Lone Wolf by Adam Weymouth: Ideology and Politics behind the Alpha Male Complex.
If you use social media at all, you have surely come across a ripped young man wearing a three-piece suit teaching you how to be an “alpha male”. This kind of content directed to teenagers and young men is flooding short-form video platforms, such as Instagram Reels and Tik-Tok. The image of manhood it promotes is that of a solitaire, dominant, and, most of the time, misogynistic man. This is supposed to mimic the behaviour of alpha male wolves, but what most of these content creators don’t know is that alpha male wolves are nothing but a myth created by fascism.
English journalist and author Adam Weymouth investigates the consequences of the return of this furry, four-legged animal to Europe in his latest book, Lone Wolf, by following the footsteps (or “pawsteps”) of Slavc. This Slovenian-born wolf embarked on an epic 1000-mile-long journey from his home to the Italian Alps, a century-old wolf ridden area. There, he settles and forms his own pack. More than a decade later, Weymouth walks the same path, interviewing locals about their opinion on the return of wolves and thoroughly examining the continent’s relationship with these animals (spoiler: it’s not good).
In the book, Weymouth tells the origin story of the concept of “alpha males”. Nazi-aligned biologist Rudolph Schenkel started studying wolf behaviour in 1934, publishing his observations in Expression Studies on Wolves. He concluded that wolf packs are led by an alpha male, coining the term, with the rest of the wolves being his subordinates, wolves of ‘another race,’ in his own words. However, he based this study on the behaviour of ten wolves from different zoos, all of which he had held in a 10×20 enclosure. It is hard to imagine less “natural” conditions. Nowadays, we know there is no such thing as alpha wolves in the wild. Packs behave more like families, with two parents caring for their offspring, who later form their own packs, as Slavc does.
Despite science’s claim to neutrality, most of the time it is shaped by political context, and Schenkel’s ideas were clearly influenced by a fascist ideology. His hypothesis focuses on competition rather than cooperation and differences between what he calls “races” of wolves, a very politically loaded word, especially in Europe during the 30s.
It is not far-fetched to believe that the return of the“alpha male” archetype and the uprising of far-right movements all across European countries isn’t a coincidence. Moreover, the ones projecting these views of “what a man should be” on social media are the youth, who are precisely the main demographic of far-right party voters.
These young men’s discourse also recalls other fascist ideas, such as the romanization of the past and the belief in a “natural” hierarchy. They wish to go back to a time when feminism and wokeness didn’t threaten their status, when gender roles were clear, and everyone followed them. Weymouth explains how, for the far-right, wolves embody their values, with their iron rule, their bravery, their loyalty to the pack, and their monogamy and devoted parentship. Yet, at the same time, they are against their repopulation. Wolves are blamed for all the hardships that workers in the countryside face, as if they were not abandoned by politicians before the arrival of these canine “immigrants”, a very politically loaded word, especially in Europe in the 21st century.
By tracing the origin of the alpha male complex and analysing its content, we realize that it not only spreads and encourages toxic masculinity, but it also carries extreme political messages that reach millions of young people through social media. It is part of a larger reactionary movement opposing much-needed social changes brought forward by feminism and other social rights movements. As Weymouth shows us in his book, whenever the winds of change blow, there will always be people trying to fight against them.
Image Credit: Cover of the book from the Crown Publishing Group edition, taken from Adam Weymouth
