While the populist tide that threatened to swamp the world in 2016 has abated somewhat with the election of Joe Biden, concern remains as to the factors that underpinned the rise of Donald Trump, the vote for Brexit, and other populist measures from around the world.
New research from Penn State suggests that idealized forms of masculinity may be behind the support for populist leaders, like Donald Trump, with traits such as power, influence, and a lack of vulnerability venerated.
The research found that when both men and women support something known as “hegemonic masculinity”, which is an idealized form of masculinity that requires men to be tough and dominant, they’re much more likely to have positive feelings towards Trump.
Leadership preferences
The authors suggest that while American society might appear to be ready for a female president, it will only happen if the allure of hegemonic masculinity is rejected.
“The pervasiveness of hegemonic masculinity exists because we do not always know that our attitudes and behaviors are contributing to it,” they say. “The success of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign shows that even if we, as a society, have made progress in saying that discrimination and prejudice is undesirable, we have not, as a society, fully interrogated the systematic ways in which those prejudices are upheld.”
The researchers highlight how American politics has been historically dominated by men, and therefore political campaigns often focus on traditionally masculine characteristics to convince the electorate of a candidate’s worth.
“Historically, American politics have been a masculinity contest about proving which candidate is better,” the researchers say. “Since the 1980s, the Republican party has used this to their rhetorical advantage by presenting the Republican candidate as masculine and feminizing the entire Democratic party, for example by calling them ‘snowflakes.'”
Masculine politics
The 2016 campaign was certainly no exception, with Trump commonly displaying sexist attitudes towards Hilary Clinton while at the same time highlighting his supposedly powerful roots as a successful businessman.
It’s an approach that the researchers believe will resonate with voters who believe these ideas of masculinity define a leader, but they are neither realistic nor desirable in a leader.
“In contemporary America, idealized forms of masculinity suggest that men should be high in power, status and dominance, while being physically, mentally and emotionally tough,” they say. “But this is an incredibly high standard that few can achieve or maintain. Therefore, this is an idea that many men strive to achieve, but few men actually exhibit.”
The findings emerged after over 2,000 people were asked their thoughts on hegemonic masculinity, sexism, racism, and their trust in government. They also explored their political persuasion and who they backed in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.
The data clearly showed that support for hegemonic masculinity coincided with support for Donald Trump, with this link enduring regardless of the race, gender, education level, and political persuasion of the participant.
“Additionally, we found that stronger endorsement of hegemonic masculinity was related to greater sexism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and Islamophobia,” the researchers say. “But, hegemonic masculinity continued to predict support for Trump even when controlling for these prejudices.”
The researchers believe that the deep embeddedness of hegemonic masculinity within our social and political institutions can make the status quo seem beneficial, even when it clearly isn’t.
“While endorsing hegemonic masculinity predicted a higher likelihood of supporting Trump, it did not necessarily predict negative support for Democratic candidates,” they conclude. “This could suggest that hegemonic masculinity may actually be a predictor of maintaining the status quo and not the inverse—working against the status quo.”
