poli 100h
Guns, Germs and Steel Hypothesis: the historical patterns of settlement dating back thousands of years earlier explains much of the inequality we have today; eurasian dominance historically stemmed from geographical advantages facilitated the development of guns, gerns, and steel, which allowed Europeans to conquer others
John Punch: John Punch (a black man) and two white men who were all indentured servants ran away and were caught. White men got four more years of indentured servitude while John Punch was enslaved for life. This set the legal precedent in institutional race-based servitude.
Scientific Racism: early settlers convinced themselves there were large differences between racial groups, and that races were biologically different with non-white races being biologically inferior
Indigenous people and Africans were perceived as inferior
Laws were created with these beliefs and applied laws unevenly based on race
Views of European superiority leads to justification of slavery/westward expansion
Three/Fifths Compromise: Gives the South more representation by counting slaves as ⅗ of a person (there were more black people than white people in the south)
Slave Trade Clause of the Constitution: law that allowed the importing of slaves until 1808
The significance of cotton for race relations in early America: each slave is worth more as cotton gains more value in American economy
The American Colonization Society: movement growing amongst whites in the north claiming free blacks shouldn’t live in the United States, but should be sent back to Africa (although they were born in America)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin: novel that made it hard to turn a blind eye to slavery’s atrocities; life of Josiah Henson who was born a slave, book focuses on how he is separated from his family; uncle Tom is screwed by his owners, sacrifices himself for others to run away
Nat Turner’s Rebellion: Nat Turner (preacher) organized rebellion in the South against slavery, intensifying white fears fo black resistance
Moral Suasion: abolitionist strategy that people will easily persuaded by the immorality of slavery
Fugitive Slave Act: runaway slaves in the north could be recaptured; blacks had no right to a trial by jury
Sharecropping: one can borrow a plot of land and owe a landowner rent and part of their profit, ultimately leading to continuous debt and being stuck in economic depression
Compromise of 1877: congressional compromise on who wins presidential election, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes wins; Republicans agree to remove federal troops in the south so democrats could control south and minimize freedoms of black people (reversing reconstruction)
Literacy Tests: disenfranchised illiterate (black) voters; literacy was uncommon when these laws first began but as literacy rates increased the tests became harder/more unfair
Grandfather clause: if you had an ancestor who voted before 1865 (pre-reconstruction), you’d have right to vote without poll tax and literacy test; automatically disqualified blacks from voting
The Great Migration: In the 1920s, lots of money was made off of cotton and black people. As there is an increase in industrial need, lots of African Americans are driven up north. Southern whites are angry at blacks being pushed up north. After the world war, there is a post war Great Depression where no one buys cotton and King Cotton decreases in value. Blacks leave the south and disperse to the north and all over. The First Great migration was 1910-1940 and the second Great migration was in 1940-1970. The black vote becomes more important, and there are more voting rights in the states outside of the south. California, Illinois, and Texas become swing states with more African American population. Black people move from rural to urban areas, strengthening black organizations like NAACP and black churches. There is a growth of the black middle class and union jobs for blacks in the north.
Council of Federated Organizations: four/five main organizations that kind of work together but also kind of compete against each other towards the goal of civil rights; different leaders, ideas, structures (Includes SCLC, SNCC, CORE, NAACP)
SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee): More radical committee; most known for freedom rides where they take integrated buses into the south where they faced a lot of violence and freedom summer where they went into Mississippi and registered black voters; tended to be more liberal, wanted fast large scale political and economic changes
1964 Civil Rights Act: ends segregation in public and private accommodations in some places, enables force to end segregation, creates equal employment opportunity office (ensures people don’t get discriminated against when it comes to employment), weak voting rights section
1965 Voting Rights Act: Prevents voting practices that discriminate against race
1790 Naturalization Act: Only white men of good moral character can become US citizens, immigrants (non-white) and African Americans can’t be citizens
Alien and Sedition Act of 1798: Elongated naturalization period, foreign threats could be deported
First Great Wave of Immigration: large growth in Irish/German immigrant immigration due to potato famine in Ireland and religious persecution; there was cultural conflict and fear that Irish catholics would undermine the democratic system and a fear of cultural infiltration and disease and overtaking wages
Dahl’s Model of Assimilation:
Stage 1: Ethnic enclaves
Stage 2: Political Co-Optation (political parties pay attention and change systems)
Stage 3: Class divisions increase, race recedes, class dominates
Burlingame Treaty: gives China favored nation status encouraging immigration to help labor and spread Christianity, there is backlash when such a large number of Chinese come
Chinese Exclusion Act: 10 year suspension of Chinese laborers, those already in US by November 1880 could leave/return, diplomats/servants could enter US; in 1892 extended to 10 years; In 1902 congress makes this exclusion permanent
National Quota Act: attempted to freeze ethnic composition of the US to what it was in 1890, establishing quotas for immigration based on national origin. Allowed visas to 1% of people from that country in 1890 census; groups who immigrated after 1890 (mostly south and east europe) would have a difficult time immigrating; immigration from non-European countries almost non-existent
Bracero Program: deal with Mexico to bring in seasonal agricultural workers
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965: limits of 290,000 immigrants total and 20,000 per country annually
Preferences for a couple of issues including skilled labor, family reunification, asylum
Ambivalence from the public, increased need for labor, political refugees to fix fears from the Holocaust
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986: increased border securities, tough penalties for employers of undocumented, pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals: children that came to the US with their parents who were undocumented would not be sent back to their country of origin, and can apply for a permit for school and colleges (executive action by Obama)
Muslim ban: total ban on people coming from Muslim majority countries (executive action by Trump)
Robbers Cave Experiment: kids categorized into two groups at summer camp; as the competition got more intense, the greater the hatred towards the outgroup became, negative stereotypes ramped up; when they worked on collective tasks, negativity eased
Minimal Group Paradigm: Separate people by random things that are really tiny, people will develop identities and they’ll engage in ingroup favoritism and outgroup animosity
Racial Formation theory: government makes racial categories and then we take real meaning into these
Racial Triangulation theory: argument about how racial groups are perceived and hierarchically positioned in the US; white Americans viewed as racially superior while African Americans are viewed as racially inferior; black Americans are seen as insiders, Asian Americans are viewed as outsiders
The Bradley Effect: if you ask people “are you going to vote for the black candidate?”, people will say yes because it’s socially acceptable, but will not vote yes in private
Implicit Association Test: measures subconscious attitudes about race using classification tests; speed and classification determines score
Racial resentment scale: people won’t admit to holding racist attitudes on surveys, so this scale is used instead
Questions:
Blacks are too demanding for equal rights
Blacks shouldn’t push themselves where they aren’t wanted
Civil rights moving too fast? Too slow?
It is easy to understand blacks’ anger in America
Black Utility Heuristic: linked fate; you think about what happens to other people who share your identity influences your own fate
SES Model of Political Participation: predicts that people with more resources are more likely to vote
Bowling Alone and Turnout: if we bowl alone, we are less politically active
Descriptive Representation and Political Empowerment: individuals are more politically engaged when represented by someone from their own demographic group
Iroquois Influence Theory: theory that the U.S. Constitution was partially influenced by the political structures of the Iroquois Confederacy (acknowledges Native American contributions to American political ideals, challenges Eurocentric narratives of democratic development)
Costly Protest and Legislative Behavior: concept that social protests can impact legislators’ positions, especially when protests impose economic or reputational costs.
Effect of Recalling Immigration Roots on Immigration Attitudes: The idea that remembering personal or family immigration experiences can shape attitudes toward current immigration policies
Theory of Purity and Danger (Tied to Chinese Exclusion Act): theory that perceived threats to cultural “purity” often lead to exclusionary policies
Personal and Sociotropic Economic Concerns and Immigration Attitudes: the idea that attitudes towards immigration are shaped by concerns about personal economic stability or national economic health
The Declining Significance of Race Hypothesis: economic class now surpasses race in determining outcomes for black Americans
Turnout Deserts: areas with chronically lower voter turnout, often in low income and minority communities