The Franklin L. Burdette Pi Sigma Alpha prize is awarded annually for the best paper presented at the previous year’s annual meeting. The award is supported by Pi Sigma Alpha. This year’s recipients are Alexander Kuo, Cornell University; Neil Malhotra, Stanford Graduate School of Business; and Cecilia Hyunjung Mo, Vanderbilt University for their paper titled “Why Do Asian Americans Identify as Democrats? Testing Theories of Social Exclusion and Intergroup Solidarity.” This paper examines why nearly three-fourths of Asian Americans vote for Democratic candidates in presidential elections, despite prevailing research that indicates they should vote for Republicans because of their relatively high income. The authors show that both social exclusion and intergroup solidarity explain Asian Americans’ support for Democratic candidates. This excellent paper contributes to our understanding of identity politics and the coalitional bases of political parties.
Thanks to the Award Committee: David Canon, University of Wisconsin, Madison, chair; Jonathan Fox, American University; and Anna Law, CUNY Brooklyn College.