Jennifer Chudy
Knafel Assistant Professor of Social Sciences and Assistant Professor of Political Science
Studies American politics with an emphasis on race and ethnicity, public opinion, and political psychology
I study race and ethnicity in American politics. More specifically, I examine the relationship between voters' attitudes about race and their political opinions and behavior. My forthcoming book, Some White Folks: The Interracial Politics of Sympathy, Suffering, and Solidarity, will be published as part of the Chicago Studies in American Politics Series in the fall of 2024. The book introduces the attitude of racial sympathy - defined as white Americans' distress over Black Americans' suffering and demonstrates its application to American politics. Reversing course from a long tradition of studying the powerful and pernicious effect of white racial prejudice on public opinion, I consider the other side of the coin: the possibility that non-trivial proportions of white Americans are distressed over Black suffering and that this racial sympathy carries important political consequences. My book draws on multiple sources of evidence, including surveys, experiments, participant observation, and long-form interviews. My 2021 article in the Journal of Politics summarizes this work.
In addition to my research on racial sympathy, I have examined guilt and prejudice
At Wellesley, I teach courses related to American politics, race and politics, political psychology, and research methods.
I grew up in a multiracial and interfaith household. Before graduate school, I worked in politics and have experience at the federal, state, and local levels of the American government. I was also a Fulbright Grantee in South Korea. Outside academics, I enjoy watching musicals. I once wrote to Stephen Sondheim about my introductory American Politics course at Wellesley, and, to my delight, he replied. I have his letter proudly displayed in my office.
Education
- B.A., Brown University
- M.A., University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
- Ph.D., University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Current and upcoming courses
An introduction to the process of conducting research in political science. Students will develop an intuition for problem-driven research in the social sciences, gaining specific insight into the range of methodological tools employed by political scientists. In this course, students will design and analyze a research question, formulate and test hypotheses about politics, evaluate techniques to measuring political phenomena, and assess methods of empirical analysis and interpretation. The course has a particular focus on quantitative analysis and students will gain fluency in statistical software. The course provides a foundation for conducting empirical research and is strongly recommended for students interested in independent research, a senior honors thesis, and/or graduate school.
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Political Psychology
POL1329
This course provides an overview of the growing literature on political psychology. We will focus on psychological theories that help us to understand how voters think and feel about politics. The primary goal of this course is to acquaint you with various ways in which psychological theory contributes to our understanding of politics and vice versa. For example, does prejudice influence citizens' voting decisions? Is opposition to gay marriage rooted in ideological concerns, or rather in emotions like disgust or fear? Why do many voters dismiss seemingly objective information and vote "against their interests"? Topics include cognition, emotion, prejudice, identity, personality, authority and obedience, and motivated reasoning all with applications to American politics in particular, but we will also consider the relevance of these topics to other countries as well.