Race to the Bottom
How Racial Appeals Work In American Politics
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Race to the Bottom argues that not only are negative racial appeals more successful than previously thought, but the array of appeals that activate negative racial appeals are much wider than previously considered.
Relying on a series of survey experiments and cases of politicians, the book demonstrates that many White Americans are unperturbed by negative racial appeals, and that these appeals are politically expeditious.
Race to the Bottom was awarded the David O. Sears Award for the Best Book on Mass Politics by International Society of Political Psychology and the Ralph Bunche Award from the American Political Science Association which honors the best book in political science that explores the phenomenon of ethnic and cultural pluralism
Race To The Bottom has been reviewed in Perspectives on Politics by Cambridge University Press.
Challenging what we think we know about race and politics, LaFleur Stephens-Dougan argues that candidates across the racial and political spectrum engage in “racial distancing,” or using negative racial appeals to communicate to racially moderate and conservative whites—the overwhelming majority of
Whites—that they will not disrupt the racial status quo.
African American voters are a key demographic to the modern Democratic base, and conventional wisdom has it that there is political cost to racialized “dog whistles,” especially for Democratic candidates. However, politicians from both parties and from all racial backgrounds continually appeal to negative racial attitudes for political gain.
Dr. Niambi M. Carter
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