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
