Sex, Socialization and Politics

Three perspectives are usually used to explain differences in political beliefs and behavior of men and women: political socialization, structural, and situational. This paper examines evidence bearing on one of these theories, political socialization, and finds relatively minor support for it. A variety of alternative explanations flow from these results, the most radical of which would call for abandoning the political socialization perspective altogether. A more cautious reading of the findings suggests a new interpretation, one that integrates both political socialization and situational theories.