ZOE C. WALKER, Ph.D.
Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor of Race and Ethnic politics in the department of political science at the University of Rochester.
My research examines how Americans make sense of economic inequality and racial hierarchy.
My book project, American Dreams, Racial Realities, explores divisions in Black public opinion about access to opportunity and the rewards of hard work within a broken system, revealing how narratives of progress constrain political imagination and limit the possibilities for social transformation in America.
My work has appeared in the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics and RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. My research has been supported by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the American Political Science Association, and the Russell Sage Foundation.
I received my Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan in 2025 and my B.A. in political science and English from the University of Notre Dame in 2019.
