The Role of Discrimination and Strategy in Multiracial Political Behavior

• In Event: Affective Experiences and Current Political Environments

Abstract

How do strategic incentives impact Multiracial political behavior? While existing research highlights hypodescent in explaining political similarities between Multiracial and Black Americans, scholarship on the subject has seldom tapped into theories of rational choice and the role of incentives to elicit deviation in Multiracial political behavior. The intent of this study is to connect the literature regarding how discriminatory acts affect Multiracials’ economic behavior through the utilization of a strategic identity. Developing a formal model of statistical discrimination, tested in a lab-based experiment, and validated with observational data, this study reveals that Multiracial individuals deviate in political settings when presented with strategic opportunities. This challenges the prevailing hypodescent paradigm in predicting mixed-race behavior.

Author

• Isaiah Christopher Johnson, Princeton University