The gender gap: Differences in political attitudes and social dominance orientation

Abstract

Survey data over recent decades show men to differ from women on a number of political attitudes and on political party identification. We provide evidence that many such differences can be attributed to individual differences in Social Dominance Orientation (SDO)--preference for inequality among social groups--that are sex linked. Results from a US college student sample (N = 463) and a US 1992 voter sample (N = 478) replicate previous findings of more male support of conservative ideology, military programmes, and punitive policies and more female support of social programmes and equal rights. Consistent with our hypotheses, men were more social dominance oriented than women, and SDO accounted for much of the sex-linked variability in political attitudes, SDO was also a significant predictor of candidate choice in the US 1992 presidential election through its influence on policy attitudes and political ideology. Implications of these results for theories of gender and politics are discussed.