Assessing the Link between Punitive Policy and Political Behavior

• In Event: Politics of Emotions and Race

Abstract

How do involuntary interactions with punitive political institutions shape individuals' political engagement? Policy feedback literature suggests interactions with punitive policies, characterized by behavior monitoring and sanctions, undercut political participation. However, there is reason to believe that experiences with punitive policies may increase---rather than decrease---citizens' political engagement. Drawing on research pertaining to group attachment and discrimination, we argue that mobilization is contingent on the political psychological state of individuals. Relative to their counterparts, individuals with a high sense of linked fate and who have experienced discrimination will display higher odds of political engagement when exposed to punitive institutions. To evaluate our theory, we draw on the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Study (CMPS). Our results provide evidence of the holistic trends of institutional contact, linked fate, and discrimination. Individuals with linked fate, who report having experienced racial discrimination in the past, are more likely than their non-linked fate counterparts to engage in a variety of political acts as a consequence of contact with a punitive institution. This pattern generally holds for each of the racial subgroups we examine---Asian Americans, Black Americans, Latinos, and Whites---and across different types of institutional contact. Our research contributes to an overlooked aspect of the policy feedbacks literature, which neglects group-based narratives in the calculus of collective action.

Authors

• Hannah Walker, Rutgers University, New Brunswick

• Nazita Lajevardi, Michigan State University

• Sergio I Garcia-Rios, Cornell University

• Kassra AR Oskooii, University of Delaware