Sex-related differences in socio-political ideology

The study was directed towards uncovering differences in socio-political ideology between males and females. The subjects consisted of 532 Swedish high school students from metropolitan Stockholm. All subjects were from the same grade and of approximately the same age (18 years). The results failed to disclose any significant differences in the political party preference of males and females. However, there were a number of statistically significant differences in the socio-political attitudes of males and females as measured by the S5 Conservatism Scale. Females were found to be less generally conservative, less racist, pro-western, punitive and more religious and egalitarian than males. Despite certain ideological differences between males and females, the socio-political attitude profiles and the attitude structures, as measured by profile and factor analyses, were quite similar for males and females. The results are discussed in terms of four schools of thought concerning the sources of sex-related differences in political style.