The political significance of fragile masculinity

DiMuccio, Sarah; Knowles, Eric D.

doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.11.010

Cited by 38 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Analyzing player interactions from online video games, they show that competitively oriented but unsuccessful men are significantly more likely to display verbal aggression toward others, and that this behavior is disproportionately directed toward women and minorities. This finding is consistent with the literature in developmental, evolutionary, and personality psychology on the evolutionary significance of status seeking in male behavior and identity formation (Baumeister, Smart, and Boden, 1996; Blazina et al., 2007; Bosson et al., 2009; DiMuccio and Knowles, 2020; Grubbs, Exline, and Twenge, 2014; Jordan et al., 2003; Sapolsky, 2017; Vandello and Bosson, 2013; Vandello et al., 2008).…”

Section: Evolution From Theoretical To Applied Thinkingsupporting

confidence: 88%

Causation and Behavior: The Necessity and Benefits of Incorporating Evolutionary Thinking into Political Science

Mansell

2020

Social Science Quarterly

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Political science now recognizes that both biological and social factors are significant to the expression of political phenomena. While necessary, this development has significant theoretical and methodological consequences. The recognition of biological and social factors complicates, rather than simplifies, the study of political phenomena by requiring a more complex model of behavioral causation.Objective.To adapt to this complexity, political science must familiarize itself with the study of behavior in the life and evolutionary sciences and adopt a consilient behavioral model. Method.To assist with this development, this article familiarizes political scientists with the principles on causation as they relate to behavior. It also reviews the most common approaches to studying behavioral causation in the evolutionary sciences. Conclusion.The article discusses the practical benefits of incorporating evolutionary thinking into the study of politics, including the importance of evolutionary thinking for problems of omitted variable bias.

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Section: Evolution From Theoretical To Applied Thinkingsupporting

confidence: 88%

Causation and Behavior: The Necessity and Benefits of Incorporating Evolutionary Thinking into Political Science

Mansell

2020

Social Science Quarterly

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“…Men may seek higher-prestige occupations than women do due not just to fulfill gender role stereotypes, but to have another basis for demonstrating their status value, [ 117 ] namely, having a high-status occupation [ 2 , 97 ]. In fact, a number of theories of the relation between sexism and masculinity argue that self-motivations are involved [ 44 , 116 ], and those self-motivations make men especially aggressive against women [ 116 , 118 , 119 ] and endorse sexism and sexist political parties [ 120 , 121 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can gender inequality be created without inter-group discrimination?

2020

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Understanding human societies requires knowing how they develop gender hierarchies, which are ubiquitous. We test whether a simple agent-based dynamic process could create gender inequality. Relying on evidence of gendered status concerns, self-construals, and cognitive habits, our model included a gender difference in how responsive male-like and female-like agents are to others’ opinions about the level of esteem for someone. We simulate a population who interact in pairs of randomly selected agents to influence each other about their esteem judgments of self and others. Half the agents are more influenced by their relative status rank during the interaction than the others. Without prejudice, stereotypes, segregation, or categorization, our model produces inter-group inequality of self-esteem and status that is stable, consensual, and exhibits characteristics of glass ceiling effects. Outcomes are not affected by relative group size. We discuss implications for group orientation to dominance and individuals’ motivations to exchange.

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“…Other fields in the social sciences and public health have extensive literatures devoted to the development of masculine and feminine identities and the behavioral implications of perceived threats to gendered identities. In social psychology in particular, the concept of fragile or precarious masculinity, in which manhood (unlike womanhood) is seen as a social state that requires continual proof and validation, has been deployed to explain gendered patterns of aggression, risk‐taking, medical care usage, and political attitudes (Courtenay, 2000; Bosson and Vandello, 2011; Parent et al ., 2018; DiMuccio and Knowles, 2020). Economics, in contrast, tends to treat male behavior as the default from which women diverge in many domains—in this case, male adolescence, in the current case, is simply “adolescence.” This viewpoint may be, to some extent, a reflection of the demographic composition of economics, but a broader willingness to examine masculinity directly will open new avenues for research and for interventions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Educational gender gaps

Lundberg

2020

Southern Economic Journal

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Crosscountry studies reveal two consistent gender gaps in education-underachievement in school by boys and low rates of participation in STEM studies by girls. Recent economics research has shown the importance of social influences on women's STEM avoidance, but male low achievement has been less-studied and tends to be attributed to behavior problems and deficient noncognitive skills. I revisit the determinants of the gender gap in U.S. educational attainment with a relativelyadvantaged sample of young men and women and find that school behavior and measured skills are not very important drivers of gender differences, particularly in the transition to college. Educational aspirations, on the other hand, are strongly predictive of educational gaps and the gender difference in aspirations cannot be explained, even with rich adolescent data that includes parental expectations and school achievement indicators. These results suggest that gender identity concerns may influence (and damage) the educational prospects of boys as well as girls through norms of masculinity that discourage academic achievement.

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The political significance of fragile masculinity

Cited by 38 publications

References 32 publications

Causation and Behavior: The Necessity and Benefits of Incorporating Evolutionary Thinking into Political Science

Causation and Behavior: The Necessity and Benefits of Incorporating Evolutionary Thinking into Political Science

Can gender inequality be created without inter-group discrimination?

Educational gender gaps

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