Prone to Agreement: Does Context Matter for Men and Women in Political Discussions?

Abstract

ABSTRACT In contemporary discourse, context matters for how people converse with one another about political topics. Discussion may occur face-to-face or online, topics of conversation may be controversial or less so, and gender dynamics may vary. We argue that men and women are affected differently by various contextual discussion factors. We employ a unique quasi-experiment that varies these factors and uses discourse analysis to examine patterns of gendered agreement and disagreement across seven exhaustive categories of response. These factors affect the likelihood of agreement by women and men, though gender-based differences are not dramatic. We do, however, find conditions that prompt men to be less agreeable than women. We also identify seven discrete rhetorical approaches to expressing agreement or disagreement in political discussion. Of these, three show evidence of gender-based patterns of usage. These findings have implications for how men and women use agreement strategies to cope with potential divisiveness in political discussion.