Research Projects
Research Projects
"Urban Orders: Neoliberal Durability, and Public Safety under Mayor David Dinkins"
Abstract: This paper uses the case of 1990’s New York City, under the mayoralship of David Dinkins to examine how the framework of multiple political orders allows us to evaluate urban politics. In addition, this paper intends to expand on the latter framework by putting more emphasis on economic constraints, that drive those oders in different manners. Ultimately, this paper argues that the structural existence of capitalism remains, yet within those socio-economic boundaries, political orders exercise their own ideological agency.
Abstract: How does economic insecurity shape racial resentment in the contemporary United States? While existing research highlights ideology, partisanship, and identity, this project explores how material vulnerability and perceptions of economic decline intersect with racial attitudes. Using the 2024 American National Election Study (ANES), I construct measures of "active insecurity"(employment disruptions, debt, financial strain) and "perceived insecurity" (evaluations of economic conditions and opportunity). To assess their effects on racial resentment, I combine matching techniques with post-double-adaptive LASSO, a machine learning method that improves variable selection and strengthens causal inference. Preliminary analyses suggest divergent pathways, with material and perceptual dimensions of insecurity potentially shaping resentment in distinct ways. Beyond updating debates in a post-pandemic world with increasing polarization, this project demonstrates the utility of adaptive LASSO for behavioral research and contributes to ongoing conversations about race, class, and inequality in American politics.
Gonzalez, Nicholas R., and Reuel R. Rogers. 2025. “Book Review: Inequality, Crime, and Resistance in New York City by Timothy P. R. Weaver.” Urban Affairs Review, August 21, 10780874251365902. https://doi.org/10.1177/10780874251365902.