NOTE: a complete set of course materials, including copies of all pos302-l reviews may be found at: gopher://ilstu.edu/depts/polisci/COURSES/POS302

POLITICAL SCIENCE 334:

THE POLITICS OF RACE, ETHNICITY AND INEQUALITY

Gary Klass
Illinois State University
Spring, 1995

Several of the authors we will read this semester make the same point: that Americans haven't yet learned how to talk about race. Like sex, religion and politics, it is a subject that is not discussed at the dinner table. And several authors complain that the dialogue about racial matters has been inhibited both in academe and society at large. Indeed, many of these authors have been accused of attempting to suppress discussion on these matters, or have claimed to be victims of subtle forms of censorship (perhaps perpetrated by some of the other authors on the reading list). This is all somewhat ironic in that just the last few years have seen the publication of surprising number of uninhibited, contentious and generally well-written books on race, ethnicity and social welfare. In truth, there is a healthy debate going on; more often than not, those who argue that there is not are really complaining about the lack of consensus.

In this course we will read many of these books, analyze and critique them. We will read the books in part for the knowledge and information they might contain but mostly to gain an understanding of the diversity of thinking about these matters. The more important objective of this course is for the students to develop an ability to communicate their own ideas and insights about these most controversial of subjects. This involves more than formulating ideas and putting them on paper; it involves finding an audience, exposing one's ideas and logic to others and anticipating, and responding to, their reactions. In this regard, this course will be different.

Perhaps unlike many other courses related to race, ethnicity and social inequality, there will be no attempt to impose any doctrine, perspective or ideology on this course (although even saying that might do so), other than that we ought to adhere to standards of free and open inquiry. The books themselves have been chosen to reflect a very broad spectrum of thought and ideology.

An unusual feature of this course involves the use of an internet electronic mail discussion list, POS302-L (the name refers to last year's course number). Each student's work will be distributed on the POS302-L list to over three hundred faculty and students across the world, many of whom will be submitting their own writings and commentaries on each other's writings. The purpose is both to provide an external audience for the student's ideas and to bring ideas from outside into the class. In effect, your writing will be on public display. I hope that this will inspire more than it inhibits.

Due Dates, Requirements and Grades.

Each student will be assigned to read four of the books (one from each of the groups numbered in parentheses), to summarize the ideas in class, and to submit a review or critique for the discussion list. This will count 60% of the grade. The essays should be limited approximately 1,250 words.

Class participation, both oral participation in class and in the form participation on the discussion list will comprise 20 percent of the grade. This will also include some library research involving summarizing published book reviews of two of the books (other than the ones assigned). Participation on the discussion list, in the form of "commentaries" submitted to the list requires some reading or "reading-about" the other books on the list. Such commentaries should consist of serious analysis of the book or the review under discussion. At all times avoid sending quick, short, and immediate responses to reviews and commentaries to the list.

A final paper addressing some aspect of the course subject matter (ten pages in length) will comprise 20% of the grade. This will be sent to the instructor (but not the discussion list] before Sunday at midnight, the last week of classes. This paper and all the book reviews submitted to the discussion list will be archived in the course gopher directory.

The date shown for each pair of books is the first day (a Sunday) that the book review can be sent out on the e-mail discussion list. It MUST be sent out by Midnight on the Saturday following the date indicated. Drafts of the first book review, however, must be prepared and distributed to the entire class (via email) by Wednesday morning, February 1.

Late reviews (after the first Saturday) which are sent out within one week of the due date indicated will receive a 5% grade reduction. Later than that, the reviews should not be sent out on the discussion list, and you will receive a 25% grade reduction. Each absence after the first two reduces the participation grade 10% (or 2% of the final grade]. No excuses.

Graduate Students will be required to review five books and to thoroughly proof-read the drafts of the first reviews submitted by the undergraduates in the course. From that point on, all students are encouraged to assist in proof-reading each other's reviews

Class format: The first two weeks of the semester will be devoted to a general introduction to the subject matter and strategies for writing book reviews. Here we will examine and critique other published book reviews, including some submitted for the course last year. We will also spend a class or two on the basics of electronic mail and gopher. Once we get into the book review schedule, each class will be devoted to two books, one that has been reviewed the previous week and one that will be reviewed the next. Thus each book will be taken up twice.

POS302-L Book Review Schedule

January 29 - February 11: (due date:Feb. 4)

Derrick Bell, AND WE ARE NOT SAVED (Basic Books, 1987)

*Thomas Sowell, RACE AND CULTURE (Basic Books, 1994)

February 6-20: (Feb. 11)

William Ryan, BLAMING THE VICTIM (Vintage Books, 1976)

Shelby Steele, THE CONTENT OF OUR CHARACTER (St. Martin's, 1990)

February 13-27: (Feb. 18):

Rosalie Pedalino Porter, FORKED TONGUE (Basic Books, 1990)

*James Crawford, HOLD YOUR TONGUE (Addison-Wesley, 1993)

February 20-March 4 (Feb 25):

Cornel West, RACE MATTERS (Vintage Press, 1993)

Harold Cruse, PLURAL BUT EQUAL (William Morrow, 1987)

February 27-March 11: (March 5)

Dinesh D'Souza, ILLIBERAL EDUCATION (The Free Press, 1991).

*Ruth Sidel, BATTLING BIAS (Penguin-Viking, 1994)

*Dana Takagi, THE RETREAT FROM RACE (Rutgers Univ. Press, 1992)

March 6-18 (March 11)

*Stephen CORNELL THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE (Oxford Univ. Press, 1990)

*Vine Deloria and Clifford M. Lytle, THE NATIONS WITHIN (Pantheon,

199?)

March 20-April 1 (March 25)

*Nathan McCall, MAKES ME WANNA HOLLER (Vintage, 1995 [pbk- feb.])

*Ellis Cose, THE RAGE OF A PRIVILEGED CLASS, (Harper Collins, 1993)

March 27-April 8 (April 1)

Molefi Asante, THE AFROCENTRIC IDEA (Temple University Press,1987).

Linda Chavez, OUT OF THE BARRIO (Basic Books, 1991).

April 3-15 (April 8)

*Mitchell Duneier, SLIM'S TABLE (University of Chicago Press, 1992)

*Ruth Frankenberg, WHITE WOMEN, RACE MATTERS (University of

Minnesota Press, 1993)

April 10-22 (April 15)

Gertrude Ezorsky, RACISM AND JUSTICE(Cornell Univ. Press, 1991)

Mickey Kaus, THE END OF EQUALITY (Basic Books, 1992).

April 17-29: (April 22)

Andrew Hacker, TWO NATIONS (Ballantine, 199? -pbk due out).

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. THE DISUNITING OF AMERICA (Norton, 1992).

April 24-May 6 (April 29)

*Douglas S. Massey and Nancy Denton, AMERICAN APARTHEID (Harvard

University Press, 1993)

*Robert D. Bullard, ed., UNEQUAL PROTECTION: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

AND COMMUNITIES OF COLOR (Sierra Club, 1994).

* Other Recommended Books *

Derrick Bell, FACES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WELL (Basic Books, 1992).

Andrew Billingsley, CLIMBING JACOB'S LADDER (Simon & Schuster,1992)

James E. Blackwell, THE BLACK COMMUNITY (Harper & Row, 1985).

David Bromwich, POLITICS BY OTHER MEANS (Yale Univ. Press, 1992).

Peter Brown, MINORITY PARTY (Regnery Gateway, 1991).

Stephen Carter, REFLECTIONS OF AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BABY (Basic

Books, 1991)

Patricia Hill Collins, BLACK FEMINIST THOUGHT (Unwin Hyman, 1990)

Stanley Crouch, NOTES OF A HANGING JUDGE.

E. J. Dionne, Jr. WHY AMERICAN HATE POLITICS (Simon&Schuster, 1991).

David Elwood, POOR SUPPORT (Basic Books, 1992).

Irwin Garfinkel and Sara McLanahan, SINGLE MOTHERS AND THEIR CHILDREN:

THE NEW AMERICAN DILEMMA (The Urban Institute, 1986).

Gerald Graff, BEYOND THE CULTURE WARS (Norton, 1993)

Jennifer Hochschild, THE NEW AMERICAN DILEMMA (Yale Univ. Press, 1984)

Christopher Jencks and Paul E. Peterson, THE URBAN UNDERCLASS

(Brookings, 1991)

Albert O. Hirschman, THE RHETORIC OF REACTION (Harvard UP, 1991)

Michael B. Katz, THE UNDESERVING POOR (Pantheon, 1989)

Alex Kotlowitz, THERE ARE NO CHILDREN HERE (Doubleday, 1991)

Nicholas Lemann, THE PROMISED LAND (Knopf, 1991)

Rush Limbaugh, THE WAY THINGS OUGHT TO BE (Pocket Books, 1993)

Coramae Mann, UNEQUAL JUSTICE: A QUESTION OF COLOR (Indiana

University Press, 1993)

Lawrence Mead, THE NEW POLITICS OF POVERTY (Basic Books, 1992)

Toni Morrison (ed.), RACE-ING JUSTICE, EN-GENDERING POWER (Pantheon,

1992)

Daniel P. Moynihan, FAMILY AND NATION (Harcourt, 1986)

Charles Murray, LOSING GROUND (Basic Books, 1984).

Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein, THE BELL CURVE (Free Press, 1994)

Gary Orfield and Carole Ashkinaze, THE CLOSING DOOR (U. of Chicago, 1991)

Jim Sleeper, THE CLOSEST OF STRANGERS (Norton, 1990)

Ruth Sidel, WOMEN AND CHILDREN LAST (Penguin, revised, 1992)

Thomas Sowell, CIVIL RIGHTS (William Morrow, 1984)

Sowell, PINK AND BROWN PEOPLE AND OTHER ESSAYS.

Charles J. Sykes, A NATION OF VICTIMS (St. Martins, 1992).

Dana Takagi, THE RETREAT FROM RACE (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993).

David Wellman, PORTRAITS OF WHITE RACISM (Rutgers Univ. Press ,1992).

William Wilbanks, THE MYTH OF A RACIST CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Brooks/Cole, 1987).

Walter Williams, THE STATE AGAINST BLACKS.

William Julius Wilson, THE DECLINING SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE

(University of Chicago Press, 1978).

Anne Wortham, THE OTHER SIDE OF RACISM, (Ohio State University Press, 1981).

Gary Klass
Schrdr 223
gmklass@ilstu.edu
438-7852