Annotated Bibliography

Ging, Debbie. “Alphas, Betas, and Incels: Theorizing the Masculinities of the

Manosphere.” Men and Masculinities, vol. 22, no. 4, 10 May 2017, pp. 638–657,

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1097184X17706401,

https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X17706401.

Summary: In this journal, Debbie Ging writes about the various personalities in the

“Manosphere”. It goes into many of the characteristics that define the movement such as anti-

feminist ideas. It also goes into a lot of the differences between the different personalities in the

movement like alpha males and incels and the hierarchy between the various types. Another key

thing this journal researches is where these groups were formed and through what online

mediums they use to communicate and spread.

Evaluation: This journal is important for my research because it gives a good baseline for the

movement which is crucial for understanding how they use rhetoric. In addition, it gives good

information on the hierarchy and differences between each of the personalities in the

manosphere. While I will not be going into Incel culture in my research, I will be citing this

journal multiple times as a good baseline for alpha and beta male behaviors. The journal also

goes into where these groups communicate which is valuable information for me in order to find

good examples of alpha and beta male rhetoric outside of just the top creators and Andrew Tate

and Fresh and Fit.

Mech, L David. “Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs.” Canadian

Journal of Zoology, vol. 77, no. 8, 1 Nov. 1999, pp. 1196–1203, www.wolf.org/wp-

content/uploads/2013/09/267alphastatus_english.pdf, https://doi.org/10.1139/z99-099.

Summary: This article goes into detail about the social dynamics within wolf packs. It goes into

details about how hierarchies are formed for the male wolves in a pack and some of the

similarities and differences between the levels. It talks about how in a wolf pack there is

an alpha male and alpha female that sit at the top and keep all the other wolves in check.

The article also delves into a surprising detail about captive wolf packs vs natural wolf

packs. Captive wolf packs are what most people think of when they think of the male

hierarchy with alpha, beta, sigma, etc. wolves. In these packs, male wolves are often

challenging each other for dominance to become the alpha. Meanwhile, in natural packs,

there is one alpha who is the one that breeds with the females and there are relatively

fewer wolves challenging them to become the alpha.

Evaluation: While my research is focused on the male hierarchy in humans, it is important to

understand how this dynamic works in wolf packs as the original theory behind the male

hierarchy came from a theory concluded by studying wolf packs. It is important to

identify similarities in behavior between alpha males and alpha wolves. In addition the

difference between captive packs vs wild packs could be an interesting thing to look at

and apply to the male hierarchy in humans.

Valdivia, Mateo. “Alpha, Beta, Sigma: A Critical Analysis of Sigma Male Ideology.” Major

Papers, 21 Dec. 2023, scholar.uwindsor.ca/major-papers/283/. Accessed 31 Mar. 2024.

Summary: This research paper is an analysis of the manosphere and more specifically the sigma

male ideology. It goes into great detail about what the core pieces of the Sigma male

ideology are and analyses various videos by Sigma male creators. One of the key

discoveries is that while the views of Sigma males don’t differ too much from other parts

of the manosphere, they are typically politically charged. The paper goes into depth on

what kind of platforms Sigma males use to spread their ideology such as TikTok. They

also go into some things that Sigma males focus on such as the alleged crisis in

masculinity and the importance of being independent.

Evaluation: While this source is biased against Sigma males and the manosphere in general, I

think it provides some good examples of how the ideology spreads and some of the core

principles of Sigma males compared to the rest of the manosphere.

‌J, Ryan. “The Sigma Male (Definition, Strengths, Weaknesses).” QuizHoot, 27 Jan. 2023,

quizhoot.com/sigma-male/.

Summary: This article talks about Sigma males and what their traits are. It does so by comparing

sigma males to other types of males in the hierarchy such as alphas, betas, and omegas. It

talks about the strengths and weaknesses of the Sigma males and how to become a Sigma

male. It also shares a list of celebrities considered to be sigma males such as Steve Jobs

and Leonardo da Vinci and explains why they are considered to be sigma males.
Evaluation: This article talks about the same thing as the previous paper however from the

perspective of a sigma male. The author of this article describes himself as a sigma male

and therefore talks about them in a positive light. While this source is obviously biased

just as much as the other source on sigma males, I think it is important to get a

perspective from both sides to truly figure out what it means to be a sigma and how they

differ from other parts of the male hierarchy.

Ribeiro, Manoel Horta, et al. “The Evolution of the Manosphere across the Web.” Proceedings of

the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, vol. 15, 22 May 2021, pp.

196–207, ojs.aaai.org/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/18053.

Summary: This paper focuses on how the manosphere uses certain mediums to spread their

message and how their methods have evolved over time. It also focuses on a few main

subcategories of the manosphere such as men's rights activists and pickup artists and goes

into detail on what platforms they typically use. The main platform of focus in this

research is reddit because there are a plethora of different communities and it is easy to

see how the subreddits grow and track patterns of migration between the communities

Evaluation: A lot of my primary research will be analyzing clips from manosphere influencers

and content creators however I want to do a little bit based on the rhetoric of the average

person in the manosphere. This article provides examples of communities on reddit and

other internet forums which will aid me in finding examples of this rhetoric. It also shows

how certain communities have grown and shrunk over time and some trends in the

ideologies within the manosphere which could be an interesting angle to explore while

doing primary research.

‌Grant-Davie, Keith. “Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents.” Rhetoric Review, vol. 15,

no. 2, 1997, pp. 264–279, www.jstor.org/stable/465644.

Summary: This article talks about rhetorical situation and the things that make that up. It talks

about the five main components of rhetoric which are exigence, audience, constraints,

purpose, and context. These components are what define rhetorical situation which can be

described as why a piece of rhetoric is the way it is. The article gives examples such as

why a piece of text is written in a certain way with certain diction and patterns as well as

what the meaning really is.

Evaluation: This article is a critical piece of research for my paper since I will be doing a

rhetorical analysis of the manosphere and more specifically alpha and sigma males. This

article describes how to perform the analysis and what to look for while watching/reading

pieces of rhetoric which is crucial for me to understand the rhetoric and what the creator

is trying to accomplish.