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Social Capital, Racial Context, and Incarcerations in the American States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Daniel P. Hawes
Daniel P. Hawes*
Affiliation:
Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA
*
Daniel P. Hawes, Department of Political Science, Kent State University, Bowman Hall 302, Kent, OH 44242-0001, USA. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article examines the differential effects of social capital on policy equity in state outcomes. Specifically, it explores the relationship between social capital and incarceration rates in the American states paying particular attention to racial disparities in incarceration rates. Building on work by Hero, I present a theoretical explanation and empirical support for how social capital operates differently under different racial contexts. I argue that social capital enhances social empathy in homogeneous contexts and social controls in diverse contexts. Using state-level longitudinal data on the contiguous states, I find that social capital is positively associated with incarcerations, but only for African Americans. Furthermore, the effects of social capital appear to be conditional on racial context where this relationship is stronger as minority group size increases.

Keywords

social capitalracial diversityinequalitycriminal justice
Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 393 - 417
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2017

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