Details

Matos, Yalidy

  • Profile Photo - People
  • Yalidy Matos
  • Associate Professor & DIRECTOR FOR GRADUATE STUDIES
  • Subfield: American Politics, Race and Ethnic Politics
  • Office: 501 Hickman Hall
  • Phone: 848-932-9327

  • Visit Prof. Matos' personal website at yalidymatos.com

    Twitter: @yalidym
  • Specialties:

    Public Opinion and Behavior, Political Psychology, Race and Ethnic Politics, Latina/o Politics, Immigration Politics and Policy, Women of Color politics, Dominican American politics
  • Graduate Content:
  • Program in American Politics
  • Race and Ethnic Politics
  • Bio:

    Yalidy Matos is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. She earned her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and her B.A. degree from Connecticut College in New London, CT.

    Originally from Dominican Republic, Yalidy is a 1.5 generation immigrant and first-generation scholar. Matos’ scholarly work examines the intersections of race, ethnicity, and gender and public opinion and political behavior. By drawing on theoretical frameworks from various disciplines, she uses a mixed methods approach to understand the racialized nature of U.S. immigration policies as well as other politically consequential public and social policies. Professor Matos examines the political behavior of different racial and ethnic groups in relation to identity politics.

    Read her full bio. 

    Matos’ work can be found in the American Behavioral Scientist, American Politics Research, LABOR: Studies in Working-Class History, Perspectives on Politics, Politics, Groups, and Identities, and Political Research Quarterly. Matos is also the recipient of a Career Enhancement Fellowship (2020) for Junior Faculty from the Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly the Woodrow Wilson Foundation). Matos is currently an Early Career Faculty Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice (ISGRJ) at Rutgers University and a CUNY Dominican Studies Institute 2021 Fellow.

    View Resources for Students - find these resources for students on Prof. Matos' website

    • Recommendation Request Form
    • Scholarships, Fellowships, and Programs
    • Summer at Rutgers
    • Blogs and other resources
    • How to apply for graduate school
  • Teaching:

    790:329/595:329: Latina/ox Politics in the U.S.

    790:334/014:381: The Politics of Black America

    790:337: US Immigration Politics and Policy

    790:395: Race, Ethnicity, and Social Policy

    790:682: US Immigration Policy and Politics

    790:636: Race, Theory, and Methods
  • Publications:

    Book

    Yalidy Matos' book Moral and Immoral Whiteness in Immigration Politics (Oxford University Press 2023) examines the inherent moral, value-based, nature of white Americans’ immigration attitudes, including preferences on local immigration enforcement programs, federal immigration policy, and levels of legal immigration allowed. As immigration continues to be weaponized to divide, Matos highlights the importance in understanding the history of immigration in the United States and the ways in which whiteness structures these attitudes.

    Read more about her book.

    Email for media requests, book tour, and speaking engagements email at

    Select Publications

    Matos, Yalidy, Stacey Greene, and Kira Sanbonmatsu. “The Politics of “Women of Color”: A Group Identity Worth Investigating.” Politics, Groups, and Identities. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2021.2008992

    2021. “The “American DREAM”: Understanding White American Support for the DREAM Act and Punitive Immigration Policies.” Perspectives on Politics, 19(2), 422-441. OnlineFirst (Oct 2020). https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592720002492

    2021. “Dominican Political Incorporation in the United States (with Domingo Morel).” Latino Studies, OnlineFirst (Sep 22, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-021-00337-0

    2021. “Do Women Seek “Women of Color” For Public Office? Exploring Women’s Support for Electing Women of Color (with Stacey Greene, and Kira Sanbonmatsu).” Political Research Quarterly, 74(2), 259-273. OnlineFirst (Nov 2020). https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912920971793 

    2017. “Geographies of Exclusion: The Importance of Racial Legacies in Examining State-Level Immigration Laws.” American Behavioral Scientist, 61(8), 808-831. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764217720480

    Read Prof. Matos' publications.
  • Curriculum Vitae:

    View Curriculum Vitae (CV)