Live Poster Session: Zoom Link
Juliette Vemmer
Juliette is a sophomore from Cumberland, RI. She is double majoring in anthropology and government with a concentration in international relations. She is a goalkeeper on the Wesleyan women’s soccer team and a member of the Wesleyan chapter of the ACLU. She is also a lab assistant in both the digital lab at Olin Library and an international organization’s research lab.
Abstract: Previous literature studying public support for foreign aid has focused on factors such as economic status, racial resentment, paternalism, altruism, and nativity. However, these studies have neglected to observe how support for foreign aid is influenced by an individual’s racial identification and experiences with race and poverty in the United States. This study examines belief in foreign aid as influenced by race, as well as how this relationship is altered by opinions on upward mobility, exposure to poorer populations, and nativity status. To examine this, 4,032 responses were gathered in the General Social Survey (GSS) from adults over the age of 18 in the U.S. The findings showed that those who identify as Black are less likely to believe that the U.S. is spending too much on foreign aid compared to those who identify as White. Nativity and opinions on upward mobility were also independently associated with support for foreign aid. This study is important for determining which populations are more likely to support broader foreign aid causes and political initiatives. Future research should consider why certain racial identification groups are more significantly influenced by certain factors over others when considering foreign aid support.Â
Vemmer-Foreign-Aid-Poster