Men’s Church Groups as Hugboxes

Traditional male associational spaces (lodges, men’s church groups) are increasingly dominated by therapeutic, vulnerability‑focused practices rather than rites of duty, discipline, or coordinated civic purpose. That shift narrows the groups’ capacity to build collective readiness, responsibility, or political cohesion in the way historical male associations did. — If men’s associational life trades coordination for confessional comfort, political recruitment, community resilience, and local civic capacity may be reshaped — with downstream effects on mobilization, crime, and local institutions.