I study how social identities shape and are shaped by political life.
How does the answer to “who am I?” condition the answer to “who should I vote for?” Why do some people derive a good portion of their self-concept and esteem from their ascriptive identities, while others are indifferent? How do ascriptive identities shape experiences with and expectations of law enforcement? Can economic shocks spur opposition to out-groups? How do we change attitudes towards vulnerable out-groups, such as immigrants? How does migration motive shape the political preferences and behavior of those who move? What, if any, are the governance consequences of placing a high value on descriptive representation? My work takes an interdisciplinary theoretical and multi-methodological approach to questions such as these. While I take a special interest in my home-country of Pakistan, my research agenda is global in nature. In addition to my work on Pakistani politics, I have projects based on original data collected from Egypt, the United Kingdom, Lebanon, France, Northern Ireland and the United States.
I am currently working on my book manuscript on the rise and fall of ethnic political parties in Karachi, Pakistan — one of the world’s largest megacities and a city of migrants. This project brings together two of my core research interests: ethnicity and migration. Like most of my other work, it is focused on the psychology of attitude formation and change. This manuscript is based on my dissertation, which won the American Political Science Association Urban Politics Section Best Dissertation Award, as well as the Democracy & Autocracy Section Best Fieldwork Award.
My work has received generous support from the National Science Foundation, the Abdul Latif Jamil Poverty Action Lab, the Russell Sage Foundation, the International Growth Centre, Innovations for Poverty Action, and several centers at Stanford and Harvard University. During my doctoral training at Stanford, I was a Gerald J. Lieberman Fellow, a Ric Weiland Graduate Fellow, and a Dissertation Fellow at the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences. I began my appointment as Assistant Professor of Government at Harvard University in July 2022.
I can be reached at mashailmalik@fas.harvard.edu.