Replication data for: What the Demolition of Public Housing Teaches Us About the Impact of Racial Threat on Political Behavior

How does the context in which a person lives affect his or her political behavior? I exploit an event in which demographic context was exogenously changed, leading to a significant change in voters' behavior, and demonstrating that voters react strongly to changes in an outgroup population. Between 2000 and 2004, the reconstruction of public housing in Chicago caused the displacement of over 25,000 African Americans, many of whom had previously lived in close proximity to white voters. After the removal of their African American neighbors, the white voters' turnout dropped by over ten percentage points. Consistent with psychological theories of racial threat, their change in behavior was a function of the size and proximity of the outgroup population. Proximity was also related to increased voting for conservative candidates. These findings strongly suggest that racial threat occurs because of attitude change rather than selection.

个人所处的生活环境如何影响其政治行为？本文依托一则外生改变人口结构背景的自然事件展开研究：该事件致使选民行为发生显著变化，并证实选民会对外部群体（outgroup）人口规模的变动做出强烈反应。2000年至2004年间，芝加哥公共住房重建项目致使逾2.5万名非裔美国人被迫搬迁，其中多数人此前与白人选民比邻而居。在这批非裔邻居迁出后，白人选民的投票率下降了逾10个百分点。这一结果与种族威胁（racial threat）心理学理论高度契合：选民的行为变化取决于外部群体人口的规模与邻近程度。此外，外部群体的邻近性还与保守派候选人得票率的上升存在显著关联。上述研究结果强有力地表明，种族威胁效应的产生源于个体态度的转变，而非选择性偏差。