A Comprehensive Study of Muslim American Discrimination by Legislators, the Media, and the Masses
[Thesis]
Nazita Lajevardi
Hajnal, Zoltan L.
University of California, San Diego
2017
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Committee members: Abrajano, Marisa A.; Andreoni, James; Barreto, Matt A.; Fowler, James H.; Hill, Seth J.
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-369-68227-4
Ph.D.
Political Science
University of California, San Diego
2017
In my dissertation, I focus on one question: to what extent do Muslim Americans face discrimination by legislators, the media, and masses? As such, it provides the first comprehensive analysis of Muslim American political discrimination. This question is important because while anecdotal signs of increasing Islamophobia in each of these domains are pervasive, they are unsupported by quantitative evidence. In contrast, my dissertation uses quantitative methods, including survey experiments, field experiments, and text analysis of media transcripts, to sys- tematically develop a nuanced theory of America's racial hierarchy that (a) takes into a account a new group (Muslim Americans) and (b) demonstrates that racial groups exhibit malleable status relative to other groups over time.
Islamic Studies; Political science; Mass communications
Social sciences;Communication and the arts;Islamophobia;Muslim Americans;Political discrimination