Ashley Jardina is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Duke University. Her research explores the nature of racial attitudes, the development of group identities, and the way in which these factors influence political preferences and behavior. She is primarily interested in how Americans are responding to increasing diversity, and her current project explores the conditions under which white racial identification and white consciousness among white Americans is a salient and significant predictor of policies, candidates, and attitudes toward racial and ethnic groups. She is also interested in the study of gender and politics. Her dissertation won the 2015 American Political Science Association award for the best dissertation in race and ethnic politics.
Ashley recently published a new book, White Identity Politics, that “offers a landmark analysis of emerging patterns of white identity and collective political behavior, drawing on sweeping data.” In this episode Ashley speaks with Chris about her book, and how she found contrasting attitudes between white people in America who identify with their race and white people who don’t. She also explains how previous generations of political scientists have been mistaken in conflating the issue of racial prejudice and the issue of identity when explaining the politics of white Americans.
