The Hand that Rules the World: Gender, Parenting, and Intergenerational Political Beliefs

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  • February 26, 2019
Creator
  • Tillett, Jillian
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology
Abstract
  • This thesis explores how the presence or absence of gender role-based differences between parents shape the political leanings of their children. Studies find that the roles each parent takes on in the household may shape their own views on any number of policies (Elder & Greene 2012). In order to assess how the parental expression of gender roles and parents’ resulting political alignments impact the political leanings of their children by young adulthood, an online survey was conducted on 118 undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The students were asked about the political party affiliations and ideologies of themselves and their parents, and their parents’ primary roles in their families – such as caregiving and housework. The results, while not all significant, hint that the more predominant a role that mothers play in caring for children, the more likely mothers and their children will identify as Democrats and liberals, and the greater political influence they will have over offspring. Additionally, the results fit with the idea that the more both parents share in caregiving duties, the more often mothers will identify as Republicans and conservatives, and the more their children will align with the Republican Party, third parties, and ideological conservatism. These patterns in my findings are congruent with the idea that involved fathers have more political influence over their children than those who are less involved, and they tend to raise more right-leaning children overall.
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  • In Copyright
Note
  • Funding: None
Advisor
  • Hagan, Jacqueline
Degree
  • Bachelor of Arts
Academic concentration
  • Sociology
Honors level
  • Honors
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Graduation year
  • 2017
Language
  • English

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