Impact of Socialization and Personality On the Female Voter

• Author: Leneen Goldie,Paula Feltner
• Published date: 01 December 1974
• Date: 01 December 1974
• DOI: 10.1177/106591297402700408
• Subject Matter: Articles

680

IMPACT

OF

SOCIALIZATION

AND

PERSONALITY

ON

THE

FEMALE

VOTER:

SPECULATIONS

TESTED

WITH

1964

PRESIDENTIAL

DATA

PAULA

FELTNER

AND

LENEEN

GOLDIE

University

of

Kentucky

HE

EXISTENCE

of

sex

differences

in

political

behavior

is

one

of

the

most

consistently

repeated

findings

in

empirical

studies

of

political

socialization,

voting

behavior

and

political

participation.

However,

the

necessity

for

more

complete

explanation

of

the

political

female

becomes

obvious

upon

reading

the

sparse,

relevant

literature.

While

the

extant

research

in

this

area

has

focused

on

female

political

attitudes

and

voting,

little

attention

has

been

devoted

to

explain-

ing

the

origin

of

these

attitudes

and

rarely,

if

ever,

has

the

female

voter

been

the

object

of

intense

investigation.

The

purpose

of

the

present

investigation

is

twofold:

( 1 )

to

present

a

theoretical

explanation

for

the

existence

of

distinctly

female

political

attitudes,

and;

(2)

to

derive

and

initially

test

some

hypotheses

about

the

nature

of

these

attitudes

and

their

possible

relation

to

the

female

vote.

’

PREVIOUS

RESEARCH

That

women

are

politically

dissimilar

to

men

has

become

conventional

wis-

dom

of

the

discipline.

In

The

American

Voter,

for

example,

the

average

woman

interviewed

was

found

to

be

lower

in

political

efficacy,

lower

in

political

involve-

ment,

and

less

sophisticated

in

political

concept

formation

than

the

average

male.’

Almond

and

Verba

in

their

five-nation

study

found

that

the

average

woman

was

more

politically

apathetic,

more

emotional

and

more

sensitive

about

political

candi-

dates

and

issues

than

the

typical

ma.n.2

Hess

and

Torney

discovered

that

young

girls

tend

to

personalize

politics

and

emphasize

the

protective

quality

of

political

figures,

such

as

the

President

to

a

significantly

greater

degree

than

young

boys.3

3

The

average

woman

has

also

shown

a

lower

tolerance

of

conflict

than

the

average

man.~

4

A

woman

is

generally

more

conservative

concerning

labor,

changes

in

government,

domestic,

religious,

and

moral

issues.

Yet,

she

is

favorably

disposed

to

government

intervention

and

government

ownership.5

5

The

typical

woman

is

less

aggressive

NoTE:

This

article

was

a

joint

effort

on

the

part

of

the

authors

and

order

of

authorship

does

not

reflect

effort

involved.

We

would

like

to

thank

Dean

Jaros

and

Alan

Newman

for

their

help

and

encouragement

on

this

project.

1

Angus

Campbell

et

al.,

The

American

Voter

(New

York:

Wiley,

1964),

pp.

259-61.

2

Gabriel

Almond

and

Sidney

Verba,

The

Civic

Culture

(Boston:

Little,

Brown,

1963),

pp.

324-35.

3

Robert

Hess

and

Judith

Torney,

The

Development

of

Political

Attitudes

in

Children

(Chi-

cago:

Aldine

Press,

1967),

p.

177.

4

Samuel

Stouffer,

Communism,

Conformity

and

Civil

Liberties

(New

York:

Doubleday,

1955),

pp.

131-55;

and

Jack

Dennis,

"Support

for

the

Party

System

by

the

Mass

Public,"

American

Political

Science

Review,

60

(September

1966), 610.

5

Alvin

W.

Gouldner,

Studies

in

Leadership:

Leadership

and

Democratic

Action

(New

York:

Harper,

1940),

pp.

279-80.