American women of color and rational non-candidacy: when silent citizenship makes politics look like old white men shouting |
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Authors: | Shauna L. Shames |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Political Science, Rutgers University – Camden, Camden, NJ, USAshauna.shames@rutgers.edu |
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Abstract: | Candidate emergence research emphasizes the importance of political ambition in determining who runs and, therefore, who governs. Political scientists tend to assume that there is a sufficient quantity of people of sufficient quality and diversity to form good, representative governments. Yet my research finds strong ‘candidate deterrent effects’ for women of color – effectively silencing people who would be strong candidates and representatives. I draw on data from an original survey and interviews with a unique group of young eligible candidates. These data suggest that women of color lack faith in politics’ ability to solve problems and perceive it as a discriminatory space. Their aversion to running is fully rational, based on perceptions of high costs and low rewards involved in candidacies. But their rational decisions lead to a system-level irrationality of continuing unrepresentative government that silences the ‘different voice’ emerging from race and gender diversity. |
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Keywords: | political ambition silent citizenship women of color black women Hispanic women Latinas running for office candidates gender |
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