Parenthood and the polarisation of political attitudes in Europe

Banducci, Susan; Elder, Laurel; Greene, Steven; Stevens, Daniel

doi:10.1111/1475-6765.12160

Cited by 28 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…While parenthood has no effect on attitudes among women towards gay marriage, fathers are notably more conservative on the issue compared to non-fathers (Elder and Greene 2012). Recent work from Banducci et al (2016), based on data from the European Social Survey, similarly finds that parenthood can have a polarizing effect on attitudes among men and women. The strongest indication of this was found in countries where there is less state-subsidized support for parental responsibilities, emphasizing the importance of understanding the politics of pregnancy in different contexts.…”

Section: Previous Research and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Can you deliver a baby and vote? The effect of the first stages of parenthood on voter turnout

Bahtti

Hansen

Naurin

et al. 2018

Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties

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Becoming a parent is a profound change in one's life that likely has consequences for political mobilization. This paper focuses on the earliest stages of parenthood, which have rarely been theorized nor empirically investigated. Close to childbirth, there may be substantial demobilizing effects due to hospital stays, immediate childcare responsibilities, parenting distress and the physical burden of pregnancy and childbirth. It is unclear how sizeable these effects are on political demobilization as well as the extent to which they are long-lasting. Based on two individual-level register datasets from Denmark and Finland, we compare the voter turnout among parents in local elections across different dates of childbirth. We find a robust negative short-term effect. We also find that the recovery periods after childbirth are differentiated by gender, illustrating a somewhat stronger demobilizing effect of early stages of motherhood compared to the early stages of fatherhood. There are also some indications that recovery periods after childbirth are slower for women with higher socioeconomic backgrounds. Our study shows that childbearing and childbirth have strong demobilizing, although mostly temporary, implications for electoral participation, even in these strong welfare states.

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Section: Previous Research and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Can you deliver a baby and vote? The effect of the first stages of parenthood on voter turnout

Bahtti

Hansen

Naurin

et al. 2018

Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Here, there is a relevant distinction between policy‐specific attitudes and more general attitudes. Policy attitudes include attitudes related to policies, e.g., spending preferences, government responsibility attribution, and support toward welfare state policies (Banducci, Elder, Greene, & Stevens, ; Barabas, ; Busemeyer & Neimanns, ; Gingrich & Ansell, ; Jordan, ; Soss & Keiser, ). Soss and Keiser (), for example, show that the generosity of public assistance programs shapes the direction of citizens’ demands on the welfare system.…”

Section: Outcomes and Mechanisms In Policy Feedback Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policy Feedback Effects on Mass Publics: A Quantitative Review

Larsen¹

2018

Policy Studies Journal

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There has been an impressive stride in the research on policy feedback effects on mass publics over recent years. However, we lack systematic evidence on how large such policy feedback effects are in the literature. This article provides a review of 65 published studies and quantifies the findings and key themes in the policy feedback literature. The results show a great degree of heterogeneity in the domains and outcomes being studied and in the effects of policies on the public. In line with the findings from narrative reviews, feedback effects are greater for outcomes related to political participation and engagement. Last, the review sheds light on important theoretical and methodological limitations to be addressed in future research.

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“…Policy context has also been shown to affect the gender gap in attitudes. For example, the European countries with the lowest levels of support for parental responsibilities simultaneously display the largest gender polarization in policy preferences (Banducci et al, 2016). More importantly, other comparative research has shown that while the gender division of labour relates to differences in experiences of work–family conflict and attitudes towards gender roles, this is in turn moderated by family policy context (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The gender gap in welfare state attitudes in Europe: The role of unpaid labour and family policy

Goossen

2020

Journal of European Social Policy

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Previous research has shown a prevailing ‘modern gender gap’ in socio-political attitudes in advanced capitalist economies. While numerous studies have confirmed gender differences in attitudes towards the welfare state in Europe, few have addressed the reason for this rift in men’s and women’s views about the role of government in ensuring the general welfare of citizens. In this article, I examine the relationship between gender equality in unpaid labour, family policy and the gender gap in welfare state attitudes. Based on data from 21 countries participating in the European Social Survey (ESS) Round 4, and using a mix of country- and individual-level regression models and multilevel models, I find that there is a clear relationship between country-level gender equality in unpaid labour and gender differences in support of an encompassing welfare state. A more equal distribution of unpaid care and domestic work correlates with women being increasingly supportive of a large and encompassing welfare state, in comparison with men. This pattern holds when controlling for individual-level economic risk and resources, cultural factors such as trust and social values traditionally related to the support of an encompassing welfare state, and beliefs about welfare state efficiency and consequences for society in general. This pattern is evident for countries with a low level of familistic policies, while no distinguishable pattern is discernible for highly familistic countries. These findings have implications for the perception of gender as an emergent social cleavage with respect to welfare state attitudes. The results are discussed in the light of institutional theories on policy feedback, familism, social role theory and previous findings relating to modernization theory and ‘gender realignment’.

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Parenthood and the polarisation of political attitudes in Europe

Cited by 28 publications

References 43 publications

Can you deliver a baby and vote? The effect of the first stages of parenthood on voter turnout

Can you deliver a baby and vote? The effect of the first stages of parenthood on voter turnout

Policy Feedback Effects on Mass Publics: A Quantitative Review

The gender gap in welfare state attitudes in Europe: The role of unpaid labour and family policy

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