Maggie Harrington

Language is one mechanism used to perpetuate racial inequality. My research explores the linguistic signatures of racial bias in a variety of contexts, incorporating methods and theory from psychology and computational linguistics. In one line of work, I examine when and how racial bias appears on social media, and the impact of this language. I look not only at how users of color are harmed by racist interactions, but how these interactions might facilitate bias transmission among white users. In another line of work, I focus on police officer communication with community members, examining differences in language based on race and how this might relate to racial disparities in criminal justice outcomes. In both lines of work, I ultimately aim to identify ways to reduce racial bias at the individual level, and racial inequality more broadly.