Research
Focusing on American politics, I am particularly interested in how racial identities shape the way people perceive and respond to the political world, and to what extent such racialization of political behavior is responsible for affective polarization characterizing the American public. To answer these questions, I look into the role of racial imagery, that is, racialized imagination of politically relevant categories. I contend that given the prevalence of group-centrism in opinion formation, people approach an issue or a party not just through ideological concerns, but also by considering whether people at the center of the category looks racially like or unlike themselves. My research endeavors to understand how racial imagery of various issues affects people’s preferences, how this translates into ideological and affective divides along racial lines, and how varied strength of racial imagery can lend us insights into resolving racial polarization and building a healthier democracy.
Working Papers
- Break the Party Images? The Electoral Impact of Minority Republican Candidates
- Follow the Party: Static and Dynamic Shifting of Identities toward Party Prototypes
- See the Other Side: Local Party Images and Affective Polarization
- Shades of Blue: Racial Imagery of Police and White Attitudes on Policing
- The Gloom over the Mind: Prussian Rule, Cultural Persistence, and Political Liberalism