Political Science 462W
Professor Benjamin Marquez
University of Wisconsin
Fall Semester 1995
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THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF RACE
A Writing Intensive Course
This course will analyze the economic underpinnings of racial politics in the United States. It is designed to address the issues of social mobility, economic restructuring and political activism .
The following books are on reserve and have been ordered at the bookstore for purchase:
Bill Hing. Making and Remaking Asian America. Lani Guinier The Tyranny of the Majority.
Louise Lamphere, et al ed. Newcomers in the Workplace. Nicholas Lehman. The Promised Land.
Sniderman and Piazza. The Scar of Race. Stephen Steinberg. The Ethnic Myth.
William J. Wilson. The Truly Disadvantaged.
Course Requirements
I. Class Participation
All students will be required to participate in class discussions and writing assignment critiques. You will be assigned to a discussion group. These groups will allow students to formulate questions and raise issues before they are brought before the whole class. These small groups will also serve as sources of constructive criticism for the term paper proposals. On Thursday of week seven, one copy will be given to the instructor and one to an assigned partner in your small group. Partners will be asked to read each others proposal and critique it both in writing and orally in class.
II. Seven Written Assignments
a. Five (5) five page critiques of the thesis, methods, evidence and conclusions of the reading assignments.
b. One (1) term paper proposal. The term paper proposal will be approximately five pages in length.
c. One (1) rough draft of the term paper. The rough draft should be approximately 15 pages in length.
d. One (1) completed 20 Page Research Paper
The research paper must focus on some aspect of racial politics in the United States. Graduate students will be required to write a 25 to 30 page research paper. Students will receive written feedback on their term Paper in order to improve its quality.
Students will be required to turn in all previous assignments relating to the term paper along with the final draft. These include the proposal, the proposal's critiques by both the student and the professor, the rough draft along with the professor's critiques of that draft.
Due dates for the book critiques and term paper rough draft are listed on the syllabus. The final version of the term paper is due on the last class meeting.
IV. An In Class Final Examination.
Format to be announced.
Grades will be determined using the following weighing scheme:
Book Critiques........................ ....25
Term paper............................ ....50%
Final Exam............................ ....25%
Class Participation................... up to 5% extra credit
Students must complete all required work in order to be eligible to receive a passing grade in the course. Make up exams will be given and late papers accepted without penalty only in the case of a medical emergency. Please do not ask for an incomplete.
Office Hours:
Feel free to make an appointment to see me or drop by during my office hours. I welcome students.
COURSE OUTLINE
Week One: Introduction
Tuesday: Course objectives and assignments
Read: Gerard Gryski et al. "A Bench that Looks Like America? Representation of African Americans and Latinos on the Federal Courts." [handout and on reserve]
Thursday: Group assignments; In class critique of Gryski article.
Read: Stephen Steinberg Ethnic Myth.
Week Two: The political economy of race and ethnicity
Tuesday: Assimilation, Economic Development and White Ethnic Labor
Thursday: Discussion of The Ethnic Myth. Five page critique due.
Week Three: Migration Patterns and Mobility
Tuesday: Mexican labor and the Southwestern economy
Thursday: Mexican labor and the Southwestern economy (cont.); Southern Economic Changes and Black Migration
Read: Lehman The Promised Land, pp 3-107.
Week Four: Japanese Americans, race and upward mobility.
Tuesday: Southern Economic Changes and Black Migration (cont.); Understanding Japanese mobility
Thursday: Understanding Japanese mobility
Read: Bill Hing. Making and Remaking Asian America.
Week Five: Japanese Americans, race and upward mobility.
Tuesday: Japanese Americans and the ethnic myth.
Thursday: Discussion and critique of Making and Remaking Asian America. Five page critique due.
Read: Nicholas Lehman The Promised Land pp. 111-221.
Week Six: The Civil Rights Movement
Tuesday & Thursday: Grassroots struggles and major legislation
Thursday: Discussion and critique of The Promised Land 3-221. Five page critique due.
Week Seven: The Politics of Formal Equality
Tuesday: Mexican Americans and the League of United Latin American Citizens.
Thursday: Mexican Americans and the League of United Latin American Citizens (cont.). Term Paper Proposals due. One copy given to professor and a second exchanged within discussion groups.
Week Eight: Term Paper Proposal Critiques and individual consultation with professor.
Tuesday: In class discussion of term paper proposals. Meetings with professor must take place this week (tuesday through friday).
Thursday: No class.
Read: Wilson. The Truly Disadvantaged.
Week Nine: The Politics of substantiative inequality
Tuesday: The urban riots of the 1960's and the end of the Civil Rights Movement.
Thursday: The Black Power Movement, the Chicano Movement.
Week Ten:
The Politics of substantiative equality (cont.)
Tuesday: The Black Power Movement, the Chicano Movement.
Thursday: Class discussion and critique of The Truly Disadvantaged. Five page critique due.
Read: Sniderman and Piazza. The Scar of Race.
Week Eleven: Racism in the Post Civil Rights Era
Tuesday: Conceptualizing racism.
Thursday: Class discussion and critique of The Scar of Race. Five page critique due.
Week Twelve: Term Paper Project
Tuesday: Term paper rough drafts due.
Thursday: Thanksgiving Break. No Class.
Read: Guinier The Tyranny of the Majority.
Week Thirteen: Minority political officials
Tuesday: The Voting Rights Act
Thursday: Discussion and critique of Guinier The Tyranny of the Majority.
Week Fourteen: Economic restructuring and racial minorities .
Tuesday and Thursday: Garment Workers and the internationalization of capital
Read: Lamphere, Newcomers in the Workplace, chapters 15 or 1, 69 or 1, 10-13
Week Fifteen:
Tuesday: Discussion and critique of Lamphere, Newcomers in the Workplace.
Thursday: Term papers due.