Race, Politics, and Public Policy

Felicia J. Wong

Course Syllabus

Overview:

This course explores the politics, and the policy consequences, of racial identity in the United States. We concentrate primarily on blacks and whites, but will also consider the ways in which this model might be outdated or otherwise inappropriate. In the first part of the course, we begin by considering the concept of racial identity. We then look at the various principles -- primarily equality, but also freedom and solidarity -- that underlie the ways in which we think about and judge racial politics and race-related policies. The second part of the course focuses on race and politics: public opinion, political image, and political and social movements. In the third part of the course, we move to policy-related case studies, including school desegregation, Afrocentrism and multiculturalism, and affirmative action. The last section of the course explicitly addresses the new multiculturalism in the United States by looking more closely at the issues of immigration and bilingual education.

The questions on this syllabus are intended only as reading guides and as starting points for class discussion. In addition to periodic written responses to the reading, the formal papers for this class include a short piece (3-4 pages) on identity and public policy and a final journal-length case study (25-35 pages) of your choice.

I. Introduction: How Do We Think About Race?

A. Identity (week one)

• K. Anthony Appiah, "Race, Culture, and Identity," in Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race, K. Anthony Appiah and Amy Gutmann, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996)

• James Baldwin, "A Fly in Buttermilk," in Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son, (New York: Dell Publishing, 1963)

• Stephen Carter, "The Black Table, The Empty Seat, and the Tie," in Lure and Loathing: Essays on Race, Identity, and the Ambivalence of Assimilation, ed. Gerald Early (New York: Allen Lane/The Penguin Press, 1993)

• Gerald Early, "Introduction," in Lure and Loathing, op. cit

Questions: How does Appiah distinguish among race, culture, and identity? How would you distinguish among them? Do you believe that race is the primary way in which we categorize identity? What do Carter and Early mean by assimilation? What do each of them struggle with most about the process of assimilation? How, for you, does assimilation relate to American identity?

Short Paper: Write a 3-4 page paper on the primary ways in which you think about your own identity. Focus on how your thinking about the group/s with which you identify might shape your commitments to public life and public policy. Consider especially the way in which your upbringing may have shaped your thoughts about both identity and public life. Note that this paper is intended primarily as a thought piece and a set of reflections. Honesty and clarity are the two most important qualities that you can bring to this exercise.

B. Equality and other Concepts (week two)

• Douglas Rae et. al., Equalities, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983), selected chapters

• Alexander Kull, in The Color-Blind Constitution, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992), selections

• Charles Taylor, Multiculturalism and "The Politics of Recognition," (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), entire

Questions: Do you agree with Rae and his co-authors that there a number of different ways to conceptualize and measure equality? Of the various categories that Rae and his co-authors, which do you find the most salient or useful, and why? Kull argues that, legally and ethically, there is no reason that equality cannot be consistent with separation. Do you agree or disagree, and why? Do you agree with his contention that the constitution is actually color-blind? What does Taylor mean by a kind of equality that demands public recognition of difference? Do you believe that this type of equality is sustainable in a pluralistic democracy?

C. Racial Demographics in Contemporary America (week three)

• Douglas S. Massey and Nancy A. Denton, American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993), chapters one and two

• William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor (New York: Vintage Books/Random House, 1996), chapters one and two

• Council of Economic Advisors for the President's Initiative on Race, Changing America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being by Race and Hispanic Origin, (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, September 1998), entire

Questions: What, if anything, surprised you most about these demographic statistics? Which strike you as harbingers of optimism, which trouble you most, and why? What is Massey and Denton's primary argument about the relationship between race and class? What is Wilson's? Make sure that you can describe and assess the evidence that each brings to bear on their argument.

II. Race and Politics

A. Race and Public Opinion (week four)

• Donald F. Kinder and Lynn M. Sanders, Divided By Color: Racial Politics and Democratic Ideals, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), chapters one and two

• Donald F. Kinder and David O. Sears, "Prejudice and Politics: Symbolic Racism versus Racial Threats to the Good Life," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1981, vol. 40, pp. 414-431

• Lawrence Bobo, "Whites' Opposition to Busing: Symbolic Racism or Realistic Group Conflict," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1983, vol. 45, pp. 1196-1210

• Lawrence Bobo, "The Color Line, The Dilemma, and the Dream: Racial Attitudes and Relations at the Close of the Twentieth Century," in Civil Rights and Wrongs: Black-White Relations Since World War II, ed. John Higham, (Unversity Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997)

• Edward G. Carmines and Richard A. Champagne, Jr., "The Changing Content of American Racial Attitudes: A Fifty Year Portrait," Research in Micropolitics, vol. 3., (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1990)

Questions: Kinder and Sanders claim that race divides us more, politically, than any other set of measurable variables. Does their evidence support this claim? Assuming that it does exist, why might this racial divide have developed? Is race a proxy for some other variable, or is race important on its own as a political determinant? What is symbolic racism, and do you believe that it is as pernicious as "traditional" racism? Have Americans made progress, over the last 50 years, in our racial attitudes? Cite evidence that supports your judgment.

B. Leadership, Elections, and Voting (week five)

• Georgia A. Persons, ed., Dilemmas of Black Politics: Issues of Leadership and Strategy, (New York: HarperCollins, 1993), chapter one

• Jack Citrin, Donald Philip Green, and David O. Sears, "White Reactions to Black Candidates: When Does Race Matter?", Public Opinion Quarterly, vol 54, 1990.

• Adolph L. Reed, Jr., The Jesse Jackson Phenomenon: The Crisis of Purpose in Afro-American Politics, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986)

• Peter Schrag, Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future, (New York: The New Press, 1997), selected chapters

• polling data and television commercials, 1988 - 2000 presidential and congressional elections

Questions: How is racial identity used in political campaigns and in candidates' crafting of political personae? How should it be used? How, if at all, should we remedy the phenomenon that Schrag and others have documented -- that voters tend to be older, white, and affluent, while those who utilize social service programs about which the electorate votes tend to be younger, less affluent racial minorities? Be prepared to discuss racial images in political campaigns, and the ways in which those images might affect voting patterns.

C. Movements: Civil Rights and Social Mobilization (week six)

• Doug McAdam, Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982)

• John Lewis with Michael D'Orso, Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998)

Questions: What are some of the major variables that led to the success of the civil rights movement? Can race itself be a politically powerful mobilizing force? What are the advantages and disadvantages, both pragmatic and ethical, of this kind of racial power?

III. Case Studies: Race and Public Policy

A. Race-Neutral and Race-Conscious Policy Solutions (week seven)

• William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, The Underclass, and Public Policy, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987); "Race-Neutral Politics and the Democratic Coalition," The Ame rican Prospect no. 1, Spring 1990; The Bridge Over the Racial Divide: Rising Inequality and Coalition Politics, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), selections

• Theda Skocpol, "Targeting Within Universalism: Politically Viable Policies to Combat Poverty in the United States," in The Urban Underclass, ed. Christopher Jencks and Paul E. Peterson, (Washington DC: The Brookings Institution, 1991)

• J. Phillip Thompson, "Universalism and Deconcentration: Why Race Still Matters in Poverty and Economic Development," Politics and Society, vol. 26, no. 2, June 1998

Questions: Articulate clearly both Wilson's race-neutral argument and Thompson's objection. Assume that Wilson is correct on the facts, and race-neutrality is more politically powerful than race-consciousness. Would you advocate, or object to, "hiding the agenda"?

B. Case Studies

1. School Segregation: Then and Now (weeks eight and nine)

• Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board; Milliken v. Bradley

• Richard Kluger, The History of Brown v.Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976), selected chapters

• Lawrence Friedman, "Brown in Context," in Race, Law, and Culture: Reflections on Brown v. Board of Education, ed. Austin Sarat, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)

• George Kateb, "Brown and the Harm of Legal Segregation," in Race, Law,and Culture, op. cit.

• Jonathan Kozol, Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools (New York: Crown, 1991), selected chapters

• Gary Orfield and Susan E. Eaton, Dismanting Desegregation: The Quiet Reversal of Brown v. Board of Education, (New York: New Press, 1996), selected chapters

• Clint Bolick and Mark B. Liedl, "Fulfilling America's Promise: A Civil Rights Strategy for the 1990s," Backgrounder no. 773, The Heritage Foundation Reports, June 7, 1990

Questions: What logic, and what concept of equality, animate Plessy, Brown, and Milliken? Do you agree or disagree with the majority's assertion in Brown that schools and education are in some way a special case, deserving of special judicial attention and protection? What are the legal precedents and policy benefits of Brown that some scholars still see as beneficial? What are the major legal and policy critiques of Brown? What are the major reasons that, in the 1980s and 1990s, we have seen what Orfield and Eaton call a dismantling of desegregation? Do you see this dismantling as an unqualified bad? Why or why not? What is the argument behind Bolick and Liedl's conservative strategy for civil rights, especially in the field of education? Evaluate that argument's strength and weaknesses.

2. Multiculturalism and Afrocentrism (weeks ten and eleven)

• Gerald Early, "Understanding Afrocentrism: Why Blacks Dream of a World Without Whites," first published in Civilization, republished in The Best American Essays 1996, ed. Geoffrey Ward (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996)

• Lynell George, No Crystal Stair: African-Americans in the City of Angels, (New York: Verso, 1992), chapter on Afrocentric schools

• Nathan Glazer, We Are All Multiculturalists Now, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997), selections

• Donald O. Leake and Brenda L. Leake, "Islands of Hope: Milwaukee's African American Immersion Schools," Journal of Negro Education, vol. 61, no. 1., 1992

Questions: What is the logic behind the Afrocentric argument, generally? What is the rationale behind Afrocentric schooling specifically? What is the relationship between multiculturalism and Afrocentrism? Describe the New York and the Milwaukee case studies -- include both the demographics and the policy proposals -- as outlined by Glazer and Leake. How would you balance "hard" outcomes, like test scores and other objective measures of achievement, with "soft" outcomes, like parental satisfaction and truancy statistics, when assessing the efficacy of multiculturalism and Afrocentrism?

3. Affirmative Action (weeks twelve and thirteen)

• Bakke vs. University of California, Taxman v. Board of Education of Piscataway, 1995-1997 UC Regents meeting notes on affirmative action decisions

• William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, The Underclass, and Public Policy, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987)

• Donald F. Kinder and Lynn M. Sanders, Divided By Color: Racial Politics and Democratic Ideals, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), chapters one and two

• William Gamson and Andre Modigliani, "The Changing Culture of Affirmative Action," Research in Political Sociiology, vol. 3, (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1987)

• Laura Stoker, "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

• Christopher Edley, Not All Black and White: Affirmative Action and American Values, (New York: Hill and Wang, 1998)

Questions: Describe the various forms that affirmative action has taken. What are the precise harms that affirmative action is designed to address? According to Kinder and Sanders, Gansom and Modigiani, and Stoker, what are the reasons that affirmative action generates white resistance? What are the various ways in which the Clinton Administration tried to "mend," and not "end," affirmative action? Do you see the Administration's efforts, on these and other civil rights issues, as successful? Why or why not?

IV. Beyond Black and White: Multiculturalism and Public Policy

A. Case Study: Immigration and Bilingual Education (week fourteen)

• Laurie Olsen, Made in America: Immigrant Students in Our Public Schools, (New York: The New Press, 1997), selections

• text, California state initiative 227; statement on Proposition 227 by Kenji Hakuta, Professor of Education, Stanford University

• Richard Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory (New York: Bantam Books, 1983), selections

• Council of Economic Advisors for the President's Initiative on Race, Changing America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being by Race and Hispanic Origin, (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, September 1998), review

Questions: Should public policy address, in any way, recent demographic shifts in the American public? How does the push for bilingual education differ, both logically and in terms of policy goals, from the Afrocentric and multicultural movements? How are the three similar? As superintendent of a major urban school district with a high African American, Hispanic, and immigrant/non-English speaking population, which of these three policies (if any) would you seek to implement?

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Final paper (25-35 pages): Select a case study based on a policy issue that is either directly related to race or whose politics and/or outcome have racial implications. (See list below for possible issues.) Utilizing primary source material -- interviews, policy memoranda, legislative and initiative texts, presentations of case in public relations and other media material -- analyze the way in which race, as a discreet variable, might play a role in the following elements of policy-making: 1) policy framing; 2) goal setting; 3) agenda-setting; 4) alliance-building and political mobilization; 5) decisionmaking.

In your policy analysis, discuss, when appropriate, the ways in which actors utilized the theoretical approaches (race-neutrality and race-consciousness; race and political mobilization) or considered the basic principles (equality, freedom, solidarity) we have studied. If appropriate, discuss also some counterfactuals: if "racial" groups did not exist, how would the policy dynamics of this issue be different? Would this issue exist at all? What if the groups in this case were religious, geographic, gender-based, geographic, age-related? Finally, if appropriate, address the question: is this issue primarily one of class, not race? are the two variables separable?

Potential issues include, but of course are not limited to: affirmative action; school desegregation; Afrocentrism and multiculturalism; bilingual education; racial discrimination in housing and lending; racial discrimination in hiring and employment; race and sentencing in the criminal justice system; racial profiling; voting rights and racial redistricting; school vouchers; welfare reform; immigration policy; health insurance and health care.

Recommended reading

on science and race

• Paul Hoffman, "The Science of Race," Discover, November 1994

on the history of African-Americans and other non-white racial groups in the U.S.

• George Fredrickson, The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1897 -1914, (New York: Harper and Row,) preface, chapters one and two

• Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 (New York: Simon and Schuster/Touchstone, 1988)

• Rogers Smith, Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997)