“What this work shows is that masculinity is not just an ideology that men strive to achieve. It is something that we value as a culture,” said the lead author, Theresa Vescio, professor of psychology and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. at Pennsylvania State University.
“The beauty of masculinity as a cultural ideology is that we can make women participate in it and endorse it, although it is subordinating them. We can make men of color, men of low socioeconomic status and gay men endorse this, even if it is implicitly subordinate, “said Vescio.
That perspective may “explain the rise in Latin and black men supporting Trump … or white women supporting Trump,” said Vescio.
“This is an interesting study, and the results are relatively convincing with respect to the idea that ‘hegemonic masculinity’ predicts candidate and voting attitudes, even after controlling for other variables that we can expect to predict behavior political, “said Christopher Federico, a professor of political science and psychology at the University of Minnesota, who was not involved in the studies, by email.
The results are only observational and cannot show a direct cause and effect, but are in line with previous research that found that “valuing dominance” and placing “low value on cooperation” were predictive of support for Trump, said Federico, who he is also the director of the University’s Center for Political Psychology Studies.
“It makes sense that individuals who value a form of masculinity that emphasizes control, resistance and so on” support Trump, Federico said, adding that “individuals who hold traditional views of gender and traditional beliefs about ‘appropriate’ roles for men and women who have in society tend to support Trump more as well. “
Seven studies in two electoral periods
The researchers questioned more than 2,000 people in seven separate studies over two electoral periods. Six of the studies were conducted by Vescio and his colleague in the days and months after Trump won his battle for the presidency against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. The seventh study was conducted 50 days before the November 2020 election, in which Trump was defeated in former US vice president Joseph Biden.
Participants were recruited from the Pennsylvania State University student pool, as well as from two crowdsourcing applications. Students received partial credit for the class, while the other participants received $ 0.50 or 9.66 per hour.
While a dominant male preference was predictive of support for Trump, “prejudiced attitudes were more consistent predictors of voting,” the study found. “Additional research is needed to fully understand the results predicted by (hegemonic masculinity) versus open prejudice,” said the study.
Matthew Feinberg, associate professor of organizational behavior from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, questioned the fact that the data was collected after Trump’s victory over Clinton in 2016.
“It may be that people’s attitudes, especially towards masculinity, were shaped when Trump became president,” Feinberg said in an email. “Many people covered their noses and voted for him in 2016, choosing to vote for the party of their choice, despite Trump’s behavior and his representation of hegemonic masculinity.
“However, processes such as cognitive dissonance dictate that people often reconcile their attitudes with the behaviors in which they engage,” continued Feinberg. “In that case, people whose attitudes towards Trump and his endorsement of hegemonic masculinity may have convinced themselves that they also have attitudes more aligned with Trump.”
Vescio pointed to the 2020 study that examined attitudes before the election and said that cognitive dissonance does not explain the data he found.
“We cannot discard it completely. But the data is not very consistent with that, because even when we control for Republicans and Democrats, we get the effects beyond that,” she said.
More than ‘precarious’ male identity
The findings from the seven studies also suggest that the endorsement of “hegemonic masculinity” is more predictive of support for Trump than a concept called “precarious male identity” or PMI, where “masculinity is achieved and maintained through continuous behavioral displays. of masculinity “, and” momentary lapses in behavioral displays of masculinity have the potential to threaten masculinity, “wrote the study authors.
Having a precarious male identity has traditionally been seen as the main reason why men may want to ally themselves with Trump, but it does not explain their support among women and some minorities, the study said.
“The underlying idea is that masculinity is more fragile than femininity and needs to be constantly achieved and maintained publicly. Men who feel (or have been made to feel) that their male status is insufficient tend to support Trump more,” Federico said. .
“One reason is that Trump – at least in the persona he plays publicly – exudes an exaggerated dominant masculinity. Supporting him can be a way of borrowing that ethos or exhibiting it one is male for supporting a ‘male’ proxy, “he said.
There are also studies that found that the PMI is associated with other “attitudes of an aggressive nature, such as support for gun culture and militarism”, said Federico, as well as “greater sexism and opposition to equality”.
“To the extent that Trump is seen as a supporter of these positions, people may indirectly end up supporting Trump more because he endorses them,” he added.
However, the fact that the new study found that PMI is less predictive than a preference for hegemonic masculinity makes sense in both sexes, explained Federico.