While a great deal of research has considered racial disparities in the justice system, there has been a lack of research on Asian populations. This research addresses this omission by conducting a comprehensive examination of policing of Asian victims and suspects. To accomplish this, this study uses NIBRS data to examine variation in arrest for Asian-involved incidents of violent crime. Results indicate that incidents involving Asian victims are more likely to result in arrest than other incidents, but that incidents involving Asian suspects are also especially likely to result in arrest, with the critical exception of instances that involve Black victimization. Taken together, results suggest that the consequence of the unique social position of Asian people in American racial hierarchies is a punishment system that is not uniformly positive or negative, but partially dependent on the role of Asian people in a criminal incident, as either victim or offender.

Gendered racial microaggressions refer to subtle, yet psychologically injurious, interpersonal experiences rooted in racial and gender oppression. As a manifestation of gendered racism, Black women commonly report such experiences, yet this research primarily focuses on younger (e.g., college-attending) adults. Whether gendered racial microaggressions are most salient at specific life course stages (i.e., emerging versus older adulthood) remains unclear. Drawing from intersectionality, social stress, and life course perspectives, this study investigated whether life course stage (e.g., emerging [18–29 years], established [30–45 years], midlife [46–64 years], and older [65+ years] adulthood) differentiated (1) exposure to gendered racial microaggressions and (2) the association between gendered racial microaggressions and mental health (i.e., anxiety and depression symptoms). Data were from a national sample of Black women (N = 415), and linear regression analyses were conducted. To assess moderation by life course stage, we performed statistical interactions. Our findings revealed that gendered racial microaggressions are most salient among relatively younger Black women (18–29 years). However, middle age (i.e., 46–64 years old) Black women are most psychologically affected by specific kinds of gendered racial microaggressions (i.e., Strong Black Woman Stereotype, Assumptions of Beauty and Sexual Objectification). Compared to their younger counterparts, older Black women (i.e., 65 years and older) report less frequent experiences with gendered racial microaggressions and are less psychologically vulnerable to them. We emphasize the need for measurement development to elucidate gendered racism experiences among older Black women.

Although the number of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduates is increasing, few studies have examined the implications of STEM credentials for the well-being of children. Using data from the 2018–2022 American Community Survey, this study examines racial and ethnic inequalities in poverty among the children of STEM graduates, and whether these inequalities are shaped by foreign-born status. The results show several patterns of inequality in child poverty, which are conditional on ethno-racial differences and the occupational outcomes of STEM graduates. For example, Black and Hispanic children, who have the highest poverty rates, are the most likely to have parents with STEM degrees who are not employed in STEM jobs and parents with jobs with lower levels of prestige. The results also show higher levels of child poverty in foreign-born compared to U.S.-born STEM households. However, in U.S.-born STEM households, the employment of STEM graduates in occupations in the highest quartiles is associated with a greater poverty advantage among Whites than non-Whites. Conversely, the employment of STEM graduates in occupations in the lowest quartiles accentuates the disadvantage of Blacks compared to non-Blacks. Finally, the results indicate that in foreign-born STEM households, the poverty outcomes of Black children of STEM graduates are identical to those of White children whose parents never went to college.

Researchers have long critiqued the “model minority” stereotype for overlooking substantial achievement variations across Asian American ethnic groups. This study extends these critiques by analyzing how detailed Asian-origin groups differ in their rankings across four socioeconomic dimensions: education, employment, personal income, and homeownership. Using data from the 2017–2021 American Community Survey, we rank 20 Asian-origin groups, revealing four distinct achievement configurations. Only seven Asian-origin groups have consistently high, moderate, or low achievements. The rest are status-inconsistent: “traditional stability achievers” have high employment and homeownership but modest education and income; “educationally driven achievers” excel in education and earnings but have lower homeownership rates; and finally, two outliers, Chinese and Mongolian Americans, have mixed achievements that elude clear categorization. These findings demonstrate the need to consider multiple socioeconomic indicators to fully capture the diversity within Asian American communities. Future research should investigate how factors such as geographic clustering, household finances, and disparate returns to resources shape these multifaceted achievement patterns.

While microaggressions are common, they are rarely challenged in real time; in fact, the literature suggests that the most common response to experiencing/witnessing microaggressions is to not respond. In this article, we describe the process of using qualitative methods and participatory design to identify barriers to responding to racial microaggressions and inform the development of a virtual reality film that depicts different ways of responding to, or challenging, racial microaggressions. The goals in developing this research-based intervention and educational tool are 1) to use storytelling to highlight the consequences of not responding to racism, and 2) to demonstrate effective strategies for responding to racism in everyday situations, thereby challenging the racial status quo in a society that is purportedly colorblind, and where silence in the face of microaggressions is the norm.

Quantitative analyses of inequality typically take ethnoracial classification for granted without considering how such data come to be. We argue that criteria for categorization is often unclear, creating ambiguity about who has the authority to determine an individuals’ race or ethnicity in the U.S. context. Using more than 300 survey interview transcripts from the UC Berkeley Social Networks Study (UCNets), we explore how respondents and survey interviewers negotiate both epistemic ambiguity and “White” identity. We identify multiple strategies of discursive distancing from a straightforward “White” response and trace how respondents and interviewers pass responsibility for classification, deferring to each other and appealing to external authorities, before answers are recorded. We also demonstrate this combination of distancing and epistemic ambiguity can result in respondents with qualitatively similar responses receiving diverging race/ethnicity codes. We conclude with recommendations about how to navigate epistemic ambiguity for users and producers of ethnoracial data.

Emergent research on the platform economy shows how race and gender oppression shape economic roles and virtual marketplaces enabled by digital technologies. While digital platforms promise economic self-determination, they also reinforce inequalities through algorithmic bias, platform policies, and precarious work conditions, particularly for women of color. This study asks: In what ways does platform-dependent entrepreneurship reflect the intersectional stratification resulting from the dual racialized sexualization and feminization of body work? Centering Black exotic dancers, this article examines how they use Instagram for self-branding and market-making in pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities. Analyzing user-generated content from 73 Black exotic dancers in the southeastern United States, this study explores how “erotic influencers” extend their work beyond strip clubs to connect marginalized consumers and proprietors. Their profiles facilitate an intraracial online network where they advertise Black cultural products and services in beauty, fashion, and rap music. These findings illustrate how these women navigate a racial enclave economy on Instagram to construct new economic roles shaped by platform constraints and racialized erotic capital. To conclude, this article argues that erotic influencers are key market actors, linking formal and informal Black economic activities while contending with racial capitalism’s structural constraints in a digital society.

Stand Your Grounds (SYG) laws, which have been spreading across the states in the past decade, protect an individual’s right to use force, including deadly force, in self-defense in any situation in which they feel reasonably threatened. Specifically, SYG laws remove the duty to retreat, so that deadly force can be used as a first line of defense. Research has shown that SYG laws not only increase gun violence but specifically increase white on Black gun violence, and the acquittal of its perpetrators. I thus argue that SYG laws are one of the mechanisms by which a “colorblind” racial state maintains and perpetuates control over Black bodies through its monopoly on the processes of legitimating violence. This article uses textual analysis of the oral arguments in George Zimmerman and Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trials and evinces that these SYG trials establish three primary narratives (1) that the perpetrator of violence acted out of fear and that that fear was reasonable; (2) that the perpetrator of violence was a legitimate agent for the violence they committed; and (3) that race was not a factor in establishing either (1) or (2).

Although racial preferences in dating are often studied, colorism receives less attention. In addition, most research on colorism within the United States has focused on Blacks and Latinxs. Therefore, we examined the role of colorism in attraction among single Asian Americans ( N = 262) through speed-dating. Participants reported their racial/ethnic preferences in dating and participated in speed-dating, which yielded their revealed preferences for skin tone and ethnicity. Findings indicated little evidence for colorism. Overall, skin tone did not predict speed-dating success (mate desirability ratings and second date offers). U.S.-born men and women showed slight revealed preferences for darker skin, whereas foreign-born men and women diverged in their preferences, with women preferring lighter skin in men and men preferring darker skin in women. Skin tone also played little role in stated racial/ethnic preferences in dating after accounting for the participant’s generational status, ethnicity, and gender. Findings indicate that these demographic factors might underlie previously documented effects of skin tone among Asian Americans.