Example research essay topic: Why Men Are More Politically Active Than Women - 1,174 words

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WHY MEN ARE MORE POLITICALLY ACTIVE THAN WOMEN I should start by noting that on the whole, men in general are politically more active than women, especially in political parties. Just as with clubs and social groups, two in three US women have never been politically active, while for men, the figure is one in two. The most common activities are political demonstrations approximately one in four have participated in one -, followed by activities within the framework of a political party. The level of education appears to be the key factor in commitment for issues that concern the society as a whole. Men with a high level of anomie have participated approximately twice as often in at least one demonstration as those with a low level of anomie.

For women, this ratio even is three to one. A very low level of political activity can be found among women in unskilled positions. Also one should remember that persons with a particularly pronounced positive health attitude are politically less active than those with a moderate health attitude. This could be due to a difference in orientation either toward individual or toward societal and common values and goals.

In the following essay I am going to speak about the political activism (activity) of women and men and try to understand why men are politically more active than women. I will present various educated findings together with my personal opinion on the given matter. It should be noted that an analysis of the indicator social network by age shows that the youngest age group has the most extensive social networks for both genders and is directly related to the political activity of both genders. Between ages 25 and 74, the social network remains relatively stable and equally strong for both men and women (Mendus, 117).

Social contacts decline significantly in the oldest age group and this is precisely when the people of both sexes stop being active politically, too, compared to the younger groups. Persons living in high-income households have a more extensive social network than persons in the lower income brackets and therefore are more active politically than the poor strata of society. They therefore not only have better material resources, but also more social health resources than the low income segments (Bayes, 34). Here one should consider the political participation of women and men to learn about their political activity.

The problem here of course is the quantitative measurement of an activity that has not been well-defined. Acts of political participation are less organized, less structured and possibly more spontaneous than conventional participation which makes any kind of standard measurements very difficult. In other words, we see a great number of women taking active positions in the local and federal government, yet still the most important positions in the military and Congress are assumed by men, and although women are present on various levels, they as a rule assume subservient positions are not ever given as much authority as men (Chapman, 55). We also need to address the fact that women are disproportionally drawn into political activity, as shown in various case study materials and survey analyses. Political participation research and social capital research established a persistent gender gap in political interest, political knowledge and conventional forms of participation (Bayes, 37).

Though despite some persistent gender differences, at the turn of the 21 st century, women are just as likely to vote as their male counterparts, and they are more involved in social interactions. However, women have been shown to join fewer clubs or groups, even though they invest more time in such group life than men (Mendus, 121). Only in rare cases have women been found to be politically more active than men (Bayes, 39). Our case study material below shows that women have frequently been involved in political consumer acts historically. If our data confirm that women are more involved in political consumerism than men, we need to ask why this is the case? Is this a consequence of the historical disproportionate involvement of women in politics because of their roles in families?

Women are motivated by different ideas and factors than men when they go out to make purchases or to vote. Our finding about the disproportionate involvement of women is only an artifact of our sample in which we include highly educated and generally mobilized women are as politically active as the majority of men. In order to establish that political activity is indeed a consistent concept that captures political and civic engagement, we need to answer several follow-up questions. Not only do we need to establish that political participation (activity) is indeed a political phenomenon with societal consequences, but we also need to understand the driving factors behind it (Peterson, 88). People with a high level of education have a greater degree of political interest and are politically more active than those with a low level of education.

We know that men are still more educated than women and thus are more politically active. In an article about the effects of education, the American sociologist Meyer provides two explanatory interpretations of this finding: socialization and allocation (Mendus, 122). In the socialization approach an emphasis is placed on the effects of education and personal development in an individual's formative years. Young people acquire knowledge and skills at home and in school which are significant in determining the way they are to function in the political process. The more politics is discussed at home and in school, the greater the probability that an individual will have political knowledge, interests and skills at his / her disposal. It is also true in general that the more political knowledge someone has, the more likely he is to be interested in politics and to be politically active.

In the allocation approach, the explanation for the link between level of education and political involvement is posited as lying in differences in status and social position of individuals. Those with a high level of education usually occupy positions with a higher status than those with lower education levels. People with a high status want to distinguish themselves in other areas, such as politics for example (Bayes, 41). In conclusion I would like to note that these gender differences are significant, for they show very clearly that men and women use their resources in a different, often completely opposite way. It is simply because men are still in a better position than women education-wise and materially, the men are more active. Should females receive such high salaries as men and as much education as men, their political activity would increase and match the activity of men.

Bibliography: Bayes, Jane, Globalization, Gender, and Religion: The Politics of Women's Rights in Catholic and Muslim Contexts, McGraw Hill, 2002. Mendus, Susan, Feminism and Emotion: Readings in Moral and Political Philosophy, Prentice Hall, 2001. Peterson, Spike, Global Gender Issues (Dilemmas in World Politics (Paper) ), Penguin books, 2000. Chapman, Jenny, Politics, Feminism and the Reformation of Gender, NY Random House, 2002.

Research essay sample on Why Men Are More Politically Active Than Women