Kassra Oskooii

Associate Professor, American Politics, Political Psychology and Race and Ethnic Politics; Director of Internships University of Delaware

  • Newark DE

Prof. Oskooii's research expertise include political psychology, public opinion, voting rights and redistricting.

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Spotlight

2 min

Election 2024: Providing insight during a pivotal campaign season

Voter behavior and emotion, civil discourse, the spread of misinformation, the role of gender and race in politics and conspiracy theories are among the many topics University of Delaware experts can comment on during this final stretch of the 2024 campaign. David Redlawsk Professor of Political Science and International Relations Expertise: Political psychologist who studies voter behavior and emotion, focuses on how voters process political information to make their decisions. He has written several books on politics, worked behind the scenes on campaigns and ran for local office. Dannagal Young Professor of Communication Director of the Center for Political Communication Expertise: The spread of misinformation in politics and the intersection of entertainment and information, with an emphasis on political satire, political media effects, public opinion and the psychology of political humor. Kassra Oskooii Professor of Political Science and International Relations Expertise: Focuses on the interplay between the contextual and psychological determinants of political opinions and behaviors of high and low status group members. Erin Cassese Professor of Political Science and International Relations Expertise: Explores the behavior of women as voters and candidates for political office, and studies political psychology, gender stereotypes, public opinion, elections and the intersection of religion and politics. Yasser Payne Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies Expertise: Research program also focuses on Black racial identity; street identity; economic and educational opportunity or the impact of structural violence. Tim Shaffer SNF Ithaca Director Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Chair of Civil Discourse Expertise: Civil discourse in politics; can talk about partisanship, polarization and their impact on media outlets. advancement of democratic practices by focusing on the role of civic professionals in institutional settings. Alice Ba Professor and acting chair, Political Science and International Relations. Expertise: Her work on the international relations of East and Southeast Asia examines the structures, processes, and systemic effects of regionalism and cooperative regime building, as well as relations between smaller and major powers. Joanne Miller Professor of American Politics, Research Methods and Political Psychology Expertise: Studies political psychology, with an emphasis on political propaganda, misinformation and conspiracy theories. Muqtedar Khan Professor of Comparative Politics, International Relations and Political Theory Expertise: Issues surrounding U.S. foreign policy in the Muslim World as well as national security and counter-terrorism. To speak with any of these experts, simply visit their profle and click on the "contact" button, which will send a message directly to them (while also copying UD's media relations team).

Kassra OskooiiDavid RedlawskErin CasseseDannagal YoungYasser PayneTimothy J. Shaffer

1 min

Exploring the role of social media in fomenting hatred and prejudice in society

Each day, it feels like there's a new social media platform to join, the latest one being Threads. While social media like Threads, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook can be a space to bring people from different corners of the world together, it has also become a way to spread hatred and prejudice. Kassra Oskooii, associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware, studies the interplay between contextual and psychological determinants of political opinions on minority groups. He recently published work examining at how social media news consumption over the last two presidential cycles has heightened anti-Muslim views. He noted that social media works by creating information bubbles that echo and amplify views, and when political information is left unregulated, individuals can be exposed to false and prejudicial content that can shape their views toward marginalized groups. Oskooii's research was recently cited in the 2023 Economic Report of the President. He can speak about the role that social media continues to play on politics and everyday society. To arrange an interview, simply click on Professor Oskooii's profile and press the contact button.

Kassra Oskooii

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Biography

Kassra AR Oskooii, Ph.D. (University of Washington, 2016) joined the department in fall of 2016. His research and teaching focuses on the interplay between the contextual and psychological determinants of political opinions and behaviors of high and low status group members. Dr. Oskooii also has research and teaching expertise in the area of voting rights and redistricting. Due to this expertise, he has served as an expert witness or consultant in voting rights related matters in states such as Maryland, Florida, Georgia, Texas and Washington.

Dr. Oskooii's research has appeared in numerous peer-reviewed journals such as the British Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, Political Psychology, Public Opinion Quarterly, Sociological Methods and Research, Perspectives on Politics, Electoral Studies, Urban Affairs Review, Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, State Politics and Policy Quarterly and the Journal of Public Policy.

Dr. Oskooii has also contributed to the development of the eiCompare Ecological Inference R Package, which has been used in numerous academic papers and voting rights cases across the country. More information about his research and teaching expertise can be found on his website​.

Industry Expertise

Public Policy
Political Organization

Areas of Expertise

Race and Ethnic Politics
Political Psychology
Public Opinion
Voting Rights
Redistricting
Demography

Media Appearances

Enlighten Me: UD professor authors study on connection between social media news use and anti-Muslim views

Delaware Public Media  online

2023-07-21

The number of hate crimes and attacks on minority groups is rising and social media is exacerbating the issue.

That’s according to a recent study cited in the 2023 Economic Report of the President and co-authored by Kassra Oskooii, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware.

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UD professor's research cited in White House economic report | UDaily

University of Delaware  online

2023-05-09

“You get an unexpected email from the White House and you’re going to be suspicious,” explained Oskooii with a chuckle. An associate professor of political science and international relations, he did some sleuthing and soon discovered that the email was legit.

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Caroline County NAACP et al v Federalsburg

ACLU of Maryland  online

2023-02-22

Seven Black voters joined the Caroline County Branch of the NAACP and the Caucus of African American Leaders to file suit against Federalsburg in federal district court in Baltimore under the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. They are challenging the racially discriminatory and unlawful at-large, staggered-term election system that has kept Black people out of Federalsburg municipal government for 200 years.

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Articles

Undermining Sanctuary? When Local and National Partisan Cues Diverge

Urban Affairs Review

2023

To what extent do national partisan cues exert influence over local voting behavior? Despite being an “immigrant welcoming city,” in November, 2019, Tucson, Arizona, voters rejected Prop. 205—the Tucson Families Free and Together Initiative. We leverage theories of elite partisan cues to explain why voters in a progressive city voted against such an initiative. In contrast to Democratic support for sanctuary cities at the national level, we argue that mixed cues from local Democratic elites contributed significantly to a surprising rejection of the initiative. Using aggregate-level data and a framing experiment, we find that the local political environment split Democratic votes (50% favored, 50% opposed) while keeping Republican voters—who received consistent elite cues of opposition—uniformly against the proposition. This study illustrates how local partisan elite cues can shape ballot initiative voting outcomes, even to the point of overriding negative partisanship and national co-partisan consensus on the same issue.

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Fight not flight: The effects of explicit racism on minority political engagement

Electoral Studies

2022

Explicit racism in political campaigns is on the rise. Some research suggests policy threat and government discrimination are correlated with increased political participation, while others find evidence of alienation and withdrawal. However, little direct causal evidence exists on the effects of inflammatory campaign rhetoric on marginalized groups. Using a survey experiment of Latinx Americans, we investigate how exposure to racist political attacks shapes a targeted group’s political engagement. We find that randomized exposure to a stylized campaign video critical of immigrants or Latinx people increases vote intention and enthusiasm, but does not affect other political actions, such as donating and protesting. Increased participation effects are concentrated among respondents who report strong Latino identity and low political interest. These findings highlight the resilience of minority communities who respond to political attacks with political mobilization, not avoidance. Together, this causal evidence complements previous observational work and shows that mobilization can result not just from policy threat and state action, but also from campaign rhetoric.

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Hate, amplified? Social media news consumption and support for anti-Muslim policies

Journal of Public Policy

2022

Research finds that social media platforms’ peer-to-peer structures shape the public discourse and increase citizens’ likelihood of exposure to unregulated, false, and prejudicial content. Here, we test whether self-reported reliance on social media as a primary news source is linked to racialised policy support, taking the case of United States Muslims, a publicly visible but understudied group about whom significant false and prejudicial content is abundant on these platforms. Drawing on three original surveys and the Nationscape dataset, we find a strong and consistent association between reliance on social media and support for a range of anti-Muslim policies. Importantly, reliance on social media is linked to policy attitudes across the partisan divide and for individuals who reported holding positive or negative feelings towards Muslims. These findings highlight the need for further investigation into the political ramification of information presented on contemporary social media outlets, particularly information related to stigmatised groups.

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Accomplishments

Provost Teaching Fellow

Present

Nominee of UD’s Excellence in Teaching Award

2023

Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Best Paper Award, APSA

2019

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Education

University of Washington

PhD

Political Science and Government

2016

University of Washington

BA

Political Science and Government

2008

Event Appearances

"Partisan Winners and Losers: Testing Alternative Frames of Congressional Election Results Among White and Latino Voters"

(2021) Annual American Political Science Association Conference (APSA)  

“KissingUpandKickingDown:How Immigrant Resentment Impacts Latinx Support for Donald Trump and Restrictive Immigration Policies"

(2021) Annual American Political Science Association Conference (APSA)  

"How do Political Attacks Affect Racial and Ethnic Self-Identities?”

(2021) Annual Midwest Political Science Association Conference (APSA)  

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