Often younger generations are associated with more liberal, left-leaning ideologies. However, surveys and research conducted by various universities indicate a subtle yet noticeable gender gap in ideology alignment: young men tend to trend conservative whereas young women tend to trend liberal.
“Generally speaking, my students at this school, all male, have gotten more conservative over the past x number of years,” U.S. History teacher Mr. Timothy Lengel said. “This is part of a longer trend that has been happening. For a long time, there has been a gender gap in U.S. politics, between our Republican party, more conservative and more male generally, and the Democratic party, more liberal and more female generally.”
Still, this shift has only slowly grown apparent to Haverford faculty members.
“Twelve years ago when I got here, it was actually rather shocking, as I came from an all-girls school in Manhattan, I actually had a kid, when I went over some women’s history content, say, ‘Can we now get back to the important stuff?’” History Department Chair Ms. Hannah Turlish said. “So either boys now are keeping that thought to themselves or are now acknowledging women’s history is worth studying. From my standpoint, kids have gotten more open and liberal in my time here.”
Sixth Former Render Ford also noticed a subtle change in the political ideologies of his classmates.
“At least in my English class last year, the majority of my class leaned conservative. I wouldn’t say that this has been obvious, however,” Ford said.
Ford’s sentiments aligned with those of fellow Sixth Former Blake Paul, who echoed the slightly shifting political ideologies among students.
“I am not sure that this is so commercially known,” Paul said. “I come across plenty of left-wing young males and right-wing young females, so I think there is a mix of everything.”
On the other hand, Sixth Former Clayton Green has noted that young men are trending conservative.
“I have definitely noticed this trend,” Green said. “At Haverford [it] stems from young men tending to follow their father’s political views. Most young men are going to agree with their fathers, so if there is a precedent that more men are Republican, it makes sense that there is going to be a recurring theme that is going to create a divide.”
This growing gap is not a recent shift: studies conducted by the University of Michigan indicate that this has been happening since 2010.
“[The gap] has increased over the last few years for a host of reasons, one of which is that there is an international component of this: this is not just a U.S. thing, it’s happening in a lot of other democracies,” Mr. Lengel said, referencing an article in The Financial Times detailing this change in countries like Germany and South Korea.
Ms. Turlish agreed.
“It does seem sort of worldwide that highly educated industrial countries are going through similar patterns,” Ms. Turlish said. “We are not the only country that has elected someone who has the rhetoric of ‘going back.’”
Green agreed with this idea.
“I think it’s the nostalgia, almost, of the past,” Green said. “Masculine men have been associated with the conservative party, and [masculinity] has unraveled almost. It’s easy to make [conservatism] attractive to young men, saying, ‘We want this back.’”
Mr. Lengel analyzed this idea further.
“There is sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy here. As more men become conservative and join the Republican party, the Republican party becomes more conservative, which drives out women, which makes the party more conservative,” Mr. Lengel said.
Ford further emphasized this idea.
“We can look at the policies that conservatives tend to offer, even something like gun laws,” Ford said, “Handling guns is something that can be associated with masculinity in a lot of spaces, and I can see why some conservative policies and how they carry themselves could cause that shift to happen.”
Building upon Ford’s insights, Ms. Turlish underscored the enduring impact of traditional notions of masculinity on political leanings.
“I’d like to say that this message of ‘what it means to be a man’ is so strong, and we are trying at this school to question and broaden what it means to be a man,” Ms. Turlish said. “However, I still think that we are entrenched in this idea of a man not crying, not backing down, fighter, competitive, and that is something that the Republican party is doing quite well. Young men are being drawn to that message of power and strength, vanquishing the enemy and keeping the enemies out. I have a son who’s in sixth grade who is completely politically unaware, and I can see how that message could appeal to him.”
Further delving into the dynamics of the recent shift, Ms. Turlish reflected on historical shifts in gender, particularly in academia and the workforce.
“As a history teacher, I am not so old that I remember when only men could apply to Harvard, but I do know that in terms of trends historically as to who gets the jobs, the seats at the top universities, who gets the ‘things,’ used to be a male-only club,” Ms. Turlish said. “And now it’s opening up. The number of slots have not changed, so I can imagine that if you are a group who is historically used to having life work out, and then things get more complicated, you are going to have a reaction. And that is a very human thing, and I totally understand.”
Ms. Turlish further warned of the possible dangers of “wanting to go back.”
“This idea of going back, this idea of MAGA [Make America Great Again], is based on a premise that it used to be better than it is now, when only a certain group got everything,” Ms. Turlish said. “I want to encourage people to understand that the old days are not what we want to go back to, especially in terms of who is losing out.”
Others had different ideas for the origins of the gender gap.
“I’d say that it is marketing of the large political parties,” Paul said. “The left wing has catered to collect votes by young women, which is shown in Biden’s State of the Union speech where a large part of his speech was bashing the Roe v. Wade decision, and that women have voting power as well. Right-wing people have also grasped at young men. An example that comes to mind is the whole Tate brother spectacle, and the whole idea of reclaiming masculinity.”
Green shared a similar sentiment.
“Occasionally, these posts will pop up, and I will look at the comments to get a sense of what other people are thinking about these things, and I see a lot of support agreeing and buying into these videos,” Green said. “Social media has definitely enhanced these patterns.”
Mr. Lengel argues that the recent rise of influencers like Ben Shapiro and Andrew Tate is merely a result of the increasing trend towards conservatism among young men.
“I would suppose that this is more of a symptom than a reason,” Mr. Lengel said. “As the Republican party becomes more conservative, it’s a good time to make money as an influencer catering to conservative men.”
Expanding on the implications of conservative media consumption, Mr. Lengel expressed apprehension about the potential influence of certain voices within the conservative sphere.
“Being conservative is fine. My fear is that the student body is falling into some of the ‘worse’ aspects of conservatism, like Andrew Tate’s content,” Mr. Lengel said. “There are some [conservative voices] you should avoid consuming, just as there are some liberal voices you should be avoiding.”
“What I have noticed that is harmful, in both left and right-wing posts, is the sheer vulnerability young kids have to taking in these ideas and not acknowledging the bigger picture. I think that is very dangerous.”
Blake Paul ’24
Paul noted the importance of being aware of the content one consumes.
“The way these parties market to younger generations is through social media, as it’s their main news outlet,” Paul said. “What I have noticed that is harmful, in both left and right-wing posts, is the sheer vulnerability young kids have to taking in these ideas and not acknowledging the bigger picture. I think that is very dangerous.”
Building upon Paul’s concerns regarding information disseminated through social media, Mr. Lengel underscored the imperative for students to cultivate discernment in their consumption of information.
“This is something you need to think about all the time,” Mr. Lengel said. “As a U.S. History teacher and a civics teacher for Government and Politics especially, is to help you get ready to participate as a citizen. What I am concerned with more is learning to disagree respectfully with good data and arguments instead of junk.”
