Towards an Infracategorical Model of Ethnoracial Politics: Skin Tone, Bodily Capital, and Political Representation among African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanics

Ensuring the political representation of ethnic and racial minorities is one of the oldest and most pressing challenges facing American democracy. However, simply electing racial and ethnic politicians does not guarantee that they will respond to the needs of their minority constituents. Sociologist Ellis Monk and political scientist René Rejon will examine the relationship between the racial and ethnic identity of African American, Asian American, and Latinx politicians and their support for legislation benefiting their minority constituents. They will develop a database containing legislature’s demographic and ethnic traits as well as their legislative speeches for their study.