Professor Tali Mendelberg
Princeton University
Spring 1995
POLITICS 336
Lecture: Office Hours:
M, W 1:30-2:20 M, W 3:30-4:30

Precepts: 39 Corwin Hall
M 2:30-3:20; W 2:30-3:20; Th 10-10:50
258-4750

RACE AND AMERICAN POLITICS

Overview:

The meaning of race in North America has been shaped by political institutions since the seventeenth century. In turn, attempts to maintain or change the significance of race have shaped those institutions, and all phases of the political process. Now, in some ways as much as ever, U.S. society is fundamentally marked by racial inequality. Politics and race continue to be intertwined.

This course explores the political consequences of racial inequality and efforts to overcome it, using relations between African Americans and European Americans as a focal point. It pays particular attention to the causes of contemporary racial mobilization and to its consequences.

We will first explore the origins of the concept of race (as it was applied to peoples of African, American and European origin), and document the nature of contemporary racial inequality. Before taking up the modern organization of racial interests we will concentrate on the institution of slavery, and the initial full scale attempts to undo it. We will then be equipped to turn to what eminent historian C. Vann Woodward has called the Second Reconstruction: the civil rights movement.

We will take up several topics that have engaged students of politics, and examine their relationship to race. These include party politics and elections, social movements, group consciousness, poverty policy, group conflict and prejudice, and political representation. As we do so, we will explore changes as well as continuities in the intersection of race and politics.

The main themes of the course are those running through racial politics, past and present: the way individualism (the prirnacy of individual agency) and environmentalism (the primacy of the situation) have alternated as influential ideologies; the paradoxical effects of geographical concentration on the political representation of subordinate groups; the problem of unified group interests in a liberal democracy; the continuing legacy of slavery; and the tension between segregation and integration.

Throughout the course we will consider such questions as: is racial identity destructive'? Is there such a thing as objective racial difference? Is the notion of imutable racial difference now dead in American politics? What can we learn from racial transformation in the U.S. about political change?

Requirements and grading: 1. Short papers (40%): A 3-4 page paper critically analyzing the week's readings, once a week for 5 weeks af your choice, to serve as a basis for class discussion. Consider the readings as pieces in a puzzle: how do they relate to each other, what important points do they establish, jointly or separately, what questions do they raise, or what do they miss? You may choose to concentrate on two or three readings and refer to the others more briefly. Weekly papers are due in my mailbox by Monday at 10 am. In addition, for the first week. everyone should turn in a 3-4 page paper discussing the following topic: "How might race affect your own study of race and politics?" (Due Monday, 2/6). A writing handout will be provided.

2. Class participation (20%): In addition to articulating your views during class discussion (especially on the weeks you write a critical analysis) you are expected to sign up for one precept during which you will take 5 minutes to report relevant news. Articles or editorials in weekly and monthly publications are appropriate if easily condensed, but a national daily paper like the New York Times is sufficient.

3. Take home final exam (40%): An open book synthesis of the course's major themes. You will write 7-8 pages for each of two questions. Exams will be distributed on the last day of class (Wednesday, 4/26) and are due at the Politics department in Corwin Hall on Tuesday, May 9, 4:00 pm. No exams will be accepted after May 9.

Readings: Books are available for purchase at the University Store and are on reserve at Firestone. Remaining readings are starred (*) and are available in a course packet at Pequod. All readings are required (they average 165-170 pages per week).

1. Racial Ideology and the Concept of Race (1/30-2/1)

*Gould, Stephen J. 1981. The Mismeasure of Man. New York: W. W. Norton. Pp. l 972

*Diamond, Jared. 1994. Race Without Color. Discover, November. Pp. 82-89.

*Myrdal, Gunnar. 1962 [1944]. An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, Vol. 1. New York: Random House. Pp. lxviilxxvii.

*Horowitz, Donald. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 21-36.

2. Contemporary Inequality (2/16-2/18)

Massey, Douglas and Nancy Denton. 1993. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Pp. 1-16; 60-67; 74-82; 83-114.

Wilson, William Julius. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Pp. 3-62.

Sigelman, Lee and Susan Welch. 1991. Black Americans' Views of Racial Inequality: The Dream Deferred. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 21-37; 47-65.

*Hochschild, Jennifer. 1984. The New American Dilemma. New Haven: Yale University Press. Pp. 26-34.

3. Slavery (2/13-2/15)

*Jordan, Winthrop. 1968. White over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro 155-181. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Pp. 44-135; 150-163; 287-294; 321-325.

Fredrickson, George. 1971. The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on AfroArnerican Character and Destiny. 1817-1914. New York: Harper and Row. Pp. 12-70; 90-96; 110-117; 125-164

Giddings, Paula. 1984. When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America. New York: Bantam Books. Pp. 39-55.

Gates, Henry Louis. 1987. The Classic Slave Narratives. New York: Penguin. Pp. ixxviii; 183-215 (Mary Prince) or 243-331 (Frederick Douglass).

4. Reconstruction, Disfranchisement and Jim Crow (2/20-2/22)

Fredrickson, George. 1971. The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on AfroAmerican Character and Destiny. 1817-1914. New York: Harper and Row. Pp. 175-197; 256-262; 275-282.

*Foner, Eric. 1988. Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution. 1-86, 31-77. New York: Harper and Row. Pp. xixxxvii; 67-71; 102-110; 128-134; 156-170.

Woodward, C. Vann. 1974 [1955]. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. 17-35; 43-109.

Massey, Douglas and Nancy Denton. 1993. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Pp. 26-42.

Giddings, Paula. 1984. When and Where I Enter. New York: Bantam Books. Pp. 64-74; 89-94; 95-108.

5. The New Deal and the Beginning of African American Mobilization (2-12-3-11)

Sitkoff, Harvard. 1978. A New Deal for Blacks: The Emergence of Civil Rights as a National Issue: The Depression Decade. New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. 31-38; 326-336.

*Weiss, Nancy. 1983. Farewell to the Party of Lincoln: Black Politics in the Age of FDR. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Pp. 209-235.

Giddings, Paula. 1984. When and Where I Enter. New York: Bantam Books. Pp. 159-170.

6. The Civil Rights Movement:

(316-3l8) Sitkoff, Harvard. 1993. The Struggle for Black Equality. 1954-1992. New York: Hill and Wang. Pp. 3-209.

Giddings, Paula. 1984. When and Where I Enter. New York: Bantam Books. Pp. 314-24.

(Spring recess: 3/11-3/19)

7. Group Consciousness and Collective Action (3/12-3/22)

McAdam, Doug. 1982. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency. 1930-1970. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Pp. 5-59; 117-145.

*Dawson, Michael. 1994. Behind the Mule. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Pp. 51-63.

Sigelman, Lee and Susan Welch. 1991. Black Americans' Views of Racial Inequality: The Dream Deferred. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 1-11; 67-109.

8. Unified or Fragmented Interests? Class and Gender (3/27-3/29)

*Burnham, Margaret. 1992. The Supreme Court Appointment Process and the Politics of Race and Sex. In Toni Morrison (ed.), Raceing Justice. Engendering Power. New York: Pantheon Books. Pp. 290-322.

Giddings, Paula. 1984. When and Where I Enter. New York: Bantam Books. Pp. 325-335.

Class: *Wilson, William Julius. 1980. The Declining Significance of Race. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Pp. 14; 12-23; 88-109.

*Dawson, Michael. 1994. Behind the Mule. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Pp.

Sigelman, Lee and Susan Welch. 1991. Black Americans' Views of Racial Inequality: The Dream Deferred. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 110-118; 146-160.

9. Race. Partisan Alignments and Elections (4/13-4/15)

*Key, V. O. 1984 [1949]. Southern Politics in State and Nation. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press. Pp. 3-18.

*Carrnines, Edward and James Stimson. 1989. Issue Evolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Pp. xixv; 131-137; 154-158.

*Edsall, Thomas and Mary Edsall. 1991. Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race. Rights. and Taxes on American Politics. New York: W. W. Norton and Company. Pp. 3-16; 27-31; 47-56; 74-84.

*Kleppner, Paul. 1985. Chicago Divided: The Making of a Black Mavor. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois Press. Pp. 3-14; 134-155; 165-173; 186-254.

10. Racial conflict and prejudice (4/10-4/12)

*Allport, Gordon. 1954 [25th Anniversary Edition]. The Nature of Prejudice. Reading, MA: AddisonWesley. Pp. 3-16.

*Schuman, Howard, Charlotte Steeh and Lawrence Bobo. 1985. Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Pp. 73-117; 135-138; 163-188.

*Rieder, Jonathan. 1985. Canarsie. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Pp. 57-79.

*Gaertner, Samuel and John Dovidio. 1986. The Aversive Form of Racism. In John Dovidio and Samuel Gaertner (eds.), Prejudice. Discrimination and Racism. New York: Academic Press. Pp. 61-89.

11. Consequences of the Civil Rights Movement: Institutionalized Representation of African American Interests and Public Policy (4/17-4/19)

*Murray, Charles. 1984. Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950-1980. New York: Basic Books. Pp. 219-236.

*Browning, Rufus, Dale Marshall, and David Tabb. 1984. Protest Is Not Enough: the Struggle of Blacks and Hispanics for Equality in Urban Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 239-264.

Massey, Douglas and Nancy Denton. 1993. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Pp. 148-216.

*Horowitz, Donald. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 83-89.

*Swain, Carol. 1993. Black Faces. Black Interests. Cambridge: Harvard University Press . PP . 193-217.

12. Changing the Meaning of Race? (4/12-4/26)

*Hochschild, Jennifer. 1984. The New American Dilemma. New Haven: Yale University Press. Pp. 146-205.

Wilson, William Julius. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Pp. 109-164.

Sigelman, Lee and Susan Welch. 1991. Black Americans' Views of Racial Inequality: The Dream Deferred. New York: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 163-175.

Massey, Douglas and Nancy Denton. 1993. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Pp. 217-236.

*DuBois, W.E.B. 1982 [1953]. The Souls of Black Folk. New York: Penguin. Pp. 43-53.

Take home final exam due Tuesday, May 9; no late exams accepted.