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Attitudes toward gender equality and gender relations: Why are they so different?
Through a comparative analysis of data from 57 countries, Johannes Bergh seeks, in his new article "Gender Attitudes and Modernization Processes", to explain why attitudes toward gender equality and gender relations in society vary both between individuals and countries.
The hypotheses that are tested in the article stem from two partly conflicting theories of modernization. Wilensky (2002) advocates a ‘structural’ explanation for variation in gender attitudes, while Inglehart (1990, 1997) suggests a ‘values’ explanation. Bergh conducts a three-part analysis: an individual, a national, and a multilevel analysis.
Through this analysis, Bergh concludes that a structural explanation is better able to account for individual level gender attitudes, but values do, to some extent, serve as the mechanism that produces national level variation. Bergh also agrees with Inglehart (1990, 1997) in suggesting that the effect of values on gender attitudes increases with increasing development.
The article is published in the latest issue of International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 19(1):5-23
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