About
I am a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Michigan and a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow. I am broadly interested in Black politics, inequality, racial attitudes, and political behavior. My dissertation and book project, When Hard Work Isn’t Enough, examines how Black Americans’ beliefs about hustling and hard work shapes their responses to racial inequality. My co-authored research has appeared in the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics and RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation of the Social Sciences.
When Hard Work Isn't Enough: Race, Inequality and the Politics of Achieving the American Dream
Despite long-standing racial disparities in wealth, housing, and education, many Black Americans subscribe to the belief that hard work, grit and hustle will overcome any barrier to upward mobility. How does this confidence in the “American Dream” shape Blacks' responses to racial inequality? I expand on previous work in American politics about the importance of meritocratic beliefs and individualism by situating the American Dream narrative in the context of Blacks’ historic and ongoing exclusion from the resources and institutions that promote mobility and wealth. Given substantial social-scientific evidence that hard work is not sufficient for eliminating racial disparities for Blacks, I propose the American Dream narrative insidiously shifts the burden for reducing inequality from institutions to individuals. The psychological effects of this shift often manifest through Black Americans’ appeals to “working twice as hard” as whites to advance in their education and careers.
Using this framework, I empirically assess the effects of believing the American Dream can be achieved through sheer hard work on Black political behavior. Specifically, I combine quantitative and qualitative data from three national surveys of Black adults and introduce a novel measure of Attitudes About the American Dream (AAD). Using multivariate regressions, I show Blacks who believe hard work pays off for everyone are more likely to endorse negative stereotypes about Black people and to oppose structural approaches to reducing racial inequality. I supplement these results with analyses of open-ended reactions to my AAD measure. Using a structural topic model, I find racial barriers are less salient to Blacks who express more confidence in the American Dream. Meanwhile, individual factors like attitude and mindset are more salient to Black people who believe hard work is the most important determinant of life outcomes. Overall, my dissertation shows the American Dream myth reinforces the existing racial hierarchy and stalls progress towards racial equality. My work has been supported by the Russell Sage Foundation Dissertation Research Grant and a predoctoral fellowship from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (Ford Foundation).
Fields of Study
- Class & Inequality
- Black Politics
- Political Behavior & Psychology
- Public Opinion
