"The In Game" Experimental Tests of How Power Dynamics Cause and Can Reduce Gender Inequality

University Of Connecticut, Storrs CT

Investigators

Abstract

Gender inequality has multiple and complex causes that tend to contribute to one another. Gender inequality is also among the most vexing of scientific problems, not because we cannot identify plausible causes, but because we have identified so many of them. This research analyzes gender inequality as a product of multidirectional power dynamics. The purpose of the research is to experimentally test theoretical causes of gender inequality in a context in which multiple forms of power may be exercised. Four experiments will test some basic theories of how gender inequality is created and maintained. Each experiment examines how people use four or five kinds of power in interaction with others in an experimental game. Kinds of power include control of exchangeable resources like money, use of force to coerce others and reduce their power, social legitimacy, asymmetric obligations to others, and sexuality. Each kind of power is represented with a colored token. The rules provide for how players can use each token to respond to requirements the game imposes or to initiate actions. Although each kind of power is represented abstractly, the game has many analogies to life. The game method allows one to measure power in several forms: exercised power (as used in game behavior), potential power (what a player is able to do), perceived power (reputations among other players), and relative power (how much more power one player has than another player). Because gender inequality provides organization to societies in the form of family structure, leadership structure, the reproduction of culture, as well as relations with other societies, understanding how gender inequality is created and maintained is essential for understanding most other important aspects of human social life.