Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T17:33:56.909Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

My Heart Says One Thing but My Head Says Another? Men, Women, and the Psychology of Partisanship in Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2011

Robert Johns ,
Kristi Winters  and
Rosie Campbell
Robert Johns
Affiliation:
University of Essex
Kristi Winters
Affiliation:
Birbeck, University of London
Rosie Campbell
Affiliation:
Birbeck, University of London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The point of departure for this study is the recent work of Burden (2008) on the “gender gap” in partisanship in the United States. He shows that the preponderance of Democratic identification among women is partly a function of the measurement of party identification. When respondents were asked “Do you feel that you are” rather than, more traditionally, “Do you think of yourself as” a Democrat or Republican, the sex gap narrowed to statistical nonsignificance. Burden's explanation for this result lies in the psychology of partisanship. The traditional “think of yourself as” (or cognitive) question primes women to consider their partisanship as a social identity, which in turn activates the stereotypical association between women and the Democratic Party. The “feel that you are” (or affective) question encourages a deeper, more personalized response, rendering social identity less relevant and thereby nullifying the effect of that stereotype.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 193 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abelson, Robert P., Dasgupta, Nilanjana, Park, Jaihyun, and Banaji, Mahzarin. 1998. “Perceptions of the Collective Other.” Personality and Social Psychology Review 2 (4): 243–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Abelson, Robert P., Kinder, Donald R., Peters, Mark D., and Fiske, Susan T.. 1982. “Affective and Semantic Components in Political Person Perception.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 424 (4): 619–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abrams, Dominic. 1994. “Political Distinctiveness: An Identity Optimizing Approach.” European Journal of Social Psychology 24 (3): 357–65.Google Scholar
Alvarez, R. Michael, and Brehm, John. 2002. Hard Choices, Easy Answers. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkeson, Lonna Rae, and Rapoport, Ronald B.. 2003. “The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same: Examining Gender Differences in Political Attitude Expression, 1952—2000.” Public Opinion Quarterly 67 (4): 495–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartle, John. 2001. “The Measurement of Party Identification in Britain: Where Do We Stand Now?” British Elections & Parties Review 11: 1–14 .CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartle, John. 2003. “Focus Groups and Measures of Party Identifications: An Explanatory Study.” Electoral Studies 22 (2): 217–37.Google Scholar
Bassili, John N. 1995. “On the Psychological Reality of Party Identification.” Political Behavior 17 (4): 339–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belenky, Mary Field, Clinchy, Blythe M., Goldberger, Nancy R., and Tarule, Jill M.. 1986. Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Belknap, George, and Campbell, Angus. 1952. “Political Party Identification and Attitudes toward Foreign policy.” Public Opinion Quarterly 15 (4): 601–23.Google Scholar
Bennett, Linda L., and Bennett, Stephen E.. 1989. “Enduring Gender Differences in Political Behavior.” American Politics Quarterly 17 (1): 105–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blais, André, Gidengil, Elisabeth, Nadeau, Richard, and Nevitte, Neil. 2001. “Measuring Party Identification: Britain, Canada, and the United States.” Political Behavior 23 (1): 5–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, Marilyn. 2001. “The Many Faces of Social Identity: Implications for Political Psychology.” Political Psychology 22 (1): 115–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, Marilyn, and Brown, Rupert J.. 1998, “Intergroup Relations.” In Handbook of Social Psychology (vol. 2, 4th ed.), ed. Gilbert, Daniel T., Fiske, Susan T., and Lindzey, Gardner. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 554–94.Google Scholar
Brody, Leslie R. 2000. “The Socialisation of Gender Differences in Emotional Expression.” In Gender and Emotion, ed. Fischer, Agneta. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 24–47.Google Scholar
Burden, Barry C. 2005. “The Social Roots of the Partisan Gender Gap.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Miami.Google Scholar
Burden, Barry C. 2008. “The Social Roots of the Partisan Gender Gap.” Public Opinion Quarterly 72 (1): 55–75.Google Scholar
Burden, Barry C., and Greene, Stephen. 2000. “Party Attachments and State Election Laws.” Political Research Quarterly 53 (1): 57–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burden, Barry C., and Klofstad, Casey A.. 2005. “Affect and Cognition in Party Identification.” Political Psychology 26 (6): 869–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, Nancy, Schlozman, Kay L., and Verba, Sidney. 2001. The Private Roots of Public Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, A., Converse, P., et al. 1960. The American Voter. New York, John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Campbell, Donald T. 1958. “Common Fate, Similarity, and Other Indices of the Status of Aggregates of Persons as Social Entities.” Behavioural Science 3 (1): 14–25.Google Scholar
Campbell, Rosie. 2004. “Gender, Ideology and Issue Preference.” British Journal of Politics and International Relations 6 (1): 20–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Rosie. 2006. Gender and the Vote in Britain. Colchester: ECPR.Google Scholar
Campbell, Rosie, and Lovenduski, Joni. 2005. “Winning Women's Votes? The Incremental Track to Equality.” In Britain Votes 2005, ed. Norris, Pippa and Wlezien, Christopher. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 181–97.Google Scholar
Campbell, Rosie, and Winters, Kristi. 2008. “Understanding Men's and Women's Political Interests: Evidence from a Study of Gendered Political Attitudes.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties 18 (1): 53–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaiken, Shelley, Pomerantz, Eva, and Giner-Sorolla, Roger. 1995. “Structural Consistency and Attitude Strength.” In Attitude Strength, ed. Krosnick, Jon and Petty, Richard. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 387–412.Google Scholar
Chaney, Carole, Alvarez, R. Michael, and Nagler, Jonathan. 1998. “Explaining the Gender Gap in US Presidential Elections, 1980—92.” Political Research Quarterly 51 (2): 311–39.Google Scholar
Childs, Sarah. 2005. “Feminizing British Politics: Sex and Gender in the 2005 General Election.” In Britain Decides: The UK General Election 2005, ed. Geddes, Andrew and Tonge, Jon. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 150–67.Google Scholar
Chodorow, Nancy. 1978. The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, Harold D., Sanders, David, Stewart, Marianne C., and Whiteley, Paul. 2004. Political Choice in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway, Margaret M., Steuernagel, Gertrude A., and Ahern, David W.. 1997. Women and Political Participation. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press.Google Scholar
Crites, Stephen L., Fabrigar, Leandre R., and Petty, Richard E.. 1994. “Measuring the Affective and Cognitive Properties of Attitudes: Conceptual and Methodological Issues.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 20 (6): 619–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delli Carpini, Michael X., and Keeter, Scott. 2000. “Gender and Political Knowledge.” In Gender and American Politics, ed. Tolleson-Rinehart, Sue and Josephson, Jyl J.. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 21–47.Google Scholar
Eagly, Alice H. 1983. “Gender and Social Influence: A Social Psychological Analysis,” American Psychologist 38 (9): 971–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Kari. 1990. “The Interplay of Affect and Cognition in Attitude Formation and Change.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 59 (2): 202–16.Google Scholar
Erikson, Robert S., MacKuen, Michael and Stimson, James A.. 2002. The Macro Polity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fiorina, Morris P. 1977. “An Outline for a Model of Party Choice.” American Journal of Political Science 21 (3): 601–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franklin, Charles, and Jackson, John E.. 1983. “The Dynamics of Party Identification.” American Political Science Review 77 (4): 957–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frazer, Elizabeth, and MacDonald, Kenneth. 2003. “Sex Differences in Political Knowledge in Britain.” Political Studies 51 (1): 67–83.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Carol. 1982. In a Different Voice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Green, Donald, Palmquist, Bradley, and Schickler, Eric. 2002. Partisan Hearts and Minds: Political Parties and the Social Identity of Voters. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Greene, Steven. 1999. “Exploring the Structure of Party Identification: The Cognitive, Affective, and Social Identity Components of Partisanship.” Unpublished Ph.D. diss. Ohio State University.Google Scholar
Greene, Steven. 2002. “The Social-Psychological Measurement of Partisanship.” Political Behavior 24 (3): 171–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greene, Steven. 2004. “Social Identity Theory and Party Identification.” Social Science Quarterly 85 (1): 136–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greene, Steven, and Elder, Laurel. 2001. “Gender and the Psychological Structure of Partisanship.” Women & Politics 22 (1): 63–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grossman, Michele, and Wood, Wendy. 1993. “Sex Differences in Intensity of Emotional Experience: A Social Role Interpretation.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 65 (5): 1010–22.Google Scholar
Hagenaars, Jacques A. 1990. Categorical Longitudinal Data. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Heath, Anthony, Jowell, Roger, and Curtice, John. 2001. The Rise of New Labour: Party Policies and Voter Choices. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Herrmann, Richard K., Tetlock, Philip E., and Visser, Penny S.. 1999. “Mass Public Decisions to Go to War: A Cognitive-Interactionist Framework.” American Political Science Review 93 (3): 553–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malhotra, N. and Krosnick, J. 2007. “The Effect of Survey Mode and Sampling on Inferences about Political Attitudes and Behavior: Comparing the 2000 and 2004 ANES to Internet Surveys with Nonprobability Samples.” Political Analysis 15 (3): 286–323.Google Scholar
Kam, Cindy D. 2009. “Gender and Economic Voting, Revisited.” Electoral Studies 28 (4): 615–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufmann, Karen M., and Petrocik, John R.. 1999. “The Changing Politics of American Men: Understanding the Sources of the Gender Gap.” American Journal of Political Science 43 (3): 864–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, Caroline. 1988. “Intergroup Differentiation in a Political Context.” British Journal of Social Psychology 27 (4): 319–32.Google Scholar
Kelly, Caroline. 1989. “Political Identity and Perceived Intragroup Homogeneity.” British Journal of Social Psychology 28 (3): 239–50.Google Scholar
Key, V. O. 1966. The Responsible Electorate. New York: Vintage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinder, Donald. 1994. “Reason and Emotion in American Political Life.” In Beliefs, Reasoning and Decision Making, ed. Shank, Roger C. and Langer, Ellen. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 277–314.Google Scholar
Klingemann, Hans-Dieter, and Wattenberg, Martin. 1992. “Decaying versus Developing Party systems.” British Journal of Political Science 22 (2): 131–50.Google Scholar
Krosnick, Jon A., and Schuman, Howard. 1988. “Attitude Intensity, Importance, and Certainty and Susceptibility to Response effects.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54 (6): 940–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lodge, Milton, and Hamill, Ruth. 1986. “A Partisan Schema for Information processing.” American Political Science Review 80 (2): 505–19.Google Scholar
Marcus, George E. 1988. “The Structure of Emotional Response: 1984 Presidential Candidates.” American Political Science Review 83 (3): 737–62.Google Scholar
Millar, Murray G., and Tesser, Abraham. 1986. “Effects of Affective and Cognitive Focus on the Attitude-Behavior Relation.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 51 (2): 270–76.Google Scholar
Miller, Dale T., Taylor, Brian, and Buck, Michelle L.. 1991. “Gender Gaps: Who Needs to Be Explained?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 61 (1): 5–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mondak, Jeffrey J., and Anderson, Mary R.. 2004. “The Knowledge Gap: A Reexamination of Gender-Based Differences in Political knowledge.” Journal of Politics 66 (2): 492–512.Google Scholar
Mueller, Carol, ed. 1988. The Politics of the Gender Gap. Beverley Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Neely, Francis. 2007. “Party Identification in Emotional and Political Context: A Replication.” Political Psychology 28 (6): 667–88.Google Scholar
Norrander, Barbara. 1997. “The Independence Gap and the Gender Gap.” Public Opinion Quarterly 61 (3): 464–76.Google Scholar
Norris, Pippa. 1993. “The Gender-Generation Gap in British Elections.” In British Elections and Parties Yearbook 1993, ed. Denver, D., Norris, P., Broughton, D., and Rallings, C.. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 129–42.Google Scholar
Norris, Pippa. 1999. “Gender, a Gender-Generation Gap?” In Critical Elections, ed. Evans, Geoff and Norris, Pippa. London: Sage, 148–63.Google Scholar
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/apr/08/budget2003.budget (Accessed June 10, 2010).Google Scholar
Popkin, Samuel L. 1991. The Reasoning Voter. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Rahn, Wendy. 1993. “The Role of Partisan Stereotypes in Information Processing about Political Candidates.” American Journal of Political Science 37 (2): 472–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, Michael D., and Clore, Gerald L.. 2002. “Belief and Feeling: Evidence for an Accessibility Model of Emotional Self-Report.” Psychological Bulletin, 128 (6): 934–60.Google Scholar
Sanders, David, Burton, Jonathan, and Kneeshaw, Jack. 2002. “Identifying the True Identifiers: A Question Wording Experiment.” Party Politics 8 (2): 193–205.Google Scholar
Sanders, David, Clarke, Harold D., Stewart, Marianne C., , M. and Whiteley, Paul. 2007. “Does Mode Matter for Modeling Political Choice? Evidence from the 2005 British Election Study.” Political Analysis 15 (3): 257–85.Google Scholar
Sapiro, Virginia. 1983. The Political Integration of Women. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Schuman, Howard, and Presser, Stanley. 1981. Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Schwarz, Norbert, and Böhner, Gerd. 2002. “The Construction of Attitudes.” In Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology (vol. 1), ed. Tesser, Abraham and Schwarz, Norbert. Oxford: Blackwell, 436–57.Google Scholar
Tajfel, Henri. 1981. Human Groups and Social Categories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tourangeau, Roger, Rips, Lance, and Rasinski, Kenneth. 2000. The Psychology of Survey Response. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Eijk, Cees. 2002. “Design Issues in Electoral Research: Taking Care of Core Business.” Electoral Studies 21 (2): 189–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisberg, Herbert F., and Greene, Steven. 2003. “The Political Psychology of Party Identification.” In Electoral Democracy, ed. Mackuen, Michael B. and Rabinowitz, George. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 83–124.Google Scholar
Welch, Susan, and Hibbing, John. 1992. “Financial Conditions, Gender, and Voting in American National Elections.” Journal of Politics 54 (1): 197–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winters, Kristi, and Campbell, Rosie. 2007. “Measuring Gender: Moving Beyond Sex as a Proxy. Presented at the Annual Conference of the PSA Women and Politics Specialist Group, Birkbeck College, London.Google Scholar
Zaller, John R. 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar