Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T06:47:29.224Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Racial Limitations on the Gender, Risk, Religion, and Politics Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2021

Amanda Friesen Open the ORCID record for Amanda Friesen [Opens in a new window]  and
Mirya R. Holman Open the ORCID record for Mirya R. Holman [Opens in a new window]
Amanda Friesen*
Affiliation:
Political Science, Western University, London, Canada
Mirya R. Holman
Affiliation:
Political Science, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
*
Corresponding author: Amanda Friesen, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Risk aversion dampens political participation and heightens religiosity, with concentrated effects among women. Yet, little is known about how intersecting identities moderate these psychological correlates of religiosity and political engagement. In this paper, we theorize that the risk-religion-politics relationship is gendered and racialized. Using a nationally representative survey, we show that political participation is more strongly correlated with risk for Black women than for any other race-gender group. For religiosity, however, we find little evidence that risk is related to religiosity among Black women, while highly correlated with white women's religious engagement. For men—whether Black or white—risk exhibits a modest, positive relationship with their religiosity. Our results speak to the importance of considering intersectionality and race-gender identities in evaluations of religious and political activities in the United States.

Type
Article
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , June 2022 , pp. 270 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Thanks to Kevin den Dulk, Erin Cassese, Paul Djupe, Christopher Federico, Joseph Tucker Edmonds, and Yanna Krupnikov's class for their thoughts on the project. Previous versions of this paper were presented at the annual meetings of International Society for Political Psychology (2018) and the Southern Political Science Association (2019).

References

Alex-Assensoh, Y and Assensoh, AB (2001) Inner-city contexts, church attendance, and African-American political participation. Journal of Politics 63, 886–901.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baer, HA (1993) The limited empowerment of women in black spiritual churches: an alternative vehicle to religious leadership. Sociology of Religion 54, 65–82. https://doi.org/10.2307/3711842.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernhard, R, Shames, S and Teele, DL (2021) To emerge? Breadwinning, motherhood, and women's decisions to run for office. American Political Science Review 115, 379–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bittner, A and Goodyear-Grant, E (2017) Sex isn't gender: reforming concepts and measurements in the study of public opinion. Political Behavior 39, 1019–1041. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-017-9391-y.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blee, KM and Tickamyer, AR (1995) Racial differences in men's attitudes about women's gender roles. Journal of Marriage and Family 57, 21–30. https://doi.org/10.2307/353813.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, NE (2014) Political participation of women of color: an intersectional analysis. Journal of Women, Politics & Policy 35, 315–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, NE and Gershon, SA (eds) (2016) Distinct Identities: Minority Women in U.S. Politics. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, N, Schlozman, KL and Verba, S (2001) The Private Roots of Public Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler-Barnes, ST, Martin, PP, Copeland-Linder, N, Seaton, EK, Matusko, N, Caldwell, CH and Jackson, JS (2018) The protective role of religious involvement in African American and Caribbean black adolescents’ experiences of racial discrimination. Youth & Society 50, 659–687. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X15626063.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cargile, I (2015) Latina issues: an analysis of the policy issue competencies of Latina candidates. In Gershon, SA and Brown, NE (eds), Distinct Identities: Minority Women in U.S. Politics. New York: Routledge, pp. 150–166.Google Scholar
Carlson, TN, Abrajano, M and Bedolla, LG (2019) Political discussion networks and political engagement among voters of color. Political Research Quarterly 73, 79–95. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912919873729.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassese, EC and Barnes, TD (2018) Reconciling sexism and women's support for republican candidates. Political Behavior, May, 1–24.Google Scholar
Cassese, EC, Barnes, T and Branton, R (2015) Racializing gender: public opinion at the intersection. Politics & Gender 11, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassese, EC and Holman, MR (2017) Religion, gendered authority, and identity in American politics. Politics and Religion 10, 31–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chafe, WH, Gavins, R and Korstad, R (2011) Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South. New York City, NY: The New Press.Google Scholar
Coffé, H and Bolzendahl, C (2010) Same game, different rules? Gender differences in political participation. Sex Roles 62, 318–333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collett, JL and Lizardo, O (2009) A power-control theory of gender and religiosity. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 48, 213–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, PH and Bilge, S (2016) Intersectionality. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Crenshaw, K (1989) Demarginalizing The Intersection of Race and Sex. University of Chicago Legal Forces, 139–168.Google Scholar
Cross, CP, Copping, LT and Campbell, A (2011) Sex differences in impulsivity: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin 137, 97–130. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021591.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dawson, M (1994) Behind the Mule-Race and Class in African-American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Day, K (2012) Unfinished Business: Black Women, the Black Church, and the Struggle to Thrive in America. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.Google Scholar
DeSante, C and Smith, CW (2020) Racial Stasis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Djupe, PA and Friesen, A (2017) Moralizing to the choir: the moral foundations of American clergy. Social Science Quarterly 99, 665–682. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Djupe, PA and Gilbert, CP (2006) The resourceful believer: generating civic skills in church. The Journal of Politics 68, 116–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Djupe, PA, Mcclurg, S and Sokhey, AE (2018) The political consequences of gender in social networks. British Journal of Political Science 48, 637–658. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123416000156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douglas, KB (2012) Black Bodies and the Black Church: A Blues Slant. New York City, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckhouse, L (2019) Race, party, and representation in criminal justice politics. The Journal of Politics 81, 1143–1152. https://doi.org/10.1086/703489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edgell, P, Frost, J and Stewart, E (2017) From existential to social understandings of risk: examining gender differences in nonreligion. Social Currents 4, 556–574. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329496516686619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farris, Emily M and Holman, MR (2014) Social capital and solving the puzzle of black women's political participation. Politics, Groups, and Identities 3, 331–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finucane, M, Slovic, P, Mertz, CK and Flynn, J (2000) Gender, race, and perceived risk: the ‘white male’ effect. Health, Risk, and Society 2, 159–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foldes, HJ, Duehr, EE and Ones, DS (2008) Group differences in personality: meta-analyses comparing five U.S. racial groups. Personnel Psychology 61, 579–616. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2008.00123.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, Leslie J (1997) The psychology of gender differences in religion: a review of empirical research. Religion 27, 81–96. https://doi.org/10.1006/reli.1996.0066.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, MM (2014) Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frederick, MF (2003) Between Sundays: Black Women and Everyday Struggles of Faith. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Freese, J and Montgomery, JD (2007) The devil made her do it? Evaluating risk preference as an explanation of sex differences in religiousness. Correll, SJ (ed.), Social Psychology of Gender (Advances in Group Processes, Vol. 24). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 187–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friesen, A (2017) How American women and men read the bible. In Goff, P, Farnsley, A and Theusen, P (eds), The Bible in American Life. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 266–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friesen, A and Djupe, PA (2017) Conscientious women: the dispositional conditions of institutional treatment on civic involvement. Politics & Gender 13, 57–80. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X16000088.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friesen, A and Wagner, MW (2012) Beyond the ‘three Bs’: how American christians approach faith and politics. Politics and Religion 5, 224–252. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048312000028.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gay, C and Tate, K (1998) Doubly bound: the impact of gender and race on the politics of black women. Political Psychology 19, 169–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerber, AS, Huber, GA, Doherty, D, Dowling, CM, Raso, C and Ha, SE (2011) Personality traits and participation in political processes. The Journal of Politics 73, 692–706. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381611000399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gershon, SA, Pantoja, AD and Taylor, JB (2016) God in the barrio?: The determinants of religiosity and civic engagement among Latinos in the United States. Politics and Religion 9, 84–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gidengil, E and Stolle, D (2020) Comparing self-categorisation approaches to measuring gender identity. European Journal of Politics and Gender 4, 31–50. https://doi.org/10.1332/251510820X15918093444206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hancock, Ange-Marie (2007) When multiplication doesn't equal quick addition: examining intersectionality as a research paradigm. Perspectives on Politics 5, 63–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris-Perry, MV (2011) Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Hartman, H (2016) Gender differences in American jewish identity: testing the power control theory explanation. Review of Religious Research 58, 407–431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-016-0248-3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrick, R and Pryor, B (2020) Gender and race gaps in voting and over-reporting: an intersectional comparison of CCES with ANES data. The Social Science Journal 0, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/03623319.2020.1809901.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewlett, SA and Green, T (2015) Black Women Ready to Lead. Center for Talent Innovation. https://www.talentinnovation.org/_private/assets/BlackWomenReadyToLead_ExecSumm-CTI.pdf.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, John P (2009) Gender, risk, and religiousness: can power control provide the theory? Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 48, 232–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffmann, JP (2019) Risk preference theory and gender differences in religiousness: a replication and extension. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 58, 210–230. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holman, MR (2016) The differential effect of resources on political participation across gender and racial groups. In Brown, NE and Gershon, SA (eds), Distinct Identities: Minority Women in U.S. Politics. New York: Routledge, pp. 29–44.Google Scholar
Holman, MR and Podrazik, E (2018) Gender and religiosity in the United States. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, July. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huckle, K and Silva, A (2020 People of color, people of faith: the effect of social capital and religion on the political participation of marginalized communities. Religions 11, 249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Junn, J (1997) Assimilating or coloring participation? Gender, race and democratic political participation. In Cohen, C, Jones, K and Tronto, J (eds), Women Transforming Politics: An Alternative Reader. New York: New York University Press, pp. 387–397.Google Scholar
Kam, Cindy D (2012) Risk attitudes and political participation. American Journal of Political Science 56, 817–836. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2012.00605.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemi, DC (2018) Identity and coalitions in a multiracial era: how state legislators navigate race and ethnicity. Politics, Groups, and Identities 6, 725–742. https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2017.1288144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levin, S (2004) Perceived group status differences and the effects of gender, ethnicity, and religion on social dominance orientation. Political Psychology 25, 31–48. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2004.00355.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lim, C and Putnam, RD (2010) Religion, social networks, and life satisfaction. American Sociological Review 75, 914–933.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, LR, Friedman, HS and Schwartz, JE (2007) Personality and mortality risk across the life span: the importance of conscientiousness as a biopsychosocial attribute. Health Psychology 26, 428–436. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.26.4.428.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCall, L (2005) The complexity of intersectionality. Signs 30, 1771–1800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClerking, HK and McDaniel, EL (2005) Belonging and doing: political churches and black political participation. Political Psychology 26, 721–734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michener, J (2019) Policy feedback in a racialized polity. Policy Studies Journal 47, 423–450. https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, AS and Hoffmann, JP (1995) Risk and religion: an explanation of gender differences in religiosity. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 34, 63–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, AS and Stark, R (2002) Gender and religiousness: can socialization explanations be saved? American Journal of Sociology 107, 1399–1423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, Julie A (2015) Are women really more risk-averse than men? A re-analysis of the literature using expanded methods. Journal of Economic Surveys 29, 566–585. https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12069.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nguyen, AW, Taylor, RJ, Chatters, LM and Hope, MO (2019) Church support networks of African Americans: the impact of gender and religious involvement. Journal of Community Psychology 47, 1043–1063. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nickels, AE (2019) Power, Participation, and Protest in Flint, Michigan: Unpacking the Policy Paradox of Municipal Takeovers. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Pantoja, AD and Gershon, SA (2006) Political orientations and naturalization among Latino and Latina immigrants*. Social Science Quarterly 87, 1171–1187. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2006.00422.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Philpot, TS (2017) Conservative But Not Republican: The Paradox of Party Identification and Ideology Among African Americans. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phoenix, D (2019a) Black Hope Floats: Racial Emotion Regulation and the Uniquely Motivating Effects of Hope on Black Political Participation. Working paper.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phoenix, D (2019b) The Anger Gap: How Race Shapes Emotion in Politics. New York: Cambridge University Pess.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, BK, Sperry, HA and Levant, RF (2015) Masculinities among African American men: an intersectional perspective. Psychology of Men & Masculinity 16, 416–425. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039082.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, MC and Bos, AL (2019) The application of social role theory to the study of gender in politics. Political Psychology 40, 173–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, MC, Holman, MR, Diekman, AB and McAndrew, T (2016) Power, conflict, and community: how gendered views of political power influence women's political ambition. Political Psychology 37, 515–531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shelton, JE and Cobb, RJ (2017) Black reltrad: measuring religious diversity and commonality among African Americans. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 56, 737–764. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silva, A and Skulley, C (2019) Always running: candidate emergence among women of color over time. Political Research Quarterly 72, 342–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes-Brown, AK and Dolan, K (2010) Race, gender, and symbolic representation: African American female candidates as mobilizing agents. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties 20, 473–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stout, C and Tate, K (2013) The 2008 presidential election, political efficacy, and group empowerment. Politics, Groups, and Identities 1, 143–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trounstine, J (2018) Segregation by Design Local Politics and Inequality in American Cities. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trzebiatowska, M and Bruce, S (2012) Why Are Women More Religious Than Men? New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tucker Edmonds, J (2018) The canonical black body: alternative African American religions and the disruptive politics of sacrality. Religions 9, 17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulbig, SG and Funk, CL (1999) Conflict avoidance and political participation. Political Behavior 21, 265–282. https://doi.org/10.2307/586456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verba, S, Lehman Schlozman, K and Brady, HE (1995) Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, DS (2013) Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.Google Scholar
Wolak, J (2020) Conflict avoidance and gender gaps in political engagement. Political Behavior, OnlineFirst. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-020-09614-5Google Scholar
Woods-Giscombé, CL and Lobel, M (2008) Race and gender matter: a multidimensional approach to conceptualizing and measuring stress in African American women. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 14, 173–182. https://doi.org/10.1037/1099-9809.14.3.173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Friesen and Holman supplementary material

Friesen and Holman supplementary material

Download Friesen and Holman supplementary material(File)
File 279.7 KB