Armani Beck

Academic Appointments

Postdoctoral Fellow, Society of Fellows
Department of Sociology
Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Affiliate

Armani Beck's interests lie in formal theory construction, most frequently around social patterns of privilege, power, and inequality. At present she is writing a book about the fluidity of male privilege, adapted from her dissertation, "And now I have male privilege!": Transgender Accounts of the Precarity of Privilege Maintenance. Through in-depth interviews with transgender people who have experience being perceived on both sides of the gender binary she drew patterns across who has access to male privilege, whether privilege is fixed or dynamic, and the sociomental and intersubjective process of assigning privilege, particularly when there are socially incompatible characteristics. Armani found that male privilege can be gained, lost, and maintained, that the degree of male privilege one benefits from is dependent on visible or assumable characteristics that conflict with Western hegemonic masculinity, and that domination works both externally (men having privilege relative to other genders) and internally (men having privilege relative to other men). She applied these findings to race specifically in a recently published book chapter titled "Trans Men Navigating Male Privilege and the Complexities Intersectional Identities" in the edited volume Interpreting Identity: Dimensions of Power, Presence, and Belonging.

Armani is also interested in constructing theory using social pattern analysis. She is developing her most recent article into a book, titled "Mononormativity: The Social Elevation of the Singular," which was published as an article in Symbolic Interaction. In this article she argues that "mononormativity," defined by Armani as the normativity of "one-ness" and "singularity" in contemporary U.S. society, reflects the basic ideals of how society is organized. Examples include loyalty (to country, partner, political party, or religion), rigid-mindedness around identity categories (such as stigma against being biracial or bisexual), and elevation of one social identity over others (such as living in affinity housing, the existence of ethnic enclaves, or identifying as a "race scholar").

Armani is extremely passionate about changing society through education and believes that the success of her students is the motivation for her own success. She enjoys teaching courses related to gender, sexuality, race, and mental health.

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Contact

Armani.Beck@dartmouth.edu

Blunt Alum Ctr, Room 301E

HB 6104

Education

PhD, Rutgers University, 2024
MA, Rutgers University, 2021
MEd, Widener University, 2016
BA, The Pennsylvania State University, 2014

Selected Publications

Beck, Armani. (2024) "Mononormativity: The Social Elevation of the Singular" Symbolic Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.693
Beck, Armani. "Trans Men Navigating Male Privilege and the Complexities Intersectional Identities" In Interpreting Identity: Dimensions of Power, Presence, and Belonging. Edited by Wayne H. Brekhus and Susie Scott. Bristol, U.K. Bristol University Press (book under contract, expected publication date 2024).

Speaking Engagements

"Writing FOR those we write ABOUT: Transforming my Academic Dissertation into an Accessible Book" to be presented at the Association for Humanist Sociology. Rochester, NY. 2024.
"Trans Men Navigating Male Privilege and the Complexities Intersectional Identities" presented at the Association of Black Sociologists. Montreal, Quebec. 2024.
"'And Now I Have Male Privilege': Transgender Accounts of the Precarity of Privilege" presented at Culture, Interaction, and the Psychosocial: Exploring the Intersections. Montreal, Quebec. 2024.
"Trans Men Navigating Male Privilege and the Complexities Intersectional Identities" presented at the Brown University Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois: Crossing Boundaries for Social Justice Conference. Providence, RI. 2024.
"Formal Properties of Passing: Directional Passing and Ambiguous Group Membership" presented at the Eastern Sociological Society. Washington, D.C. 2024.
"Mononormativity: The Social Elevation of the Singular" presented at the American Sociological Association. Philadelphia, PA. 2023.
"Formal Properties of Passing: Directional Passing and Ambiguous Group Membership" presented at the American Sociological Association. Philadelphia, PA. 2023.
""And Now I Have Male Privilege:" Stealth Transgender Accounts of the Precarity of Privilege" presented at the American Sociological Association. Los Angeles, California. 2022.
""I Knew I was Being Gendered Female Because People Would Yell At Me:" Transgender Women's Accounts of the Precarity of Privilege" presented at the Rutgers University Graduate Research Symposium. New Brunswick, NJ. 2021.
""Assumptive Rights of Maleness:" Stealth Transgender Men's Accounts of [White] Male Privilege" presented at the American Sociological Association. Virtual. 2021.
""Assumptive Rights of Maleness:" Stealth Transgender Men's Accounts of [White] Male Privilege" presented at the National Association of African American Studies & Affiliates National Conference. Dallas, Texas. 2021.
"[White]-Male Privilege: Stealth Transgender Men's Accounts of Inherited Privilege" presented at the University of Central Oklahoma International Gender & Sexuality Studies Conference. Edmond, Oklahoma. 2019.

Works In Progress

Beck, Armani. "And now I have male privilege!:" Transgender Insights into the Precarity of Privilege. Book Project.
Beck, Armani. "Mononormativity: The Social Elevation of the Singular." Book Project.
Beck, Armani. "Two-For-One: Methodological Innovation and Temporal Division." Article.
Beck, Armani. and Juliana De Oliveira Horst. "The Formal Properties of Passing: Directional Passing and Ambiguous Group Membership." Article.
Beck, Armani, and Miranda Dotson. "Gender Heritage: Non-Binary Reshaping of Social Relations." Article.

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