About

Ray Block is a Professor of Political Science and African American Studies at Penn State, holding the Brown-McCourtney Career Development Professorship in the McCourtney Institute. He earned his bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and political science from Howard University, and his master’s and doctoral degrees in political science from Ohio State University. His research interests include racial, ethnic, and gender differences in civic involvement; the formation and mutability of social identity; campaigns and elections; and social inequality. His recent work explores how the COVID-19 pandemic reflects and contributes to ongoing social inequality in the United States. In addition to his academic research, Ray Block serves as a senior analyst for the African American Research Collaborative, a group dedicated to providing an accurate understanding of African American civic engagement through community-engaged polling, scholarship, and commentary. From 2023 to 2028, he will also serve as the Michael D. Rich Distinguished Chair for Countering Truth Decay at the RAND Corporation. His areas of interest include American politics, participation, voting, public opinion, gender and politics, and race, ethnicity, and politics.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Environmental health
• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Computer Security
• Psychology
• Economics
• Statistics
• Family medicine
• Nursing
• Social psychology
• Business
• Public economics
• Gerontology
• History
• Internal medicine
• Virology
• Immunology
• Law
• Demography

Selected publications

• Is There a Policy-Identity Representation Trade-off?

  Political Research Quarterly · 2026-03-14

  article1st author

  Are some voters willing to trade off concerns with policy and identity representation when evaluating political candidates? We conceptualize both policy and identity representation in spatial terms. We examine the utility of our conceptual framework by applying it to recent US presidential elections. In line with our theoretical expectations, we find that Black voters, and especially those who identify strongly with their racial group, not only care less about policy representation than White voters but are also more willing to trade off lower levels of policy representation for increased identity representation. Our theoretical framework has important implications for how representation scholars should model the effects of policy and identity on candidate evaluation at election time. Empirically, our analyses contribute to the growing body of evidence showing that the electoral calculus and representation priorities of Black voters in the US are different from those of White voters.

  PublisherDOI

• The Classroom as Civic Sanctuary: Teaching, Learning, and the Emotional Labor of Democracy

  Journal of Political Science Education · 2026-01-13

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• “Seeing around corners”: what oral histories of the founders of Black politics teach us about political science’s reluctance to prioritize research on Black people

  Politics Groups and Identities · 2025-02-11 · 5 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Reducing Racial Asymmetries in the Survey Overestimation of Voter Turnout

  Public Opinion Quarterly · 2024-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleCorresponding

  Abstract Research has consistently demonstrated that Black respondents are more likely than their White counterparts to overstate their plans or previous decisions to vote. We propose that by using a single question regarding turnout intention and candidate preference (rather than the typical approach of using two separate questions), survey researchers can reduce these racial asymmetries. The reason, we suggest, is that doing so encourages Black respondents to consider the turnout question through the lens of candidates and parties, rather than as a civic responsibility they have toward other Black Americans, which therefore mitigates the social desirability bias that leads to overestimation. We evaluate this argument using a survey experiment that randomly asks a control group of survey respondents to answer two voting questions—one about turnout and one about vote choice—and asks the other half of the sample, the treatment group, a single question that combines the two. Using original data from a nationally representative survey, we find that using the single turnout/preference question reduces the racial asymmetry in turnout overestimation substantially. We further observe that the decrease is concentrated among respondents with relatively high levels of campaign indifference and especially racial civic consciousness, a condition that is much more common among Black respondents than among White respondents. We believe these findings are particularly relevant to election scholars and campaign professionals, given their focus on understanding the thought processes of survey respondents and prospective voters, as well as improving the validity of self-reports in survey research.

  PublisherDOI

• Black Networks Matter

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2024-01-24 · 14 citations

  bookOpen access

  Scholars have long recognized that interpersonal networks play a role in mobilizing social movements. Yet, many questions remain. This Element addresses these questions by theorizing about three dimensions of ties: emotionally strong or weak, movement insider or outsider, and ingroup or cross-cleavage. The survey data on the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests show that weak and cross-cleavage ties among outsiders enabled the movement to evolve from a small provocation into a massive national mobilization. In particular, the authors find that Black people mobilized one another through social media and spurred their non-Black friends to protest by sharing their personal encounters with racism. These results depart from the established literature regarding the civil rights movement that emphasizes strong, movement-internal, and racially homogenous ties. The networks that mobilize appear to have changed in the social media era. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The relationship between union membership and self-rated health among racially diverse U.S. healthcare workers: The role of control over work schedules and locations

  Social Science & Medicine · 2024-08-16 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Labor unions are associated with better wages, improved working conditions, and greater worker empowerment, which may result in better health. However, less is known about the relationship between unionization and health among U.S. healthcare workers, whether the relationship differs among racially diverse workers, and how much control over workplace schedules and location mediates the relationship. METHODS: We analyzed a cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative sample of 3000 U.S. healthcare workers collected from March 14 through April 5, 2023. Using ordinal logistic regression, we evaluated whether unionized healthcare workers had better self-rated health (SRH) than their nonunionized counterparts and examined potential differences between White and racially minoritized respondents. We quantified the mediation percentage explained by control over one's schedule and workplace location in the total and stratified samples using Karlson, Holm, and Breen decomposition analysis. RESULTS: Over a third (36.1%) of racially minoritized respondents were unionized, compared to 22.3% of White respondents. Among racially minoritized workers, a greater share of unionized workers reported excellent health (40.6% vs. 21.8%) than their nonunionized counterparts. In confounder-adjusted ordinal logistic regression analyses, labor union membership was associated with better SRH overall, with a stronger association for racially minoritized workers. Among White healthcare workers, control over workplace arrangements explained 68.1% of the union membership and SRH relationship. For racially minoritized workers, control over workplace arrangements partially mediated the relationship, explaining 17.4% of the variation, suggesting that labor unions may impact health through additional pathways for these workers. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides empirical evidence of the relationship between labor union membership and health among U.S. healthcare workers. We demonstrate that control over schedules and location is an important mechanism by which unionization may protect healthcare workers' health. Among racially diverse healthcare workers, labor unions may play an important role in health through various pathways beyond workplace control.

  PublisherDOI

• The Intellectual Benefits of Diversity

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2024 · 1 citations

  • Political Science
  • Political Science
  • Law

  Abstract This chapter highlights the longstanding call for increased diversity, particularly in terms of gender, race, and socioeconomic backgrounds within the field of political science. It specifically focuses on the intellectual advantages of racial diversity in the discipline, contending that it enhances the quality of research. Racial diversity not only brings a variety of research themes but also a range of methodological approaches. Despite significant underrepresentation of Black scholars in political science, they have pioneered innovative research on new subjects and introduced novel methodological techniques. These contributions span various subfields, including international relations, political theory, and race and ethnic politics. The chapter highlights the striking lack of diversity in tenure-track faculty positions at leading PhD-granting institutions and the scarcity of PhDs awarded to Black scholars across various disciplines. The chapter also provides several examples of the theoretical richness and innovations stemming from Black scholars’ work and underscores how these insights may not have arisen from White scholars. It emphasizes the role of identity in shaping research questions, theoretical approaches, and the capability to investigate various topics. In conclusion, the chapter stresses that addressing the demographic imbalances within the profession will enrich political science by enhancing the diversity of theoretical questions, approaches, and the capacity to address crucial research inquiries. It also points out that political science lags behind many related disciplines in terms of demographic diversity, and similar intellectual benefits can be expected if these issues are addressed in other fields like economics, history, psychology, and sociology.

  PublisherDOI

• Race, employment, and the pandemic: An exploration of covariate explanations of COVID-19 case fatality rate variance

  PLoS ONE · 2023-02-02 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  We derive a simple asymptotic approximation for the long-run case fatality rate of COVID-19 (alpha and delta variants) and show that these estimations are highly correlated to the interaction between US State median age and projected US unemployment rate (Adj. r2 = 60%). We contrast this to the high level of correlation between point (instantaneous) estimates of per state case fatality rates and the interaction of median age, population density and current unemployment rates (Adj. r2 = 50.2%). To determine whether this is caused by a "race effect," we then analyze unemployment, race, median age and population density across US states and show that adding the interaction of African American population and unemployment explains 53.5% of the variance in COVID case fatality rates for the alpha and delta variants when considering instantaneous case fatality rate. Interestingly, when the asymptotic case fatality rate is used, the dependence on the African American population disappears, which is consistent with the fact that in the long-run COVID does not discriminate on race, but may discriminate on access to medical care which is highly correlated to employment in the US. The results provide further evidence of the impact inequality can have on case fatality rates in COVID-19 and the impact complex social, health and economic factors can have on patient survival.

  PublisherDOI

• Preferred Information Source Correlates to COVID-19 Risk Misperception

  HLRP Health Literacy Research and Practice · 2023-04-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Inaccurate perceptions of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) risk may decrease compliance with public health mitigation practices, in turn increasing disease burden. The extent to which public perceptions of COVID-19 risk are inaccurate is not well studied. This study investigates the relationship between preferred information sources and inaccurate COVID-19 risk perception. A cross-sectional online survey of adults in the United States using online snowball techniques was administered between April 9, 2020 and July 12, 2020. Raking techniques were used to generate a representative U.S. sample from 10,650 respondents. Respondents who did not provide an answer to key questions were excluded. The remaining sample included 1,785 health care workers (HCW) and 4,843 non-HCW. Subjective risk was measured as the product of perceived likelihood of COVID-19 infection and perceived harm from infection. Objective risk was measured as a function of the presence of known COVID-19 risk factors. Discrepancies between subjective and objective risk were compared between respondents with different preferred information sources. Chi Square contingency tables and pair-wise correlation were used to evaluate differences to 95% confidence. For HCW and non-HCW, the greatest overestimation of personal COVID-19 risk assessment ( p < .05 for all differences) were found in those whose preferred source of information was social media (HCW: 62.1%; non-HCW: 64.5%), followed by internet news sources (HCW: 59.6%, non-HCW%: 59.1%), government websites (HCW: 54%, non-H CW = 51.8%), other sources (HCW: 50.7%, non-H CW = 51.4%), and television news (HCW: 46.1%, non-HCW: 47.6%). Preferred information sources correlate with inaccuracies in personal COVID-19 risk assessment. Public health information campaigns should consider targeting groups whose preferred information sources correlate to higher inaccuracies in COVID-19 risk perceptions. [ HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice . 2023;7(2):e105–e110. ]

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Evaluating Claims of Intersectionality

  The Journal of Politics · 2023-01-24 · 21 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Over the last 40 years, scholars have adopted many different approaches to studying intersectionality. A common refrain in the literature is that one cannot evaluate the implications of an intersectional theory with an interaction model. In this article, we demonstrate that a large class of claims regarding intersectionality, whether quantitative or qualitative in nature, can only be evaluated within an interactive framework. There is some uncertainty among those who adopt quantitative methods in their intersectional research about how interaction models work. In addition to outlining the necessary evidence to support claims of intersectionality, we provide useful advice on how to appropriately specify and interpret interaction models to better evaluate these types of claims. We believe that considerable progress can be made in our empirical and theoretical understanding of intersectionality if scholars follow the advice provided in this article.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Philip Jacobs

  University of Alberta

  7 shared

• Carolyn S. Dewa

  6 shared

• Christina S. Haynes

  Pennsylvania State University

  6 shared

• Mel Slomp

  Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute

  5 shared

• Arto Öhinmaa

  University of Alberta

  5 shared

• Robert P. Lennon

  5 shared

• CHINONYE ONWUNLI

  Florida State University

  4 shared

• Kayla Kahn

  4 shared

Awards & honors

• Michael D. Rich Distinguished Chair for Countering Truth Dec…