Selective Solidarity Theory (SST)

My major contribution in this book project is the development of Selective Solidarity Theory (SST), which explains how social hierarchies shape uneven solidarity toward victims and perpetrators of violence. At its core, SST shows that solidarity is conditional rather than universal: people extend support selectively, depending on whether identities, hierarchies, and social norms align with their own group interests. It highlights the political and social mechanisms behind victim-blaming and leniency toward perpetrators, revealing how responses to violence are filtered through calculations of group image and status.

Drawing on survey experiments in Bangladesh and the United States, SST demonstrates that shared identity can reduce support for accountability in cases of violence against women, while hierarchical group status and norm violations condition when empathy is extended or withheld.

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SST is deeply interdisciplinary: it integrates theories from political science (comparative politics, political behavior), sociology (social dominance, intersectionality), and psychology (intergroup bias, moral judgment) to create a comprehensive framework for understanding responses to gender-based violence. Beyond violence against women, Selective Solidarity Theory offers a generalizable framework for understanding conditional empathy and bias in other domains of politics and society, including migration, minority rights, and transitional justice. This framework not only advances academic debates but also has direct policy applications for college campus surveys, Title IX responses, and institutional reforms in both the Global South and the U.S. contexts.

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SST serves as the foundation for my book project, Selective Solidarity and Violence Against Women: A Comparative Study of Bangladesh and the United States, and a book proposal is under review at Oxford University Press.

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