My research focuses on the role of psychology, culture, and communication in shaping dynamics of public opinion and policymaking that reinforce inequalities in the United States. In my work, I take an interdisciplinary approach that emphasizes the social construction of contemporary political phenomena vis-a-vis American political development and policy history. 

Why is inequality so pronounced in the United States? My dissertation offers one in-road to this multifaceted question by unpacking the psychology of scarcity in American political life. I chose to focus on the politics of scarcity in my doctoral studies, in part, due to my undergraduate focus on the study of human rights, which I pursued as an entry point for envisioning a world where everyone's needs are met. Prior to college, I wrote my first research paper as a high school student on the Eugenics movement in the United States. These threads of my early education -- regarding human rights, on the one hand, and social Darwinism, on the other -- instilled a growing appreciation for the contradictions at play between a rights-based framework of social welfare provision and a cultural milieu in which scarcity is naturalized as an inevitable source of competition and hierarchy. These contradictions motivated my research agenda, inspiring my inquiry into the social construction of scarcity and its impact on inequality within the context of American discourse, policy, and public opinion. 

I begin my dissertation with a theoretical exploration of how American distributive ethics, structured around individualistic competition, have been shaped by a cultural history in which the United States was mythologized as a place of abundance. Situating this cultural history in the broader context of settler colonialism and race-gender hierarchy, I then analyze how narratives and perceptions of scarcity shape contemporary American politics, with an eye towards their impact on welfare policy as well as racial, economic, and distributive attitudes. Leveraging original survey data on the attitudes of white Americans, my research demonstrates the nuanced patterns by which perceived scarcity reinforces hierarchy via public opinion. In addition, my dissertation leverages a content analysis of U.S. media commentary to develop a theory of scarcity framing in which narratives of scarcity serve as a rhetorical tool by which political actors advance their ideological prerogatives. Going forward, this research agenda will explore how cultural schemas of scarcity in American society shape policymaking processes related to housing and green energy. Complementing this focus, I also plan to research the emergent Abundance Agenda in local, state, and national policymaking.  

Beyond my dissertation, I research the politics of gender across race and party, with applications to an array of contemporary flashpoints in American society, ranging from reproductive rights to the instability of American democracy.