The political glass cliff: When left-wing orientation leads to minority candidate choices for hard-to-win seats

Aelenei, Cristina; Assilaméhou‐Kunz, Yvette; Iacoviello, Vincenzo; Kulich, Clara

doi:10.1016/j.erap.2019.100514

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Political orientation was assessed using a Likert scale, going from Extremely left-wing (coded 1) to Extremely right-wing (coded 7). At odds with the preceding study, we added the option No political orientation, which was coded as 4, that is, the mid-scale point (see Aelenei et al, 2020; M = 3.84, SD = 1.47). 5 Political orientation and traditional masculinity beliefs were positively and significantly correlated, r(147) = 0.261, p < 001.…”

Section: Political Orientationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Masculinity Beliefs and Political Ideologies on Men’s Backlash Against Non-Traditional Men: The Moderating Role of Perceived Men’s Feminization

Iacoviello

Valsecchi

Berent

et al. 2021

rips

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In most societies, women's and men's behaviors and selfconcepts are shaped by a specific set of gender norms to which they should conform to be considered as 'real men' or 'real women'. Traditional masculinity norms are commonly considered hegemonic; that is, they contribute to men's superiority in the gender hierarchy (Connell, 1995;Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005;Messerschmidt, 2019) and comprise different dimensions, such as toughness, pursuit of status, restrictive emotionality, anti-femininity, and heterosexuality. Even though the literature suggests that these norms may be fading away for the benefit of more progressive norms (Flecha et al., 2013;Thompson & Bennett, 2015;Wade, 2015), research clearly shows that traditional masculinity norms are still prevalent (Duckworth & Trautner, 2019;Messerschmidt, 2019). In the present research, we investigated (heterosexual) men's reactions towards men who display stereotypically feminine behaviors (who deviate from traditional masculinity norms) and their motivations behind these reactions. The Backlash Against Non-traditional MenResearch on the consequences people face when violating gender norms has chiefly focused on female targets. Overall, women are more likely to face backlash (i.e., social and economic sanctions) when behaving in a counterstereotypical way (see Rudman & Phelan, 2008, for a review). In the same vein, the few studies examining the consequences faced by men who do not conform to traditional masculinity norms (i.e., non-traditional men) have also revealed a backlash effect (see Moss-Racusin, 2014, for a review). For example, men who work in roles traditionally associated with women (e.g., elementary school teachers) tend to encounter more adverse reactions from others than women who do the same job (Eriksen & Einarsen, 2004;Heilman & Wallen, 2010;Moss-Racusin & Johnson, 2016). Traditional masculinity norms encompass a range of expectations to which men should conform to be considered as 'real men'. An important characteristic is emotionality, since it is generally considered stereotypically feminine in nature (

show abstract

Section: Political Orientationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Masculinity Beliefs and Political Ideologies on Men’s Backlash Against Non-Traditional Men: The Moderating Role of Perceived Men’s Feminization

Iacoviello

Valsecchi

Berent

et al. 2021

rips

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, the reality is much more fluid, and future work should focus on more complex variations of gender and gendered trait dimensions. Moreover, intersectionality with other social categories such as ethnicity in the context of the glass cliff may bear interesting insights, see for example [ 39 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latter case may occur as an isolated explanatory process [ 37 ], but perceptions of the special competences of women and their direct impact on a company’s functioning could also act in concert with perceptions that a woman is perceived as a signal of change. For example, recent research has shown that choices of ethnic minority individuals for hard-to-win seats in political races may be associated with both actual change (competence based) and signaling change motivations [ 39 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextualizing the think crisis-think female stereotype in explaining the glass cliff: Gendered traits, gender, and type of crisis

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The glass cliff suggests that women are more likely to access leadership positions when organizations are facing a crisis. Although this phenomenon is well established, it is still largely unknown how variations in types of crises influence the strength of the think crisis-think female association, and whether female leaders and leaders with communal gendered traits are both affected by this association. We hypothesized that selection of stereotypically feminine traits (communal leaders) is specific to a relational crisis because of a fit between leader traits and traits required by the situation. We further expected that the selection of women also extends to other crisis situations because other factors such as their signaling change potential may play a role. We investigated the associations that participants made with candidates who varied across gendered traits and gender and between two crisis situations involving problems with either stereotypically feminine (e.g., an internal disharmony) or masculine (e.g., a financial problem) components, and a no crisis situation control. Results from three experimental studies (Ns = 319, 384, 385) supported our hypotheses by showing that communal leaders were most strongly associated with a relational crisis and least with a financial crisis, with the no crisis context situated in-between. This pattern was explained by higher relevance ratings for communal leadership behavior in the relational crisis versus financial crisis context, with the no crisis context situated in-between. In contrast, female leaders were most strongly associated with the relational crisis and least with the no crisis context, with the financial crisis situated in-between. Specific explanatory mechanisms related to the female-crisis association are explored and discussed. Our findings suggest that implicit motivations for valuing feminine/communal leadership and atypical leaders in crisis situations need further research.

show abstract

“…Other indirect tests of the implications of benign versus hostile motives were therefore not possible. However, prior experimental research suggests that rival (benign vs. hostile) motives are likely applicable in the political context, with specific motives likely underpinned by party dependent ideological positions ( Aelenei et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Democratic voters may also infer that women (or other minority) candidates running in conservative districts have more strength or tenacity, given their willingness or persistence to run despite obstacles to minority advancement, and therefore judge them more capable contenders in difficult contexts. Recent experimental research supports this notion, showing left-leaning participants as more likely to choose minority candidates to represent their political party when confronting a difficult to win situation ( Aelenei et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Ideologies Attitudes Sexism and Role Conflictsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Political Ideology Modifies the Effect of Glass Cliff Candidacies on Election Outcomes for Women in American State Legislative Races (2011–2016)

Robinson

Kulich

Aelenei

et al. 2021

Psychology of Women Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research on glass cliff political candidacies shows that compared to men, women are more likely to run for office in districts where they are likely to lose. We examined if party differences in whether female candidates face these worse conditions in the United States could account for persistent and growing party and state variation in women’s representation. Using election data from 2011 to 2016, we compared Republican versus Democratic candidacies at the state legislative level. We found that women in both parties faced glass cliffs in House races, but not in the Senate. For Republican women, glass cliff conditions accounted for worse election outcomes, but Democratic women were more likely to win when these conditions were considered. Variation in party by state measures of glass cliff effects were also found to explain state variation in women’s office holding. We found that for Democrats, more women win when more women run, but for Republicans, more women win only when the seats they face are more winnable. These results point to the role of polarized traditional versus progressive political ideologies in structuring the motives which underlie glass cliff conditions for women in politics, suggesting that practical solutions be tailored to party. To overcome the growing gap in women’s representation, current efforts to increase the quantity of women running would be complemented by a focus on improving the quality of contests they face, with Republican women most likely to benefit. Further research attending to the multiple sources of variation which impact gendered election outcomes can inform more targeted solutions for advancing equality. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/0361684321992046

show abstract

The political glass cliff: When left-wing orientation leads to minority candidate choices for hard-to-win seats

Cited by 6 publications

References 35 publications

The Impact of Masculinity Beliefs and Political Ideologies on Men’s Backlash Against Non-Traditional Men: The Moderating Role of Perceived Men’s Feminization

The Impact of Masculinity Beliefs and Political Ideologies on Men’s Backlash Against Non-Traditional Men: The Moderating Role of Perceived Men’s Feminization

Contextualizing the think crisis-think female stereotype in explaining the glass cliff: Gendered traits, gender, and type of crisis

Political Ideology Modifies the Effect of Glass Cliff Candidacies on Election Outcomes for Women in American State Legislative Races (2011–2016)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About