Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Politics of Skin Color

肤色的变化与生活经历的显著差异有关，无论是种族内部还是种族之间。例如，肤色较深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，甚至比肤色较浅的非裔美国人受到更严厉的刑事判决。该项目探讨了肤色如何影响公共政策结果和候选人支持等政治现象。 这部作品从白色人和黑人的角度调查了这一点。这项研究的影响不仅仅是非洲裔美国人。 例如，研究拉丁美洲人和亚裔美国人的肤色认同，将提供有趣的比较点。此外，这项研究为了解全球肤色偏见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为解决和减轻这种偏见的策略提供信息，有利于政治精英（如少数群体的政治候选人）以及在日常生活中可能面临基于肤色的歧视的大众。 这种方法的一个含义是，这些研究往往忽视了种族群体内潜在的重要异质性，特别是在肤色方面。 该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的潜在意义。 从这些多个数据集和我的深入采访的结果表明，肤色是许多非裔美国人的社会和政治身份的重要来源。这对于肤色较深的非裔美国人来说尤其如此。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。与现有的关于白色人对黑人的种族态度的理论相反，我预计种族不敏感的态度不会同样针对所有非洲裔美国人，而是会因肤色而异。总的来说，我的研究表明，除了种族，肤色也是美国政治中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.