White before Woman, Race before Gender? A Systematic Review of Christian Nationalism Research

• In Event: Political Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Politics and Gender (Table 13)

Abstract

Race and gender are quintessential variables in sociological research. Investigators studying broad social outcomes typically include measures capturing both in their statistical models, and researchers publishing on Christian nationalism are no exception—most Christian nationalism studies incorporate both race and gender as standard demographic controls. However, a striking pattern emerges across this literature: while race consistently appears as a significant predictor in models examining Christian nationalism's effects on various social outcomes (developing the subset of literature on “white Christian nationalism”), gender coefficients are typically non-significant (very little literature exists on “patriarchal/male/men Christian nationalism”). This asymmetry demands theoretical attention.

In this working paper, we conduct a systematic review of Christian nationalism scholarship using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodological guidelines. Our findings will allow us to engage intersectionality theories and discuss how and why some white women align with Christian nationalist ideologies that subordinate their own gendered interests in favor of the dominance maintenance interests of their racial group. This has immediate relevance for public discourse around political polarization, voting behavior, and the durability of reactionary movements. By examining not only what Christian nationalism predicts but how it differentially engages race and gender, this research addresses one of the most urgent questions in contemporary American politics: how are racial and gender ideologies co-constructed within right-wing religio-political movements?

Authors

• Darci Kathleen Schmidgall, University of Oklahoma

• Abrielle Alexander, University of Oklahoma

• Ethan Boston

• Samuel L. Perry, University of Oklahoma

• Michaela Youngblood, University of Oklahoma