Language in Social Networks: An Intersectional Approach to Stereotype Threat

Abstract: Women leaders navigate competing pressures around stereotype-relevant communication, yet scholarship lacks understanding of when women use counter-stereotypical versus stereotype-consistent language. Drawing on intersectionality theory, we examine how social network structure moderates the relationship between racialized gender identity and leaders' linguistic self-presentation. Analyzing cosponsorship networks and Congressional floor remarks from 560 U.S. legislators (1995-2025), we test whether closed networks buffer stereotype threat, enabling women to communicate in ways consistent with their racialized gender stereotypes.

Keywords: social networks, stereotype threat, gender stereotypes, racial stereotypes, language, dominance, warmth