SYMBOLIC TRADITIONALISM AND PRAGMATIC EGALITARIANISM
- 1 April 1999
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Gender & Society
- Vol. 13 (2), 211-233
- https://doi.org/10.1177/089124399013002004
Abstract
Drawing on Connell's notion of gender projects, the authors assess the degree to which contemporary evangelical ideals of men's headship challenge, as well as reinforce, a hegemonic masculinity. Based on 265 in-depth interviews in 23 states across the country, they find that rather than espousing a traditional gender hierarchy in which women are simply subordinate to men, the majority of contemporary evangelicals hold to symbolic traditionalism and pragmatic egalitarianism. Symbolic male headship provides an ideological tool with which individual evangelicals may maintain a sense of distinctiveness from the broader culture of which they are a part. At the same time, symbolic headship blunts some of the harsher effects of living in a materially rich, but time poor, culture, by defusing an area of potential conflict, creating a safe space within which men can negotiate, and strengthening men's material and emotional ties to their families.Keywords
This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit:
- Fundamentalism et al: Conservative Protestants in AmericaAnnual Review of Sociology, 1998
- Selective Deprivatization among American Religious Traditions: The Reversal of the Great ReversalSocial Forces, 1998
- A Theory of Structure: Duality, Agency, and TransformationAmerican Journal of Sociology, 1992
- Accommodation and Resistance to Modernity: A Comparison of Two Contemporary Orthodox Jewish GroupsSociological Analysis, 1990
- Doing GenderGender & Society, 1987
- Women Warriors: The Negotiation of Gender in a Charismatic CommunitySociological Analysis, 1987
- Church Closets and Back Doors: A Feminist View of Moral Majority WomenFeminist Studies, 1983
- The good-provider role: Its rise and fall.American Psychologist, 1981