Capitalism made productive ability, not aggression and violence, “cool.” From Ryan McMaken at mises.org:
One of the main fronts in the current culture war in the United States is the debate over “masculinity.” Certain corners of the Left tell us that “toxic masculinity” is a terrible thing. Yet, it’s often unclear whether masculinity is itself necessarily toxic, or if toxic masculinity is just one type of masculinity. How masculinity is defined is essential to the debate, and every pundit wants to define it his or her own way. Thus, David French, in his May 28 column for The New York Times, explains that conservatives are “all wrong about masculinity” largely because they employ a faulty definition of it. Meanwhile, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley has published an entire book about “manhood” and “the masculine virtues,” supplying his own definitions. For its part, the American Psychological Association tells us that “traditional masculinity” is “marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance and aggression” and is “on the whole, harmful.”
While this disagreement over what constitutes masculinity may seem unique to the “woke” wars of the twenty-first century, it turns out this lack of general agreement over what constitutes masculine virtue is not new. Historically, one’s view of masculinity was formed by one’s views of war, the family, the state, and the economy. A society that views military adventures as the most virtuous form of service to society is likely to have a very different view of masculinity than a society that views family, peace, and wealth as the most important building blocks of civilization. Religion matters, too. A first-century Christian defined masculine virtue in a way that was profoundly different from that a Greek pagan.
