Masculine Republicans and Feminine Democrats: Gender and American's Explicit and Implicit Images of the Political Party

Citation:

Winter, Nicholas J.G. 2010. “Masculine Republicans and Feminine Democrats: Gender and American’s Explicit and Implicit Images of the Political Party.” Political Behavior 32 (4): 587-618. 

Author: Nicholas J.G. Winter

Abstract:

During the past three decades Americans have come to view the parties increasingly in gendered terms of masculinity and femininity. Utilizing three decades of American National Election Studies data and the results of a cognitive reaction-time experiment, this paper demonstrates empirically that these connections between party images and gender stereotypes have been forged at the explicit level of the traits that Americans associate with each party, and also at the implicit level of unconscious cognitive connections between gender and party stereotypes. These connections between the parties and masculinity and femininity have important implications for citizens' political cognition and for the study of American political behavior

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Gendered Discourses, Gendered Power Relations, Governance, Elections, Political Participation Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2010