Washington: A new study has located that idealized types of masculinity amongst guys like energy, influence, and invulnerability may perhaps aid clarify the assistance Donald Trump got in the 2016 presidential election.
According to New Penn State study, American politicians have lengthy been anticipated to uphold a specific veneer: potent, influential, and under no circumstances vulnerable. Across a number of research, the researchers located that when guys and girls endorsed “hegemonic masculinity” — a culturally idealized type of masculinity that says guys really should be powerful, challenging, and dominant — they had been more most likely to vote for and have positive feelings about Trump.
The researchers located this was accurate even when they controlled for a political party, gender, and how significantly the participants trusted the government.
Nathaniel Schermerhorn, a dual doctoral candidate in psychology and women’s, gender, and sexuality research, mentioned the findings — published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America — recommend that even though American society appears to be prepared for a female president, an active rejection of hegemonic masculinity may perhaps require to come about 1st.
“The pervasiveness of hegemonic masculinity exists because we do not always know that our attitudes and behaviors are contributing to it,” Schermerhorn mentioned.
“The success of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign shows that even if we, as a society, have made progress in saying that discrimination and prejudice are undesirable, we have not, as a society, fully interrogated the systematic ways in which those prejudices are upheld.” Because American politics are largely dominated by guys, the researchers mentioned political campaigns normally emphasize traditionally masculine qualities to convince voters of a candidate’s competence and ability.
“Historically, American politics have been a masculinity contest about proving which candidate is better,” Schermerhorn mentioned. “Since the 1980s, the Republican party has used this to their rhetorical advantage by presenting the Republican candidate as masculine and feminizing the entire Democratic party, for example by calling them ‘snowflakes.'”
Theresa Vescio, professor of psychology and women’s, gender, and sexuality research, mentioned Trump’s 2016 campaign was no exception — he normally criticized his opponent’s masculinity and displayed sexist attitudes toward Hilary Clinton even though positioning himself as a challenging, potent and profitable businessman.
Vescio mentioned that even though this may perhaps resonate with voters who share related ideals of masculinity, such attitudes may perhaps not in fact be realistic. “In contemporary America, idealized forms of masculinity suggest that men should be high in power, status, and dominance, while being physically, mentally and emotionally tough,” Vescio mentioned. “But this is an incredibly high standard that few can achieve or maintain. Therefore, this is an idea that many men strive to achieve, but few men actually exhibit.”
Vescio mentioned that even though Trump’s results with voters has been attributed to several distinct feasible variables, she and the other researchers had been especially interested in what extent hegemonic masculinity played a function with constituents.
The researchers recruited a total of 2,007 participants for seven distinct research. In the 1st six research, participants answered queries about their endorsements of hegemonic masculinity, trust in the government, sexism, racism, homophobia, and xenophobia. They also indicated their political affiliation, how they voted in the 2016 presidential election, and their evaluations of Trump and Clinton.
In a seventh and final study, participants answered related queries but also offered data about how they had been going to vote in the 2020 presidential election, as nicely as their evaluations of Trump and Biden.
After analyzing the information, the researchers located that across all research, participants who endorsed hegemonic masculinity had been more most likely to vote for Trump and to evaluate him positively. This was accurate for girls and guys, white and non-white participants, Democrats and Republicans, and across levels of education.
“Additionally, we found that stronger endorsement of hegemonic masculinity was related to greater sexism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and Islamophobia,” Vescio mentioned. “But, hegemonic masculinity continued to predict support for Trump even when controlling for these prejudices.”
Schermerhorn mentioned the outcomes can aid shine a light on how each guys and girls respond to masculine and feminine candidates. He mentioned that for the reason that hegemonic masculinity is embedded in social and political institutions, individuals may perhaps internalize the status quo as advantageous, even when it is not.
“While endorsing hegemonic masculinity predicted a higher likelihood of supporting Trump, it did not necessarily predict negative support for Democratic candidates,” he mentioned. “This could suggest that hegemonic masculinity may actually be a predictor of maintaining the status quo and not the inverse — working against the status quo.”