Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T02:41:13.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Religion, Gendered Authority, and Identity in American Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2016

Erin C. Cassese  and
Mirya R. Holman
Erin C. Cassese*
Affiliation:
West Virginia University
Mirya R. Holman*
Affiliation:
Tulane University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Erin C. Cassese, Department of Political Science, West Virginia University, 316 Woodburn Hall, Morgantown, WV 26506. E-mail: [email protected]; or to Mirya R. Holman, Department of Political Science, Tulane University, 6823 Saint Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118-5669 E-mail: [email protected].
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Erin C. Cassese, Department of Political Science, West Virginia University, 316 Woodburn Hall, Morgantown, WV 26506. E-mail: [email protected]; or to Mirya R. Holman, Department of Political Science, Tulane University, 6823 Saint Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118-5669 E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Religious identity serves as a central cleavage in American politics. However, little attention has been granted to how gendered views of authority conveyed in religious doctrine shape political identities and attitudes. Using a nation-wide sample of adult Americans, we demonstrate that gendered notions of divine and human authority exert considerable influence on political thinking. In particular, belief in a masculine God and preferences for traditional gender roles strongly relate to political conservatism. Adherence to gendered notions of authority influences political identity and policy preferences, even when controlling for more conventional indicators of religiosity. Accounting for gendered beliefs about authority also partially explains well-documented gender gaps in American politics, providing insight into women's apparently contradictory tendencies toward both political liberalism and religiosity. The relationships uncovered here, coupled with the continued salience of both gender and religion in contemporary political campaigns, underscore the importance of attending to the gendered dimensions of authority.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , March 2017 , pp. 31 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2016 

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.)

Footnotes

The authors would like to thank Melissa Deckman, Nichole Bauer, and the Gender and Political Psychology Writing Group for their comments on earlier drafts of this article.

References

REFERENCES

AAPOR. 2011. “Final Dispositions of Case Codes and Outcome Rates for Surveys.” http://www.aapor.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Standard_Definitions2&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=3156 (Accessed on May 17, 2016).Google Scholar
Abramowitz, Alan I. 2010. The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Bader, Christopher, and Froese, Paul. 2005. “Images of God: The Effect of Personal Theologies on Moral Attitudes, Political Affiliation, and Religious Behavior.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion 1:1–24.Google Scholar
Barker, David C., and Tinnick, James D.. 2006. “Competing Visions of Parental Roles and Ideological Constraint.” American Political Science Review 100:249–263.Google Scholar
Baron, R.M., and Kenny, D.A. 1986. “Moderator-Mediator Variables Distinction in Social Psychological Research: Conceptual, Strategic, and Statistical Considerations.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51:1173–1182.Google Scholar
Barringer, Mandi Nicole, Gay, David A., and Lynxwiler, John P.. 2013. “Gender, Religiosity, Spirituality, and Attitudes toward Homosexuality.” Sociological Spectrum 33:240–257.Google Scholar
Bartkowski, John P., and Hempel, Lynn M.. 2009. “Sex and Gender Traditionalism Among Conservative Protestants: Does the Difference Make a Difference?” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 48:805–816.Google Scholar
Baylor University. 2007. The Baylor Religion Survey, Wave II. Waco, TX: Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion [producer].Google Scholar
Brasher, Brenda E. 1998. Godly Women: Fundamentalism and Female Power. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Burke, Kelsy C. 2012. “Women's Agency in Gender-Traditional Religions: A Review of Four Approaches.” Sociology Compass 6:122–133.Google Scholar
Calhoun-Brown, Allison. 1999. “The Image of God: Black Theology and Racial Empowerment in the African American Community.” Review of Religious Research 40:197–212.Google Scholar
Calfano, Brian R., and Djupe, Paul A.. 2011. “Not in His Image: The Moderating Effect of Gender on Religious Appeals.” Politics & Religion 4:338–354.Google Scholar
Cassese, Erin C., and Holman, Mirya R.. 2016. “Religious Beliefs, Gender Consciousness, and Women's Political Participation.” Sex Roles OnlineOnly. DOI: 10.1007/s11199-016-0635-9.Google Scholar
Christ, Carol P. 1987. “Why Women Need the Goddess: Phenomenological, Psychological, and Political Reflections.” In Women's Studies in Religion: A Multicultural Reader, eds. Bagley, Kate, and McIntosh, Kathleen. New York, NY: Pearson, 273–287.Google Scholar
Daly, Mary. 1985. Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
De Roos, Simone A., Iedema, Jurjen, and Miedema, Siebren. 2004. “Influence of Maternal Denomination, God Concepts, and Child-Rearing Practices on Young Children's God Concepts.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 43:519–535.Google Scholar
di Mauro, Diane, and Joffe, Carole. 2007. “The Religious Right and the Reshaping of Sexual Policy: An examination of reproductive rights and sexuality education.” Sexuality Research & Social Policy 4:67–92.Google Scholar
Driskell, Robyn, Embry, Elizabeth, and Lyon, Larry. 2008. “Faith and Politics: The Influence of Religious Beliefs on Political Participation.” Social Science Quarterly 89:294–314.Google Scholar
Eagly, Alice H., and Mladinic, Antonio. 1994. “Are People Prejudiced Against Women? Some Answers From Research on Attitudes, Gender Stereotypes, and Judgments of Competence.” European Review of Social Psychology 5:1–35.Google Scholar
Froese, Paul, and Bader, Christopher. 2008. “Unraveling Religious Worldviews: The Relationship between Images of God and Political Ideology in a Cross-Cultural Analysis.” The Sociological Quarterly 49:689–718.Google Scholar
Froese, Paul, and Bader, Christopher. 2010. America's Four Gods: What We Say about God – and What That Says about Us. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Froese, Paul, Bader, Christopher, and Smith, Buster. 2008. “Political Tolerance and God's Wrath in the United States.” Sociology of Religion 69:29–44.Google Scholar
Gallagher, Sally K. 2004. “The Marginalization of Evangelical Feminism.” Sociology of Religion 65:215–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorsuch, Richard L. 1984. “Measurement: The boon and bane of investigating religion.” American Psychologist 39:228–236.Google Scholar
Greeley, Andrew M. 1988. “Evidence That a Maternal Image of God Correlates with Liberal Politics.” Sociology and Social Research 72:150–154.Google Scholar
Greeley, Andrew M. 1995. Religion as Poetry. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
Griffith, R. Marie. 1997. God's Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Groothuis, Rebecca Merrill. 1993. Women Caught in the Conflict: The Culture War between Traditionalism and Feminism. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.Google Scholar
Haidt, Jonathan, and Graham, Jesse. 2007. “When Morality Opposes Justice: Conservatives Have Moral Intuitions that Liberals may not Recognize.” Social Justice Research 20:98–116.Google Scholar
Hall, Daniel E., Meador, Keith G., and Koenig, Harold G.. 2008. “Measuring Religiousness in Health Research.” Journal of Religion and Health 47:134–163.Google Scholar
Hekman, Susan. 1995. “Subjects and Agents: The Question for Feminism.” In Provoking Agents: Gender and Agency in Theory and Practice, ed. Gardiner, Judith Kegan. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 194–207.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, John P., and Bartkowski, John P.. 2008. “Gender, Religious Tradition, and Biblical Literalism.” Social Forces 86:1245–1272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holman, Mirya R, Schneider, Monica, and Pondel, Kristin. 2015. “Gender Targeting in Political Advertisements.” Political Research Quarterly 68:816–829.Google Scholar
Huddy, Leonie, Cassese, Erin, and Lizotte, Mary-Kate. 2008. “Gender, Public Opinion, and Political Reasoning.” In Political Women and American Democracy, eds. Wolbrecht, Christina, Beckwith, Karen, and Baldez, Lisa. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 31–49.Google Scholar
Hunter, James. 1991. Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Jamal, Amaney. 2005. “Mosques, Collective Identity, and Gender Differences among Arab American Muslims.” Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 1:58–78.Google Scholar
Jelen, Ted G. 1990. “Religious Belief and Attitude Constraint.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 29:118–125.Google Scholar
Kaufmann, Karen M. 2002. “Culture Wars, Secular Realignment, and the Gender Gap in Party Identification.” Political Behavior 24:283–307.Google 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 43:864–887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellstedt, Lyman A., Green, John C., Smidt, Corwin E., and Guth, James L.. 1996. “The Puzzle of Evangelical Protestantism: Core, Periphery, and Political Behavior.” In Religion and the Culture Wars: Dispatches from the Front, eds. Kellstedt, Lyman, Guth, James, Green, John, and Smidt, Corwin. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 240–266.Google Scholar
Kelley, Jonathan, and De Graaf, Nan Dirk. 1997. “National Context, Parental Socialization, and Religious Belief: Results from 15 Nations.” American Sociological Review 62:639–659.Google Scholar
Kinder, D.R., and Sears, D.O.. 1981. “Prejudice and Politics: Symbolic Racism versus Racial Threats to the Good Life.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 40:414.Google Scholar
Klemp, Nathaniel J. 2010. “The Christian Right: Engaged Citizens or Theocratic Crusaders?” Politics & Religion 3:1–27.Google Scholar
Lakoff, George. 2002. Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Layman, Geoffrey C. 1997. “Religion and Political Behavior in the United States: The Impact of Beliefs, Affiliations, and Commitment from 1980 to 1994.” The Public Opinion Quarterly 61:288–316.Google Scholar
Layman, Geoffrey C. 2001. The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, Andrew R. 2014 “Abortion Politics and the Decline of the Separation of Church and State: The Southern Baptist Case.” Politics & Religion 7:521–549.Google Scholar
Mallery, Paul, Mallery, Suzanne, and Gorsuch, Richard. 2000. “A Preliminary Taxonomy of Attributions to God.” The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 10: 135–156.Google Scholar
Mencken, F. Carson, and Fitz, Brittany. 2013. “Image of God and Community Volunteering among Religious Adherents in the United States.” Review of Religious Research 55: 491–508.Google Scholar
Merolla, Jennifer, Schroedel, Jean Reith, and Holman, Mirya R.. 2007. “The Paradox of Protestantism and Women in Elected Office in the United States.” Journal of Women, Politics & Policy 29:77–100.Google Scholar
Miller, Alan S., and Hoffmann, John P.. 1995. “Risk and Religion: An Explanation of Gender Differences in Religiosity.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 34:63–75.Google Scholar
Miller, Alan S., and Stark, Rodney. 2002. “Gender and Religiousness: Can Socialization Explanations Be Saved?” American Journal of Sociology 107:1399–1423.Google Scholar
Morton, Nelle. 1989. “The Goddess as Metaphoric Image.” In Women's Studies in Religion: A Multicultural Reader, eds. McIntosh, Kathleen and Bagley, Kate. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 192–197.Google Scholar
Newport, Frank. 2011. “More Than 9 in 10 Americans Continue to Believe in God.” http://www.gallup.com/poll/147887/americans-continue-believe-god.aspx (Accessed on May 5, 2016).Google Scholar
Norrander, Barbara, and Wilcox, Clyde. 2008. “The Gender Gap in Ideology.” Political Behavior 30:503–523.Google Scholar
Norris, Pippa, and Inglehart, Ronald. 2004. Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ondercin, Heather L., and Bernstein, Jeffrey L.. 2007. “Context Matters: The Influence of State and Campaign Factors on the Gender Gap in Senate Elections, 1988–2000.” Politics & Gender 3:33–53.Google Scholar
Peek, Charles W., Lowe, George D., and Williams, L. Susan. 1991. “Gender and God's Word: Another Look at Religious Fundamentalism and Sexism.” Social Forces 69:1205–1221.Google Scholar
Pevey, Carolyn, Williams, Christine L., and Ellison, Christopher G.. 1996. “Male God Imagery and Female Submission: Lessons from a Southern Baptist Ladies’ Bible Class.” Qualitative Sociology 19:173–193.Google Scholar
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. 2012. “How the Faithful Voted: 2012 Preliminary Analysis.” http://www.pewforum.org/2012/11/07/how-the-faithful-voted-2012-preliminary-exit-poll-analysis/ (Accessed on May 5, 2016).Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D., and Campbell, David E.. 2012. American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Reese, Laura A., and Brown, Ronald E.. 1995. “The Effects of Religious Messages on Racial Identity and System Blame among African Americans.” Journal of Politics 57:24–43.Google Scholar
Scheitle, Christopher P., and Adamczyk, Amy. 2009. “It Takes Two: The Interplay of Individual and Group Theology on Social Embeddedness.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 48:16–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sobel, Michael E. 1982. “Asymptotic Confidence Intervals for Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models.” Sociological methodology 13:290–312.Google Scholar
Stark, Rodney. 2001. “Gods, Rituals, and the Moral Order.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 40:619–636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steensland, Brian, Robinson, Lynn D., Wilcox, W. Bradford, Park, Jerry Z., Regnerus, Mark D., and Woodberry, Robert D.. 2000. “The Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State of the Art.” Social Forces 79:291–318.Google Scholar
Stroope, Samuel, Draper, Scott, and Whitehead, Andrew L.. 2013. “Images of a Loving God and Sense of Meaning in Life.” Social Indicators Research 111:25–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trzebiatowska, Marta, and Bruce, Steve. 2012. Why Are Women More Religious Than Men? New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tolleson Rinehart, Sue, and Perkins, Jerry. 1989. “The Intersection of Gender Politics and Religious Beliefs.” Political Behavior 11:33–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wald, Kenneth, and Calhoun-Brown, Allison. 2014. Religion and Politics in the United States. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Weiner, Bernard. 1985. “An Attributional Theory of Achievement Motivation and Emotion.” Psychological Review 92:548–573.Google Scholar
Whitehead, Andrew L. 2012. “Gender Ideology and Religion: Does a Masculine Image of God Matter?” Review of Religious Research 54:139–156.Google Scholar
Whitehead, Andrew L. 2014. “Male and Female He Created Them: Gender Traditionalism, Masculine Images of God, and Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Unions.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 53:479–496.Google Scholar
Wilcox, Bradley. 2004. Soft Patriarchs, New Men. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Wuthnow, Robert. 1989a. The Struggle for America's Soul: Evangelicals, Liberals, and Secularism. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing.Google Scholar
Wuthnow, Robert. 1989b. The Restructuring of American Religion: Society and Faith since World War II. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Cassese and Holman supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Cassese and Holman supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 156.7 KB