Can Incarceration Really Strip People of Racial Privilege?
We replicate and reexamine Saperstein and Penner’s prominent 2010 study which asks whether incarceration changes the probability that an individual will be seen as black or white (regardless of the individual’s phenotype). Our reexamination shows that only a small part of their empirical analysis is...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Society for Sociological Science
2016-03-01
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| Series: | Sociological Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.sociologicalscience.com/v3-10-190/ |
| _version_ | 1811305761683275776 |
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| author | Lance Hannon Robert DeFina |
| author_facet | Lance Hannon Robert DeFina |
| author_sort | Lance Hannon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We replicate and reexamine Saperstein and Penner’s prominent 2010 study which asks whether incarceration changes the probability that an individual will be seen as black or white (regardless of the individual’s phenotype). Our reexamination shows that only a small part of their empirical analysis is suitable for addressing this question (the fixed-effects estimates), and that these results are extremely fragile. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find that being interviewed in jail/prison does not increase the survey respondent’s likelihood of being classified as black, and avoiding incarceration during the survey period does not increase a person’s chances of being seen as white. We conclude that the empirical component of Saperstein and Penner’s work needs to be reconsidered and new methods for testing their thesis should be investigated. The data are provided for other researchers to explore. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T08:31:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5f3e3b514a13410585e6efae8f9b1190 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2330-6696 2330-6696 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T08:31:06Z |
| publishDate | 2016-03-01 |
| publisher | Society for Sociological Science |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sociological Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-5f3e3b514a13410585e6efae8f9b11902022-12-22T02:54:14ZengSociety for Sociological ScienceSociological Science2330-66962330-66962016-03-0131019020110.15195/v3.a103498Can Incarceration Really Strip People of Racial Privilege?Lance Hannon0Robert DeFina1 Villanova University Villanova University We replicate and reexamine Saperstein and Penner’s prominent 2010 study which asks whether incarceration changes the probability that an individual will be seen as black or white (regardless of the individual’s phenotype). Our reexamination shows that only a small part of their empirical analysis is suitable for addressing this question (the fixed-effects estimates), and that these results are extremely fragile. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find that being interviewed in jail/prison does not increase the survey respondent’s likelihood of being classified as black, and avoiding incarceration during the survey period does not increase a person’s chances of being seen as white. We conclude that the empirical component of Saperstein and Penner’s work needs to be reconsidered and new methods for testing their thesis should be investigated. The data are provided for other researchers to explore.https://www.sociologicalscience.com/v3-10-190/Ascribed StatusFixed-EffectsMicro Racial FormationRacial Fluidity |
| spellingShingle | Lance Hannon Robert DeFina Can Incarceration Really Strip People of Racial Privilege? Sociological Science Ascribed Status Fixed-Effects Micro Racial Formation Racial Fluidity |
| title | Can Incarceration Really Strip People of Racial Privilege? |
| title_full | Can Incarceration Really Strip People of Racial Privilege? |
| title_fullStr | Can Incarceration Really Strip People of Racial Privilege? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can Incarceration Really Strip People of Racial Privilege? |
| title_short | Can Incarceration Really Strip People of Racial Privilege? |
| title_sort | can incarceration really strip people of racial privilege |
| topic | Ascribed Status Fixed-Effects Micro Racial Formation Racial Fluidity |
| url | https://www.sociologicalscience.com/v3-10-190/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lancehannon canincarcerationreallystrippeopleofracialprivilege AT robertdefina canincarcerationreallystrippeopleofracialprivilege |