According to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, women’s social status is influenced by factors such as dominance and prestige over time.
In social and evolutionary psychology, dominance and prestige are viewed as two distinct routes to achieving influence and status.
Nevertheless, the influence of gender stereotypes in this framework and their potential impact on strategies have been largely overlooked. Gender norms often associate dominance with masculine traits and prestige with masculine traits that are considered more feminine, resulting in public criticism towards those who violate these strategies and raising questions about their universal relevance.
Hemant Kakar analyzed whether masculinity and class are reliable indicators of social power, and if so, whether gender plays a role in these effects.
Three pilot studies have provided evidence for the validity of the findings.
The primary research involved 188 men and 89 women who provided self-reports on a 17-item scale relating to their dominance and prestige. Participants shared their public Twitter handles to analyze their online social networks and behavior. The study included 3,200 tweets from each participant, including their full Twitter history. Participants excluded retweets and celebrity content to focus on their direct influence within their network.
Kakkar used the concept of social influence to measure the number of retweets from a participant. Network centrality was assessed to assess participants’ social status and social presence. Additional characteristics such as emotional tone, retweeting reciprocity, and temporal trends were adjusted to achieve a more balanced distribution of social influence.
On Twitter, Kakkar found that both dominance and prestige impacted women’s social status and, importantly, had an impact on masculinity – men generally enjoyed dominance due to the more retweets they made in the network – these qualities imply centrality and masculinity – while women experienced less social influence because dominance violated [almost] communal sexual norms and women were less socially influential due to dominance, thus having a lesser impact, prestige being a greater influence for women, as it enhanced their influence from social expectations of competence and cooperation –
The effectiveness of dominance, whether intentional or not, gradually decreased for men and women, as its coercive nature reduced liking and influence. However, over time, prestige increased for both sexes as a result of its qualities of competence and cooperation, as network members developed a stronger affinity for the individuals involved.
These results suggest that attempts to gain social power are not limited by time, but rather by gender stereotypes and the need for social cues that can shape dominance and prestige.
One drawback was that Twitter was used as the study medium, which may not be the same as for use in real life.
In the study “Ancient Men and Ancient Women: Is it Possible for Men and Women to Live the ‘Third Lifestyle: Ensuring Social Success'” Hemant Kakar writes “Ancient men and women have the ability to achieve social elements – equality, serious change through social unrest without intense pressure and provocation.”