“What this work shows is that masculinity is not just an ideology that men strive for. It is something we value as a culture,” said lead author Theresa Vescio, a professor of psychology and women, gender and sexuality studies at the Pennsylvania State University, said.
“The beauty of masculinity as a cultural ideology is that we can get women to participate and endorse it, even though it makes them subordinate. We can endorse men of color, men with low socio-economic status, gay men, even if it is implicitly subordinate. , ‘Said Vescio.
This perspective may ‘explain’ the increase in Latino and black men who support Trump … or white women who support Trump, ‘Vescio said.
“This is an interesting study, and the results are quite convincing in terms of the idea that ‘hegemonic masculinity’ predicts voting and candidate attitudes, even after we have chosen other variables that we would expect to predict political behavior,” he said. Christopher Federico, a professor, said. political science and psychology at the University of Minnesota, who were not involved in the studies, by email.
The results are only observational and can not show a direct cause and effect, but are consistent with previous research that found that ‘the appreciation of dominance’ and ‘low value of cooperation’ were placed was predictable for Trump ” says Federico, who is also the director of the Center for the Study of Political Psychology at the university.
“It makes sense that individuals who value a form of masculinity that emphasizes control, toughness, etc.” will support Trump, Federico said, adding that “individuals who share traditional views of gender and traditional beliefs about the ‘right’ roles for men pay homage. and women in society tend to support Trump more as well. ‘
Seven studies over two election periods
Researchers surveyed more than 2,000 people in seven separate studies over two election periods. Six of the studies were conducted by Vescio and her entourage in the days and months after Trump won his battle for the presidency over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016. The seventh study was conducted 50 days before the November 2020 election, in which Trump was defeated. by former US vice president Joseph Biden.
Participants were recruited from the Pennsylvania State University student pool, as well as two applications for crowdsourcing. Students received partial credit credits, while the other participants paid $ 0.50 or 9.66 per hour.
While a male-dominated preference predicted support for Trump, “biased attitudes were more consistent predictors of votes,” the study found. “Additional research is needed to fully understand the outcomes predicted by (hegemonic masculinity) versus overt prejudice,” the study said.
Matthew Feinberg, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, objected to the data being collected after Trump’s 2016 victory over Clinton.
“It could be that people’s attitudes, especially about masculinity, have been shaped by Trump becoming president,” Feinberg said in an email. ‘A lot of people held their noses and voted for him in 2016 and chose to vote for their preferred party, despite Trump’s behavior and his representation of hegemonic masculinity.
“However, processes such as cognitive dissonance determine that people regularly reconcile their attitudes with behaviors in which they participated,” Feinberg continued. “If that were the case, people whose attitude toward Trump and his endorsement of hegemonic masculinity might have convinced themselves that they also have more attitudes toward Trump.”
Vescio pointed to the 2020 study that examined attitudes before the election, saying that cognitive dissonance does not explain the data.
“We can not completely rule it out. But the data does not quite agree with that, because even if we control for Republicans and Democrats, we get the consequences above and beyond that,” she said.
More than ‘insecure’ male identity
Findings from the seven studies also suggest that endorsement of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is more predictable for support for Trump than a concept called ‘uncertain masculine identity’ or PMI, in which ‘masculinity is earned and maintained through continuous behavioral displays of masculinity’, and “Instant decay into masculine masculine behavior has the potential to threaten masculinity,” the study’s authors wrote.
The survey has traditionally seen this as an important male identity as a major reason why men want to join Trump, but it does not explain his support among women and some minorities.
“The underlying idea is that masculinity is more fragile than femininity, and that it must be constantly earned and maintained in public. Men who feel (or are led to feel) that their status as men is inadequate tend to Trump more to support, “Federico said. said.
“One reason is that Trump – at least in the persona he performs in public – radiates an exaggerated dominant masculinity. Supporting him can therefore be a way to borrow or show the ethos. one is male by supporting a ‘male’ proxy, ‘he said.
There are also studies that have found that PMI is linked to other ‘attitudes of an aggressive nature, such as support for gun culture and militarism’, Federico said, as well as to ‘greater sexism and opposition to equality’.
“To the extent that Trump is seen as supportive of these positions, people may end up indirectly supporting Trump more because he believes it will endorse it,” he added.
However, the fact that PMI in the new study is less predictable than a preference for a hegemonic masculinity makes sense in both sexes, Federico explained.