To Provide or Protect? Masculinity, Economic Precarity, and Protective Gun Ownership in the United States

Warner, Tara D.; Tober, Tara Leigh; Bridges, Tristan; Warner, David F.

doi:10.1177/0731121421998406

Cited by 22 publications

(19 citation statements)

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“…Recently, scholarship has highlighted how (perceived) threats to one's social status are associated with (future) gun ownership (Mencken and Froese 2019; Cassino and Besen‐Cassino 2020; Warner and Ratcliff 2021; Warner and Steidley 2021; Warner et al. 2021). Here, I examine how macro‐level contexts, specifically the political identity of the president of the United States, affect the propensity for individuals to report owning a firearm.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Who owns guns and why have been growing questions within contemporary research on firearms (Carlson 2020; Mencken and Froese 2019; Warner and Ratcliff 2021; Warner et al. 2021). As symbols within American gun culture, firearms are embedded in racial, gender, economic, and partisan politics (Mencken and Froese 2019; Warner and Ratcliff 2021; Yamane, Ivory, and Yamane 2019).…”

Section: Relevant Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…When men perceive a loss of power, such as increased female employment or (perceived) potential unemployment, they are also more likely to turn to guns to reassert their power and take on a masculine protector status (Carlson 2015; Cassino and Besen‐Cassino 2020; Warner et al. 2021). As for Republicans, not only are they more likely to support gun rights and gun ownership generally, but as Democrats acquire increased political power (e.g., percent of Democrats in a legislative body), there is an increase in Concealed Handgun License (CHL) demand (Steidley and Trujillo 2021)—a proxy for firearm ownership.…”

Section: Relevant Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within gun ownership research, threat has become a key correlate of what drives people to become a (future) gun owner and adopt a gun owner identity (Lacombe 2019; Warner and Ratcliff 2021; Warner and Steidley 2021; Warner et al. 2021). Ranging from threats of violence vis‐à‐vis victimization/fear of crime (Warner 2020; Warner and Ratcliff 2021) to racial threat (Filindra, Kaplan, and Buyker 2021; Flores 2015; Warner and Steidley 2021) and gender threat (Cassino and Besen‐Cassino 2020; Warner et al.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ranging from threats of violence vis‐à‐vis victimization/fear of crime (Warner 2020; Warner and Ratcliff 2021) to racial threat (Filindra, Kaplan, and Buyker 2021; Flores 2015; Warner and Steidley 2021) and gender threat (Cassino and Besen‐Cassino 2020; Warner et al. 2021), threat‐based dynamics are central to gun ownership in the United States. However, scholars have yet to explore how (perceived) threats to political power and resources may impact gun ownership patterns (but see Steidley and Trujillo 2021).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Presidential firepower: The effect of the presidential party on gun ownership, 1980–2018

Ratcliff

2022

Social Science Quarterly

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Objective: Using theories of group threat and research on the political dynamics of gun ownership, this article examines two research questions: To what extent does the political affiliation of the president of the United States shape gun ownership? Moreover, how does the president of the United States' political affiliation intersect with individuals' political alignments to impact gun ownership patterns? Methods: This study utilizes repeated cross-sectional data from the General Social Survey . Specifically, it uses logistic regression to examine the intersection of the political affiliation of the U.S. president in a given survey year and respondents' individual political identities. Results: Although there is no independent effect of the president's political affiliation on gun ownership, the results indicate there is an increase in reported gun ownership among Republicans when a Democrat was in office. A similar increase is observed for Democrats when a Republican is in office. Conclusion:These results demonstrate the linked macromicro dynamics of gun ownership, specifically for political contexts. KEYWORDS firearms, group threat, political partisanship, presidentDiscourse surrounding guns is rife with politically partisan rhetoric within the United States. Specifically, Republicans are portrayed as stalwarts of gun rights, while Democrats are perceived as a threat to Second Amendment freedoms and access to firearms. Despite gun policy at the national level having remained scant since the early 20th century (Vizzard 2014), gun rights/control has remained a prominent issue in the national political discourse. Gun rights advocates often frame Democratic officials/political elites as hostile to gun rights and perpetuate fear-based narratives about Democrats wanting to take guns away from, or limit firearm access among, "law-abiding citizens" (Melzer 2009;Steidley and Colen 2017). InThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Relevant Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Relevant Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Presidential firepower: The effect of the presidential party on gun ownership, 1980–2018

Ratcliff

2022

Social Science Quarterly

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Humorous Responses to Gender Injustice: The Contrasting Effects of Efficacy and Emotions on Women’s Collective Action Intentions

Cohen-Chen,

Dhensa-Kahlon,

Hameiri

2024

Sex Roles

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Research has shown that subversive humor may be used to challenge existing societal hierarchies by confronting people with prejudice. Expanding on this literature, we hypothesized that humor would create two simultaneous and offsetting psychological mechanisms: increasing collective action motivation by signaling speaker power and inspiring efficacy and decreasing collective action motivation by reducing negative emotions towards men as the powerful group. We tested our hypotheses in two experiments, conducted among self-identified women. Study 1 (N = 374) compared videos featuring a comedian (subversive humor vs. non-humor vs. unrelated humor) and Study 2 (N = 224) utilized vignettes depicting a woman’s response to a sexist workplace interaction (subversive humor vs. non-humor vs. amenable response). Subversive humor (vs. unrelated humor/amenable response) increased group efficacy and subsequently collective action intentions. Simultaneously, and as an offsetting mechanism, subversive humor (compared to non-humor) reduced negative emotions toward men and subsequently lowered collective action intentions. Our results call into question the efficaciousness of humor responses to inspire women observers toward collective action for gender equality and emphasize the need for a deeper understanding of humor as a tool to promote action for equality.

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The precarious masculinity of firearm ownership.

Borgogna¹,

McDermott²,

Brasil³

2022

Psychology of Men & Masculinities

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Men are more likely than women to harm themselves and others with firearms. Central to this problem is men's interest in owning firearms. The precarious manhood paradigm (PMP;Vandello et al., 2008) suggests that masculinity is tenuous and must be outwardly displayed. We conducted a PMP-informed experiment to test whether threats to masculinity were associated with increased interest in owning firearms. Community participants in the United States (Men n = 388, Women n = 243) completed an online "marketing survey" and were then given false personality feedback profiles. All feedback was standardized with exception of the masculinity/femininity profile. Men were randomly assigned to a masculinity threat (masculinity reported as below average; MThreat, n = 131), boost (masculinity reported as above average; MBoost, n = 129), and control (masculinity reported as average; MControl, n = 128) conditions. Women were randomly assigned to a femininity threat (n = 84), boost (n = 87), and control (n = 72) conditions (conditions were identical except women received femininity threats/boosts). Participants were then asked about their interest in owning various firearms. MThreat participants reported significantly higher interest in owning every firearm shown compared to MControl participants, and significantly more interest than MBoost participants for half of the firearms. No differences in firearm interest were evident between MBoost and MControl conditions. No differences in firearm interest were evident across all conditions in the women sample. All participants were then debriefed. Results suggest men's desire to own firearms maybe connected to masculine insecurities. Efforts should be made to socially defuse the masculinity-firearm connection. Further research implications and limitations are discussed. Public Significance StatementOur experiment showed that men whose masculinity had been threatened demonstrated more interest in owning various firearms compared to men whose masculinity was boosted or not altered. Women whose femininity was threatened did not differ from women whose femininity was boosted or not altered in terms of their firearm interest. These findings suggest that firearm ownership may be one way to prove or regain a sense of manhood.

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To Provide or Protect? Masculinity, Economic Precarity, and Protective Gun Ownership in the United States

Cited by 22 publications

References 53 publications

Presidential firepower: The effect of the presidential party on gun ownership, 1980–2018

Presidential firepower: The effect of the presidential party on gun ownership, 1980–2018

Humorous Responses to Gender Injustice: The Contrasting Effects of Efficacy and Emotions on Women’s Collective Action Intentions

The precarious masculinity of firearm ownership.

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