Psychology, Gender, and Politics

The course begins with an introduction to the main concepts from political psychology, and the latter portion of the course applies these concepts to the study of anti-gender ideologies and populism. Political psychology examines how psychology informs politics, including how we build political identities, why people engage in political behaviors, and the mutually constitutive relationship between people and institutions. The course will primarily focus on research from social/political psychology, but we will also look to broader literatures, including cognitive and personality psychology, sociology, political science, and international relations. Although much of the research in this field is conducted with a focus on the “global north” and the United States in particular, in this course, we will take a global perspective and will discuss whether the types of conclusions and methods used elsewhere generalize to broader settings. 

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We will cover topics such as ideology, political personality, partisanship, intergroup relationships, conflict, conspiracies, and prejudice/stigma. In the latter part of the course, we will then use these concepts to engage in a study of the recent rise of anti-gender ideologies and right-wing populism.

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