Minhye Joo
Political Science Post Doctoral Fellow
Bio
Minhye is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research addresses questions in American politics and the politics of race, ethnicity, and immigration with a focus on immigrant incorporation in the U.S. Her book project examines how interactions with street-level bureaucrats impact immigrants’ political attitudes and behaviors in the host country. Using a mixed-method approach, she highlights the role of public services provided by street-level bureaucrats in immigrant political incorporation.
Minhye’s research has been supported by multiple prestigious research grants and fellowships, including the APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) and the Russell Sage Foundation’s Dissertation Research Grant. She holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, Riverside, and a master’s degree in political science from Seoul National University.
Research
Book Project
Where the American Dream Begins
(Funded by the APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant and the Russell Sage Foundation’s Dissertation Research Grant)
Abstract: How do immigrants develop their attitudes toward the new country? What leads them to engage in politics in the host country? In my book project, I argue that interactions with the new political system provide one path for immigrants to learn how the new system works and how the government perceives and treats them, which may affect the development of political attitudes toward the new country. With a focus on immigrants’ contact with street-level bureaucrats, I argue that positive interactions with street-level bureaucrats lead immigrants to perceive their host country as responsive and trustworthy, which encourages them to engage in politics in the host country. On the other hand, I expect negative interactions with street-level bureaucrats to give the impression that the host country is unwelcoming and hostile, which discourages political activities in the host country. Drawing on data from a series of interviews and an original survey of immigrants and nonimmigrants with two embedded experiments, the study explores four questions: (1) how immigrants evaluate their bureaucratic experiences, (2) what comprises positive or negative bureaucratic interactions for immigrants, (3) whether bureaucratic interactions affect immigrant political attitudes and incorporation into the host country, and (4) what aspects of positive and negative interactions shape immigrants’ political attitudes and behaviors. The results highlight the role of bureaucratic encounters in the development of political attitudes and the decision to engage in politics in the host country among immigrants. This study demonstrates that immigrants have unique experiences with street-level bureaucrats that are distinguished from those of native-born nonimmigrants, and their encounters shape how they view the host country and whether they are successfully incorporated into the new society.
Published Work
- Only for Some Women: Experimental Evidence on Descriptive Representation and Political Engagement (Political Behavior, Online First, with Jennifer L. Merolla, Abbylin Sellers, and Danielle Casarez Lemi)
- For Whom Does the Message Matter? The Effect of Identity-Based Get-Out-The-Vote Appeals on the Political Participation of Underrepresented Groups (Political Research Quarterly, Online First, with Cheryl Boudreau and Jennifer L. Merolla)
Ambition in the Time of Covid: How Caregiving Shapes Women’s Interest in Running for Office (Accepted at Journal of Women, Politics, & Policy, with Jill S. Greenlee, Ivy A. M. Cargile, Jennifer L. Merolla, and Rachel VanSickle-Ward)
Under Review
- Where American Dream Begins: How Does Contact with Street-Level Bureaucrats Impact Immigrants’ Political Attitudes?
- Do I Belong Here? Navigating Bureaucracy and Immigrants' Sense of Belonging
- Conditional Love: When Do We Support Undocumented Migrants? (R&R at Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, with Jieun S. Park)
- Sanctioning Students and Political Participation: Evidence from a Vignette Experiment on Soft Repression (with Undergraduate Research Team, DPERL)
Working Papers
- Hope or Frustration? Bureaucratic Encounters and Immigrant Political Participation
- Theory of Bureaucratic Encounters and Immigrant Clients' Evaluations
- Framing the Fourteenth: How Frames Shape Public Opinion on Birthright Citizenship (with Mai N. Do and Jennifer L. Merolla)
- Framing Local Noncitizen Enfranchisement (with Mai N. Do and Jennifer L. Merolla)
- Group Empathy and Support for Minorities (with Ayse Busra Topal and Jennifer L. Merolla)
- Factoring in Faith: How Different Religiosity Shape Support for Abortion Rights (with Elena Ozer Fields and Rachel VanSickle-Ward)
Work in Progress
- How Does Skin Tone Shape Political Identities and Behavior? (with Jieun S. Park)
- Brotherhood with Nostalgia and Sisterhood with Marginalization: The Causes and Consequences of Gender Linked Fate in the Polarized Era (with Jieun S. Park)
- Beyond Xenophobia: Gender Polarization and Public Opinion on Foreign Brides in East Asia (with Jieun S. Park and Dahjin Kim)
- Bureaucratic Decisions and Institutional Trust: How Immigration Decision Shapes Institutional Trust
Other Publications
- “Caregiving, COVID-19, and Running for Office.” (2024). Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. (with Ivy A. M. Cargile, Jill S. Greenlee, Jennifer L. Merolla, and Rachel VanSickle-Ward)
Teaching
Instructor
- Research Methods for Political and Social Sciences (UMass Amherst, Fall 2026)
- Political Psychology (Pitzer College, Spring 2026)
- Research Design (Pitzer College, Spring 2026)
- American Politics (Pitzer College, Fall 2025)
- Introduction to Statistics (Pitzer College, Fall 2025)
- American Politics (UCR, Summer 2023 & Summer 2024)
Teaching Assistant
- Politics and Economic Policy (UCR, Spring 2024)
- Political Economy of International Migration (UCR, Winter 2024)
- Political Behavior in Comparative Perspective (UCR, Winter 2023)
- Politics on Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration (UCR, Spring 2022)
- American Politics (UCR, Spring 2023, Fall 2021, Summer 2021)
- Elections and Political Participation (UCR, Summer 2020)