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Ashley Veronica Reichelmann

Ashley Veronica Reichelmann, Associate Professor

Ashley Reichelmann, Associate Professor | Virginia Tech
Ashley Veronica Reichelmann, Associate Professor

Department of Sociology
676 McBryde Hall 
225 Stanger Street
Blacksburg, VA 24061
540-231-5651 | avr@vt.edu

Dr. Ashley Reichelmann is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, as well as the Associate Director of the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention.

Her research focuses on the relationship between identity and collective memory, specifically the intervening role of emotions and their impact on discriminatory attitudes and behavior. With specializations ranging from hate crimes and school shootings to prejudice and identity theory, her work sits at the crossroads of social psychology, race studies, and criminology, attempting to better understand how past violence impacts modern identity and intergroup relations.

Current projects include the impact of memorialization on local communities, the relationship between white racial identity and sociopolitical attitudes, and how racial identity and emotion affect the interpretation of representation of historical violence.

  • Memorialization
  • Racial Threat
  • Social Psychology (Modern Identity and Intergroup Relations)
  • Race and Ethnic Relations
  • Conflict and Violence (Collective Violence and Hate Crimes)
  • White Racial Identity
  • Ph.D., Northeastern University
  • MSc, University of Bristol
  • B.A., The College of New Jersey
  • Section Council Member, Peace, War and Social Conflict Section, ASA (2021-2024)
  • Chair of Membership Committee, Section on Social Psychology, ASA (2019-2020)
  • Chair of Mentorship Committee (2019-2020) and Membership Committee (2017-2018), Peace, War and Social Conflict Section, ASA
  • Editorial Review Board Member, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity (2020-2022)
  • The William Snizek Undergraduate Teaching Award, Department of Sociology, Virginia Tech (2021)

Peer Reviewed Articles

Reichelmann, Ashley V. 2023. “Racialized Emotions When Thinking about Slavery: Associations between Group Identification and Feelings of Threat, Shame, and Guilt among White Americans.” Social Currents. Online First

Reichelmann, Ashley V., J. Micah Roos, and Michael Hughes. 2022. “Racial Identity, Reparations, And Modern Views of Justice Concerning Slavery.” Public Opinion Quarterly, Special Issue on Race and Views of Justice. 86(Special Issue):547-575.

Reichelmann, Ashley V., and Matthew O. Hunt. 2021. “The Multi-Dimensionality of Racial Threat: A Consideration of its Affective Elements.” Advances in Group Processes 38: 53-74.

Reichelmann, Ashley V., and Matthew O. Hunt. 2021. “White Americans’ Attitudes toward Reparations for Slavery: Definitions and Determinants.” Race and Social Problems. Online First. doi: 10.1007/s12552-021-09348-x

Reichelmann, Ashley V. 2021. “Collective Threat: Conceptualizing Blumer’s Threat as a Collective Emotion.” Sociological Inquiry 91(3): 534-558. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12366

Reichelmann, Ashley V., James E. Hawdon, and John Ryan. 2020. “Threatened Halos of Perception: Residents’ Accuracy of Crime Changes in a Developing Tourist Area.” Journal of Tourism and Hospitality. 9(5):441. doi: 10.35248/2167-0269.20.9.441

Levin, Jack, and Ashley Reichelmann. 2015. "From thrill to defensive motivation: The role of group threat in the changing nature of hate-motivated assaults." American Behavioral Scientist 59(12):1546-1561.

Book Chapters

Reichelmann, Ashley V., Stanislav Vysotsky, and Jack Levin. 2021. “The Perpetual Scapegoat: Anti-Semitism in the Ideology and Activities of Hate Groups in the United States Pre- & Post- Trump’s Election.” In Poisoning the Wells: Antisemitism in Contemporary America, edited by A. Pessin and C. Blackmer. Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy.

Hunt, Matthew O., and Ashley V. Reichelmann. 2019. “Racial Identity and Racial Attitudes among White Americans.” Pp. 217-238 in Identities in Everyday Life, edited by J. Stets and R. Serpe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Reichelmann, Ashley V. 2018. “When You Are a Racist, Theoretically Speaking: Empirically Demonstrating Blumer's Group Position Theory.” Pp. 31-56 in Sociological Theory, Methods, and Perspectives, edited by J. H. Michalski. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers. 

Edited Volumes

Stets, Jan E., Ashley V. Reichelmann, K. Jill Kiecolt, eds. 2023. Advancing Identity Theory, Measurement, and Research, Frontiers in Sociology and Social Research series, volume 10. Switzerland: Springer Cham.

Baldwin, Andrea N., Ashley V. Reichelmann, and Anthony Kwame Harrison, eds. 2019. Standpoints: Black Feminist Knowledges. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing. 

 

  • Nov. 2021: “Recognizing and Confronting the Challenges of Cyberhate in the Age of Social Media,” American Society of Criminology Division of Cybercrime Sponsored Panel (on Zoom)
  • Nov. 2020: Hate Crimes Webinar, ACJA-LAE Alpha Upsilon Lambda Professional Chapter, (on Zoom)
  • April 2020: “Hate Speech, Groups, and Crimes: Modern Antisemitism and its Many Forms,” Antisemitism: A History Spring 2020 Lecture Series, Brown University, Providence, RI (on Zoom)
  • Mar. 2019: “White Fright: Collective Threat as a Racialized Feeling in White Americans,” Women’s History Month, The College of New Jersey, Lawrenceville, NJ
  • April 2017: "Group Threat and Racial Violence: Exploring Modern-Day Hate Crimes," From Ideology to Mobilization, 2016-2017 Yale Genocide Studies Seminar Series, Genocide Studies Program at Yale University, New Haven, CT
  • CRIM 3434: Systems of Justice
  • CRIM 4484: Hate Crimes
  • PSVP/SOC 2044: Peace and Violence
  • PSVP 4104: Global Society, Violence and Prospects for Peace
  • SOC 3204: Social Research Methods

I am currently interested in working with new graduate students. 

Dissertation Committees

  • Chair:  Whitney Hayes (2023)
  • Member: Lyla Byers (2023); Steve McGlamery (2022); Anne Patrick (2023); Lisa Yost (2020)

 

Theses Committees

  • Chair: Sara Aftab (2023); Eve Coleman (2023); Rachel Kidd (2021 with J. Hawdon); Christian Walkup (2021)
  • Member: Jonathan Lloyd (2019); Whitney Hayes (2019); Emalee Money (2023); Jacob Robinson (2022); Maria Scaptura (2019)