Political Knowledge Gaps Research Articles

Do gender quotas increase political knowledge?

AbstractDo gender quotas increase political knowledge? While some studies suggest that quotas can positively impact women's political engagement and participation, others find null or negative effects. This paper focuses on Western Europe and argues that the implementation of quotas serves as an attention and consciousness‐raising event, potentially enhancing awareness of the political sphere. To investigate this, I propose a novel research design that capitalizes on the (quasi) exogenous shock resulting from the introduction of gender quotas. By influencing symbolic representation, quotas may enhance women's sense of empowerment, equality and willingness to engage in politics. Furthermore, the impact is expected to be more pronounced among younger women due to the heightened political socialization experienced during adolescence. Thus, the institutional change brought about by quotas is anticipated to particularly boost political knowledge among (younger) women and subsequently narrow the gender gap. To examine this hypothesis, I analyse data from 1992 to 2018 from 12 countries, of which six implemented gender quotas. Using a hierarchical Bayesian model, I assess respondents' answers to knowledge questions. The findings indicate that the introduction of gender quotas in parliamentary systems has a positive effect on reducing the gender gap in political knowledge among younger individuals, while the effects are statistically insignificant for older citizens.

Better Informed or Stay Naïve? Revisiting Different Types of Selective Exposure and the Impact on Political Learning

ABSTRACT This study extends the concept of selective exposure by examining different types of selectivity, including topical selectivity (entertainment vs. hard news), information channel selectivity (social media vs. traditional media), and ideological selectivity (like-minded vs. cross-cutting exposure). Drawing on a two-wave panel survey of American netizens (N = 834), this study revisits the debate about the potential of selective exposure to enhance or erode political learning. Results show that both topical and information channel selectivity directly reduce audience’s political knowledge while ideological selectivity does not significantly affect political learning. Topical selectivity reduces political knowledge indirectly through decreased offline political discussion, while ideological selectivity enhances political knowledge gain indirectly through increased offline political discussion. Online political discussion fails to mediate the relationships between all three types of selectivity and political knowledge since it does not have a significant relationship with political knowledge. The findings imply that the prevalence of entertainment media and social media use may even enlarge existing political knowledge gaps. In addition, the political knowledge gained by ideological selective exposure is also dangerous because it could be less comprehensive, unbalanced, and attitudinally biased.

A matter of content: overcoming the gender gap in political knowledge, expression of knowledge, and interest

Abstract Data systematically depict women as less knowledgeable, interested, and apt to provide a valid answer to questions about politics. These three gaps – the knowledge, the political interest, and the expression of knowledge gap – are related to a discriminatory way of measuring political knowledge and interest, which conceptually juxtaposes the more general concept of knowledge and interest in politics to that of knowing about, or taking an interest in, political institutions. This narrows the measurement to topics that men are more interested in. In this experimental study, the focus is shifted from political institutions to a wider understanding of what can be a political issue. It reveals that women's knowledge disadvantage and hesitancy in answering to knowledge questions, together with men's higher levels of interest, are most likely conditional to this traditional interpretation of the term politics.

Women Also Know Stuff: Challenging the Gender Gap in Political Sophistication

This article proposes a simple but powerful framework to measure political sophistication based on open-ended survey responses. Discursive sophistication uses automated text analysis methods to capture the complexity of individual attitude expression. I validate the approach by comparing it to conventional political knowledge metrics using different batteries of open-ended items across five surveys spanning four languages (total $ N\approx 35,000 $). The new measure casts doubt on the oft-cited gender gap in political knowledge: women might know fewer facts about institutions and elites, but they do not differ substantively in the sophistication of their expressed political attitudes.

Does Stereotype Threat Contribute to the Political Knowledge Gender Gap? A Preregistered Replication Study of Ihme and Tausendpfund (2018)

AbstractThe gender gap in political knowledge is a well-established finding in Political Science. One explanation for gender differences in political knowledge is the activation of negative stereotypes about women. As part of the Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence (SCORE) program, we conducted a two-stage preregistered and high-powered direct replication of Study 2 of Ihme and Tausendpfund (2018). While we successfully replicated the gender gap in political knowledge – such that male participants performed better than female participants – both the first (N = 671) and second stage (N = 831) of the replication of the stereotype activation effect were unsuccessful. Taken together (pooled N = 1,502), results indicate evidence of absence of the effect of stereotype activation on gender differences in political knowledge. We discuss potential explanations for these findings and put forward evidence that the gender gap in political knowledge might be an artifact of how knowledge is measured.

How long does it take to admit that you do not know? Gender differences in response time to political knowledge questions

The implications of the persistent gender gap in political knowledge are a puzzle that the literature is still disentangling; and research has evidenced important differences in the way women and men respond to survey questions. We argue in this article that political knowledge survey items not only inform about differences in cognition but also about other latent traits related to gender stereotyping. Gender stereotypes around political knowledge push men to be knowledgeable but not so much women, which we expect to affect men and women’s survey responses differently. To test this expectation, we explore response times of do not know answers to political knowledge items. Our results show that men, particularly those who declare being interested in politics, take longer than women to admit that they do not know the answer to political knowledge items.

Fostering learning among women: the democratic outcomes of elaborative primes

ABSTRACT The gender political knowledge gap has proven to be persistent and pervasive. It extends across time, geography, and cultures. When it comes to national politics, women demonstrate lower political knowledge than men, and this has a detrimental effect on a deliberative democracy. The current study employed an elaborative and political socialization theoretical perspective in addressing the gender political knowledge gap. Through an experimental design and structural equation modeling, antecedents and outcomes of political learning for women were investigated. Three conditions were created through exposure to articles before watching a televised presidential debate. Women were either given a motivation prime, which explained how a political issue related specifically to women; an ability prime that provided background information on an issue; or a nonpolitical prime. Both the motivation and ability (through increased elaboration) enhanced learning. The enhanced learning predicted increased intentions to discuss the issue and seek additional issue-relevant information.

When “Don’t Know” Indicates Nonignorable Missingness: Using the Estimation of Political Knowledge as an Example

The conventional procedure for measuring political knowledge is treating nonresponses such as “don’t know” as incorrect responses and counting the number of “correct” responses. In recent times, increasing attention has been paid to partial knowledge hidden within incorrect and nonresponses. This article explores partial knowledge indicated by incorrect and nonresponses and considers nonresponses as nonignorable missingness. We propose a model that combines the shared-parameter approach presented in the literature on missing data mechanisms and the methods of item response theory. We show that the proposed model can determine whether the people with nonresponses should be treated as more or less knowledgeable and detect whether it is appropriate to pool nonresponses and incorrect responses into the same category. Furthermore, we find partial knowledge hidden within women’s nonresponses, which confirms the possibility of the exaggeration of the gender gap in political knowledge.

The knowledge gap on social media: Examining roles of engagement and networks

The knowledge gap hypothesis predicts that information inequity will be amplified rather than attenuated by the media. Previous research has focused on the role of mass media exposure and has not examined the roles of social media and social networks in mitigating the gap. This study investigated the potential moderating roles of social media engagement, social networks, and the interaction between engagement and online and offline networks. Hypotheses were tested with data from a national sample survey ( N = 991) concerning political and health knowledge. More social media engagement predicted a smaller knowledge gap in the political domain but not the health domain. More diverse and denser social media networks predicted a smaller political, but not health, knowledge gap. Social media engagement interacted with mixed-media relationships to predict the political knowledge gap. More engagement with mixed-media relationships was associated with a smaller political knowledge gap.

Online Incidental Exposure to News Can Minimize Interest-Based Political Knowledge Gaps: Evidence from Two U.S. Elections

Concerns persist over the potential for the fragmented media environment to promote motivation-based political knowledge gaps between those who are interested in politics and those who are not. Yet, there is also evidence that the Internet can provide opportunities for individuals to incidentally encounter and learn from news, which may decrease these knowledge gaps. The current study tests this possibility using two, two-wave panel surveys of adults in the United States conducted during the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections. Across two distinct electoral contexts, we find evidence that incidental exposure to online news and political information promotes learning about presidential candidates’ policy positions over the course of the campaign. In addition, the data suggest the least politically interested benefit the most from this incidental exposure, as they see the largest gains in political knowledge. These findings indicate that opportunities to learn via incidental exposure have the potential to reduce motivation-based knowledge gaps.

Increased Media Choice and Political Knowledge Gaps: A Comparative Longitudinal Study of 18 Established Democracies 1995-2015

ABSTRACT We investigate the often-stated, but disputed claim in the political science and political communication literature that increasing media choice widens inequalities in political knowledge. The assumption is that in a high-choice media environment, the politically interested will consume more news while the uninterested will avoid such content, leading, in turn, to widening differences in political knowledge. Although previous studies show that high media choice increases political knowledge gaps in the United States, comparative longitudinal evidence is currently lacking. To fill this gap, we draw on data from four rounds of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. Overall, we do not find general support for the high-choice knowledge gap thesis. In most countries, there is no indication that inequality in political knowledge has increased over time. Building on recent insights from political communication research, we question key assumptions of the high choice knowledge gap thesis.

Back on track? How civic learning opportunities widen the political knowledge gap in a tracked education system

ABSTRACT This article examines how different civic learning opportunities relate to students’ political knowledge in different school tracks. Existing studies have found that citizenship teaching can not only enhance overall levels of civic outcomes but also mitigate inequalities. However, educational achievement studies emphasize the risk of a tracked school context exacerbating the general knowledge gap. Combining these findings, we do not know whether efforts in the vocational track to enhance civic outcomes can still reduce civic inequalities. This study relies on the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016 data. It uses multilevel analysis to examine how the civic learning opportunities schools offer (as perceived by students) are related to civic knowledge across different tracks. It finds that cross-track differences in civic knowledge are not smaller in schools rich in civic learning opportunities. We provisionally propose that this is due to differences across tracks in the levels and the nature of the civic learning opportunities provided.

Raising the Floor or Closing the Gap? How Media Choice and Media Content Impact Political Knowledge

ABSTRACT Mass media are frequently cited as having the potential to inform the public, raising knowledge levels and reducing political knowledge gaps between citizens. But media are also seen as a force for segmentation, disengagement, and widening differences between citizens. If media have no effect on political knowledge, gaps between the engaged and disengaged persist regardless of who is exposed to news because no one learns. But gaps can also persist even if everyone learns from the news, particularly if learning effects are heterogeneous across those inclined and disinclined to seek out news and/or across environments that consist of different media alternatives. Yet past research on political communication has not sufficiently linked media choice to debates about possibly heterogeneous effects of media exposure on political knowledge levels. The present study contributes a novel and large-scale choice-based experiment on knowledge of the ongoing crisis in Syria that finds media effects are relatively homogeneous across those with different media preferences and across different media environments. This suggests that under most conditions – even when everyone learns from the news – knowledge gaps between the politically engaged and disengaged are widened or at least sustained after incidental exposure to politics. While closing such gaps may be impossible, the results have important implications for understanding how citizens learn about politics and how to study learning from self-selected media experiences.

Time scarcity and the market for news

We develop a theory of news coverage in environments of information abundance. Time-constrained consumers browse through news items across competing outlets. They choose which outlets to access and which stories to read or skip, thus indirectly deciding how much time to spend on a given outlet. Firms decide on rankings of news items that maximize their profits. We show that even when readers (or television viewers) and firms are rational and unbiased, they spend more time on the news than they would like and not necessarily on the topics they prefer. In particular, relevant news items may be crowded out. We then study how reader-efficient standards can be restored, and derive implications on diverse aspects of new and traditional media. These include tabloidization and polarization of the news, and other aspects relevant for the political economy of the media, including political knowledge gaps and voter turnout.

Gender Inequalities and Social Sustainability. Can Modernization Diminish the Gender Gap in Political Knowledge?

The gender gap in political knowledge is a classical problem of Western democracies. In the 21st century, political knowledge is still unequally distributed between men and women, as many cross-section studies have shown. This is an indicator of women’s disempowerment and the distance which remains to be covered to achieve an inclusive and sustainable society. Could public policies and gender equality laws change the situation? Using a longitudinal database in which 600,000 survey responses are analysed from 1996 to 2017, this case study of Spain aims to shed some light on this question. It combines sociological and political approaches in line with the development theory of the gender gap of Inglehart and Norris (2000, 2003), whose core argument is that modernization changes cultural attitudes toward gender equality. From this perspective, this paper proposes the following hypothesis: the modernization process of Spain (from a dictatorship to a democracy) has given rise to changes in traditional sex roles, driving women‘s access to political knowledge and diminishing the gender gap. This is a step towards achieving objective number 5 of the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development (gender equality and empowerment of women and girls), according to which gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

Unequal Returns to Education: How Female Teachers Narrow the Gender Gap in Political Knowledge

Where it concerns traditional political knowledge, on average, men have outscored women. Research indicates that part of the knowledge gap originates before adulthood, and convincing work indicates...

The Variable Nature of the Gender Gap in Political Knowledge

ABSTRACT Previous research demonstrates that long-standing gender gaps in political knowledge are often a function of measurement artifacts. This article examines two potential measurement issues – question content and format – to determine whether gender differences in knowledge are sensitive to decisions we make when choosing and constructing knowledge measures. Using an original survey from the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), we demonstrate that, while expected gender differences exist when we ask traditional knowledge questions, these gender gaps are ameliorated when we employ items that measure knowledge about women in politics. We also examine gendered response patterns regarding “don’t know” responses, which can deflate women’s knowledge levels. Finally, we examine the determinants of political knowledge for women and men, and uncover an important role for political interest in shaping women’s knowledge levels. These results suggest that scholars should take steps to create political knowledge measures that can most accurately gauge the political capacities of women and men.

Identifying Key Knowledge Gaps to Better Protect Biodiversity and Simultaneously Secure Livelihoods in a Priority Conservation Area

Global agreements like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Achi Biodiversity Targets (ABTs) aim to secure human well-being and to protect biodiversity, but little progress has been made in reaching these aims. The key role of biodiversity in securing human well-being is rarely considered a priority – instead short-term economic profits benefiting a few are prioritized. Particularly where local livelihoods rely on resources of protected areas for immediate survival, top-down enforced biodiversity conservation often increases social inequality, hunger and poverty and thus regularly fails. Identifying key knowledge gaps helps to adjust political priority setting and investment strategies to assess conservation threats and improve natural resource management. Since acting usually occurs at a local or regional scale, we focused on a priority conservation area in one of the world’s poorest countries — the dry deciduous forests of western Madagascar. We aimed to identify key knowledge gaps in this area which need to be filled to better protect biodiversity and simultaneously ensure well-being of the local poor. We consulted 51 predominantly Malagasy experts using questionnaires. These questionnaires listed 71 knowledge gaps we collated from the literature which the experts were asked to rank by importance. Experts were encouraged to list additional knowledge gaps. Averaging the scores of all experts, we identified the top 10 knowledge gaps. Two political knowledge gaps addressing the need to determine strategies which improve law enforcement and reduce corruption ranked highest, followed by an ecological one concerning appropriate restoration and a socio–economic one regarding economic benefits locals gain from biodiversity. The general knowledge gap perceived as most important addressed strategies for long-term funding. Only one additional knowledge gap was identified: the impact of climate change-driven human migration from southwestern to central western Madagascar on socio–economic problems and its impacts on natural resources We linked the identified top 10 knowledge gaps as well as the additional knowledge gap suggested by experts to the SDGs, ABTs and 2 °C target of the Paris Climate Agreement, and discussed why these gaps were considered a priority. This research highlights important ecological, socio–economic and political research priorities and provides guidelines for policy makers and funding organizations.

Gendered Political Contexts: The Gender Gap in Political Knowledge

What explains the gender gap in political knowledge found by surveys across different contexts? This article proposes that female political representation affects the levels of knowledge expressed by men and women and, ultimately, the gender gap. The underrepresentation of women makes gender stereotypes salient, and these in turn affect how much cognitive effort individuals put into thinking about politics. Moreover, I argue that surveys are often responsible for enhancing the effect of those considerations. I analyze cross-national survey data from 120 countries to test whether the gap in knowledge decreases as female representation increases across countries. Then, I manipulate the gender composition of feeling thermometer batteries in a survey experiment with American subjects to test whether priming considerations about female representation affects respondents’ performance on knowledge questions. The findings suggest an explanation for why surveys often reveal gender differences in knowledge and a mechanism connecting women’s representation and public opinion.

The gender gap in political knowledge revisited: Australia’s Julia Gillard as a natural experiment

Surveys have found a persistent gender gap in political knowledge, with women knowing less about politics than men. This article tests the explanations for the gap using surveys collected in Australia between 2001 and 2016. The results show that the gender gap in knowledge was stable between 2001 and 2007, but declined significantly in 2010, and returning to trend in 2013 and 2016. The decline in 2010 is largely accounted for by the election of Australia’s first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, which resulted in women displaying greater media attentiveness. The results confirm other research suggesting that enhanced descriptive representation of women may help to close the gender gap in political knowledge.