Race past
Daniel Carpenter & Colin Moore
American Political Science Review, August 2014, Pages 479-498
Abstract:
Examining an original dataset of more than 8,500 antislavery petitions sent to Congress (1833–1845), we argue that American women's petition canvassing conferred skills and contacts that empowered their later activism. We find that women canvassers gathered 50% or more signatures (absolute and per capita) than men while circulating the same petition requests in the same locales. Supplementary evidence (mainly qualitative) points to women's persuasive capacity and network building as the most plausible mechanisms for this increased efficacy. We then present evidence that leaders in the women's rights and reform campaigns of the nineteenth century were previously active in antislavery canvassing. Pivotal signers of the Seneca Falls Declaration were antislavery petition canvassers, and in an independent sample of post–Civil War activists, women were four times more likely than men to have served as identifiable antislavery canvassers. For American women, petition canvassing — with its patterns of persuasion and networking — shaped legacies in political argument, network formation, and organizing.
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Steven Kogan et al.
Psychology of Men & Masculinity, forthcoming
Abstract:
African American male adolescents’ involvement with multiple sexual partners has important implications for public health as well as for their development of ideas regarding masculinity and sexuality. The purpose of this study was to test hypotheses regarding the pathways through which racial discrimination affects African American adolescents’ involvement with multiple sexual partners. We hypothesized that racial discrimination would engender psychological distress, which would promote attitudes and peer affiliations conducive to multiple sexual partnerships. The study also examined the protective influence of parenting practices in buffering the influence of contextual stressors. Participants were 221 African American male youth who provided data at ages 16 and 18 years; their parents provided data on family socioeconomic disadvantages. Of these young men, 18.5% reported having 3 or more sexual partners during the past 3 months. Structural equation models indicated that racial discrimination contributed to sexual activity with multiple partners by inducing psychological distress, which, in turn, affected attitudes and peer affiliations conducive to multiple partners. The experience of protective parenting, which included racial socialization, closeness and harmony in parent–child relationships, and parental monitoring, buffered the influence of racial discrimination on psychological distress. These findings suggest targets for prevention programming and underscore the importance of efforts to reduce young men’s experience with racial discrimination.
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Rory McVeigh, David Cunningham & Justin Farrell
American Sociological Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Radical social movements can exacerbate tensions in local settings while drawing attention to how movement goals align with political party agendas. Short-term movement influence on voting outcomes can endure when orientations toward the movement disrupt social ties, embedding individuals within new discussion networks that reinforce new partisan loyalties. To demonstrate this dynamic, we employ longitudinal data to show that increases in Republican voting, across several different time intervals, were most pronounced in southern counties where the Ku Klux Klan had been active in the 1960s. In an individual-level analysis of voting intent, we show that decades after the Klan declined, racial attitudes map onto party voting among southern voters, but only in counties where the Klan had been active.
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Early Life Environment and Racial Inequality in Education and Earnings in the United States
Kenneth Chay, Jonathan Guryan & Bhashkar Mazumder
NBER Working Paper, October 2014
Abstract:
Chay, Guryan and Mazumder (2009) found substantial racial convergence in AFQT and NAEP scores across cohorts born in the 1960’s and early 1970’s that was concentrated among blacks in the South. We demonstrated a close tracking between variation in the test score convergence across states and racial convergence in measures of health and hospital access in the years immediately after birth. This study analyzes whether the across-cohort patterns in the black-white education and earnings gaps match those in early life health and test scores already established. It also addresses caveats in the earlier study, such as unobserved selection into taking the AFQT and potential discrepancies between state-of-birth and state-of-test taking. With Census data, we find: i) a significant narrowing across the same cohorts in education gaps driven primarily by a relative increase in the probability of blacks going to college; and ii) a similar convergence in relative earnings that is insensitive to adjustments for employment selection, as well as time and age effects that vary by race and state-of-residence. The variation in racial convergence across birth states matches the patterns in the earlier study. The magnitude of the earnings gains is greater than can be explained by only the black gains in education and test scores for reasonable estimates of the returns to human capital. This suggests that other pre-market, productivity factors also improved across successive cohorts of blacks born in the South between the early 1960’s and early 1970’s. Finally, our cohort-based hypothesis provides a cohesive explanation for the aggregate patterns in several, previously disconnected literatures.
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Naa Oyo Kwate
Journal of Urban Health, October 2014, Pages 851-872
Abstract:
The negative health effects of racism have been well documented, but how to intervene to redress these effects has been little studied. This study reports on RISE (Racism Still Exists), a high-risk, high-reward public health intervention that used outdoor advertising to disseminate a “countermarketing” campaign in New York City (NYC). Over 6 months, the campaign advertised stark facts about the persistence of racism in the USA. A probability sample of N = 144 participants from two predominantly Black NYC neighborhoods completed measures of health status, health behaviors, and social attitudes. Three months postintervention, statistically significant declines in psychological distress were seen among study participants who were exposed to the campaign compared to those who were not. There were no changes in other hypothesized outcomes. The campaign also generated significant public discourse, particularly in social media. The results suggest that racism countermarketing campaigns may have promise as a community-based intervention to address health inequalities.
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Caste-based Crimes and Economic Status: Evidence from India
Smriti Sharma
Journal of Comparative Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Crimes against the historically marginalized Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC and ST) by the upper castes in India represent an extreme form of prejudice and discrimination. In this paper, we investigate whether changes in relative material standards of living between the SCs/STs and upper castes - as measured by the ratio of consumption expenditures of SCs/STs to that of upper castes - are associated with changes in the incidence of crimes against SCs/STs. Based on the hierarchical social structure implied by the caste system, we posit that an increase in the expenditure ratio is positively correlated with the incidence of crimes committed by the upper castes against the lower castes. Using official district level crime data for the period 2001-10, we find a positive association between crimes and expenditure of SC/ST vis-á-vis the upper castes. Further, distinguishing between violent and non-violent crimes, we find it is the violent crimes that are responsive to changes in economic gaps. Moreover, this relationship is on account of changes in the upper castes’ economic well-being rather than changes in the economic position of the SCs and STs.
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Racial and Spatial Targeting: Segregation and Subprime Lending within and across Metropolitan Areas
Jackelyn Hwang, Michael Hankinson & Kreg Steven Brown
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
Recent studies find that high levels of black-white segregation increased rates of foreclosures and subprime lending across US metropolitan areas during the housing crisis. These studies speculate that segregation created distinct geographic markets that enabled subprime lenders and brokers to leverage the spatial proximity of minorities to disproportionately target minority neighborhoods. Yet, the studies do not explicitly test whether the concentration of subprime loans in minority neighborhoods varied by segregation levels. We address this shortcoming by integrating neighborhood-level data and spatial measures of segregation to examine the relationship between segregation and subprime lending across the 100 largest US metropolitan areas. Controlling for alternative explanations of the housing crisis, we find that segregation is strongly associated with higher concentrations of subprime loans in clusters of minority census tracts but find no evidence of unequal lending patterns when we examine minority census tracts in an aspatial way. Moreover, residents of minority census tracts in segregated metropolitan areas had higher likelihoods of receiving subprime loans than their counterparts in less segregated metropolitan areas. Our findings demonstrate that segregation played a pivotal role in the housing crisis by creating relatively larger areas of concentrated minorities into which subprime loans could be efficiently and effectively channeled. These results are consistent with existing but untested theories on the relationship between segregation and the housing crisis in metropolitan areas.
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Mark Ramirez
Political Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
A growing body of research recognizes that people’s policy opinions are not simply positive or negative, but instead derive from a variety of positive and negative beliefs related to a political issue. This research expands this insight by explaining the variability in support for punitive anti-crime policies among black Americans. Data from a nationally representative survey of black Americans (n = 515) are used to show that a majority of blacks are conflicted between a strong desire to reduce crime and perceptions of widespread racial discrimination within the criminal justice system. Using a heteroskedastic item response theory model, I demonstrate that conflict between these beliefs results in far greater variability around their support for punitive, but not preventative policies. Both the conflict and variability of many black Americans’ preferences on punitive anti-crime policies complicates their ability to clearly voice their support for or opposition toward punitive policies and likely limits the ability of elected officials to represent members of this community.
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Kevin Nadal et al.
Asian American Journal of Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Racial microaggressions are subtle forms of discrimination that have been found to have negative effects on the mental health of people of color. Due to the dearth of quantitative research that has examined the influence of racial microaggressions on Asian Americans, we recruited an Asian American sample (N = 157) for the current study to investigate the relationship between racial microaggressions with depression and other mental health symptoms. Recruited from both community and college populations, the sample consisted of 107 Asian American women and 50 men, with varying educational backgrounds, immigration statuses, and geographic locations in the U.S. Using the Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scales (REMS; Nadal, 2011b) and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI; McHorney, Ware, Rogers, Raczek, & Lu, 1992), there were 2 major findings. First, after controlling for education, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that racial microaggressions predicted general mental health problems: F(2, 91) = 11.37, p <.00, with the model explaining approximately 20% of the variance (R2 = .20, adjusted R2 = .09). Second, although comparative t tests did not yield significant differences based on gender or immigration status, t tests did reveal that Asian Americans experience various types of microaggression, based on geographic location, education, and age. Research implications for Asian American psychology and recommendations for clinical practice will be discussed.
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Eve Garrow & Samuel Garrow
Race and Social Problems, December 2014, Pages 328-341
Abstract:
A growing body of evidence suggests that urban neighborhoods of color experience a dearth of institutional resources, including parks and social services. Yet, little is known of how a key process in the creation and maintenance of racially and ethnically segregated neighborhoods — the flight of whites from integrating neighborhoods — influences the availability of nonprofit human services. Drawing insights from the place stratification perspective and the sociological study of residential segregation by race and ethnicity, we develop hypotheses on the relationship between white flight and nonprofit presence, and test them with a dataset that combines census tract data with data on all nonprofit human service organizations in Los Angeles County in 2001 and 2011. Consistent with the place stratification perspective, we find that white flight is negatively associated with the presence of nonprofit human services after controlling for neighborhood structural characteristics. However, the expectation that the negative effect of white flight on organizational numbers is stronger in poor neighborhoods than in nonpoor neighborhoods is not supported. The negative association between white flight and the presence of nonprofits is equally as pronounced in neighborhoods with low and high levels of poverty.
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Race, Sovereignty, and Civil Rights: Understanding the Cherokee Freedmen Controversy
Circe Sturm
Cultural Anthropology, August 2014, Pages 575–598
Abstract:
Despite a treaty in 1866 between the Cherokee Nation and the federal government granting them full tribal citizenship, Cherokee Freedmen — the descendants of African American slaves to the Cherokee, as well as of children born from unions between African Americans and Cherokee tribal members — continue to be one of the most marginalized communities within Indian Country. Any time Freedmen have sought the full rights and benefits given other Cherokee citizens, they have encountered intense opposition, including a 2007 vote that effectively ousted them from the tribe. The debates surrounding this recent decision provide an excellent case study for exploring the intersections of race and sovereignty. In this article, I use the most recent Cherokee Freedmen controversy to examine how racial discourse both empowers and diminishes tribal sovereignty, and what happens in settler-colonial contexts when the exercise of tribal rights comes into conflict with civil rights. I also explore how settler colonialism as an analytic can obscure the racialized power dynamics that undermine Freedmen claims to an indigenous identity and tribal citizenship.
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Double Jeopardy: Why Latinos Were Hit Hardest by the US Foreclosure Crisis
Jacob Rugh
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
Recent research has demonstrated that Latinos have been hit hardest by the US foreclosure crisis. In this article, I combine place stratification and spatial assimilation theory to explain why Latinos suffered a devastating double blow during the foreclosure crisis. Using a national sample of borrowers who received risky mortgage loans during the boom and following them through the crisis, I find that Latinos were most likely subject to high-cost subprime lending and especially risky low-/no-documentation lending as Latino suburbanization and immigration peaked along with national home prices. As a result, while Latino borrowers were no less likely to lose their homes to foreclosure than blacks prior to the crisis or in the Rust Belt, they were significantly more likely to lose their homes after the crisis began and in the Sand States of Arizona, California, Florida, and Nevada. Taken together, the results demonstrate the risk of rising Latino immigration, suburbanization, and homeownership during the stages of the housing boom and foreclosure crisis.
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Racial Segregation and Quality of Care Disparity in US Nursing Homes
Momotazur Rahman & Andrew Foster
Journal of Health Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
In this paper we examine the contributions of travel distance and preferences for racial homogeneity as sources of nursing home segregation and racial disparities in nursing home quality. We first theoretically characterize the distinctive implications of these mechanisms for nursing home racial segregation. We then use this model to structure an empirical analysis of nursing home sorting. We find little evidence of differential willingness to pay for quality by race among first-time nursing home entrants, but do find significant distance and race-based preference effects. Simulation exercises suggest that both effects contribute importantly to racial disparities in nursing home quality.