Women Also Know Stuff: Challenging the Gender Gap in Political Sophistication
Articles
Overview
published in
publication date
- April 2024
start page
- 903
end page
- 921
issue
- 2
volume
- 188
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0003-0554
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1537-5943
abstract
- This article proposes a simple but powerful framework to measure political sophistication based on open-ended survey responses. Discursive sophistication uses automated text analysis methods to capture the complexity of individual attitude expression. I validate the approach by comparing it to conventional political knowledge metrics using different batteries of open-ended items across five surveys spanning four languages (total ). The new measure casts doubt on the oft-cited gender gap in political knowledge: women might know fewer facts about institutions and elites, but they do not differ substantively in the sophistication of their expressed political attitudes.