The Political Consequences of Gender in Social Networks

Recent research on political discussion has focused on whether aspects of interaction create a ‘democratic dilemma’ for the mass public in which people face a choice between political participation and political tolerance. This article argues that there are important variations in how people react t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBritish journal of political science Vol. 48; no. 3; pp. 637 - 658
Main Authors Djupe, Paul, Mcclurg, Scott, Sokhey, Anand Edward
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.07.2018
Subjects
Communication
Efficacy
Expectations
Experts
Gender
Gender differences
General public
Influence
Participation
Personality
Political behavior
Political participation
Political science
Politics
Sex differences
Social networks
Social research
Tolerance
Women
United States > US
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Summary:Recent research on political discussion has focused on whether aspects of interaction create a ‘democratic dilemma’ for the mass public in which people face a choice between political participation and political tolerance. This article argues that there are important variations in how people react to their immediate social contacts. It explores this idea by studying how social disagreement and expertise interact with gender to explain variance in political participation. First, it shows that there are conflicting expectations in the literature about how such dynamics should manifest, despite agreement that men and women should experience different kinds and degrees of social influence. Secondly, it examines these expectations by revisiting prominent, network-based explanations of political participation; it finds that these relationships do not display consistency across sex differences. The results point to the existence of varied ‘social logics’ for men and women, and suggest the need to reconsider how to think about the efficacy of discussion and disagreement in a democratic society.
ISSN:0007-1234
1469-2112
DOI:10.1017/S0007123416000156