Academic Research
The Pathway Towards Peace
U.S. Human Rights Manifesto authored by Jánelle Marina Méndez Viera. Read her book.
About The Pathway Towards Peace Research
In this work, Méndez Viera applies behavioral economics, social psychology, and sociological theory to examine how mass communication, power structures, and institutional incentives shape behavior, radicalization, and democratic stability. Her research is designed to help policymakers, institutions, and the public understand how democracies erode—and how durable peace can be engineered through informed governance and systemic reform.
She introduces the theory of psychosocial racism and sexism, which builds upon foundational work in psychological racism and sociological theories of race. Méndez Viera synthesizes these traditionally siloed frameworks through her development of the radicalization pipeline model, demonstrating how psychological conditioning, social structures, and economic incentives interact to influence behavior at both the individual and societal levels.
Some of her work explicitly challenges prevailing frameworks that locate racism and discrimination primarily within formal legal and institutional systems. In contrast, Méndez Viera’s research demonstrates that modern racism and sexism are often perpetuated through a multifaceted strategy employed by elite actors, operating simultaneously across media, finance, culture, technology, and policy. This approach reveals how power can shape behavior and social outcomes even in the absence of overtly discriminatory laws.
Through this lens, her research provides a comprehensive analysis of how mass media, political messaging, financial incentives, and cultural narratives shape perception, identity, and social behavior—bridging psychology, sociology, and behavioral economics in the context of democratic resilience and human rights.
As part of her self-funded research, Méndez Viera relocated to the Dominican Republic for one year to study the anthropological and human rights impacts of psychosocial racism and sexism on marginalized communities, with a particular focus on race, gender, and power dynamics. Her field research documented modern forms of Haitian enslavement in the Dominican Republic and examined the broader geopolitical and economic forces contributing to regional instability, including external influence, governance failures, and resource-driven exploitation.