Dissertation
Shades of White: How White Identity Shapes Attitudes About Racial Politics
Race is a central organizing principle of American politics and scholars have increasingly turned to studying whiteness itself as critical for shaping the political world. How do white Americans understand their racial identity? What do different understandings of whiteness mean for American politics? This dissertation builds on growing research about white identity politics and argues that the complexity of racial identification among white Americans has consequential effects for politics. I make a conceptual contribution by outlining a typology of white identification: racial agnostics are not racially conscious and do not comprehend their privilege; racial deniers are racially conscious but deny comprehension; racial preservationists are racially conscious with a desire to defend their privileges; and racial reconstructionists are racially conscious with a desire to amend their privileges. These types represent broad patterns of white identification that vary principally by relative salience or recognition of whiteness and by valence of affect towards whiteness. While many white Americans are racial agnostics, the growing centrality of race—and especially whiteness—in American politics can lead to the development of different kinds of white consciousness.
The first chapter develops a typology of white racial identification based on in-depth semi-structured interviews of 41 regular white Americans residing in the Minneapolis-St.Paul, MN metropolitan area which took place in February and March 2020. Using an abductive approach to analyzing the interview data, I identify four distinct patterns of white racial consciousness. In the second chapter, I introduce a novel survey measurement strategy for capturing the four types of white identification which allows me to generalize the typology to the broader population. The third chapter focuses on how different types of white identification shape attitudes about Black Lives Matter with a combination of interview and survey data. This study gains analytic leverage from the tragedy of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis in May 2020 and the subsequent uprising that swept the nation by re-interviewing some of the same participants (n=20) after their experiences witnessing, and in some cases participating in, protests for racial justice. The qualitative interviews provide evidence of how different patterns of white identification present and how they are altered by large-scale disruptive protest events. Finally, the dissertation demonstrates the utility of the new measurement typology for understanding how different kinds of white consciousness shape attitudes about policies, partisanship, and political participation.
Race is a central organizing principle of American politics and scholars have increasingly turned to studying whiteness itself as critical for shaping the political world. How do white Americans understand their racial identity? What do different understandings of whiteness mean for American politics? This dissertation builds on growing research about white identity politics and argues that the complexity of racial identification among white Americans has consequential effects for politics. I make a conceptual contribution by outlining a typology of white identification: racial agnostics are not racially conscious and do not comprehend their privilege; racial deniers are racially conscious but deny comprehension; racial preservationists are racially conscious with a desire to defend their privileges; and racial reconstructionists are racially conscious with a desire to amend their privileges. These types represent broad patterns of white identification that vary principally by relative salience or recognition of whiteness and by valence of affect towards whiteness. While many white Americans are racial agnostics, the growing centrality of race—and especially whiteness—in American politics can lead to the development of different kinds of white consciousness.
The first chapter develops a typology of white racial identification based on in-depth semi-structured interviews of 41 regular white Americans residing in the Minneapolis-St.Paul, MN metropolitan area which took place in February and March 2020. Using an abductive approach to analyzing the interview data, I identify four distinct patterns of white racial consciousness. In the second chapter, I introduce a novel survey measurement strategy for capturing the four types of white identification which allows me to generalize the typology to the broader population. The third chapter focuses on how different types of white identification shape attitudes about Black Lives Matter with a combination of interview and survey data. This study gains analytic leverage from the tragedy of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis in May 2020 and the subsequent uprising that swept the nation by re-interviewing some of the same participants (n=20) after their experiences witnessing, and in some cases participating in, protests for racial justice. The qualitative interviews provide evidence of how different patterns of white identification present and how they are altered by large-scale disruptive protest events. Finally, the dissertation demonstrates the utility of the new measurement typology for understanding how different kinds of white consciousness shape attitudes about policies, partisanship, and political participation.
Work in Progress
How White Identity Shapes Support for Black Lives Matter: Evidence From Minnesota After George Floyd
What explains white racial attitudes about Black Lives Matter? While existing explanations rely on partisanship and personality traits to explain support, this paper argues that variations in white identification are important for understanding attitudes about racial justice. This paper makes a conceptual contribution by arguing that, in addition to variations in consciousness, there is a second dimension to white identity, called valence, which indicates how positively or negatively people view whiteness. Moreover, this paper argues that certain precipitating events, like the murder of George Floyd, can increase white consciousness across the board, thus making valence more salient for how whites understand racial politics associated with the key event. Using two rounds of interviews from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in Minnesota, this paper presents qualitative evidence for how variation in consciousness and valence shapes racial attitudes before and after protests for racial justice following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.. Working paper available upon request.
Contemporary Conservatism and Identity Politics: How American Identity Animates Conservative Identity
Donald Trump took the Republican party by storm when he announced his presidency in June 2015 and, despite strong party insider opposition, he swept the primary and became the figurehead for the contemporary Republican party. Economic and social conservatives shed their differences and coalesced behind the politics of Trump, forging a new conservative identity. I investigate the meaning of conservative identity to those who are intensely engaged in the conservative movement by attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Using a combination of semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and data from an original survey from CPAC in 2019 and 2020, I evaluate the extent to which contemporary conservative identity makes claims on American identity and what it means to be an American. Working paper available upon request.
Russia Today in America: Testing the Mechanisms of Foreign Interference with Evgenia Olimpieva and Ipek Cinar
What are the mechanisms through which international actors interfere with domestic politics on social media and what makes them successful? We theorize that successful interference unfolds in two stages. First, the outlet needs to reach the audiences. Second, the outlet needs to gain audience trust. We theorize that audience trust can be built on a smaller set of content that is important to the target audience, which is then used to expose the same audiences to other, biased and less trustworthy material. Using the case of Russia’s state-funded international broadcaster, RT, we test our theory of successful international interference focusing on the topic of police, which we argue contributes to both reach and trust. We provide evidence of the reach of RT using quantitative analysis of an original dataset of YouTube videos published on the channel from 2015-2017. Then we qualitatively analyze the framing of RT videos on police and propose a survey experiment to understand how the outlet gains trust among viewers. Working paper available upon request.
Racial Justice as Transitional Justice: Framing and Public Support for Racial Justice Initiatives in the United States with Genevieve Bates
How does the framing of racial justice issues affect support for policies? Recent media coverage of racial justice initiatives in the U.S. have been controversial. Even politicians who are ideologically sympathetic to the cause, like Barack Obama, have criticized demands like defund the police and reparations to Black Americans for injustices of the past and present. While controversial in the U.S., we argue first that these policies are transitional justice mechanisms similar to those employed in countries like those recovering from authoritarian rule, and that they operate in similar ways and encounter similar complexities. As with other transitional justice mechanisms, demand from below can play an important role in supporting or inhibiting the implementation of these policies. But the controversy surrounding the framing of racial justice initiatives may inhibit such support from developing. We use a survey experiment to test whether framing these initiatives as part of an international movement around transitional justice affects whether Americans support them. Our findings have important implications for both scholars and activists looking to garner support for the racial justice movement. Working paper available upon request.
What explains white racial attitudes about Black Lives Matter? While existing explanations rely on partisanship and personality traits to explain support, this paper argues that variations in white identification are important for understanding attitudes about racial justice. This paper makes a conceptual contribution by arguing that, in addition to variations in consciousness, there is a second dimension to white identity, called valence, which indicates how positively or negatively people view whiteness. Moreover, this paper argues that certain precipitating events, like the murder of George Floyd, can increase white consciousness across the board, thus making valence more salient for how whites understand racial politics associated with the key event. Using two rounds of interviews from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in Minnesota, this paper presents qualitative evidence for how variation in consciousness and valence shapes racial attitudes before and after protests for racial justice following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.. Working paper available upon request.
- Related: Don't expect mass Black Lives Matter protests again this summer, Washington Post Monkey Cage. 2021.
- Related: Some context for why Minnepolis became the spark igniting so many protests, MinnPost. 2020.
Contemporary Conservatism and Identity Politics: How American Identity Animates Conservative Identity
Donald Trump took the Republican party by storm when he announced his presidency in June 2015 and, despite strong party insider opposition, he swept the primary and became the figurehead for the contemporary Republican party. Economic and social conservatives shed their differences and coalesced behind the politics of Trump, forging a new conservative identity. I investigate the meaning of conservative identity to those who are intensely engaged in the conservative movement by attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Using a combination of semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and data from an original survey from CPAC in 2019 and 2020, I evaluate the extent to which contemporary conservative identity makes claims on American identity and what it means to be an American. Working paper available upon request.
- Related: In 2020, conservatives believe they're battling to save America's soul by supporting Trump, Washington Post Monkey Cage. 2020.
Russia Today in America: Testing the Mechanisms of Foreign Interference with Evgenia Olimpieva and Ipek Cinar
What are the mechanisms through which international actors interfere with domestic politics on social media and what makes them successful? We theorize that successful interference unfolds in two stages. First, the outlet needs to reach the audiences. Second, the outlet needs to gain audience trust. We theorize that audience trust can be built on a smaller set of content that is important to the target audience, which is then used to expose the same audiences to other, biased and less trustworthy material. Using the case of Russia’s state-funded international broadcaster, RT, we test our theory of successful international interference focusing on the topic of police, which we argue contributes to both reach and trust. We provide evidence of the reach of RT using quantitative analysis of an original dataset of YouTube videos published on the channel from 2015-2017. Then we qualitatively analyze the framing of RT videos on police and propose a survey experiment to understand how the outlet gains trust among viewers. Working paper available upon request.
- Related: "Forcing Their Dirty Fingers into the National Wounds": How Russia Today Targets American Audiences with Content on Police Brutality, Reframing Russia. 2020.
Racial Justice as Transitional Justice: Framing and Public Support for Racial Justice Initiatives in the United States with Genevieve Bates
How does the framing of racial justice issues affect support for policies? Recent media coverage of racial justice initiatives in the U.S. have been controversial. Even politicians who are ideologically sympathetic to the cause, like Barack Obama, have criticized demands like defund the police and reparations to Black Americans for injustices of the past and present. While controversial in the U.S., we argue first that these policies are transitional justice mechanisms similar to those employed in countries like those recovering from authoritarian rule, and that they operate in similar ways and encounter similar complexities. As with other transitional justice mechanisms, demand from below can play an important role in supporting or inhibiting the implementation of these policies. But the controversy surrounding the framing of racial justice initiatives may inhibit such support from developing. We use a survey experiment to test whether framing these initiatives as part of an international movement around transitional justice affects whether Americans support them. Our findings have important implications for both scholars and activists looking to garner support for the racial justice movement. Working paper available upon request.
Publications
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Cole, Geneva (2020), Types of White Identification and Attitudes About Black Lives Matter. Social Science Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12837
Objective. Until recently, whiteness was not considered a politically significant social identity. This study builds on recent work and explores empirically the different ways in which white people understand their whiteness with the objective of recognizing how variations in white identification shape attitudes about the Movement for Black Lives. Methods. I use qualitative analysis of in-depth semistructured interviews to develop a theoretical framework for understanding how white Americans understand and identify with their whiteness and apply this typology to expressed attitudes about Black Lives Matter. Results. I find three distinct patterns of white identification that characterize how white people understand their own race and privilege. These patterns subsequently affect how white Americans understand the experiences of minorities, specifically analyzed through opinions about Black Lives Matter. Conclusion. Variations in the way that white Americans understand their whiteness have tangible effects on the way they approach racial politics, with this paper focused specifically on white attitudes about the Movement for Black Lives. As the movement engages a broad multiracial coalition it is very possible that those who were previously unaware of their whiteness will come to see it as important, with potentially wide-ranging impacts on the future of racial politics in the United States. |
