Founding Narratives and Men's Political Ambition: Experimental Evidence from US Civics Lessons

One oft-cited reason for women's political underrepresentation is that women express less political ambition than men. We reframe the puzzle of women's ambition deficit, asking why men have an ambition surplus. Drawing on the concept of symbolic representation, we theorize that political s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBritish journal of political science Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 129 - 151
Main Authors Clayton, Amanda, O'Brien, Diana Z., Piscopo, Jennifer M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.01.2024
Subjects
men and masculinities
symbolic representation
women's political representation
political ambition
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Summary:One oft-cited reason for women's political underrepresentation is that women express less political ambition than men. We reframe the puzzle of women's ambition deficit, asking why men have an ambition surplus. Drawing on the concept of symbolic representation, we theorize that political symbols convey to men their capacity for exceptional political leadership. We test our expectations with a US-based survey experiment in which respondents watch one of three ‘two-minute civics lessons’. Men who watched a video featuring the accomplishments of the Founding Fathers reported significantly more political ambition than men assigned to the control group. Additional studies indicate that the effects are specific to the Founding Fathers (as compared to early American statesmen). Men are also more likely than women to identify the Founding Fathers as inspiring figures and to feel pride when considering them. Our findings suggest how history is told contributes to men's persistent political overrepresentation.
ISSN:0007-1234
1469-2112
DOI:10.1017/S0007123423000340