From Women of the Year to “Soccer Moms”: The Case of the Incredible Shrinking Women
Author: Vavrus M.D.
Source: Political Communication, Volume 17, Number 2, 1 April 2000 , pp. 193-213(21)
Key:
- Free Content
- New Content
- Subscribed Content
- Free Trial Content
- Free Content
- New Content
- Subscribed Content
- Free Trial Content
Abstract:
In the 1992 U.S. election year, mainstream print and television news coverage was replete with hosannas for female politicians, praised as strong and politically powerful figures during this so-called ''Year of the Woman.'' Just 4 years later, 1996 election news reports relied upon a very different image to describe women vis-à-vis electoral politics: “soccer moms.” “Soccer mom” was the term used most recurrently in mainstream television and print media to refer to an aggregate of women, vis-à-vis electoral politics, who were described as crucial to the success of either presidential candidate: President Clinton or Robert Dole. This period of time represents a dramatic shift in news discourse: from discussing women as political power wielders (Women of the Year) to discussing women as a group of swing voters defined primarily by their filial obligations. This article considers some possible implications of this shift and argues that it represents a discursive connection between women voters — reduced to a demographic category characterized by women’s relationships to their children — and an ideology of consumerism that reduces electoral politics to personal choices around product consumption and “lifestyle.”Keywords: SOCCER; MOMS; SWING; VOTERS; YEAR; OF; THE; WOMAN
Language: English
Document Type: Research article
Key:
- Free Content
- New Content
- Subscribed Content
- Free Trial Content
- Free Content
- New Content
- Subscribed Content
- Free Trial Content
Click here for Page Help