http://bss.au.dk/en/insights/2018/samfun...l-society/
EXCERPT: Men with large upper-bodies have a tendency to favour inequality in society and a limited redistribution of resources. This is the conclusion drawn by Professor Michael Bang Petersen and Associate Professor Lasse Laustsen from the Department of Political Science in a study published in the journal, Political Psychology. “[...] Today, physical strength is highly unlikely to affect how big a share of society’s resources you are able to acquire. However, our data shows that physical strength nonetheless continues to affect men’s political attitudes towards redistribution,” says Lasse Laustsen.
According to the researchers, the new results may help explain the paradox of why some men with limited financial resources still favour financial inequality although they would in fact benefit from a greater redistribution of resources. “Our analysis suggests that these men expect to be able to rise in the hierarchy on their own. And once they reach the top of the hierarchy, an unequal society will increase their chances of maintaining that position,“ says Laustsen.
[...] The study involves both men and women, but when it comes to women there is no link between physical strength and political attitudes. According to the researchers, this complies with the assumption that our approach to modern politics is regulated by ancestral human instincts. Just like other male animals, men have used their physical strength to achieve status, while throughout evolution, women have developed other strategies that take their lower physical strength into account. “For that reason, the fact that the correlation is not found in women is an important result in itself,” says Petersen.
The researchers believe that their results emphasise the value of involving animal behaviour and the theory of evolution in the study of political behaviour. “It’s important knowledge if we wish to understand how our political attitudes are formed. They are not just based on reason. Our intuitions are adapted to a different environment than the one we live in today. Our skulls house a Stone Age mind, and we need to appreciate that we are just one animal species among a host of others. Also in our approach to modern politics,” says Laustsen.
The researchers cannot say with absolute certainty that the effect is purely one-way - from physical strength to political attitude. The effect can also go the other way. “We cannot rule out that men with right-wing attitudes are also more prone to go to the gym. That being said, however, there are strong indications that attitudes are actually shaped by physical strength and not the other way round,” says Petersen.
[...] The study builds on data from 6,349 people of different nationalities. 1,875 of the respondents are Danish, and the rest are Belarussians residing in Lithuania, Americans, Venezuelans, Ukrainians and Poles. The data was collected between 2012 and 2017. During this period, when conducting studies on various political attitudes, the researchers also measured and asked respondents about their physical strength.
MORE: http://bss.au.dk/en/insights/2018/samfun...l-society/
EXCERPT: Men with large upper-bodies have a tendency to favour inequality in society and a limited redistribution of resources. This is the conclusion drawn by Professor Michael Bang Petersen and Associate Professor Lasse Laustsen from the Department of Political Science in a study published in the journal, Political Psychology. “[...] Today, physical strength is highly unlikely to affect how big a share of society’s resources you are able to acquire. However, our data shows that physical strength nonetheless continues to affect men’s political attitudes towards redistribution,” says Lasse Laustsen.
According to the researchers, the new results may help explain the paradox of why some men with limited financial resources still favour financial inequality although they would in fact benefit from a greater redistribution of resources. “Our analysis suggests that these men expect to be able to rise in the hierarchy on their own. And once they reach the top of the hierarchy, an unequal society will increase their chances of maintaining that position,“ says Laustsen.
[...] The study involves both men and women, but when it comes to women there is no link between physical strength and political attitudes. According to the researchers, this complies with the assumption that our approach to modern politics is regulated by ancestral human instincts. Just like other male animals, men have used their physical strength to achieve status, while throughout evolution, women have developed other strategies that take their lower physical strength into account. “For that reason, the fact that the correlation is not found in women is an important result in itself,” says Petersen.
The researchers believe that their results emphasise the value of involving animal behaviour and the theory of evolution in the study of political behaviour. “It’s important knowledge if we wish to understand how our political attitudes are formed. They are not just based on reason. Our intuitions are adapted to a different environment than the one we live in today. Our skulls house a Stone Age mind, and we need to appreciate that we are just one animal species among a host of others. Also in our approach to modern politics,” says Laustsen.
The researchers cannot say with absolute certainty that the effect is purely one-way - from physical strength to political attitude. The effect can also go the other way. “We cannot rule out that men with right-wing attitudes are also more prone to go to the gym. That being said, however, there are strong indications that attitudes are actually shaped by physical strength and not the other way round,” says Petersen.
[...] The study builds on data from 6,349 people of different nationalities. 1,875 of the respondents are Danish, and the rest are Belarussians residing in Lithuania, Americans, Venezuelans, Ukrainians and Poles. The data was collected between 2012 and 2017. During this period, when conducting studies on various political attitudes, the researchers also measured and asked respondents about their physical strength.
MORE: http://bss.au.dk/en/insights/2018/samfun...l-society/