Welcoming Hakeem Jefferson to CDDRL

Jefferson, an assistant professor of political science at Stanford University, will join the center as a faculty affiliate.
Hakeem Jefferson

We are delighted to announce that Hakeem Jefferson, Assistant Professor of Political Science, is a new faculty affiliate at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.

Professor Jefferson’s research focuses primarily on the role identity plays in structuring political attitudes and behaviors in the U.S. He is especially interested in understanding how stigma shapes the politics of Black Americans, particularly as it relates to group members’ support for racialized punitive social policies. In other research projects, he examines the psychological and social roots of the racial divide in Americans’ reactions to officer-involved shootings and works to evaluate the meaningfulness of key political concepts, like ideological identification, among Black Americans.

"I am delighted that Hakeem Jefferson is joining the CDDRL community” shared Kathryn Stoner, Mosbacher Director of CDDRL. “Hakeem's work on race and politics in America is a welcome addition to the Center's expanding work on the quality of American democracy. I look forward to supporting his important work on the role that identity plays in the United States and elsewhere in structuring political behavior and social policies."

Hakeem's work on race and politics in America is a welcome addition to the Center's expanding work on the quality of American democracy.
Kathryn Stoner
Mosbacher Director of CDDRL

Professor Jefferson is also a faculty affiliate with the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and the Stanford Center for American Democracy. He received his PhD in political science from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and African American Studies from the University of South Carolina.

In 2020, his dissertation, "Policing Norms: Punishment and the Politics of Respectability Among Black Americans," was a co-winner of the Best Dissertation Award from the Political Psychology Section of the American Political Science Association.

Hakeem Jefferson

Hakeem Jefferson

Assistant Professor, Political Science and CDDRL Affiliated Faculty
Read more about Hakeem