex, and Race, edited with Tamara Shefer, Kopano Ratele and Floretta Boonzaier was published in 2018 with Routledge; The Unsustainable Institutions of Men, edited with Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila, and Marina Blagojević Hughson on men and transnational institutions, for Routledge, 2019; Age at Work: Ambiguous Boundaries of Organizations, Organizing and Ageing, authored with Wendy Parkin for Sage, 2021; Knowledge, Power and Young Sexualities: A Transnational Feminist Engagement, authored with Tamara Shefer, Routledge, 2022; Digital Gender-Sexual Violations: Violence, Technologies, Motivations, authored with Matthew Hall and Ruth Lewis, Routledge, 2023; Routledge Handbook on Men, Masculinities and Organizations: Theories, Practices and Futures of Organizing, edited with Kadri Aavik, David Collinson and Anika Thym, 2024; Routledge International Handbook of Feminisms and Gender Studies: Convergences, Divergences and Pluralities, edited with Anália Torres, Paula Pinto and Tamara Shefer; and Interconnecting the Violences of Men: Continuities and Intersections, edited with Kate Seymour, Bob Pease and Sofia Strid, Routledge, both 2025. The MOOC, Men, boys and masculinities was produced via GRÓ GEST, University of Iceland, with Ann Phoenix, Kopano Ratele and Tamara Shefer in 2024. The latest project is co-editing, with Kadri Aavik, Martin Hultman and Tamara Shefer, a special issue of Norma: International Journal of Masculinity Studies on men, masculinities and the (m)Anthropocene.
