Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Politics of Skin Color

一般摘要肤色的差异与生活经历的显著差异有关，无论是在种族群体内还是跨种族群体。例如，深色皮肤的非裔美国人的健康状况更差，收入更低，教育水平更低，结婚率更低，甚至面临比浅色皮肤的非裔美国人更严厉的刑事判决。这个项目探索肤色可能如何影响政治现象，如公共政策结果和候选人支持。这部作品从白人和黑人的角度对此进行了调查。这项研究的影响不仅仅限于非裔美国人。例如，研究拉美裔和亚裔美国人的肤色认同将提供有趣的比较点。此外，这项研究为理解肤色偏见在全球范围内的重要性提供了基础，而不仅仅是美国。调查潜在的基于肤色的歧视将有助于制定解决和减轻这种偏见的策略，有利于政治精英(如来自少数群体的政治候选人)以及可能在日常生活中面临基于肤色的歧视的大众。这种方法的一个含义是，这样的研究往往忽略了种族群体中潜在的重要异质性，特别是关于肤色。本研究采用混合方法设计，依靠多个观察数据集、原始定性访谈数据和一系列实验来探索肤色在政治领域中的潜在意义。来自这些多个数据集和我的深入采访的发现表明，对于许多非裔美国人来说，肤色是一个重要的社会和政治身份来源。对于肤色较深的非裔美国人来说，情况尤其如此。此外，肤色在塑造多个领域的政治偏好方面发挥着重要作用。与现有的白人对黑人的种族态度理论不同，我预计种族冷漠的态度不会平等地针对所有非裔美国人，而是会因肤色而异。总体而言，我的研究表明，除了种族，肤色在美国政治中也是一个重要但鲜为人知的因素。

General AbstractVariation in skin colors are linked to significant differences in life experiences, both within and across racial groups. For example, darker-skinned African Americans have worse health outcomes, lower incomes, lower levels of education, lower rates of marriage, and even receive harsher criminal sentencing than lighter-skinned African Americans. This project explores how skin color might influence political phenomena such public policy outcomes and candidate support. The work investigates this from the perspectives of both white and black people. This research has implications beyond just African Americans. Studying skin tone identity among Latinos and Asian Americans, for instance, would provide interesting comparison points. Furthermore, this research provides a foundation for understanding the significance of skin tone biases on a global bases, not just the United States. Investigating potential color-based discrimination will help inform strategies for addressing and mitigating such bias, to the benefit of political elites (such as political candidates from minority groups) as well as for the mass public who might face skin-color based discrimination in their everyday lives.Technical AbstractThe study of racial groups in political science tends to treat these as homogenous. An implication of this approach is that such studies tend to overlook potentially important heterogeneity within racial groups, especially with respect to skin color. The research utilizes a mixed-methods design, relying on multiple observational datasets, original qualitative interview data, and a series of experiments to explore the underlying significance of skin color in the political realm. The findings from these multiple datasets and my in-depth interviews indicate that skin color is a socially and politically significant source of identity for many African Americans. This is especially true for darker-skinned African Americans. Further, skin color play a significant role in shaping political preferences in multiple domains. In contrast to existing theories of white racial attitudes towards blacks, I expect racially insensitive attitudes will not be equally directed at all African Americans, but will vary by skin tone. Overall, my research demonstrates that in addition to race, skin color operates as an important, yet poorly understood, factor in American politics.