final Flashcards
Pol participation= pol behavior= pol activity= pol engagement
activity intended to or has the consequences of affecting, either directly, or indirectly, government action
Voting, campaign contribution, town meetings, membership (or leadership) in political org, petition, boycott, buycott, marhing, demonstrating, occupying a building, riot
Electoral vs non electoral
Conventional vs unconventional (Voting and town hall vs buycotting
Old vs new)
Moderate vs extreme
(Guerilla warfare, assassination, revolutions
)
Why do individuals engage in politics?
Civic duty
Democratic freedom
Express grievances to political official
Which personal and institutional factors influence participation
Social economic status (SES)- those who are advantaged in socio economic terms- higher levels of edu, income and occupation- more likely to be politically active
Typically influences more traditional forms of political participation
2008 pres election- the more you make the more likely you will engage
150,000+ are 76% likely, 10,000 40%
Other factors that influence, but less so than ses
Edu, income, ideology, religion, trust in gov, group consciousness, mobilization, age, gender, race
Who engages in political action?
Women- on average, less engagement Minorities- less College students- less Ivy league students- more bc of SES Ivy league profs Disabled- less- harder to get there Elderly- less
political socialization
The process of acquiring political values
Political socialization is a learning process, one in which individuals absorb information
about the political work and add it, selectively, to their stock of knowledge and
understanding of politics and government
Primary means that what is learned first is learned best
Persistence means that political lessons, values and attitudes learned early in life tend to
structure political learning later on in life
Various sources contribute to political socialization
Family
o Media
o Political elites
o Social environment (college, prison, monastery, etc.)
How do we know what citizens’ think?
We find this out through public opinion, through polling individuals
public opinion
Let’s use Erikson and Tedin (2005) definition:
o “the preferences of the adult population on matters of relevance to government”
o “Public opinion is the collective political beliefs and attitudes of the public, or
groups within the public, about issues, candidates, officials, parties, and groups”
four aspects of public opinion
Salience
Stability
Direction
Intensity
Salience of an Issues
Salience indicates an issue’s importance to a person, or to the public in general
o An individual may feel that an issue is important but yet not hold a strong
preference on this issue. For an example, consider the current economy.
Stability of an issue
o Stability of an issue refers to the likelihood for this topic to shift. An issue can
rapidly intensify or become fleeting.
o The stability of an issue allows politicians to focus their efforts. If the issue is
likely to wane, then positions should implement a short term solution. If the issue
has sustaining power politicians might attempt to pass legislation or introduce
new policies.
Direction of an Issue
o The direction of a public opinion refers to whether the nation favors or opposed it.
o The direction can also be mixed or even unknown
o Overtime some issues can flip
For example: Interracial marriage
Intensity of an issue
The intensity of public opinion refers to the strength of the direction
Ex. Do you favor or oppose abortion o 5 options you can select strongly support support no opinion oppose strongly oppose
To acquire a representative sample you…
conduct a random sample
Random sample: a sample of the population in which every member of the population has
an equal chance of ending up in the sample.
An study conducted not with a random sample WILL have bias
For example: Suppose we ask: should we end social security for elderly individuals
o We expect different responses between young adults and 75 yos
If you sample individuals with the same background this likely to lead to bias. Because
that population does not reflect the true population of America
How accurate are the polls on MSNBC and FOX news?
o They are biased towards those individuals who watch their respective shows
Even in a perfect sample we are likely to still encounter problems
Human error: People make mistakes in asking questions and answering them (think
butterfly ballot in 2000 election)
o For example, the tone of voice or the phrasing of the question
Self selection: You have to ask people to take a survey… right? Maybe some individuals
are more inclined to take surveys than other individuals
Sampling Error is indicated by the margin of error
Suppose that 55 percent of respondents in a survey approved of the president’s job
performance and the survey claims a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage
points. This means that if we had spoken to the entire population, we would have found
that somewhere between 50 percent and 60 percent actual approve.
The way to improve the margin of error is to increase your sample size. Sampling 100
people is more likely to produce a larger error than sampling 5,000 individuals
There are major public opinion differences for issues on race. These differences fall along
two lines
o Race: White vs. Non-White
o Political Ideology: Conservative (Republican) vs. Liberal (Democrat)
Let’s explore the divisions of race.
divisions of race for public opinion on race
For example, why do blacks trail behind the rest of the nation or have downward
mobility?
o 29% of white Americans believe its due to poor life choices
o 14% of African Americans believe its poor life choices
o 16% of white Americans believe its due to not working hard enough
o 7% of black Americans believe its due to not working hard enough
o 12% of white Americans believe its due to reliance on government assistance
o 6% of African Americans believe its due to reliance on government assistance
Survey Question: Which comes closest to your view of immigrants today?
o In 2016, 78% of democrats say immigrants strengthen the country though hard
work and talents while only 30% of republicans feel this way
o In 2016, on 41% of silent generation and 76% of millennial; overtime younger
generations are more accepting of immigrants while the older generation has a
harder time
Survey Question: Discrimination as a barrier to blacks getting ahead
o In 1994, dems and republicans had similar opinions
o Now 64% of dems versus 14% of the GOP agree that discrimination is the biggest
barrier to getting ahead
Institutional barriers to voting
Poll taxes- fee paid before registering to vote
Used primarily in southern states, they could determine how much to charge to make sure blacks could not afford
Literacy test- required citizens to demonstrate the ability to read and interpret docu such as state or federal constitution. Many states whites were exempt from taking the test if their grandparents had voted (grandfather clause
Democratic party restrictions- no voting in democratic primary and democratic eligibility
Civil rights act 1957 (what is says about voting)
attorney general can seek court injunctions on behalf of individuals whose right to vote had been interfered with on the basis of race
1965 VRA
federal crime to threaten, intimidate, or coerce people to prevent them from exercising their right to vote. Attempting to threaten, intimidate, or coerce people to prevent them from voting was also considered a crime
Impact that changed access to vote
Allowed for non-english speaking citizens to vote
But just bc they were allowed, doesn’t mean the systems were in place that allowed them to do so
1975 amendments- congress heard testimony about discrim against hispanic, asian, native american, citizens and 1975 amendments added protection from voting discrim
Gerrymandering-
roots
the good, the bad, the ugly
Roots come from governor gerry of massachusetts who wanted to defeat the federalist party so cut e district up in a way that would get him votes. Looked like salamander
Ex chicago district 4 is some crazy shit- 2 main areas that are connected through slim lines
The good
Known to lead to an increase in minority representation
The bad
Violates two basic tenets of electoral apportionment- Compactness and equality of size of constituencies
1964 scotus ruling states districts house be drawn to reflect substantial equality of populations
The ugly
Contentious racial debates- the best way to increase voting and the likelihood for someone to be elected
Takeaway- can be used to do both:
Isolate racial and ethnic minorities to create non-minority congressional districts
Cluster minority to create majority minority districts
So either increase or decrease the likelihood of minority representative being voted into office
Reapportionment
allocation of seats within a state on the basis of populations within each congressional district, with each district containing roughly 700,000 persons
Redistricting
divide districts and establish new boundaries
Blacks and latinos constantly undercounted
1990 census- 4.8% of black pop and 5.2% latino pop not counted
Census agreed to employ statistical sampling as means of counting those persons often missed by traditional methods of counting
Repubs opposed to this measure
1999 Scotus ruling about census
1999 scotus ruling- fed law bars the statistical sampling for apportioning seats in congress. An actual enumeration or head count had to be used.
Mail, door to door
However, redistricting state leg and allocating federal funding could use sampling
2000 census used both actual enumeration and statistical sampling
2.1%blacks missed, 2.9% latinos
Voter suppression
political tactic and strategy implemented by state or fed gov to hinder groups ability to vote in elections
Voter suppression tactics
Voter registration
End highly popular selection day and same day voter registration
Limit voter reg drives
11.4% of afam, 9.6% of hispanic, 5.4% of white voters used voter registration drives in 2008
Reduce opportunities for voters to register
Early voting
Voter ID
8 states passed voter ID laws in 2011
1 in 4 afams do not have government issued photo ID
Zolton- who loses in american democracy
Minorities biggest losers in us elections
Minorities (blacks and latinos in particular) often select losing candidate
We might see table 3 again- make sure we can read and interpret**
Whites are the baseline- you are comparing the other groups to the baseline group
If you don’t have a group, it is the comparison group
Blacks more likely to select the loser relative to white
But no baseline for religion? Bc no comparison set
Descriptive representation
when a race/ethnic minority politician represents a constituency. Electing someone based on their physical attributes
Substantive representation
when any elected official introduces policies that reflect minorities political preference. Official does not have to be a minority
Single-member plurality voting districts
under single member plurality systems, area is divided into a number of geo defined voting districts, each represented by a single elected official. Aka winner takes all. Most common
Two round runoff-
similar to single member plurality systems but there are two round run offs or instant runoffs
If 5 people are running, we vote for top 2 people and then winner from those two
Instant runoff- instead of voting for 1, vote for 3 people and rank them. Then the second round takes the second or third choice of the people that are left
Why minorities potentially disadvantaged by Two round runoff?
In the Single-member plurality voting districts system blacks can create a voting bloc and get the person into office but in the second, they are more split
Majority-minority districts
when the majority of individuals who reside in these districts are racial and ethnic minorities
Racial minorities are more likely to run for office when
they are a numerical majority within single-member districts
Bc better chances of winning
Descriptive representation in congress
In 2013- 42 congressional district represented by blacks in the house, four are majority white and the other 38 are either majority black or majority minority
Since 2001- there has been increase in minority descriptive representation across all racial ethnic minority groups
However the percentage of white representatives still outpaces the percentage of whites in the population
Should we be concerned about whether a white congressional member representing an all latino district?
Weakness of descriptive representation
assumes the rep will approve policies that reflect interests of their racial or ethnic group
However descriptive rep can be a good proxy for predicting future results
When given a choice between or among minority and non minority candidates…
citizens tend to divide along group lines in their candidate prefs
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)
founded in 1969 by thirteen black members of
congress to strengthen their efforts to address the legislative concerns of black and
minority citizens
In 1972, the CBC received their first acknowledgement by President Nixon
Barack Obama was a member of the CBC
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) legislation initiatives
ranging from full employment to
welfare reform, South African apartheid and international human rights, from minority
business development to expanded educational opportunities. Most noteworthy is the
CBC alternative budget, which the Caucus has produced continuously for over 16 years.
Rep. Pete Stark and CBC
is white tried in 1975 when he was a sophomore
representative and the group was only six years old
“Half my Democratic constituents were African American. I felt we had interests in
common as far as helping people in poverty”
Start said, “they had a vote, and I lost. They said the issue was that I was white, and they
felt it was important that the group be limited to African Americans”
Shows that the CBC was mainly prioritizing descriptive representation
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC)
founded in December 1976. Today, the
CHC is organized as a Bicameral Congressional member organization, governed under
the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, with a total of 38 members. The causes is
dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting
Hispanics in the United States and Puerto Rico
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
“Since its inception in 1994, CAPAC
has continued its commitment to promote and secure equal rights for not only Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) but all Americans”
CAPAC has a bicameral membership of 61 members
o More inclusive and accepting that other caucuses
What are the benefits of belonging in a caucus?
o Change the debate – When democrats are in power, minority caucuses’ opinions
are solicited
o Influence the vote – When Democrats are in power, minority caucus can vote as a block and receive some of their political preferences
Why are caucuses becoming less influential?
o (Growing size) Over 100 different causes on various non-minority issues
o (Declining solidary) some minority caucus members are starting to cast
conservative votes
o Many of these shifts are explained by the changing characteristics of the district
There are several ways politicians can engage in substantive representation
o Introduce a bill o Co-sponsor a bill o Vote for a bill o Pass a law o Establish an executive order o Ruling a certain way on a court case o Political rhetoric (e.g. speeches on the House Floor or State of the Union Address)
Descriptive representation is easy to see and capture, substantive is harder
In order for politicians to provide substantive representation they have to know what racial and ethnic minorities want and then reflect those preferences in their political
actions
Policy Congruence:
The overlap between citizens’ policy preferences and representatives’ policy positions
We can literally put politicians on a left-right scale; in the example they did this see who
is giving politicians money and how the politicians are voting
The standard way the scale is created is based on how people are voting in congress
o Its an aggregation of all the individual bills and how people voted on them
Using a utility function equation, we can see how republicans and democrats are voting
on bills
Overtime they are starting to move further apart
Poole and Rosenthal (1997) found that voting behavior of congressional leaders is larger
explained by on issue dimension: economic redistribution
The second best explanation of voting was related to civil rights… a minority topic
Basically, these two issues, economics and civil rights, are indicative of how you will
vote on other issues
Race and Politics in the age of obama- Parker
Goal of annual review- measure “obama effect” during cycles of his election and entrance to office; primary season; general elections; public policy; party politics. How these are affected as result of his election
Obama affect= outcomes due to the rise of obama
Including perceived effects of post-racial society race is now less significant
Decrease in discrimination
Race relations improved
Linked fate argument for blacks
Used to show no more racial issues even though there are
Obama has really become an impediment to success in racial policy making- no need for race conscious policies
Study by L&M- whites see one successful black person and ask what is everybody else doing
Study by bern et al- even if people are racist, they voted for obama bc of social pressure
Study by V&B- how whites perceive discrimination post obama- his election and ascendence shows more anti-black discrim
See slides for breakdown of 4 periods
Argument- we need to think beyond obama and the time in history that allowed him to enter office. What in our trajectory made us feel wanted to elect him? Once we were liberal now we hit pendulum politics and swugn all the way over to trump
Soss and weaver- police are our government
Goal of annual review- question what the american policy subfield has to say about the marginalized. Blames academia for not pushing policy. It’s easy to study race, class, income, but not what’s at the fringe of these
race-class subjugated (RCS) communities- The interweaving of race and class relations in specific communities. These communities are often controlled through institutional forces of coercion containment,
repression, surveillance, regulation, predation, discipline, and violence.
American politics subfield should expand its reach to include greater attention to
the state’s ”second face” (the groups of individuals in society on the fringes of both
race and class groups).
American politics subfield cannot keep excluding these fringes of society, especially
when the externalities of neglecting these topics blend into the mainstream
constructs of democracy, equality, political representation, etc.
Race conscious policies
explicitly reference notions of race or ethnicity and are created to target prob in racial or ethnic community
Race neutral
No explicit reference or address racial or ethnic minority issue in society
Most policies
Why has mass incarceration grown so much?
Drug war
President’s willingness to be Tough on crime
After success or CRM, conservatives looked to push back on racial progress. Attempted this through race neutral approach
Beginning stages of this strategy with pres Nixon
1968- campaign of law and order
Nixon segued we need to establish control of violence and unrest largely seen in protest
More radical form or civil rights- black panthers, riots
By 1968 81% of America believed law and order had broken down in the country
And the majority blamed negroes who start riots and communists
So this allows Nixon to be successful bc his campaign aligns with what electorate is thinking
Once in office,Used rhetoric to go after drugs- war on drugs. But this is just rhetoric at this point. Not legislation but discussion is part of policy
Nixon plants the seeds but Reagan brings it to life
1982- war on drugs campaign- executive action
Greater fed funding given to fbi and department of defense to crack down on drugs
Nancy Reagan starts “say no to drugs” campaign at elementary level
Every single school had huge signs that said just say no
Why huge push for war on drugs?
Crack epidemic mid 1980s
Dc, Oakland, Miami, ny
Media wrote stories through lens of race
black crack whores, crack babies, gangbangers who were selling the drugs
This did exist (questionable about how it got into black community to begin with) but it was there
Reinforced racial stereotypes
Used by Reagan to support war on drugs
congress- Anti-drug abuse act of 1986
Public housing authorities could evict tenants with any drug related criminal activity
Limited benefits, incl student loans, if you have drug offense
Some drug offenses could lead to death penalty
President bush sr and willie horton
Famous willie Horton ad that linked race and crime
No explicit mention of race but showed picture, told about violence and rape
Connecting race to crime and imprisonment
Bill clinton and tough on crime policies
3 strikes and you’re out law
Jailed after 3 offenses
One strikes and you’re out initiative
3 strikes not good enough, barred from all federal benefits after 1 strike
No welfare if convicted of felony drug offense
These felonies also included simple possession of marijuana
Interesting now bc we are getting towards legalization now, so do we keep the ppl in prison who were sent for weed?
Resulted in the largest increase in fed and state prison inmates of any president in history
War on drugs technically race neutral but huge effect on racial and ethnic minorites
Afams in prison shoots up
⅓ black boys born today can expect to go to prison
1/7 Latinx boys born today can expect to go to prison
Compared to rest of pop
Avg 1/9 men, 1/17 white men, ⅓ black men, 1/7 Latino men, 1/56 all women, 1/111 white women, 1/18 black women, 1/45 Latina women
Michelle Alexander- mass incarceration is the new Jim Crow
First slavery, then Jim Crow,
Mass incarceration has produced a racial caste
Can’t vote, can’t receive social programs after getting out. Through race neutral policies
Racial caste
stigmatized racial group locked into an inferior position by law and custom. Jim Crow and slavery were caste systems
Education inequality by race
53% asians, 36% whites, 23% blacks, 15% hispanics have college degrees
On the plus, education is increasing
what people think about affirmative action
Gives people a leg up, a stepping stone
Form of cheating
origins of affirmative action
Grew out of landmark 1964 CRA
In particular, title 7 that dealt with private employment, not edu
Title 7
Prohibited discrim based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex. If a court finds employer has violated act by discriminating they could
Order “affirmative action” as appropriate
Back pay or other equitable relief
Originally, afact was a remedy awarded by federal court to a person to a person that had experienced discrim
Kennedy and johnson create affirmative action
Term was used by presidents in the 60s, it had a different meaning
1961- kennedy exec order
Prohibited employment discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin, by employers who hold contracts with the federal government
For the first time required federal contractors to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed”
Johnson took a step further
1965 issued executive order:
Prevented discrim in hiring
Created new agency to monitor efforts, the office of federal contract compliance
All Companies receiving federal funds had to establish written affirmative action plans to show how they are in compliance (ex increasing diversity)
Companies would have to submit a plan to increase diversity and affirmative action
Regent of univ of california vs bakke- 1970s
Allan bakke, 35 yo white male rejected twice from UC davis med school. The school reserved 16 places in the entering class for qualified minorities
Bakke had better gpa than any minority admitted
Scotus ruled that univs could not use racial quotas under equal protection clause but that race should be a factor among many in the admissions process
The fear is that affirmative action would be taken out of other issues like employment or housing
Gratz vs bollinger- 2003
Jennifer gratz and barbara grutter denied to univ of michigan (one to undergrad, one to law school), said they should have been accepted.
Said they experienced reverse discrimination
Michigan process- people receive up to 150 points
Race-20
Athletic- 20
Depth of essay- 3
Leadership- 5
Personal achievement- 5
Ruling: scotus said points system unconstitutional- but race could be considered a factor (but how?!)
Some states have banned affirmative action
CA-
Hispanic and blacks decreased significantly after ban at berkeley and UCLA\
Texas
A&M- increase after the ban in hispanic students, and blacks stay relatively constantly low
Florida
Florida state- increase in hispanics, constantly low for blacks
Criticism of affirmative action
Policy is outdated
Stigmatizes minority groups to be treated differently by peers and professors
May be illegal under title VI of civil rights act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination
Do not benefit poor minorities, but just middle and upper-class minorities
Legacy admissions
Students have higher probability of getting into college is their parents previously attended the school
Can we apply the same criticisms to this policy as we do to affirmative action?
Origins of social welfare
1910 and 1920, states established mother’s aid laws, called mothers pensions to provide financial support
Had to prove you had a suitable home to get aid
Racial minorities often excluded bc the states claimed the black homes were not suitable homes for children
New deal welfare irony
ADC vs old people
1935- new deal established Aid to Dependant children (ADC). Aka title IV of social security act of 1935
provided fed assistance to many of the mothers aid laws in the state
Discrimination occurred again but more racial minorities took advantage of ADC
1935- passed old age insurance provisions- end old age poverty by providing welfare to older people
Another way to give money to white americans
Excluded black occupations (farmer laborers, seasonal labor, domestic workers)
White widowers offered alternative to ADC
Assistance was not subject to morality tests and suitable home policies
Initially excluded 60% of all afam workers and 80% of all afam women workers from coverage
Welfare became a two-tiered system
Irony of the welfare system is that black women were often used to grow and develop the white family
Not just in the kitchen, but black females took care of the white family
It’s not looked negatively upon to receive assistance under old age but ADC
ADC -> AFDC
States implemented more restricted policies to bar racial and ethnic minorities
Buy 1960s, it became AFDC- Aid to families with dependent children
Huge increase in families enrolled in the program. Widely believed that what was driving these numbers that is was minority families, and black women in particular
Negative perceptions of minorities in welfare
Believed black women intentionally having more kids so they could get more money
Conservatives in republican party and reagan’s admin went after black women for use of welfare
Welfare queen- figurative black woman who allegedly lived lavishly on AFDC money
Reagan describes on the campaign trail: woman with many fake identities, social security cards, etc
Reagan and the media creative a negative stigma against government assistance (AFDC)
Clinton’s major reform on welfare system
1996- afdc was replaced by personal responsibility and work opportunity reconciliation act (PRWORA) and temporary assistance for needy families (TANF)
Focus:
Reduce those who receive welfare with work requirements
Can’t sit around and collect paycheck from gov
Stopping program from being entitlement program, no handouts
Mandatory time limits- only few months-year
Encouraging two-parents households
1985-1991: increases in use, significant drop after ~1993
Started at 6,000, peaked 1993 at 9,000, now less than 2,000
Negative stigma of welfare lingers still today
More than 50% whites think whites work harder than blacks, 40% think work equally hard
75% of blacks think they work equally hard
Largest share of snap recipients are whites at 40%, 25% afam
Did welfare work?
Depends what the goals were
Clinton would say goals of TANF was to get people back to work, not sitting around collecting checks from the government
Percentage of mothers working did increase
But what about addressing poverty?
Compared to TANF etc and social security, there were no big changes to SS bc not racial
residential segregation
If you look at a single city and population density by race, you can see distinctly areas that are entirely African Americans and areas that are entirely Hispanic and areas that are entirely White
· African Americans are the most segregated race in American history
Home Owners Loan Corporation
In the 1930s, the federal government launched several programs to increase employment in the construction industry and make home ownership widely available to all Americans.
Provided funds for refinancing and granted low-interest loans
o First to have self amortizing mortgages with uniform payments
§ A schedule of when you have to pay it back
o Institutionalized the practice of “redlining”
Redlining
The federal government offered funding for homes
o However, HOLC and the federal housing association determined whether geographic areas were deemed unfit for investment
o Essentially they could decide where to invest and where to not
During the 1930s and 1940s private banks relied heavily on the HOLC system to make their own loan decisions
· And they used the agency’s “residential security maps”
o The government literally made maps and private banks used them to make loan decisions
· In every single city in America, the black areas were red areas
o Therefore, black people just couldn’t get loans!
· Redlining: A discriminatory pattern of lending practices, implemented by financial institutions and supported by the government, that prevented people of color from being able to obtain home loans
Important: it’s not just the federal government, it was also private banks
The HOLC developed a ratings system to determine risks associated with loans. They system had four categories of neighborhood quality:
New, home in demand in good times and bad
§ Often went to businesses and professional people
o Reached their peak, but still desirable
§ Good, not great investments
o Low price or rent range and as a consequence you are attracting undesirable elements
o Hazardous area
§ This is code red
Ban of redlining
The 1968 Civil Rights Act banned redlining
Bush- American Dream Downpayment act of 2003
And the housing bubble pop
President George W. Bush sought to improve minority house
· American Dream Downpayment act of 2003
o Committed $440 billion to the minority housing markets
· In 2003, home ownership really started to rise, but after the housing bubble crash the numbers dropped
o But it really dropped a lot for black and Hispanics! Not as much for Whites
Racial segregation and impact on poverty and education
Massey and Denton argues that racial residential segregation and non-white group poverty rates combine interactively to produce spatially concentrated poverty
· Residential segregation impacts schools.
· Property taxes you pay on your house goes to fund schools. Thus you end up with different lifestyles
o So poor areas get poor schools and wealthier areas get wealthier schools
o Pair this with redlining, and you get that Blacks had literally no shot at getting good schools
Is the perception of political dialogue correct?
Negative aspects of dialogue on race in govt is overblown. Pushback is not as great as is thought. Overblown fear
Dialogue on race provides a database for us to understand the discourse on race
cheaptalk
definition and figure
cheaptalk= talking about race but not voting or doing anything about it
if you are above the line, you engaged in more cheaptalk
rank(liberal discussion of race)- rank(liberal votes on race)
#1 pol on talking should be #1 pol on acting on race
Magazines and set theory
How the president’s words can influence what minority magazines discuss
Set theory- presidential statements that are repeated in black magazines
Presidents statements being talked about in minority magazines that are for the public sphere
Xenophobia
fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners
Types of foreign born people
refugee asylum seeker nonimmigrant immigrant migrants with temporary protected status undocumented immigrant
Refugee
person who is outside the US and who seeks protection and entrance into the US on the grounds that they fear persecution in the country of origin
Cuban vs haitian- Cubans feared prosecution under specific regime so were allowed as refugees but haitians at the same time were not
Asylum seeker
similar to refugee but individual is already in the US at the time of application for protection. Must prove they are in danger
Majority of these cases (refugee or asylum seeker) are denied. Only 3.7% of 27,492 were approved in 2006
These are the people trump is talking about at mexican border
Nonimmigrant
individual who temporarily enters the US for specific purpose such as business, study, temporary employment, or pleasure
Half of all non immigrants come from one of 4 countries:
UK, Mexico, Japan, Germany
Immigrant
foreign born individual who is admitted to the US with a visa and applies for and is given permission to reside in the US as a lawful permanent resident
Migrants with temporary protected status
granted temporary status because of a major crisis in their homeland such as war or genocide
Ex Haitians after the earthquake were allowed to live in US and had to either apply for longer stay or go home
Undocumented immigrant
individual who enters the US without a visa or, more likely, a person who overstayed a valid visa
60-75% of undocumented immigrants had a visa at one point
Diversity visa lottery program
stablished in 1952 under immigration and Nationality act. Selects 50,000 individuals at random to be granted permanent residence. Individuals must come from countries that have not sent more than 50,000 individuals to the US in the past 5 years
Trump tweets about it: terrorists came into the country from democrat lottery system, he wants merit based system
Constitution does not define citizenship. However, there are three conceptions of citizenship in the US which have been accepted through congressional legislation and federal codes
Soil- a person is a citizen because they are born on us soil
Also applies to embassies around the world
Jus sanguinis- citizenship by blood. In this case, a person is a citizen because at least one parent is a US citizen
Naturalization- act whereby a person voluntarily and actively acquired a nationality which is not their nationality at birth
Takes 5-18 years
Racial triangulation of asian americans- Jean kim
Racial triangulation: the situating of one race in constitutive proximity to another, which can profoundly shape the distribution of goods in society
Think about it outside of what we are used to, in relation to “racial hierarchies” or “different trajectories” (oppression different from other groups)
Racial formations have nuanced and complicated based on the fact that america has instituted a
black/white paradigm
Thus, emphasizes both groups become racialized in comparison with one another and are socialized differently
Know the graph for the exam
When groups are viewed in america, asams are less superior than whites but more than blacks (model minority)
Asams are seen as the foreigner when viewed in patriotism
Competing duality when viewing diff racial and ethnic minority groups
relative valorization and Civic ostracism
created a narrative of ostracization by saying you are other- codified by law that made aliens ineligible for US citizenship
Beyond black and white: biracial attitudes in contemporary US politics- davenport
Davenport takes a stab in her study at disentangling the roles of parentage and experience
Davenport attempts to link the experiences of biracials to existing racial identity theory which has yet to explore and parse out the attitudes of those with mixed race ids
Important implications pertaining to the way that we think about minority group political, social, economic solidarity
Table 1- how one racially identifies, given race of parents. Samples is first year college students
Table 3- attitudes toward explicitly racial issues, Table 4- attitudes towards issues usually related to race
Higher percentage of people view positively/support the explicitly racial issues than the implicitly racial issues. People do not see a racial undertone to criminals rights, death penalty, gun control issues
Figure 2 and 3- regressions- 2 is regression estimates comparing biracial people who identify as white and black to those who are monoracial
0= average/baseline of monoracial white people, and shows how much more or less biracial people are in support of policies
So biracial black people are less in support than monoracial black people
More variation between biracial whites than biracial blacks
© is comparing to those who are white/black
Naturalization process
Requirements
Continuously resided in us for 5 year
Be of good moral character
Able to speak, read, write english
Working knowledge of civics
Applicants must take an oath renouncing their homeland and an oath of allegiance to the US
Once process has been completed it takes min 2 year
Average naturalization case for legal immigrant from app filing to the granting of citizenship is 8-9 year
5 Rights after naturalization
Ability to vote, hold elected office (excet pres) and serve on jury- aka engage on political process
Apply for a hold certain positions that require citizenship
Can be political but not elected officials, ex secretary of state
Bring spouse, unmarried children and parents to US
Travel abroad for unrestricted period of time
Access to restricted fed programs such as financial aid for higher ed
Immigration misconceptions
Most immigrants are undocumented. 75% have legal status
All mexican immigrants cross border illegally so we have to increase funding a the border. Majority are here legally (60-75%)
Financial contribution- immigrants and business contribute 162 billion in tax rev
Spatial proximity of ethnic/racial groups is directly related to animosity between the groups. Why?
Competition for scarce resources
What does it mean not only within a group but across racial and ethnic minority groups
Crabs in a bucket- when one person in black community is trying to be successful, there are others that try to pull that person down
coalition politics
aggregation of groups to pursue a specific political goal
Must overcome collective action problem
collective action problem
inherent to collective action, self serving disincentives that tend to discourage joint action by india in the pursuit of a common goal
Prisoners dilemma
4 bases on which biracial coalitions can be formed
Groups entering into coalition must recognize their respective self interest
Each group must believe it will benefit from cooperating
Each group must have it’s own independent power base and control over its own decision-making
Each group must recognize that the coalition is formed with specific and identifiable goals in mind
Interests vs ideology debate
Interests- ties that bind biracial coalitions together, coalitions that are, at best, short lived tactical compromises among self-centered groups
More substantial basis for a productive biracial coalition. Gets people together. Trying To tackle one specific goal
Ideology- pre existing racial attitudes influence one’s perception of racial issues. Attitudes also shape political action
Tensions between groups
4 things
Different goals
Distrust or suspicion
Increase in the size of one group so that other groups not needed
Lead to competition
Intersectionality
Kimberle crenshaw
The complex, cumulative way in which the effect of multiple forms of discrim (such as racism, classism, sexism) combine, overlap, or intersect esp in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups
“Bc the intersectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which black women are subordinated”
Alliances do not always form from intersectionality
Even when alliances do form, segments of the group may have different goals that hinder true success
Ex white women ban the burka- bc she is oppressed but the women says it’s my choice to wear burkha
Are attitudes shaping policy-
Sniderman and piazza
simply wrong to suppose the primary factor driving the contemporary argument over politics of race is white racism
Perceptions about whites are overblown
Not that whites are receptive to policies that advantage blacks, but rather whites opposition to such policies s due to their belief of individualism and not american racism
Blacks believe that whites think blacks live off welfare, violent, lazy, unintelligent, unpatriotic more than whites actually think. It’s still pretty bad, but not as bad as minorities think
Post racial
Idea that we should move beyond race- king quote “not judged by color of their skin but content of their character”
Reparations
action of making amends for a wrong one has done by providing payment or other assistance to those who have been wronged
Reconstruction
1865-1877
Civil war ended april 9 1865
Lincoln assassinated april 15, 1865
Andrew johnson assumes office
Categorized by rebuilding what was lost during that period
Reunification of N and S
Ex taxes, infrastructure
13th amendment ratified december 18, 1865
Abolished slavery
14th amend ratified july 28, 1868
Citizenship and civil liberties to freed slaves
15th amend ratified feb 3, 1870
Afam men vote- first time a group of color allowed in that sphere
First afam elected officials
Significant amount of black legislators in office
6 afam men in house, 1 senator 41st congress
Freedmen’s bureau
Integrate into society through education- becoming better citizens
Legislation- established by act of congress on march 3, 1865 as bureau of dept of war
Mission- coordinating welfare of 4 mil emancipated slaves
Impact- established offices, displaced persons camps, blanks, schools, hospitals, churches, providing resources and capital to afams through its jurisdiction
Start of power of black churches as community centers
Freedmen’s bureau schools
Many states did not offer public school edu before civil war to anyone
Establishment of freedmen’s schools post-war aided in creation of universal public school system
Established schools in 13 states
Spent approx 5 mil to establish the schools
By end of 1965, approx 90,000 students enrolled in over 1000 freedmen’s schools across the country
⅓ of students were adults
4,500 teachers hired, many w no pay, many missionaries
Teachers reports
Freedmans bureu
1 room class w many subjects
Provide number of school children attending every month by country
Subdivided by day, night, sunday schools
How many new students added/lost each month
Gender
Number of students by subject
Include math, rading, writing, grammar, spelling, geometry, algebra (some hard things for new slaves)
Funding- tuition, private donations, county investments, teachers personal contributions
Plantation owners often subsidized so could still employ students/former slaves
Contextual info about experience that month- what it’s like to be a northern teacher in the south
Reconstruction retrenchment after Freedmans bureau (but…)
Jim crow, black codes- established by white supremacists in the south
1872- freedmen’s bureau schools abolished
But… Historically black colleges and universities
Oldest HBCU in Cheney PA 1837
Aimed at educating afams in response to jim crow segregation laws that disqualified blacks from enrolling in predominantly white institutions
More than 100 hbcus today
Approx ⅔ of them are in places where freedman schools existed
Mostly located along east coast and throughout south
Products of hbcus
70% afams doctors, 80 judges, 50 lawyers, 50 afam profs (not at hbcus)
TA Research on freedmans bureau schools
Data- familysearch.org (mormon nonprofit that keeps lots of records to learn about family history)
Recently digitized teachers and administrative reports (more than 5000 docs) during reconstruction
Methods: archival work
4 research assistants
Coded more than 100 variables
Violence, funding, experiences of students during that time
State, county, month
Research q:
how critical is fed gov troop presence in establishment and durability of reconstruction era institutions
What if any, political behaviors exist in regions where freedmen’s bureau schools existed (aggregation of party id, voter turnout)
Is there a link between number of consecutive months a school was operational and the durability of edu systems today
Preliminary findings
Higher rates of freedmen’s bureau schooling associated with improved socioeco outcomes and higher rates of black pol engagement for decades after civil war
Higher rates of attendance in freedman schools (esp for women) w more troops
Esp higher in county w calgary troops
Compounding factor with black troops (maybe linked fate)
⅔ of hbcus in south located in places where freedmen’s bureau schools once operated
Oliver otis howard- freedmen’s bureau commissioner 1865-1872- one and only
Founder of howard u (1869-1874)
Union general during civil war
Governing with words- prof gillion- discursive governance
What symbolic gestures are politicians making that do not come with real substantive changes? But he argues that it still matters, not just
How politicians remarks on race shape public policies and societies attitudes?
Uses plagiarism analysis to see how much minority magazines talk about presidential statements
Regression table 1
Every additional pres statement made, we see 1.6 increase in unigrams overlapping w minority magazines
Confounding variables- obama in office, whether it is midterm or general election year
To control to make sure that it is the statements alone that are causing the overlap
Regression table 2
Independent- press statements on health, dependent- whether people think it’s an important prob
For every additional press statement about health there is a 121 increase in people thinking it is the most important problem
Control for plain health words bc need to make sure it is about race and health not just health
Who loses in american democracy- hajnal
Comes from primary assumption that minorities always vote for losing candidates
How are different sects of voters fairing during election season? Who are biggest winners in terms of selecting winning candidates
Table 2: how she shows winners and losers
Primarily afams who are losing in elections- majority afams vote for pres and senator that lost but majority afams voting for winners
Bc at the house level the congress person will rep constituents
Men and women are equally losers- this is surprising
Democrats lose more- 60% for pres and 36 for republicans
PROVINE, “RACE AND INEQUALITY IN
THE WAR ON DRUGS”
“Tracing the war on drugs reveals a broader domain in which harsh legislation,
prosecution, and incarceration combine to harm and stigmatize minority
populations”
Advocates, with specific interests, have shaped the regulations regarding drugs
(e.g., minimum sentencing inequality regarding powder cocaine vs. crack cocaine) in
ways that disproportionately result in overincarcerating minority populations
(despite higher reported abuses and uses among whites)
“Drug policy and racial inequality thus coexist in a perversely mutually dependent
relationship…Policy choices…are more than the outcomes of the political process—
FISCELLA AND SANDERS, 2016, “RACIAL AND ETHNIC
DISPARITIES IN THE QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE”
“Separate and unequal systems of health care between states, between health care
systems, and between clinicians constrain the resources that are available to meet the
needs of disadvantaged groups, contribute to unequal outcomes, and reinforce
implicit bias”
“A collective national commitment to ensure health care equality through expanded
health insurance coverage, support for primary care services, and public
accountability based on progress toward defined, time-limited objectives using evidence-based, sufficiently resourced, multilevel quality improvement strategies that engage patients, clinicians, health care organizations, and communities”
Definition of colorism (from midterm)
Preferential treatment shown toward people of the same color
Ex doll experiment by clarks
Plays in self confidence
Plays in politics- experiment showed pictures of obama with different skin shades. Liberals said the lighter picture reflected obama better bc they view light skin as a positive thing. Conservatives said the darker picture represented obama bc dark skin is seen as a bad thing. Shows the positive and negative aspects of colorism
Institutional racism (from midterm)
Widespread laws, norms, values that impose racism
Less overt generally
Intentional (like Jim Crow) or unintentional
Reflects the racism of the majority group
Racial stratification/distribution of social benefits based on race
Mendez vs Westminster (from midterm)
Supreme court case that established that separate was inherently unequal when schools are segregated. It was unconstitutional to separate white and latino schoolchildren. Brown v board had a similar ruling in scotus
Yellow peril (from midterm)
Concern from white americans that asians (often chinese) immigrants will corrupt american democratic values and culture and bring ideals like communism. Steeped in xenophobia and racist philosophy
Led to immigration restrictions
1800s gold rush/railroad expansion
linear regression
mathematical way to show a linear relationship between an independent variable and dependent variables, as shown by a linear coefficient
Why did afams start voting democrat in the 1930s and supporting FDR
FDR started New Deal policies and appealed to the black voter using words like forgotten man
Eleanor Roosevelt involvement
symbolic gestures like the black cabinet
Outcome of asian american movement
Creation of pan-asian identity which promoted racial pride
creation of ethnic studies programs
Goals of chicano movement
Cultural recognition/regeneration
political power
property/citizenship rights- material rights
Why africans were good slaves
Did not know the land so could not escape
Highly immune to diseases
Easily identifiable because of skin tone
Good with working land/farming
typse of variables
dependent, independent, control
Booker T Washington and WEB DuBois
BTW believed in gradual route to social progress/integration, that blacks should be politically passive, keep their heads down. He advocated for learning trades and increasing your economic standing as much as you could within the circumstances. Established Tuskegee institute as school for blacks
WEB: Immediate social/racial integration and distribution of political rights for blacks. Like any other race, the top 10% will raise the rest up. Founded NAACP
Gov preffered BTW bc he did not advocate for any real change to status quo. Was invited to advise the president
When affirmative action was white
Affirmative action is issue that today surrounds college acceptance but Katznelson reminds s that the New deal was the first affirmative action.
New deal was a series of legislation and policies and executive orders that provided social programs that were a large equalizer for whites but disproportionately disadvantaged blacks and other racial and ethnic minorities. So public opinion should be more in favor of affirmative action bc whites took advantage during the new deal and the gov pumped billions into economy to build white middle class
Reading old fashion racism regression table (from midterm)
With a 1 unit increase in the indepedent variable, OFR, there is a .125 unit increase in the dependent variable, party ID.
Statistical significance: .125/.039 = 120/40 = 3
3> 1.96 so the variable is positive and statistically significant
Figures from dr gillions article about minority protests and the effect on congress voting for pro-minority legislation (from midterm)
Figure shows that the higher the salience of protests in a congress member’s district, the more informative they are and the more likely policymakers are to vote for them regardless of whether the protests are pro or anti minority.
Figure 2 shows that factors such as size, duration, organizational support and violence lead to higher saliency
figure 3 shows that he more informative te protest is, the more likely that congress is to vote on it
