Sophie Mainz

Huge thanks to everyone who provided feedback on this project!
Read the full (open access) article: doi.org/10.1017/psrm...

[15] Why it matters (3):

3) When forced to choose, nativists readily compromise on gender traditionalism for exclusion - suggesting nativism, not moral conservatism, drives right-wing populism.

[14] Why it matters (2):

1) Liberal values are less firmly held than we assume, they can be destabilized when political elites present them as conflicting;
2) Citizens form preferences across policy domains through trade-offs, not in isolation;

[13] Why it matters:

This reveals that liberal support is contingent, not absolute. Citizens trade off between progressive values when elites present them as conflicting. And it shows that nativism, not traditionalism, is the organizing principle of right-wing populism.

[12] The Results (Part 6):

Thereby, the threat frame mattered for which group they thought of:
• Safety threats → more likely to think of Latinos (49% vs. 42%)
• Value threats → more likely to think of Muslims (59% vs. 41%)

[11] The Results (Part 5):

When I asked respondents what came to mind after reading the treatment, they associated the generic term "immigrants" with specific groups.

Over half mentioned either Muslims (49.5%) or Latinos (45.6%).

[10] The Results (Part 4):

Without treatment, these respondents opposed these policies (scoring <5). After treatment, they supported them (>5).

[9] The Results (Part 3):

For people with PRO-immigration attitudes:
Exposure to femonationalism made them significantly more supportive of assimilationist integration policies. This happened regardless of whether the message came from a Republican or Democrat.

[8] The Results (Part 2):
This is selective liberalism: nativists liberalize on gender to disidentify from the immigrant outgroup. Messages from Democrats had weaker (but still present) effects.

[7] The Results (Part 1):
For people with ANTI-immigration attitudes:
Exposure to femonationalism by a Republican politician significantly increased their support for progressive gender education.
• Value threat frame: +0.65 points
• Safety threat frame: +0.83 points

[6] Integration policies:
• Should English proficiency be required for citizenship?
• Should new immigrants take mandatory courses on "American norms and values"?

[5] After reading (or not reading) these messages, respondents reported their preferences on:
Gender policies:
• Should schools teach women's rights & gender equality?
• Should schools include mandatory lessons on sexual consent?

[4] The experiment
The messages varied systematically:
• Source: Republican vs. Democrat politician
• Threat frame: Immigration as a threat to women's safety (safety threat) vs. gender equality (value threat)

[3] The experiment
I surveyed 3118 US citizens in a preregistered experiment. Respondents were randomly assigned to read a fictional interview where a politician makes a femonationalist claim, or they saw no message (control group).

[2] Summary
Interestingly, both threat frames worked equally well: whether politicians framed immigration as threatening women's safety or gender equality as a value. This is the first study to distinguish and test these two dimensions of femonationalist rhetoric.

[1] Summary
When immigration is framed as threatening women's safety & gender equality:
→ Pro-immigration citizens pivot to supporting strict integration policies, policies they'd normally oppose
→ Anti-immigration citizens embrace progressive gender policies to distance themselves from immigrants

Happy that my article just published in PSRM! In "Inclusion to Exclude“, I show that when politicians invoke women's rights to justify anti-immigration positions, it shifts citizens' policy preferences - but differently so depending on their prior views. doi.org/10.1017/psrm...

[Thread below]

Logo of Political Science Research and Methods featuring the initials "PSRM" in a stylized grey font on a black background.

#OpenAccess from @psrm.bsky.social -

Inclusion to exclude: how femonationalism impacts policy preferences - https://cup.org/3O7Vh0M

- @sophiemainz.bsky.social

#FirstView

Yesterday, I had a lovely opportunity to present co-authored work on how to counter femonationalism at
@mzesunimannheim.bsky.social . Engaged audience and great feedback! Thanks to @wurthmann.bsky.social for the invite!

@katharinalawall.bsky.social, @sophiemainz.bsky.social, @turnbulldugarte.com

@apsa.bsky.social

Tack Jonas! :)

Thank you! :)

Åh, tack så mycket! :) @hannaeback.bsky.social

This honor means so much to me. I'm immensely grateful to @epovb.bsky.social, the award committee, @debraleiter.bsky.social, @joshuadarr.bsky.social and last year's recipient @mikecowburn.bsky.social. And thank you, Stuart @turnbulldugarte.com for the nomination and for seeing me and my work. :)

Big thanks to @matildecer.bsky.social, @mtplk.bsky.social, and @nzwiener-collins.bsky.social for the invite and for bringing together such lovely people! Really loved my time in Munich, grateful to have been part of it!

:)

Attitudes toward Political Authoritarianism in Economically Advanced Democracies Cambridge Core - Politics: General Interest - Attitudes toward Political Authoritarianism in Economically Advanced Democracies

Our Element is out! 🎉

Why do authoritarian-leaning leaders target women’s and LGBTQ+ rights? Is there a systematic pattern that reaches beyond individual country cases, and how is this reflected in people’s attitudes and societal norms?

www.cambridge.org/core/element...

🧵1/ Are primaries bad for political diversity? Conventional wisdom says yes—but our article in @wepsocial.bsky.social shows that candidate selection modes are not necessarily a bottleneck for representation, at least when it comes to demand. 🗳️👥 @sandrahkansson.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1080/0140...

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭? 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞? Before yesterday's election and amid rising interest in the Church's ideological stance, Michal Grahn @grahn.bsky.social and l surveyed 1,500 US adults asking them to evaluate different hypothetical papal profiles.

Sharing our new preprint "An Image is Worth K Topics: A Visual Structural Topic Model with Image Embeddings" with @mansmag.bsky.social @matmagnani.bsky.social Alexandra Segerberg and Nataša Sladoje. Available on ArXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2504.10004