Social Attitudes and their Impact on U.S. Politics

The course first documents trends and sources of change in social attitudes. It then evaluates the debate between psychological, sociological and political explanations for opposition to social rights policies. We then transition from the policy realm to the impact of ethnic and gender attitudes on electoral politics. In this half of the class we will study how social attitudes have influenced present-day partisan and presidential politics, how parties and politicians use gender and ethnic appeals for electoral gain, how these attitudes affected presidential candidates in a post-social rights United States. Enrollment limited to 20.