History, Agency, Power, and Linked Fate

Abstract

Racial linked fate, the concept introduced by Dawson (1994) almost three decades ago, reoriented the study of racism and mass political behavior in the U.S. The scholarship traditionally had focused largely on the racial psychology of whites, how racism seeps into their political views and actions. Dawson proposed the black utility heuristic theory and linked fate, its associated measure, as an empirical framework to investigate the political behavior of blacks, the racial minority group most harmed by racism. Since then, linked fate has become an almost ubiquitous variable of interest in the research on minority group dynamics in American politics. Yet the research program around linked fate is due for some extension. We argue that subsequent studies largely gloss over the fact that the black utility heuristic theory, underlying the linked fate concept, is historically and socially conditional. We call for bringing elite level agency back into the literature to clarify the macro- and meso-level conditions under which shared racial status translates into linked fate at the individual level. Elite actions are critical to understanding linked fate as a contingent outcome shaped by group historical processes and social practices. We conclude that greater inquiry into these dynamics is not only warranted, but also has broad implications for the research on racial and ethnic politics. It requires rethinking the scope of the evidence and methods researchers utilize to study the politics of racially marginalized groups.