Political Science 719:

Racial And Ethnic Politics in the U.S.

 

Fall 2001: W 11:00 – 1:00

Professor Cara Wong

 

 

Office: Room 211                                             Office Hours:    4 to 6 pm, Tues (Church St.)

            Department of Political Science                                       Or by appointment

            611 Church Street                                  Email:               cjwong@umich.edu

Phone:  615-9104 (Church St.)

            615-3705 (CPS)

 

 

This course is a seminar on racial and ethnic politics in the U.S., focusing primarily on African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Whites.   It is designed to explore conceptual and methodological issues, while focusing on how racial and ethnic groups shape and are shaped by the American political system.  Among the topics to be covered include the meaning of race and ethnicity, the history of racial and immigration politics, prejudice, group participation and mobilization, political representation, and public opinion.

 

Course Requirements & Grading:

You will be required to write a short reaction paper each week.  They should be no longer than one typed, single-spaced page each, and should be reflections on or critiques of the assigned readings.  The following is a list of different approaches you might take:  juxtapose and comment on alternative explanations or approaches to a substantive topic; criticize the methodologies used and propose other strategies of research; criticize the conceptualization or measurement of a particular construct; analyze the implications of a set of findings; suggest new questions and hypotheses for research; or develop similarities or contrasts with themes covered in previous weeks.  The papers do not need to cover all of the readings for a week, but they should contain an argument and not merely a summary or description of the readings.

 

These papers must be turned in to me no later than noon on the Tuesday before the scheduled Wednesday session. Please email them to me as attachments.  These essays will serve as the starting point for group discussion.

 

In addition to these short essays, you will write a research paper on a topic of your choice.

 

Books Ordered:

Anthony Appiah and Amy Gutmann, Color Conscious

Paul Frymer, Uneasy Alliances

James Glaser, Race, Campaign Politics, and the Realignment in the South

Leslie Hatamiya, Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and the Passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988

Jon Hurwitz and Mark Peffley, eds., Perception and Prejudice: Race and Politics in the United States

Michael Jones-Correa, Between Two Nations: The Political Predicament of Latinos in New York City

Claire Jean Kim, Bitter Fruit: The Politics of Black-Korean Conflict in New York City

Robert Lieberman, Shifting the Color Line: Race and the American Welfare State

David Lublin, The Paradox of Representation

Tali Mendelberg, The Race Card: Campaign Strategy, Implicit Messages, and the Norm of Equality

Paul Peterson, ed., Classifying by Race

David O. Sears, et al., eds., Racialized Politics: The Debate About Racism in America

 

Class Schedule & Readings

 

Sept 5               Introduction

 

 

Sept 12:             Conceptualization & Measurement

Readings:

Diamond. Jared. 1994. “Race Without Color.” Discover 15: 82-89. Online thru Mirlyn.*

 

Gould, Stephen Jay. 1994. The Geometer of Race.” Discover 15: 64-9. Online thru Mirlyn.*

 

Haney-Lopez, Ian. 1996. White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race.  Chapter 3 (“The Prerequisite Cases”), Chapter 4 (“Ozawa and Thind”), Chapter 5 (“The Legal Construction of Race”), and Appendices. New York: New York University Press.

 

Winant, Howard. 2000. “Race and Race Theory.” Annual Review of Sociology 26:169-85. Online thru Mirlyn.*

 

Omi, Michael. 2001. “The Changing Meaning of Race.” In America Becoming: Racial Trends and their Consequences, eds. Neil J. Smelser, William Julius Wilson, and Faith Mitchell. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 243-63.

 

Hirschman, Charles, Richard Alba, and Reynolds Farley. 2000. “The Meaning and Measurement of Race in the U.S. Census: Glimpses into the Future.” Demography v37: 381-93.  Online thru Mirlyn.*

 

Skerry, Peter. 2000. Counting on the Census?: Race, Group Identity, and the Evasion of Politics. Chapter 3 (“Creating Racial and Ethnic Categories”) and Appendices. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.

 

Appiah, Anthony. 1996. “Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections.” In Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race, K. Anthony Appiah and Amy Gutmann.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* These readings can be purchased in a separate reader if you prefer not to get them online.

 


Sept 19                         Drawing Boundaries

Readings:

Barth, Fredrik. 1996. “Ethnic Groups and Boundaries.” In Ethnicity, eds. John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 75-82.

 

Gleason, Philip. 1992. Speaking of Diversity: Language and Ethnicity in Twentieth-Century America. Chapter 1 (“The Melting Pot”), Chapter 2 (“Confusion Compounded”), and Chapter 3 (“The Odd Couple”). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

 

Espiritu, Yen Le. 1992. Asian American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities. Chapter 1 (“Ethnicity and Panethnicity”). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

 

Alba, Richard and Victor Nee. 1997. “Rethinking Assimilation Theory for a New Era of Immigration.” International Migration Review 31:826-74. Online thru Mirlyn.*

 

Waters, Mary C. 1990. Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America. Chapter 2 (“Flux and Choice in American Ethnicity”) and Chapter 3 (“Influences on Ancestry Choice”). Berkeley: University of California Press.

 

Waters, Mary C. 1999. Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realities. Chapter 3 (“Racial and Ethnic Identity Choices”), Chapter 5 (“Encountering American Race Relations”), and Chapter 8 (“Identities of the Second Generation”). New York : Russell Sage Foundation.

 

Rogers, Reuel. 2000. “Afro-Caribbean Immigrants, African Americans, and the Politics of Group Identity.” In Black and Multiracial Politics in America, eds.Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh and Lawrence J. Hanks.  New York: New York University Press, 15-59.

 

Rogin, Michael. 1992. “Making America Home: Racial Masquerade and Ethnic Assimilation in the Transition to Talking Pictures.” Journal of American History 79:1050-77. Online thru Mirlyn.*

 

 

Sept 26             Intergroup Competition & Cooperation

Readings:

LeVine, Robert A. and Donald T. Campbell. 1971. Ethnocentrism: Theories of Conflict, Ethnic Attitudes, and Group Behavior.  Chapter 3 (“Realistic Group Conflict Theory”) and Chapter 8 (“Frustration-Aggression-Displacement Theory”). New York: Wiley. 

 

Kim, Claire Jean. 2000. Bitter Fruit: The Politics of Black-Korean Conflict in New York City.

New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

 

Bobo, Lawrence and Vincent L. Hutchings. 1996. “Perceptions of Racial Group Competition: Extending Blumer's Theory of Group Position to a Multiracial Social Context.” American Sociological Review 61:951-72. Online thru Mirlyn.*

 

Lichter, Michael and Roger Waldinger. 2001. “Producing Conflict: Immigration and the Management of Diversity in the Metropolis.” In Color Lines: Affirmative Action, Immigration, and Civil Rights Options for America, ed. John David Skrentny. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 147-67.

 

Garcia, John A. 2000. “Coalition Formation: The Mexican-Origin Community and Latinos and African Americans.” In Immigration and Race: New Challenges for American Democracy, ed. Gerald D. Jaynes.  New Haven: Yale University Press.

Oct 3                Stereotypes, Prejudice & Discrimination (part 1)

Readings:

Trimble, Joseph E. “Stereotypical Images, American Indians, and Prejudice.” In Eliminating Racism: Profiles in Controversy, eds. Phyllis A. Katz and Dalmas A. Taylor. New York: Plenum Press, 181-202.

 

Kuklinski, James H. and Michael D. Cobb. 1998. “When White Southerners Converse About Race.” In Perception and Prejudice: Race and Politics in the United States, eds. Jon Hurwitz and Mark Peffley.  New Haven: Yale University Press, 35-57.

 

Jones, Edward E. and Harold Sigall. 1971. “The Bogus Pipeline: A New Paradigm for Measuring Affect and Attitude.” Psychological Bulletin 76: 349-64.

 

Gilens, Martin. 1999. Why Americans Hate Welfare. Chapter 5 (“The News Media and the Racialization of Poverty”). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

 

Lapiere, Richard T.  1967.  "Attitudes versus Actions."  In Readings in Attitude Theory and Measurement, eds. Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen.  New York: John Wiley & Sons.

 

Post, Robert C. 1995. Constitutional Domains: Democracy, Community, Management. Reprise (“The Racist Speech Problem”). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

 

Green, Donald P., Robert P. Abelson, and Margaret Garnett. “The Distinctive Political Views of Hate-Crime Perpetrators and White Supremacists.” In Cultural Divides: Understanding and Overcoming Group Conflict, eds. Deborah A. Prentice and Dale T. Miller. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 429-64.

 

Green, Donald P., Laurence H. McFalls, and Jennifer K. Smith. 2001. “Hate Crime: An Emergent Research Agenda.” Annual Review of Sociology 27: 479-504. Online thru Mirlyn.*

 

 


Oct 10             Stereotypes, Prejudice & Discrimination (part 2)

Readings:

King, Desmond. 2000. Making Americans: Immigration, Race, and the Origins of the Diverse Democracy. Chapter 4 (“The Fire of Patriotism”), Chapter 7 (“Enacting National Origins”), and Chapter 8 (“A Slur on our Citizenry”). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

 

Benn Michaels, Walter. Our America. Chapter 4 (“Vanishing American”)

 

Smith, Rogers M. 1993. “Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions in America.” American Political Science Review 87:549-66. Online thru Mirlyn.*

 

Schuck, Peter H. and Rogers M. Smith. 1985. Citizenship without Consent. Chapter 1 (“Two Conceptions of Citizenship”), Chapter 4 (“Birthright Citizenship in the Contemporary Polity”), and Chapter 5 (“Toward a Consensualist Law of Citizenship”). New Haven: Yale University Press.

 

Citrin, Jack, Beth Reingold, and Donald P. Green. 1990. “American Identity and the Politics of Ethnic Change.” Journal of Politics 52: 1124-54. Online thru Mirlyn.*

 

Tatalovitch, Raymond. 1997. “Official English as Nativist Backlash.” In Immigrants Out: The New Nativism and the Anti-Immigrant Impulse in the United States, ed. Juan F. Perea.  New York: New York University Press.

 

Hero, Rodney E. 1992. Latinos and the U.S. Political System. Chapter 2 (“Theoretical Perspectives and Latino Politics”) and Chapter 11 (“Latinos and the Political System: Two-Tiered Pluralism”). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

 

 


Oct 17              Public Opinion

Readings:

Stoker, Laura. 1998. Understanding Whites’ Resistance to Affirmative Action: The Role of Principled Commitments and Racial Prejudice.” In Perception and Prejudice: Race and Politics in the United States, eds. Jon Hurwitz and Mark Peffley.  New Haven: Yale University Press, 135-70.

 

Gilens, Martin. 1998. “Racial Attitudes and Race-Neutral Social Policies: White Opposition to Welfare and the Politics of Racial Inequality.”            In Perception and Prejudice: Race and Politics in the United States, eds. Jon Hurwitz and Mark Peffley.  New Haven: Yale University Press, 171-201.

 

Knight, Kathleen. 1998. “In Their Own Words: Citizens’ Explanations of Inequality Between the Races.” In Perception and Prejudice: Race and Politics in the United States, eds. Jon Hurwitz and Mark Peffley.  New Haven: Yale University Press, 202-32.

 

Kinder, Donald R. and Tali Mendelberg. 2000. “Individualism Reconsidered: Principles and Prejudice in Contemporary American Opinion.” In Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America, eds. David O. Sears, Jim Sidanius, and Lawrence Bobo.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 44-74.

 

Sears, David O., P.J. Henry, and Rick Kosterman. 2000. “Egalitarian Values and Contemporary Racial Politics.” In Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America, eds. David O. Sears, Jim Sidanius, and Lawrence Bobo.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 75-117.

 

Bobo, Lawrence. 2000. “Race and Beliefs about Affirmative Action.” In Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America, eds. David O. Sears, Jim Sidanius, and Lawrence Bobo.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 137-64.

 

Sidanius, James, Pam Singh, John J. Hetts, and Chris Federico. 2000. “It’s Not Affirmative Action, It’s the Blacks.” In Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America, eds. David O. Sears, Jim Sidanius, and Lawrence Bobo.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 191-235.

 

Sniderman, Paul M., Gretchen C. Crosby, and William G. Howell. 2000. “The Politics of Race.” In Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America, eds. David O. Sears, Jim Sidanius, and Lawrence Bobo.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 236-79.

 

 

Oct 24              Reparations & Race-conscious Policy

Readings:

Shklar, Judith N. 1990. The Faces of Injustice. Chapter 2 (“Misfortune and Injustice”) and Chapter 3 (“The Sense of Injustice”).  New Haven: Yale University Press..

 

Hatamiya, Leslie T. 1993. Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and the Passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.  Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

 

Kennedy, Randall. 1990. “Suspect Policy: Racial Profiling Usually isn't Racist; It can Help Stop

Crime; And It Should be Abolished.” New Republic (Sept 13, 1999):30. http://www.thenewrepublic.com/archive/0999/091399/coverstory091399.html*

 

Gutmann, Amy. 1996. ‘Responding to Racial Injustice.” In Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race, K. Anthony Appiah and Amy Gutmann.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

 

 

Oct 31              Campaigns

Readings:

Mendelberg, Tali. 2001. The Race Card: Campaign Strategy, Implicit Messages, and the Norm of Equality.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

 

Glaser, James M. 1996. Race, Campaign Politics, and the Realignment in the South.  New Haven: Yale University Press.

 

Lee, Taeku. 2000. “The Backdoor and the Backlash: Campaign Finance and the Politicization of Chinese Americans.” Asian American Policy Review 19: 30-55.

 

 

Nov 7               Institutional Development

Readings:

Frymer, Paul. 1999. Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

 

Lieberman, Robert C. 1998. Shifting the Color Line: Race and the American Welfare State. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

 

Deloria, Vine, Jr. and Clifford M. Lytle. 1983. American Indians, American Justice. Chapter 2 (“Federal Responsibility and Power over Indian Affairs”). Austin: University of Texas Press.

 

Graham, Hugh Davis. 2001. “Affirmative Action for Immigrants? The Unintended Consequences of Reform.” In Color Lines: Affirmative Action, Immigration, and Civil Rights Options for America, ed. John David Skrentny. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 53-70.

 

 

Nov 14             Political Participation

Readings:

Cho, Wendy K. Tam. 1999. “Naturalization, Socialization, Participation: Immigrants and

(Non-)Voting.” Journal of Politics 61:1140-55. http://cho.pol.uiuc.edu/~wendy/research.html*

 

Verba, Sidney, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Henry Brady. 1995. “Race, Ethnicity, and Political Participation.” In Classifying by Race, ed. Paul E. Peterson. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 354-78.

 

Chong, Dennis. 1991. Collective Action and the Civil Rights Movement. Chapter 1 (“Public-Spirited Collective Action”), Chapter 2 (“All-Or-Nothing Public Goods”), and Chapter 3(“Selective Social Incentives and Reputational Concerns”). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

 

Jones-Correa, Michael. 1998. Between Two Nations: The Political Predicament of Latinos in New York City. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

 

Green, Donald Philip and Jonathan A. Cowden. 1992. “Who Protests: Self-interest and White Opposition to Busing.” Journal of Politics 54:471-96. Online thru Mirlyn.*

 

 


Nov 21             Representation & Redistricting

Readings:

Valelly, Richard M. “National Parties and Racial Disenfranchisement.” In Classifying by Race, ed. Paul E. Peterson. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 188-216.

 

Guinier, Lani. 1995. “The Representation of Minority Interests.” In Classifying by Race, ed. Paul E. Peterson. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 21-49.

 

Lublin, David. 1997. The Paradox of Representation: Racial Gerrymandering and Minority Interests in Congress. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

 

Canon, David T. 1999. Race, Redistricting, and Representation: The Unintended Consequences of Black Majority Districts. Chapter 3 (“The Supply-Side Theory of Racial Redistricting”). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

 

Gay, Claudine. 2001. The Effect of Minority Districts and Minority Representation on Political Participation in California. San Francisco: Public Policy Institute of California.

http://www.ppic.org/publications/CG0601R/ppic147.fulltext.pdf*

 

 

Nov 28             Context 

Readings:

Massey, Douglas S. 2000. “The Residential Segregation of Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians, 1970-90.” In Immigration and Race: New Challenges for American Democracy, ed. Gerald D. Jaynes.  New Haven: Yale University Press, 44-73.

 

Farley, Reynolds. 1999. “Racial Issues: Recent Trends in Residential Patterns and Intermarriage.” In Diversity and Its Discontents: Cultural Conflict and Common Ground in Contemporary American Society, eds. Neil J. Smelser and Jeffrey C. Alexander. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 85-128.

 

Brewer, Marilynn B. and Norman Miller. 1988. “Contact and Cooperation: When Do They Work?” In Eliminating Racism: Profiles in Controversy, eds. Phyllis A. Katz and Dalmas A. Taylor. New York: Plenum Press, 315-26.

 

Taylor, Marylee C. 2000. “The Significance of Racial Context.” In Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America, eds. David O. Sears, Jim Sidanius, and Lawrence Bobo.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 118-36.

 

Oliver, J. Eric and Tali Mendelberg. 2000. “Reconsidering the Environmental Determinants of White Racial Attitudes.” American Journal of Political Science 44:574. Online thru Mirlyn

 

Green, Donald P., Dara Z. Strolovitch, and Janelle S. Wong. 1998. “Defended Neighborhoods, Integration, and Racially Motivated Crime.” American Journal of Sociology 104:372. Online thru Mirlyn.*

 

Lublin, David Ian and Katherine Tate. 1995. “Racial Group Competition in Urban Elections.” In Classifying by Race, ed. Paul E. Peterson. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 245-61.

 

Metz, David Haywood and Katherine Tate. 1995. “The Color of Urban Campaigns.” In Classifying by Race, ed. Paul E. Peterson. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 262-77.

 


Dec 5               Interactions with Class, Religion, Gender & Sexuality

Readings:

Cohen, Cathy J. 1999. The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics. Chapter 1 (“The Boundaries of Black Politics”), Chapter 2 (“Marginalization”), Chapter 3 (“Enter AIDS”), Chapter 5 (“All the Black People Fit to Print”), and Chapter 6 (“Conspiracies and Controversies”). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

 

Dawson, Michael C. 1994. Behind the Mule: Race and Class in African-American Politics.  Chapter 1 (“The Changing Class Structure of Black America and the Political Behavior of African Americans”), Chapter 2 (“Race, Class, and African-American Economic Polarization”), Chapter 3 (“The Politicization of African-American Racial Group Interests”), and Chapter 4 (“Models of African-American Racial and Economic Group Interests”). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

 

Hochschild, Jennifer L. 1993. “Middle Class Blacks and the Ambiguities of Success.” In Prejudice, Politics, and the American Dilemma, eds. Paul M. Sniderman, Philip E. Tetlock, and Edward G. Carmines.  Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 148-72.

 

Harris, Fredrick C. 1995. “Religious Institutions and African American Political Mobilization.” In Classifying by Race, ed. Paul E. Peterson. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 278-312.

 

Gay, Claudine and Katherine Tate. 1998. “Doubly Bound: The Impact of Gender and Race on the Politics of Black Women.” Political Psychology 19: 169-84.

http://ispp.org/ISPP/publications/journal/back/v19/POPS098.PDF*

 

 

Dec 12              Multiculturalism & National Identity

Readings:

Taylor, Charles. 1992. “The Politics of Recognition.” In Multiculturalism, eds. Charles Taylor and Amy Gutmann.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

 

Citrin, Jack, Cara Wong, and Brian Duff. 2001 . “The Meaning of American National Identity: Patterns of Ethnic Conflict and Consensus.” In Social Identity, Intergroup Conflict, and Conflict Reduction, eds. Richard D. Ashmore and Lee J. Jussim. Oxford: Oxford University Press. TBA

 

Sidanius, James and John R. Petrocik. 2001. “Communal and National Identity in a Multiethnic State: A Comparison of Three Perspectives.” In Social Identity, Intergroup Conflict, and Conflict Reduction, eds. Richard D. Ashmore and Lee J. Jussim. Oxford: Oxford University Press. TBA

Glazer, Nathan. 1997. We are all Multiculturalists Now.  Chapter 1 (“The Multicultural Explosion”), Chapter 5 (“Dealing with Diversity, Past and Present”), Chapter 6 (“Where Assimilation Failed”), Chapter 7 (“Can We Be Brought Together?”), and Chapter 8 (“We Are All Multiculturalists Now”). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press..

 

Honig, Bonnie. 2001.  Democracy and the Foreigner. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Selections TBA.

 

Hollinger, David A. 1999. “National Culture and Communities of Descent.” In Diversity and Its Discontents: Cultural Conflict and Common Ground in Contemporary American Society, eds. Neil J. Smelser and Jeffrey C. Alexander. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 247-62.