Dear Colleagues,

The phrase "racial identity politics" has long engendered consternation, applause, and skepticism from scholars, activists, and media personalities alike. From warnings that there is no biological basis for race and that identity group expectations are as liberating as they are restricting; to praise for the ways in which strong racial identification mitigates the negative cognitive and emotive effects of microaggressions; to debates about whether public policies appropriately balance freedom of disassociation against equal protection and freedom of speech, research on racial identity politics has generated much insight about group conflict, compromise, and competition. However, the increasing complexity of governing in the twenty-first century demands new examinations into the perils and promises of racial identity politics.

For this purpose, this Special Issue of Societies invites manuscripts of original research that examine the effects of racial identity politics on governance in contemporary heterogeneous societies. We welcome submissions that employ any variety of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches. Studies may be comparative and may be specific to a region, nation, state, or sub-state area. We especially welcome manuscripts that address the following: public policy debates where the racial identity of advocates or opponents is a factor in how debate is framed or understood (e.g., housing, immigration, policing, health care, land use, education reforms); connections between racial identity politics and the quality of democracy; linkages between racial identity and political attitudes or behavior; how racial identity politics can both facilitate and undermine social subordination; and how racial identity politics relates to the formation, maintenance, or collapse of organizations and networks. The article processing charges (APC) are waived for this Special Issue.

Prof. Tyson King-Meadows
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• black immigrants
• North America
• perception of criminal in/justice
• police-black civilian deadly encounter
• racial minorities