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Black Like Me: how political communication changes racial group identification and its implications

ABSTRACT Extant literature suggests that people who are highly identified with a particular group are likely to make choices in line with that group’s interests. But, in the realm of politics, we know very little about how group identification transitions into a salient political identification. What is the mechanism that makes this transition happen? I argue that this transition and prioritization hinges on political communication that makes a group member believe that they are relevant to the political group. To engage this argument, I focus on Black political identification due to the strong empirical evidence that demonstrates that Black political identification, or linked fate, is fundamental to explaining the political decisions and behavior of Black Americans. Using experimental research, I test the effects of racialized political discourse by varying which segments of the Black community are being defined as a part of the broader “Black” interest. I find that Blacks who are marginalized in mainstream and intra-group discourse (moveable Blacks) show significant change in their strength of political identification with the racial group when their interests are being framed as major interests for the group.