Kahan and his collaborators went on: “Rising hierarchical and individualistic worldviews induce larger risk-skepticism in white males than in both white ladies or male or feminine nonwhites.”
In different phrases, those that rank excessive in communitarian and egalitarian values, together with liberal white males, are excessive in danger aversion. Amongst these on the reverse finish of the dimensions — low in communitarianism and egalitarianism however excessive in individualism and in help for hierarchy — conservative white males are markedly extra keen to tolerate danger than different constituencies.
Within the case of weapons and gun management, the authors write:
Individuals of hierarchical and individualistic orientations must be anticipated to fret extra about being rendered defenseless due to the affiliation of weapons with hierarchical social roles (hunter, protector, father) and with hierarchical and individualistic virtues (braveness, honor, chivalry, self-reliance, prowess). Comparatively egalitarian and communitarian respondents ought to fear extra about gun violence due to the affiliation of weapons with patriarchy and racism and with mistrust of and indifference to the well-being of strangers.
A paper revealed in 2000, “Gender, race, and perceived danger: the ‘white male impact,’” by Melissa Finucane, a senior scientist on the RAND Company, Slovic, Mertz, James Flynn of Choice Analysis and Theresa A. Satterfield of the College of British Columbia, examined responses to 25 hazards and located that “white males’ danger notion rankings have been constantly a lot decrease” than these of white ladies, minority-group ladies and minority-group males.
The white male impact, they continued “gave the impression to be attributable to about 30 % of the white male pattern” who have been “higher educated, had larger family incomes, and have been politically extra conservative. In addition they held very completely different attitudes, characterised by belief in establishments and authorities and by anti-egalitarianism” — in different phrases, they tended to be Republicans.
Whereas opinions on egalitarianism and communitarianism assist clarify why a minority of white males are Democrats, the motivation of white ladies who help Republicans is much less clear. Cassese and Tiffany D. Barnes, a political scientist on the College of Kentucky, tackle this query of their 2018 paper “Reconciling Sexism and Girls’s Assist for Republican Candidates: A Have a look at Gender, Class, and Whiteness within the 2012 and 2016 Presidential Races.”
Cassese and Barnes discovered that within the 2016 election, social class and training performed a stronger position within the voting selections of ladies than of males:
Amongst Trump voters, ladies have been more likely to be within the decrease earnings class in comparison with males, a distinction of 13 factors within the full pattern and 14 factors for white respondents solely. Against this, the proportion of male, upper-income Trump supporters is bigger than the proportion of feminine, upper-income Trump supporters by about 9 share factors within the full pattern and amongst white voters solely. These findings problem a dominant narrative surrounding the election — reasonably than attracting downwardly-mobile white males, Trump’s marketing campaign disproportionately attracted and mobilized economically marginal white ladies.
Cassese and Barnes pose the query: “Why have been a majority of white ladies keen to tolerate Trump’s sexism?” To reply, the authors examined polling responses to 3 questions: “Do ladies demanding equality search particular favors?” “Do ladies complaining about discrimination trigger extra issues than they clear up?” and “How a lot discrimination do ladies face in the US?” Cassese and Barnes describe the primary two questions as measures of “hostile sexism,” which they outline as “unfavorable views towards people who violate conventional gender roles.”
They discovered that “hostile sexism” and “denial of discrimination in opposition to ladies are robust predictors of white ladies’s vote alternative in 2016,” however these elements have been “not predictive of voting for Romney in 2012.” Put one other manner, “white ladies who show hostile sexist attitudes and who understand low ranges of gender discrimination in society usually tend to help Trump.”