Week 8: The Role of Government, Legal, and Political Systems

Question 1

What is the role of governments?

Functionalist

Answer 1

• represent and protect the interests of different groups

- each group is ensure some influence

Question 2

What is the role of governments?

Conflict

Answer 2

• government represents the interest of a power elite (wealthy)
• decision-making is exercised by the elite behind the scenes

Question 3

Voting rights

Answer 3

State practices:

• until mid-1960s: grandfather clause, literacy test, poll tax, white primary
• 1960s-1970s: limited hours for registration, harassment, identification requirement
• Florida, 2000 elections: blacks with no criminal records were not allowed to vote, were told they had voted by absentee ballot, required IDs, had ballots rejected

Question 4

Public facilities

Answer 4

• state law and local ordinances required segregation of public (and sometimes private) facilities
• local governments did little or nothing to stop it until WW2
• sometimes, federal government encouraged segregation (Plessy vs. Ferguson)

Question 5

Housing

Answer 5

• federal agencies encouraged redlining
• federal program provided tax subsidies for suburban housing
• states supported restrictive covenants
• local ordinances required housing segregation
• local zoning laws prohibit low-income housing
• local zoning laws are exclusionary (e.g., min. lot size)

Question 6

Education

Answer 6

• state laws require segregation
• local school board required segregation
• state ban on bilingual education
• local distribution of funds are unequal

Question 7

Government Spending

Answer 7

• programs to provide jobs and assist the poor are low priority
• cuts in spending for low-income housing
• reduction of housing subsidies
• Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): most efficient in reducing poverty among working families

Question 8

Welfare Reform (1996)

Answer 8

• increased funding for child care
• lifetime limit of 5 years
• requirement to accept work
• reduction of food stamps
• more people are working, but incomes have no changed
• people may have to accept low-paying jobs
• increase availability of workers, keep wages low

Question 9

Wage and Labor Law

Answer 9

• federal government allowed minimum wage to stagnate
• federal government has weakened labor unions
• federal government allowed increasing share of corporate profit to high executive salaries

Question 10

Public Transportation

Answer 10

• federal subsidies to highway construction and maintenance
• federal investment in public transportation very limited
• federal subsidies to public transportation have been reduced

Question 11

Health care

Answer 11

• U.S. is the only industrialized country with no national health care system
• employers do not provide health insurance
• around 32% of Hispanics, 30% of Native Americans and 20% of African Americans had no insurance in 2009

Question 12

Gerrymandering

Answer 12

Manipulation of electoral district boundaries

Question 13

Criminal Justice System

Answer 13

Discrimination has been detected in all steps of the process:

1. Detection of crime
2. Decision by police to arrest a suspect
3. Setting and administration of bail for the accused person
4. Decision by police about whether to press charge and in which court
5. Decision about whether the accused is guilty or innocent
6. Sentencing, nature and severity of penalty

Question 14

War on Drugs

Answer 14

• racially motivated: 70% of drug users are White, but 78% of people imprisoned for drug use are Black or Hispanic
• minimum sentencing for crack cocaine more sever than power cocaine