Kay Hales
MA Political Science, University of Kentucky, 2023
I am a fourth-year PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science. My research focuses on identity politics, political psychology and behavior, and political sociology. Specifically, I am interested in the experiential, cognitive, and affective components of intra-group dynamics.
My dissertation specifically investigates LGBTQ people's sense of linked fate as a way to broaden our understanding of this concept and expand its theoretical framework. I use a combination of survey, phenomenological, and psychometric techniques to explore (1) how LGBTQ people experience a sense of linked fate, (2) the experiential and affective mechanisms driving LGBTQ people's sense of linked fate, and (3) develop a novel, multidimensional measure to assess LGBTQ people's sense of linked fate.
In addition to my dissertation, my other current projects investigate how constituent-level identity (including White identity) shapes state and local elites' legislative behavior, and 'manosphere' socialization.
I have been the primary instructor for the following courses:
- PS391 - Behavior, Identity, and Bias (Spring 2024)
- PS210 - Intro to Comparative Politics (Fall 2023)
- PS390 - Film in Politics (Summer 2022)
- PS101 - Intro to American Politics (Spring 2022)
In addition, I have been a teaching assistant for the following courses:
- PS210 - Intro to Comparative Poltiics
- PS101 - Intro to American Politics
- PS437G - Dynamics of International Law
- PS391 - Political Institutions (x2)
- PS410 - European Union