Research

My research focuses on the political and psychological processes that underlie the formation and maintenance of group identities, and the consequences of groupness for allocative preferences and behaviors. I ask two questions: (1) what forces give rise to the configuration of politically-relevant identities within a given sociopolitical environment? and (2) what compels people to become attached to these identities and to act in ways that reflect those attachments? I am particularly interested in the role emotions play in the recognition and adoption of identities and hierarchies: what feelings and desires motivate someone to join a group, and what feelings are induced by the experiences of groupness and belonging?