The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $50,000 grant to Arthur Scarritt, a professor in the Department of Sociology and director of the Intermountain Social Research Lab (IMSRL), and Michael Kreiter, a sociology lecturer and Boise State alum. The grant supports their research into white supremacist extremism.
Their project will study how shifts in the Democratic party’s political philosophy since the 1990s have resulted in new forms of alienation, pushing people towards white supremacism. They hope their findings will enhance civil political discourse, diminish alienation, improve social cohesion, and fight racism and white supremacy.
The NSF grant will help Scarritt and Kreiter fund undergraduate assistants in the IMSRL. This will give Boise State students hands-on experience contributing to a professional research project. The funds will also help find and compensate interview subjects for the study.