The Gender Revolution Marches On!: A Latent Class Analysis on Gender Attitudes, 1977-2012

• In Event: 035 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 18. Resistance

Abstract

Gender ideology is conceptualized as a multidimensional belief system about gender in which each dimension is relatively distinct from one another. My research question asks: when gender ideology improves, do all dimensions in gender ideology improve in the same fashion? Situating this article in broader debates about the current and future state of the gender revolution, can the uneven liberalization of each dimension in gender ideology explain why after decades of uninterrupted progress, the gender revolution stalled briefly in the early 2000s before rebounding in the mid-2000s? I draw from existing social science research to argue that there are 3 basic dimensions in gender ideology, representing three latent gender beliefs – separate spheres, status expectations and working motherhood. Using data from the pooled General Social Survey, I conducted a confirmatory factor analysis and a latent class analysis. There are two important findings. First, consistent with previous research, after more than two decades of rapid progress in gender ideology, there was a stall, albeit brief, at the beginning of the 21st century, before resuming again. Second, in contrary to Cotter et al’s (2011) assertion that the emergence of gender hybrid ideology (essentialist egalitarian) is a probable cause for the slowing down in the gender revolution, I find that gender hybridity is the primary driver of the liberalization of gender ideology. Specifically, traditionals (those who oppose gender equality across all dimensions) are, over time, evolving into gender hybrids (those who support gender equality in some dimensions but oppose it in others).

Author

• Ray Sin, University of Illinois-Chicago