Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Medical Science)

Department

Sociology

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

This research is broken into three chapters that focus on structural racism at the state-level. In the first chapter, I compare structural racism measures to determine which measure is better suited for this research. The structural racism scale selected is used in Chapter 2 to analyze the relationship between structural racism and countermovement participation in a state. In Chapter 3, I analyze the relationship between state-level factors and participation in the capitol insurrection using OLS regression. In Chapter 1, I find the Brown and Homan (2024) structural racism scale to be the preferred measure for capturing structural racism and subsequent state-level inequality for this dissertation. In Chapter 2, I find the Brown and Homan (2024) scale to be null, suggesting structural racism is not associated with countermovement participation in a state. Instead, the state’s Black population size is most relevant when explaining the concentration of countermovements across states. In Chapter 3, I find the Brown and Homan (2024) scale to be negatively related to insurrection participants in a state. Additionally, I find statistically significant coefficients for state distance to D.C. and the state Black population when explaining the concentration of insurrection participants across states. Collectively, I see the findings from the chapters to suggest that structural racism is complex. There are multiple ways to measure structural racism, but none demonstrate consistently strong associations with different state-level outcomes. Future research should find a way to address how structural racism and state-level inequalities have evolved over time to create a novel measure of structural racism by including state demographics, and race-based socio-political movements and countermovements. Additionally, other features of the state context appear to be more relevant than structural racism when explaining countermovements.

Date

7-17-2026

Committee Chair

O'Connell, Heather

LSU Acknowledgement

1

LSU Accessibility Acknowledgment

1

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Available for download on Monday, July 16, 2029

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