Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Boxes
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 A New Era of Experimental Political Science
- Part I Experimental Designs
- Part II Experimental Data
- Part III Experimental Treatments and Measures
- Part IV Experimental Analys is and Presentation
- Part V Experimental Reliability and Generalizability
- Part VI Using Experiments to study Identity
- 23 Identity Experiments: Design Challenges and Opportunities for Studying Race and Ethnic Politics
- 24 The Evolution of Experiments on Racial Priming
- 25 The Evolution of Experiments on Gender in Elections
- 26 Gender Experiments in Comparative Politics
- Part VII Using Experiments to Study Government Actions
- Author Index
- Subject Index
23 - Identity Experiments: Design Challenges and Opportunities for Studying Race and Ethnic Politics
from Part VI - Using Experiments to study Identity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 March 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Boxes
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 A New Era of Experimental Political Science
- Part I Experimental Designs
- Part II Experimental Data
- Part III Experimental Treatments and Measures
- Part IV Experimental Analys is and Presentation
- Part V Experimental Reliability and Generalizability
- Part VI Using Experiments to study Identity
- 23 Identity Experiments: Design Challenges and Opportunities for Studying Race and Ethnic Politics
- 24 The Evolution of Experiments on Racial Priming
- 25 The Evolution of Experiments on Gender in Elections
- 26 Gender Experiments in Comparative Politics
- Part VII Using Experiments to Study Government Actions
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Summary
The concept of identity has long captured the interest of scholars, and its importance in both the social sciences and in society more broadly continues to rise. As the literature surrounding identity has expanded, increased attention has been given to experimental designs that measure the concept, consequences, and correlates of identity.This chapter focuses on racial and ethnic identity withinthe context of experimental methods from both an analytical and methodological perspective. First, the chapter provides an overview of scholarship on the study of identity, highlighting the importance of social identity theory as the starting point for a long trajectory of theoretical and empirical work. Next, design challenges and opportunities are addressed, with specific attention paid to the conceptual use of identity as a variable. The following section provides examples of experimental research on racial and ethnic identity, focusing on ingroup and outgroup studies, and studies that measure political outcomes related to race and ethnicity. One common shortcoming of identity research isthe tendency to use group membership as a proxy for group identity and group consciousness, or to use the terms interchangeably when they are in fact theoretically distinct concepts. I argue that experimental designs may demonstrate the need to disentangle group membership from group identity and group consciousness, and offer a strategy for adapting measurement tools to study identity. The chapter concludes by providing recommendations and identifying areas for future research to expand our understanding of racial and ethnic identity through the use of experiments.
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- Advances in Experimental Political Science , pp. 431 - 446Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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