The Significance of Linked Fate for Women

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Goal

The goal of this exercise is to explore whether the concept of linked fate applies to women and if so, how it influences attitudes toward women and issues that affect them. Frequencies, crosstabulation, and comparison of means will be used.

Concept

Linked fate is a concept traditionally used to describe when members of an identity group (African Americans, for example) elevate group interests above their own individual interests. Coming from a shared history of segregation, prejudice and discrimination, the sense of linked fate influences African Americans' political thinking and action, and places it in direct opposition to the American sense of individualism. Under individualism, success is caused by one's own efforts and is not dependent on the success of others. By contrast, the concept of linked fate posits that what is good for the group is good for the individual.

The concept of linked fate has important implications for identity, as well as vote choice and support for public policy.

While the concept of linked fate is usually applied primarily to blacks, researchers have been exploring whether it can be extended to other racial/ethnic groups, as well as women.

Possible research questions about linked fate include:

  • How does the sense of linked fate vary among different racial/ethnic groups?
  • Is the concept of linked fate applicable to women, and if so, how does it differ from blacks' understanding of linked fate?
  • How do demographic characteristics such as age or education influence one's sense of linked fate?
  • How does having a sense of linked fate influence one's vote choices and support for public policy?

Data for this exercise come from the 2004 American National Election Study: Pre- and Post-Election Survey. The American National Election Studies (ANES) grew out of the Survey Research Center and the Center for Political Studies of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. These organizations, together, have been covering elections since 1952. ANES produces high quality data on voting, public opinion, and political participation to serve the research needs of social scientists, teachers, students, policy makers and journalists who want to better understand the theoretical and empirical foundations of national election outcomes.

Respondents in the 2004 ANES were interviewed before and after the November election. Questions cover a broad range of topics including demographic characteristics, attitudes toward candidates and parties, attitudes on different segments of the American public, attitudes on foreign policy matters, and political behavior. The ANES uses random sampling in order to produce representative data about the American electorate.

Variables used in this exercise include:

  • Age categories (AGE.CAT)
  • Race (V043299A)
  • Education level (V043254)
  • Linked fate women (V045174)
  • How much linked fate women (V045174A)
  • Pride in women's accomplishments (V045175)
  • Angry about treatment of women (V045176)
  • Feeling thermometer women (V045083)
  • Federal spending on welfare (V043169)
  • Federal spending on childcare (V043170)
  • Feeling thermometer people on welfare (V044404P)
  • Number of children in household (V041103)

Linked Fate and Demographic Characteristics

The variable V045174 measures whether respondents feel linked to what happens with women, and was asked only of women. For ease of analysis we recoded this variable to include only those respondents who answered "yes" (coded as 1) or "no" (2). The new variable is called LINKEDFATE. Looking at the frequency table, what percentage of women said that they feel linked to what happens with women? When probed further, what percentage reported feeling linked "a lot"? What percentage said "not very much at all"?

Does the sense of linked fate vary for women based on age, race or education? To find out we recoded each of these variables into fewer categories for ease of analysis (the new variables are named AGE.CAT, NEWRACE, and EDU.CATS respectively).

Examine the results of the crosstab between LINKEDFATE and AGE.CAT. Which age group reported the lowest sense of linked fate? Which group reported the highest?

Now looking at the results table for LINKEDFATE and NEWRACE, which groups exhibit the highest and lowest sense of linked fate?

Finally turn your attention to the crosstab between LINKEDFATE and EDU.CATS. What percentage of respondents without a high school diploma said that they feel linked to what happens with women? How does this compare to those with a college degree or more?

Attitudes Toward Women

Sense of pride in women's accomplishments is measured by the variable PRIDEWOM. Take a look at the crosstab between PRIDEWOM and LINKEDFATE. Do the women in the sample who feel linked to other women report feeling proud of women's accomplishments more often than women who don't? Similarly, looking at the results of the crosstab between ANGRYWOM and LINKEDFATE, do they report feeling angry at the treatment of women more often than the women who do not feel linked to other women?

Feeling thermometers are often used to measure how respondents feel about a specific group of people on a scale of 0 to 100. Scores of 0-49 indicate very cold or cold feelings, and scores of 50 and above indicate warm, or very warm feelings toward a specific group. Consider the results of the comparison of means for the feeling thermometer about women, based on LINKEDFATE. Do respondents who have a sense of linked fate report warmer or colder feelings toward women?

Attitudes Toward Issues that Affect Women

The variable WELFARE measures respondents' views on federal spending for welfare, and whether they thought it should be increased, decreased, or kept the same. Looking at the results of the crosstab between WELFARE and LINKEDFATE, does having a sense of linked fate appear to make a difference in respondents' level of support for federal spending on welfare? Does the comparison of means using the feeling thermometer measure (V044404p) and LINKEDFATE show a difference in respondents' feelings about people who are on welfare?

Finally, look at respondents' views on federal spending for childcare, and whether they thought it should be increased, decreased, or kept the same. Consider the crosstab between CHILDCARE and LINKEDFATE. Note that we used the variable CHILDREN as a control. Respondents who have no children are coded as "0" and those who do are coded as "1." In the results, the first table and chart indicate the views of childless respondents; the second table and chart show the views of those respondents who do have children; and the final table and chart are for all respondents combined. Which group showed the highest level of support for increased spending for childcare? Which group was more likely to think that spending for childcare should be decreased? Does having children appear to make a difference in respondents' views on this issue? How about linked fate?

What percentage of women said that they feel linked to what happens with women? What percentage reported feeling linked "a lot?" What percentage said "not very much at all?"

Which age group reported the lowest sense of linked fate? Which group reported the highest? Which two racial groups exhibit the highest and lowest sense of linked fate respectively? What percentage of respondents without a high school diploma said that they feel linked to what happens with women? How does this compare to those with a college degree or more?

Do the women in the sample who feel linked to other women report feeling proud of women's accomplishments more often than women who don't?

Do they report feeling angry at the treatment of women more often than the women who do not feel linked to other women?

Do respondents who have a sense of linked fate report warmer or colder feelings toward women?

Does having a sense of linked fate appear to make a difference in respondents' level of support for federal spending on welfare? Does the comparison of means using the feeling thermometer measure and LINKEDFATE show a difference in respondents' feelings about people who are on welfare?

In terms of attitudes about spending on childcare, which group showed the highest level of support for increased spending for childcare? Which group was most likely to think that spending for childcare should be decreased? Does having children appear to make a difference in respondents' views on this issue? How about linked fate?

Interpretation

Things to think about when interpreting the results:

It is important to look at the amount of missing data in each relationship and think about the ways in which that might affect the generalizability of the results.

Weights (mathematical formulas) are often used to adjust the sample proportions, usually by race, sex, or age, to more closely match those of the general population. The analyses used in this guide did not use any weights, which may reduce the generalizability of the findings, but the resulting tables are accurate descriptions of the relationships found between these variables among these respondents.

Reading the results:

  • The numbers in each cell of the crosstabulation tables show the percent of the people who fall into the overlapping categories, followed by the actual number of people that represents in this sample. The coloring in the tables demonstrates how the observed numbers in each cell compares to the expected number if there were no association between the two variables. The accompanying bar charts display the patterns visually as well.
  • The analyses show the following:
  • Three quarters (75.8%) of the women in the sample reported feeling linked to what happens to other women. Among those, 42.3% said they felt linked "a lot" and 7.2% said "not very much at all."
  • With 55.3%, 66.7%, and 61% respectively, respondents 70 years and older, Hispanics, and those without a high school diploma were the least likely to say that they have a sense of linked fate. By contrast, the highest reports of feelings of linked fate were found among of 30-39 year-olds (87.4%), blacks (81.3%) and whites (75.6%), and respondents with a college education (82.9%).
  • 80.5% of those with a sense of linked fate, and 58.1% of those without, reported feeling proud of women's accomplishments "often."
  • Similarly, 42.7% of respondents with a sense of linked fate, and 20.9% of those without, said that they are "often" angry about the way women are treated in society.
  • Whether respondents reported a sense of linked fate seemed to have little impact on their feelings toward women. Both groups reported having rather warm feelings toward women, with mean scores on the feeling thermometer of 86.23 for those with a sense of linked fate, and 78.35 for those without.
  • Support for spending on welfare did not appear to be affected by linked fate very much. Among those with a sense of linked fate, 24.7% said the government should increase spending on welfare, and 27.9% said it should decrease it. Among those without a sense of linked fate, 27.3% said it should increase it, and 32.2% said it should decrease it.
  • Having a sense of linked fate did not appear to have a significant impact on the way respondents felt about people who are on welfare either. Mean scores on the feeling thermometer were 16.75 for respondents who feel linked to other women, and 15.70 for those who do not.
  • Finally, the group most likely to support increased federal spending for childcare was women with a sense of linked fate but no children (66.5%). Those most likely to support a decrease in spending on childcare were respondents who do not have either a sense of linked fate or children (12%). While having a sense of linked fate resulted in different levels of support for increased spending on childcare (65.3% for those who do, and 54.8% for those who don't have a sense of linked fate), there was no difference between the two groups among respondents who have children (62.5% of each group supported increased spending).

Summary

The goal of this exercise was to examine the relationship between gender and the concept of linked fate. Taken together, the results show that three quarters of the women in the sample have a sense of linked fate, and that women in their thirties, white and black women, and women with a college degree are the most likely to feel linked to what happens with women. Linked fate seemed to have little to no relationship to the relative warmth of respondents' feelings toward women in general, and people on welfare in particular. Neither did it relate to respondents' support for federal spending on welfare. Linked fate did appear to be related to respondents' pride in women's accomplishments and anger about the treatment of women in society, as well as their level of support for increased spending on childcare, where the highest level of support was found among women who have a sense of linked fate but who have no children.

CITATION: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. The Significance of Linked Fate for Women: A Data-Driven Learning Guide. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2009-04-16. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3886/linkedfate

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