17.269
Race, Ethnicity, and American Politics
Explores the role of race and ethnicity in modern American politics. Focuses on social science approaches to measuring the effects of race, both at the individual level and more broadly. Topics include race and representation, measurement of racial and ethnic identities, voting rights and electoral districting, protest and other forms of political participation, and the meaning and measurement of racial attitudes.
Spring 2017
This course explores the role of race and ethnicity in modern American politics. It focuses on social science approaches to measuring the effects of race, both at the individual level and more broadly. Topics include race and representation, measurement of racial and ethnic identities, voting rights and electoral districting, protest and other forms of political participation, and the meaning and measurement of racial attitudes.
Readings
- [B] = Berman, Ari. Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America . Picador, 2016. ISBN: 9781250094728.
- [D] = Desmond, Matthew, and Mustafa Emirbayer. Race in America . W. W. Norton & Company, 2015. ISBN: 9780393937657.
- [GR] = Grofman, Bernard, and Chandler Davidson. Controversies in Minority Voting: The Voting Rights Act in Perspective . Brookings Institution Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780815717515.
- [M] = McClain, Paula D., and Joseph Stewart, Jr. “ Can We All Get Along?”: Racial and Ethnic Minorities in American Politics . 6th edition. Westview Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780813347158.
- [P] = Perlmann, Joel, and Mary C. Waters, eds. The New Race Question: How the Census Counts Multiracial Individuals . Russell Sage Foundation, 2005. ISBN: 9780871546586.
- SES #: 1 · TOPICS: Introduction · READINGS: No readings assigned
- [D] Chapter 1: Race in the Twenty-First Century, pp. 34–41.
- [D] Chapter 2: The Invention of Race, pp. 82–86.
- [M] Chapter 2: Resources and Status of America’s Racial Minorities.
- [D] Chapter 2: The Invention of Race, pp. 55–82.
- Marx, Anthony W. “Introduction.” Chapter 1 in Making Race and Nation: A Comparison of the United States, South Africa, and Brazil . Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780521585903.
- [P] Anderson, Margo J. Chapter 12: Counting by Race: The Antebellum Legacy.
- [P] Jacobson, Matthew Frye. Chapter 10: History, Historicity, and the Census Count by Race.
- [P] Sollors, Werner. Chapter 11: What Race Are You?
- [P] Anderson, Margo J. Chapter 12: Counting By Race: The Antebellum Legacy.
- [P] Skerry, Peter. Chapter 16: Multiracialism and the Administrative State.
- Zuberi, Tukufu. “Introduction.” In Thicker Than Blood: How Racial Statistics Lie . University of Minnesota Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780816639090.
- 6 · Discrimination and Causality · Panel on Methods for Assessing Discrimination. “Executive Summary.” In Measuring Racial Discrimination . National Academies Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780309091268.
- [G] Chapter 1: The American Welfare State: Public Opinion and Public Policy.
- [G] Chapter 2: Individualism, Self-Interest, and Opposition to Welfare.
- [G] Chapter 3: Racial Attitudes, the Undeserving Poor, and Opposition to Welfare.
- [G] Chapter 5: The News Media and the Racialization of Poverty. ( Note: Chapter 5 might actually be more relevant than Chapter 2. Feel free to read it instead .)
- [ME] Chapter 1: A Theory of Racial Appeals.
- [ME] Chapter 6: The Impact of Implicit Messages.
- [ME] Chapter 7: Implicit, Explicit, and Counter-Stereotypical Messages: The Welfare Experiment.
- Key, Jr., V.O. “Composition of the Southern Electorate.” Chapter 24 in Southern Politics in State and Nation . University of Tennessee Press, 1984. ISBN: 9780870494352.
- [M] Chapter 2: Resources and Status of America’s Racial Minorities. ( Note: Revisit and skim .)
- [M] Chapter 3: America’s Racial Minorities in the Contemporary Political System: Actors, pp. 76–108.
- Bedolla, Lisa Garcia, and Melissa R. Michelson. “Notes from the Field: Running an Effective Mobilization Campaign.” Chapter 5 in Mobilizing Inclusion: Transforming the Electorate through Get-Out-the-Vote Campaigns . Yale University Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780300166781.
- ———. “Expanding the Electorate Through Practice: Voting and Habit Formation.” Chapter 6 in Mobilizing Inclusion: Transforming the Electorate through Get-Out-the-Vote Campaigns . Yale University Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780300166781.
- [M] Chapter 2: Resources and Status of America’s Racial Minorities, pp. 48–63. (Revisit.)
- [B] Chapter 9: Old Poison, New Bottles.
- [B] Chapter 10: After Shelby.
- [F] Chapter 1: Introduction.
- [F] Chapter 2: Competitive Parties and the “Invisibility” of Captured Groups.
- [F] Chapter 7: Is the Concept of Electoral Capture Applicable to Other Groups? The Case of Gay and Lesbian Voters in the Democratic Party and the Christian Right in the Republican Party.
- [W] Chapter 1: Introduction: The Quality of Representation for African-Americans.
- [W] Chapter 4: The Color of Congress: The Impact of Race and the Role of Issues in Congressional Roll Call Votes.
- [W] Chapter 6: Epilogue: Black Policy Preferences, Congressional Behavior, and the Future of Representation for African-Americans.
- [R] Chapter 2: Bound for Glory? Brown and the Civil Rights Revolution.
- [R] Chapter 3: Constraints, Conditions, and the Courts.
- For each of the above chapters, choose one policy area (education, transportation, etc.) to read very carefully and skim the others.
- Alexander, Michelle. “The New Jim Crow.” Chapter 5 in The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness . The New Press, 2012, pp. 190–217. ISBN: 9781595586438.
- ———. “Conclusion: Whither the Carceral State?” Chapter 10 in The Prison and the Gallows: The Politics of Mass Incarceration in America . Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780521682916.
- [BU] Chapter 1: Introduction.
- [BU] Chapter 3: A First Look: Imprisonment and Community Supervision.
- [BU] Chapter 4: Neighborhood Criminal Justice Context and Political Participation.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: None Acad Year 2027-2028: Not offered Acad Year 2028-2029: U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2017
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.