poli 330 midterm

Question 1

why are race ethnicity and gender social constructs?

Answer 1

race and ethnicity are created identities used to group ppl. social context alone provides meaning, role of gov’t in their designation (think US census)

Question 2

definition of race

Answer 2

social construction and categorization of ppl based on perceived shared physical traits

Question 3

definition of ethnicity

Answer 3

categorization of ppl based on shared culture, related to common ancestry and history

Question 4

racial history of congress

Answer 4

historically very few racial minorities have been elected to congress but it’s becoming more racially diverse, in the last few sessions about a quarter are minorities. minorities are still underrepresented (since they make up 45% of the pop, and only 25% of congress)

Question 5

majority minority districts

Answer 5

congressional electoral districts where the majority of constituents are from some minority background. often an important way that racial minorities are elected to congress, since they typically elect reps of their minority

Question 6

women’s suffrage movement

Answer 6

1850s-1920s
focused on women gaining the right to vote and culminated in the passage of the 19th amendment in 1919.
began from abolitionist movement, but not super racially inclusive + ran by mostly wealthy white women

Question 7

women’s liberation movement

Answer 7

1960s-1970s (same time as civil rights)
feminist political movement w broader goals, beyond legal rights. social equality, domestic rights, workplace and edu and health equality. more inclusive than suffrage but still divided. resulted in equal rights amendment

Question 8

contemporary women’s movements

Answer 8

1990s onwards, new wave feminism focused on lgbt, public edu, domestic violence, sexual harassment. work in progress but better on intersectioning marginalized groups

Question 9

phyllis schlafly + anti ERA movement

Answer 9

organizing by right leaning groups against the ERA causing its failure. phyllis led the eagel forum, arguing that women should have a trad social and family role and that they actually have a lot of privileges from it, contributed to right leaning perspectives today

Question 10

ERA

Answer 10

equal rights and opportunities to all citizens regardless of sex

Question 11

19th amendment

Answer 11

suffrage. but women of color were still not rly allowed to vote, esp in southern states. 1919

Question 12

axes of identity

Answer 12

having multiple identities means they vary across axes, and we should think about how they intersect with each other (think race, religion, gender, ethnicity, etc)

Question 13

collective identity as a social concept (abdelal et al)

Answer 13

group level framework to help scholars contextualize identity. varies across content and contestation. doesn’t explain indiv attachment to some aspects stronger than others

Question 14

content and contestation of collective identity

Answer 14

content: what a group recognizes as important elements of their identity
- Constitutive norms - formal and informal rules that define group membership
- Social purposes - group members share some collective goals
- Relational comparisons with other social categories - comparisons to other groups, defining who we are based on who we’re not
- Cognitive models - shared world views

contestation: process of coming to agreement w the content of an identity

Question 15

identity to politics framework (Lee)

Answer 15

there is an assumption that ppl’s political identities are linked to common goals and interests of the identity group. argument that this obscures the group identity process (5 stages), which may or may not lead to political consensus

Question 16

5 steps of identity to politics link

Answer 16

• definition
• identification
• consciousness
• venue selection
• choice

Question 17

jamestown VA

Answer 17

• 1619: 20 african american servants arrived in jamestown, VA. started the institution of racialized slavery, evolving through customs and laws
  
  • permanent labor force - seen as an opportunity
  • combination of class and race → caste. a permanent group of ppl, setup the white superiority / black inferiority ideology

Question 18

amendments 13 14 and 15

Answer 18

• 13 - abolished slavery
• 14 - granted citizenship rights to all ppl born or naturalized in the US
• 15 - fed and state gov’ts can’t deny citizens the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Question 19

Institutional barriers to African American political participation

Answer 19

• Literacy tests
• Poll taxes
• Grandfather clauses

Question 20

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Answer 20

outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin

Question 21

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Answer 21

• prohibited racial discrimination in voting rights, enforcing the 14th and 15th amendments
• stopping state and local gov’ts from enacting racially discriminatory voting laws/disenfranchisement strategies

Question 22

how early polisci research addressed african american politics

Answer 22

large surveys of the 1940s 50s 60s did not center african american politics, treating them as an afterthought and exception from the rule. too much focus on indiv or psychological factors, not enough focus on systemic

Question 23

problems that poliscientists had to overcome when studying african americans

Answer 23

• thinking abt new definitions on political participation
• new conceptualizations/explanations that drew on african american history and experience
• better measurement from a survey based perspective
• new trends of electoral success + new patterns of representation/political behavior/voting patterns
• data sets with large black samples

Question 24

the black church

Answer 24

outlet for african american politics
foster civic skills, psychological motivation, social networks that all improve civic engagement

Question 25

felon disenfranchisement

Answer 25

modern institutional barrier to political participation that disproportionately affects ppl of color

Question 26

within and outside political system participation

Answer 26

within: voting, running for office, party system politics outside: protest, acts of resistance, artistic expression

Question 27

since when has black political support solidified

Answer 27

1965 civil rights movement dem party

Question 28

Party system and minority political interests

Answer 28

- the parties don’t rly outreach to minorities since they’re focused on the biggest “bang for their buck” and only appealing to majority groups that r likely to vote - explains outside political involvement

Question 29

black utility heuristic, dawson

Answer 29

for african americans making political decisions, they make them based on perceptions on what is best for their racial group instead of individual interest

Question 30

linked fate

Answer 30

- african americans have a sense of common fate, individuals are aware that their fates r interdependent and relate to what happens to others in their community, tied to historical discrimination - explains views on racial views but not nonracial issues. even if group interest can be used as a proxy for self interest in voting, linked fate still may not fully explain political behavior when group and self interests are completely opposed

Question 31

Measure of linked fate from Pew Research Center

Answer 31

- black adults most common to say what happens to their racial group affects them personally, white adults least likely - no more than 20% of any racial group feels like what happens to another group affects then a lot, but it’s higher for ppl with more education

Question 32

National Black Election Study

Answer 32

1984 and 88 first large scale nationally representative political survey of african americans. focused on political attitudes, partisan preferences, vote choice, policy views, etc

Question 33

racialized social constraint (white and laird) + the four social conditions

Answer 33

conforming to group political norms leads to increased social standing in community social conditions: well defined norms, public or verifiable behavior, racially homogeneous social networks, and individual awareness of social sanctions for defection from and rewards for compliance with group norms

Question 34

mothers of the movement

Answer 34

outspoken activists against state based violence (gun violence) disproportionately enacted against communities of color. supporting clinton’s 2016 campaign

Question 35

african American women’s turnout

Answer 35

activism (often on issues that disproportionately affect african americans), protest, discussion. community institutions - churches, private women’s clubs, volunteer organizations

Question 36

intersectional invisibility

Answer 36

- black women are often overlooked in discussions of racism and sexism despite facing active discrimination in these fields - excluded from movements, based on stereotyping away from these groups - needs of african american women often ignored by advocacy groups

Question 37

shirley chisholm

Answer 37

first african american woman elected to congress + first women to run in a democratic presidential primary. conversion of civil rights + feminist movement, but criticized by both groups (intersectional invisibility)

Question 38

carol moseley braun

Answer 38

first african american woman elected to senate, ran for the democratic pres nomination as well. campaign seen as nonviable, fundraising difficulties

Question 39

kamala harris

Answer 39

first woman of color on a major party ticket and first female VP. struggle to achieve state or national office, potential representing moving thru the political pipeline?

Question 40

demographic transformation post 1965 america

Answer 40

- Immigration from Latin America and Asia fueled diversification - African American percentage remained relatively stable - Latino and Asian American population percentages increased significantly

Question 41

immigration and nationality act of 1965

Answer 41

took away strict country of origin quotas. prioritizing high-skilled laborers, family reunification, and refugee resettlement

Question 42

voter turnout among immigrants

Answer 42

24 mil in 2024, pop of voting immigrants doubled in 20 yrs. yet overall rly low engagement and turnout compared to other communities

Question 43

immigrants and the party system

Answer 43

still in formation, many don’t have strong preferences established yet, since they lack family ties or political learning experience. party mobilization yet to occur for this group

Question 44

michigan explanation for political learning

Answer 44

centers social identity and political learning thru the family - partisanship is emotional psychological social relationship instead of a rational representation of ur interests. partisanship is developed in early life thru the family

Question 45

downsian school for political learning

Answer 45

centers self interest and rational choice, partisanship is a rational running tally of a candidate and their policies and evaluate them based on their interests. requires high levels of political knowledge that many immigrants may not have

Question 46

nonpartisanship of immigrants (hajnal and lee)

Answer 46

- Key factors in the process of developing partisan attachments: Social identity (social identities might be linked to political views), political ideology (political perspectives that go beyond parties, liberal conservative moderate, might be harder for immigrants to go from ideology to parties), information (access to info is more challenging for immigrants and its rly important for vote choice and candidate evals) - Implications for political representation of immigrant groups - immigrant groups are not inherently different than others but their process is diff

Question 47

community orgs as potential sites for political learning (wong)

Answer 47

(ethnic, unions, churches, etc) (”civic institutions”) help immigrants learn abt politics - activities and goals of these orgs aren’t necessarily political - local orgs have unique characteristics that help them expose immigrant networks to politics

Question 48

wong - three types of political mobilization

Answer 48

- Mass, selective, and limited mobilization - community orgs → limited mobilization, parties → mass mobilization

Question 49

First, second, and transitional-generation immigrants

Answer 49

- first gen - arrived in the US when they were 21+ - transitional/1.5: arrived younger than 21 - second gen: born in the US with at least 1 parent born outside of the US

Question 50

puzzle of asian american vote choice

Answer 50

incentives to vote republican (authoritarian country of origin, income) but relatively high democratic support

Question 51

why houston

Answer 51

large and diverse asian american pop, mixed partisan environment

Question 52

kinder houston survey

Answer 52

sampling asian american pop, predicting generational status as the key finding behind partisan attitudes