Avoiding the subject? Gender gaps in interpersonal political conflict avoidance and its consequences for political engagement

Coffé, Hilde; Bolzendahl, Catherine

doi:10.1057/bp.2016.9

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…We were able to calculate the conflict orientation of 40 of our participants. 3 On average, the sample was just slightly conflict-approaching (M = 0.55, SD = 0.11), a somewhat unexpected leaning, as women tend to be more conflictaverse (Coffe & Bolzendahl 2017;Wolak 2020) and the sample is almost 70% women. At the same time, as Figure 1 shows, the distribution of orientations across the sample approximates a normal distribution (skewness = 0.53) with a mean near the scale's midpoint, much like the distribution of other, more representative samples (see, for example, Sydnor 2019a).…”

Section: Example 2: Conversation About How the University Community W...mentioning

confidence: 97%

Confronting Politics: The Role of Conflict Orientation in Shaping Political Debate

Sydnor

Tesmer

Peterson

2022

Journal of Deliberative Democracy

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Previous research (Testa et al 2014, Mutz 2015) finds that conflict orientation—individuals’ psychological predisposition towards conflict--condition Americans’ attitudes in the face of political disagreement. However, little research has been done into how conflict orientation influences the ways in which people engage in conversation that has the potential to become uncomfortable or contentious. We argue that conflict orientation has a significant impact on the way college students discuss politics: students who are comfortable with conflict will be more likely to fully engage in a contentious conversation, offer strong opinions, and choose a side of the debate. In order to test this hypothesis, we conducted a series of interviews with undergraduate students about their thoughts and ideas regarding political incivility and campus free speech. While our findings do not support our hypotheses, they do offer positive evidence for the ability of deliberation and small-group conversation to bring both the conflict-avoidant and conflict-approaching into the political conversation.

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Section: Example 2: Conversation About How the University Community W...mentioning

confidence: 97%

Confronting Politics: The Role of Conflict Orientation in Shaping Political Debate

Sydnor

Tesmer

Peterson

2022

Journal of Deliberative Democracy

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“…Some research has indicated that women are more conflict avoidant (Coffé and Bolzendahl, 2017), more election averse (Kanthak and Woon, 2015) and less motivated by personal power-related concerns than men (Shames, 2017). Additional scholarship documents a gendered confidence gap in qualifications (Lawless and Fox, 2010).…”

Section: Psychological Mechanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

The gendered political ambition cycle in mixed-member electoral systems

Coffé¹,

Davidson-Schmich

2020

European Journal of Politics and Gender

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This article introduces a theoretical model that shows how four mechanisms (work–life balance, psychological, gatekeeper bias and diversity mechanisms) explain why pursuing a nomination as list Members of Parliament is the more attractive option for women in mixed-member electoral systems. It also demonstrates how women’s resulting greater likelihood of being list Members of Parliament creates what we call a gendered cycle, further reducing women’s interest in the single-member district tier. To empirically test our model, we present quantitative data for the case of New Zealand and Germany, as well as qualitative interview data collected from members of German parties’ women’s auxiliary organisations.

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“…Some scholars have argued that predispositions based on gender may play a role with men drawn more to politics because of greater aggressiveness and a taste for conflict (Delli Carpini & Keeter, 1996). A sample of British women found that in the aggregate, women are less comfortable with interpersonal political conflict, and as a result, they are less likely to be politically engaged even when controlling for interest and efficacy (Coffé & Bolzendahl, 2017). This may be a result of the establishment of gender roles within a society.…”

Section: The Internet Gender and Political Resistancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Women are often socialized into conflict avoidance (Hansen, 1997; Ridgeway, 2011). The result is typically a lesser engagement in conflict including political conflict (Coffé & Bolzendahl, 2017). Religion can play an important part as well by establishing gender roles.…”

Section: The Internet Gender and Political Resistancementioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Differences in Critical Digital Political Engagement in China: The Consequences for Protest Attitudes

Wagner

Gainous

Abbott

2019

Social Science Computer Review

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We use original survey data from China to examine gender differences in exposure to, and the exchange of, information critical of their respective governments via the Internet and social media. Existing research suggests that men, generally, tend to be more politically engaged than women. We set out to test whether this extended to dissident political engagement in the Chinese context, and if it translated into variation in support for protest across gender, and across political context. Compared to other Asian nations, China has relatively high gender equality. Yet, due to the social, cultural, and political structures in China, we expect that women will be less active online, less likely to consume critical media, and less likely to engage in political dissidence than their male counterparts. We did find that men were more likely to be critically digitally engaged in China. However, we found that while critical digital engagement was positively related to support for protest, this effect was actually stronger for women in China. We offer some speculation regarding these counterintuitive results.

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Avoiding the subject? Gender gaps in interpersonal political conflict avoidance and its consequences for political engagement

Cited by 21 publications

References 57 publications

Confronting Politics: The Role of Conflict Orientation in Shaping Political Debate

Confronting Politics: The Role of Conflict Orientation in Shaping Political Debate

The gendered political ambition cycle in mixed-member electoral systems

Gender Differences in Critical Digital Political Engagement in China: The Consequences for Protest Attitudes

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