Zuckerberg Thinks Workplaces Need to ‘Man Up’ − Psych Says That’s Bad for All Employees

“My research, for example, has shown that when men feel pressured to fulfill certain masculine expectations, they can develop fragile masculine identities, which are linked with aggression and anxiety”

FILE - Mark Zuckerberg talks about the Orion AR glasses during the Meta Connect conference on Sept. 25, 2024, in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)
FILE - Mark Zuckerberg talks about the Orion AR glasses during the Meta Connect conference on Sept. 25, 2024, in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)
Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP
Share
FILE - Mark Zuckerberg talks about the Orion AR glasses during the Meta Connect conference on Sept. 25, 2024, in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)
FILE - Mark Zuckerberg talks about the Orion AR glasses during the Meta Connect conference on Sept. 25, 2024, in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)
Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP
Zuckerberg Thinks Workplaces Need to ‘Man Up’ − Psych Says That’s Bad for All Employees
Copy

When Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on a Jan. 10, 2025, episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” he lamented that corporate culture had become too “feminine,” suppressing its “masculine energy” and abandoning supposedly valuable traits such as aggression.

The workplace, he concluded, has been “neutered.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Zuckerberg has also embraced stereotypically masculine pursuits in his personal life. He’s become a mixed martial arts aficionado and has shared his affinity for smoking meats. On his expansive Hawaii compound, he’s even taken up bow-and-arrow pig hunting.

He’s come a long way from the geeky image of his youth.

But is Zuckerberg right? Do workplaces in the U.S. need to embrace a more diesel-fueled, street-fighting, meat-eating mentality?

As a social psychologist who studies masculinity and aggression, I think it’s important to evaluate what the science says about Zuckerbeg’s claims – and to consider what it means for the future of workplace culture in the U.S.

Read the full article on The Conversation.

The deadline to sell two cash-strapped hospitals in Rhode Island is this Friday. There’s a lot on the line, in terms of jobs and health care
The longtime artistic director reflects on building community, surviving industry shifts and why it’s time to pass the baton
Prepare for 1-2 feet of snow, low visibility and wind gusts up to 60 mph from Sunday into Tuesday
Trying to make sense of another senseless act, this time in Pawtucket
The suspected shooter worked at a shipyard in Bath, Maine, but often traveled to Rhode Island
Michael Black describes lunging at the gunman inside Pawtucket’s Dennis M. Lynch Arena, helping jam the weapon and subdue the shooter as other bystanders rushed in — actions police say “undoubtedly prevented further injury” in a tragedy that left three dead and three critically wounded