Assessing the effects of Urbanism and regionalism on gender-role attitudes, 1974-1998

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the effects of urbanism and Southern regionalism on traditional gender-role attitudes. Our main dependent variable is an index of gender traditionalism constructed from four items asked across several years from 1974 to 1998 by the General Social Survey. As in previous research and consistent with the classical theoretical propositions of Wirth and Stouffer, we find that people living in more urban areas are more likely to hold more contemporary gender-role attitudes compared to those living in less urban areas, and that those living in the South tend to maintain more traditional attitudes than their non-Southern counterparts. The propositions of Wirth also predict a convergence in attitudes over time, creating similar attitudes across residential locations. Our findings support this assertion. © 2005 Alpha Kappa Delta.