DeepSummary
The episode explores whether young men around the world are turning against the tide of gender egalitarianism. It discusses the "gender gap" where women have moved further left politically compared to men, and whether this gap is widening further with young men becoming more regressive in their views on gender. The episode features an interview with Dr. Alice Evans, a researcher studying gender equality across societies.
Dr. Evans suggests factors like increasing inequality, difficulty in achieving traditional markers of status like home ownership and finding partners, and social media echo chambers may be contributing to some young men expressing "hostile sexism" and resentment towards women's advances. However, she notes this is not universal and many young men remain progressive.
The episode examines this phenomenon across different countries like Qatar, Indonesia, and South Korea, looking at how cultural contexts shape attitudes. Dr. Evans argues that reducing inequality, facilitating in-person interactions to build empathy, and regulating social media algorithms could help address the backlash against gender equality among certain groups of young men.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Some young men globally appear to be expressing "hostile sexism" and resentment towards women's growing equality and advances.
- Potential drivers include increasing inequality, difficulty achieving traditional markers of status like home ownership and finding partners, competition from highly educated women in the workforce, and social media echo chambers reinforcing sexist narratives.
- This phenomenon seems most pronounced in economically developed, culturally liberal countries but is not universal, with many young men remaining progressive on gender issues.
- The cultural context across different countries shapes how these attitudes play out, with indicators in places like Qatar, Indonesia and South Korea.
- Possible solutions could involve reducing inequality, facilitating more in-person interaction to build empathy, and regulating social media algorithms that create skewed depictions of reality.
- While challenges remain, the trend across history has generally been towards greater gender equality in most societies globally.
- Structural factors like women's growing economic independence reduce the social compulsion for them to partner with men they don't want to.
- Cultural entrepreneurs and narratives can play a role in either promoting gender equality or fueling resentment and backlash.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “If it's the case that corporate algorithms are creating a skewed sense of what people see and creating an unrealistic depiction of social life, then that's something we could regulate as we might regulate other areas.“ by Alice Evans
- “So throughout history, if you have a vulnerable group that cannot protect itself, it might be blamed, you know, similarly, in the struggle between Protestants and Catholics, then priests would vilify women and, you know, identify witches to prove their superior power to vanquish the devil, right?“ by Alice Evans
- “So if women are now in Qatar, women are now super, super educated. The younger generation of women really want to work, and I think it's possible that they present a challenge to young men. And when I look, what's really, really fascinating is when I look at data on maths and reading, we see women in Qatar, like, far outpacing men.“ by Alice Evans
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Episode Information
Good on Paper
The Atlantic
6/25/24
Are young men becoming radicalized? Could they be further to the right than even their fathers and grandfathers? These are big questions that have yet to be answered definitively, but in some countries, electoral results and polls suggest that a meaningful contingent of young men are frustrated and may be finding a home in radical spaces.
Host Jerusalem Demsas talks to Dr. Alice Evans, a researcher at Stanford University who has been traveling the world, diving into qualitative and quantitative research to uncover why some societies are more equal than others. Her insights help tease out why some young men may be turning against the tide of egalitarianism.
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