Read Political Science Articles with Replication Data

Insights from the Field

National Service Reduces Advantage Bias? TFA Study Offers Surprising Insight.

Teach For America

Regression Discontinuity Design

Social Justice Beliefs

Intergroup Contact

When Do the Advantaged See the Disadvantages of Others? A Quasi-Experimental Study of National Service was authored by Cecilia Hyunjung Mo and Katharine Conn. It was published by Cambridge in APSR in 2018.

### Did National Service Change Perspectives?

This study examines whether advantaged Americans can gain insight into inequality through programs like Teach For America (TFA). Using a unique quasi-experimental design, it analyzes how two years of engagement with disadvantaged communities affects the beliefs of TFA corps members.

#### Data & Methods

* Analyzed over 32,000 original survey responses from TFA applicants during cycles 2007-2015.

* Employed regression discontinuity design leveraging TFA's selection criteria.

#### Key Findings

* Prolonged intergroup contact in service contexts reduced advantaged individuals' perspective gap with the disadvantaged.

* These results suggest national service programs can effectively foster empathy and understanding across socioeconomic divides.

#### Why It Matters

These findings challenge assumptions about inequality perception by demonstrating that structured, long-term engagement can bridge previously unbridgeable differences.