This month's Why Social Science? post comes from Dr. Kimberly Kahn from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) about how psychology can help us build safer, fairer communities by finding solutions rooted in evidence, empathy, and mutual responsibility.
By Kimberly Kahn, PhD, President (Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues)
Disproportionate police violence against minority communities, while not a new phenomenon, took on greater prominence in the national consciousness following the deaths of African Americans Michael Brown in 2014 and George Floyd in 2020. Like so many critical social issues that receive such focused attention, perceptions of racial bias in policing have become politicized and entrenched in recent years.
Social science can help us break through this entrenchment and better understand the causes and consequences of police violence without succumbing to simple narratives, blame, or stereotypes.