Review of “Gendered Pluralism”

Abstract

Are women united or divided in US politics? Is gender a “fault line” in Americans’ public opinion and policy attitudes? Sociologist Belinda Robnett and political scientist Katherine Tate explore these questions in Gendered Pluralism. Analyzing the 2012 Outlook on Life Survey dataset, the authors explore pluralism, intersectionality, and identity politics as relevant to the ways in which Americans respond to public policy issues. Investigating how socio-political and demographic factors, as well as gender, race, and sexuality, may influence public policy attitudes, the authors assert that gender is a consistent divider of opinions in US politics and yet, women’s attitudes still vary by their intersectional social locations and experiences. The book is organized to explore specific dimensions of gender, race, and sexuality and related factors that shape public opinion in each chapter. After establishing the theoretical framework and research problems in the first chapter, Robnett and Tate first explore gender as a fault line in US politics. In chapter 2, the authors examine potential gender and racial differences in the perceived attainability of the American Dream and how such perception may further vary by differing levels of feminist support, partisan affiliation, and political ideologies. Although they did not find meaningful gender differences in the American Dream outlook, political ideology and class were found to significantly shape this outlook. On the other hand, the second chapter explores the impact of marital status and outlook on American policy opinion and show contextual gender differences as well as a significant division among women. Though some policy agenda focusing on family and gender seem to bring women together regardless of their political orientation and marital status, the authors find that “married, white women belong to a different political tribe” (p.66).