Research

Displays celebrating Durham African American History

Advancing Social Equity Research

Within the Center’s rich interdisciplinary community, our research scholars pursue projects across various fields of inquiry as well as with researchers at Duke and scholars throughout the world.

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Research Themes

The Cook Center organizes its research, programmatic, and scholarship activities into the following domains:

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01

Class, Wealth, & Social Mobility

Documenting the magnitude of racial and ethnic disparities in wealth in the United States.
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02

Health Equity

Investigating the sociocultural, economic, and structural indicators of health to eliminate health-related racial/ethnic and gender disparities.
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03

Education Equity & Policy

Exploring the complex educational challenges facing various subgroups ranging from Pre-Kindergarteners to postsecondary students.
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04

Policing Enforcement & Justice

Advancing research on the mechanisms that produce and maintain inequities within the criminal legal system and its broader consequences on society.
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05

Environmental Justice

Focusing on the behavioral, social, cultural, and technological aspects of the global climate crisis for meaningful incorporation into environmental policy and decision making.
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06

Visual Narratives of Inequality

Amplifying marginalized voices, highlighting inequitable systemic practices, and advancing social justice in North Carolina and beyond. 
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07

Artificial Intelligence & Inequality

Understanding the ethical and sociopolitical stakes of technological developments, automated systems, and artificial intelligence.

Research & Publications

Black racial stereotypes and victim blaming

Media portrayals of racial and ethnic minority victims of police violence have generated conversations about…

Black racial stereotypes and victim blaming

Media portrayals of racial and ethnic minority victims of police violence have generated conversations about…
community disease spread

Homophily and social mixing in a small community: Implications for infectious disease transmission

Social networks, and the way they form strong or weak bonds, can have significant effects…
Black woman holding two stacks of differing coins

Setting the Record Straight on Racial Wealth Inequality

What drives the racial wealth gap? Mainstream economic theory posits that differences are driven by…

Testing Intergroup Contact Theory Through a Natural Experiment of Randomized College Roommate Assignments in the United States

How do we bridge social gaps between groups? Attending college provides young adults a unique…

Fighting at Birth: Eradicating the Black-White Infant Mortality Gap

The infant mortality rate (IMR) in the United States is quite high compared to that…

Exposure to Biracial Faces Reduces Colorblindness

Colorblindness as an ideology (not the visual deficiency) centers on the notion that acknowledgement of…

Equally inequitable? A cross-national comparative study of racial health inequalities in the United States and Canada

Racial health disparities in the United States are well-known, and well-documented, but the extent of…
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