Seth Goldman

Seth K. Goldman's research and teaching investigate the effects of mass media and political communication on stereotyping and prejudice, particularly around public opinion about race, gender and sexuality. He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Communication and the Commonwealth Honors College and is affiliated with the BU Center for Antiracist Research, UPenn Institute for the Study of Citizens and Politics and UMass Computational Social Science Institute. 

Goldman is the author, with Diana Mutz, of The Obama Effect: How the 2008 Campaign Changed White Racial Attitudes (Russell Sage Foundation, 2014), which won the Frank Luther Mott-Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award for the best research-based book on journalism/mass communication published in 2014.  His research has been published in academic journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, Global Networks, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Journal of Politics, Political Communication, Political Psychology and Public Opinion Quarterly. 

Financial support for Goldman's research has been provided by the Russell Sage Foundation and from the NSF-funded Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences (TESS), from whom he was a winner of the 2013 Special Competition for Young Investigators. Before coming to UMass, he was a research fellow with the Face Value Project, which was funded by the Ford Foundation in partnership with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University to identify research-based strategies that promote social justice for LGBTQ people. 

Courses Taught: 

Undergraduate: 

• Comm209H: LGBT Politics and the Media
• Comm325H: Race, Media, and Politics
• Comm494XI: Mass Media and Prejudice

Graduate:

• Comm621: Quantitative Research Methods
• Comm791: Political Communication
• Comm797A: Race, Media, and Politics

Publications: 

Book

• Goldman, Seth K. and Diana C. Mutz. 2014. The Obama Effect: How the 2008 Campaign Changed White Racial Attitudes. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation (pp. 1-184). (buy this book from the publisher)
  • Awarded the 2015 Frank Luther Mott - Kappa Tau Alpha Journalism and Mass Communication Research Award.
  • Press: Edsall, Thomas. Feb. 27, 2013. “How Much Does Race Still Matter?” New York Times.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

• Young, Kevin L., , Seth K. Goldman, Brendan O’Connor, and Tuugi Chuluun. 2021. “How White is the Global Elite? An Analysis of Race, Gender and Network Structure.” Global Networks 21(2): 365-392 (Link to publisher; Link to pre-publication copy)

• Goldman, Seth K., and Stephen Warren. 2020. “Debating How to Measure Media Exposure in Surveys.” In B. Grofman, E. Suhay, and A. Trechsel (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Electoral Persuasion (pp. 1-33). (Link to publisher; Link to Scholarworks)

• Goldman, Seth K., and Daniel J. Hopkins. 2020. “Past Place, Present Prejudice: The Impact of Adolescent Racial Context on White Racial Attitudes.” Journal of Politics (pp. 1-55). (Link to JOP) (Link to SSRN working paper)

• Goldman, Seth K., and Daniel J. Hopkins. 2019. “When Can Exemplars Shape White Racial Attitudes? Evidence from the 2012 U.S. Presidential Campaign.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 31 (4): 649-668. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edy033; (Link to SSRN working paper)

• Goldman, Seth K. 2018. “Fear of Gender Favoritism and Vote Choice during the 2008 Presidential Primaries.” Journal of Politics 80 (3): 786-799. (Link to JOP) (Link to Scholarworks)

• Goldman, Seth K. 2017. “Explaining White Opposition to Black Political Leadership: The Role of Fear of Racial Favoritism.” Political Psychology 38 (5): 721-739. (Link to publisher; Link to Scholarworks)

• Goldman, Seth K., Diana C. Mutz, and Susanna Dilliplane. 2013. "All Virtue is Relative: A Response to Prior." Political Communication 30 (4): 635-653. (Read article here)

• Dilliplane, Susanna, Seth K. Goldman, and Diana C. Mutz. 2013. "Televised Exposure to Politics: New Measures for a Fragmented Media Environment." American Journal of Political Science 57 (1): 236-248. (Read article here; Link to Scholarworks)

• Goldman, Seth K. 2012. “Effects of the 2008 Obama Presidential Campaign on White Racial Prejudice.” Public Opinion Quarterly 76 (4): 663-687. (Link to publisher; Link to Scholarworks)

• Goldman, Seth K., and Diana C. Mutz. 2011. "The Friendly Media Phenomenon: A Cross-National Analysis of Cross-Cutting Exposure." Political Communication 28 (1): 42-66. (Read article here)

• Mutz, Diana C., and Seth K. Goldman. 2010. “Mass Media.” In J.F. Dovidio, M. Hewstone, P. Glick, and V.M. Esses (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination (pp. 241-257), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (Read chapter here)

• Goldman, Seth K., and Paul R. Brewer. 2007. “From Gay Bashing to Gay Baiting: Public Opinion and News Media Frames for Gay Marriage.” In M. Strasser (general Ed.), M. Dupuis & W. Thompson (vol. III Eds.), Defending Same-Sex Marriage, Volume III: The Freedom-to-Marry Movement: Education, Advocacy, Culture, and the Media(pp. 103-128), Westport, CT: Praeger. (Library link here)

Other Publications

• Goldman, Seth K. 2016. “Perceptions of Gender Favoritism in the 2016 ANES Pilot Study.” American National Election Studies (ANES) Pilot Study Report (pp. 1-36).
• Goldman, Seth K., and Diana C. Mutz. Nov. 20, 2013. “Election Coverage Tempered Racism.” New York Times.