Dissertation

The Right to Bare Arms: Public Opinion, News Media, and Black Women in Politics

Lee Carr, Sydney

2023

Overview

Political science scholars have long posited that Black Americans and women face penalties in terms of how they are evaluated by the American public. Some researchers emphasize intersectionality and have advanced the idea that Black female political figures are doubly disadvantaged due to their dual race-gender identity. This dissertation accordingly examines whether Black female political elites do indeed face a unique combination of disadvantages in the American political arena. I develop hypotheses based on previous studies that have examined the experiences of Black women in the political arena and beyond, particularly work suggesting the importance of intersectionality for understanding the combined effects of race and gender. And I examine both political attitudes and news coverage to identify the ways in which Americans’ beliefs about Black female political figures are (or are not) distinctive relative to White women, White men, and Black men. In order to test my hypotheses, I present a multi-methodological approach utilizing original survey and experimental data, as well as automated content analyses of media data. My findings reveal that voters are mostly (with some exceptions) unlikely to hold more negative attitudes toward Black women political elites relative to their counterpart groups. Additionally, I do not find that Black women political elites receive greater levels of negative news coverage when compared to their counterparts. At the same, I find that racial identity in and of itself is of great consequence for Black female political elites, even more so than gender identity; at times, Black female political elites experience penalties based on their racial identity alone, as opposed to their intersectional identity. Additionally, in the news, I find that Black women (and men) are also more likely to receive news coverage surrounding race and racial identity relative to their counterparts. Ultimately, this dissertation seeks to fill in the current gaps in the public opinion and political communication literatures, while also contributing critical knowledge surrounding Black women political elites, who remain understudied in these areas.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: African American Studies / Black studies / Ethnic studies / Political science
• ISBN: 9798380371216