Political Science
202
Lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:00-11:50
Recitations on
Fridays
Argument in
Political Science
Professor Fredrick
Harris
Harkness Hall 334
275.4735
Send mail to
Professor Harris here.
Office Hours:
Mondays 1-2 and Wednesdays 1-2, or by appointment.
Recitation Leaders:
Kate James and Elena Plaxina
The general aim of
Political Science 202 is to introduce you to the nature of argument; the course
is designed to expose you to a variety of concepts and forms of evidence that
characterize political science. You will be taught to recognize arguments in
what you read and to develop your own arguments in what you write. This semester
we examine the role of racial and gender conflict in American political life. We
explore the origins of racial and gender conflict in the making of American
democracy and the role of actors in their challenge to address these two forms
of inequality. We also draw on the
writings of contemporary political scientists and other social scientists to
examine the centuries-long struggle to achieve equality in American political
life.
Books
Three books are
available for purchase at the University of Rochester Bookstore. These books are
also on reserve at Rush Rhees Library:
Judith N. Shklar.
1991. American Citizenship: The Quest for Inclusion. Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press.
Eric Foner.1988.
A Short History of Reconstruction. New York: Harper & Row.
Ian F. Haney Lopez.
1996. White By Law: The Legal Construction of Race. New York: New York
University Press.
Additional required
readings:
The remaining
readings are accessible on the web. On the web version of this syllabus, each
reading is linked automatically to its appropriate website. If any link does not
work, please let Professor Harris know immediately, by phone or e-mail, so he
can address the problem. Some of
these websites, including the sites set up by Rush Rhees Library, are accessible
only to computers on campus (and off campus computers that are recognized by the
campus). One website, JSTOR <www.jstor.org >, is an
on-line archive of articles from leading academic journals. You can access JSTOR
from any computer on campus, but usually not from computers off campus. To print
from JSTOR, you must first download a printing application Adobe Acrobat
(available free from the Adobe website) or JPRINT (available free from the JSTOR
website). Do not attempt to print
from JSTOR by using your web browser’s regular “print”
function.
Requirements
Class participation
is worth 20% of your grade. You are expected to attend lectures and recitations
on a regular basis. The baseline participation grade is determined by
participation in recitations. You must attend recitation on a regular basis to
receive credit for the course. For most students-who attend lectures regularly
but do not speak up during recitations-the recitation grade will be recorded as
the participation grade. Recitation grades will be revised upward for students
who not only attend lectures regularly but also speak up in lectures. Recitation
grades will be sharply lowered for students who do not attend lectures
regularly. Short papers and the
final exam are worth the remaining 80% of your grade. You are required to write
seven papers (55%) and to take a final exam (25%). We will count the best six of the seven
papers as your final grade for the short papers.
You must write at
least one paper from each of the six pairs of units listed below. You are required to write a paper from
Unit M.
Paper 1: Unit A or B
Paper 2: Unit C or D
Paper 3: Unit E or F
Paper 4: Unit G or H
Paper 5: Unit I or J
Paper 6: Unit K or L
Paper 7: Unit M
Keep papers short
and to the point. Papers should be 500-900 words in length (about 2-3 pages). No
paper may exceed 1,000 words. Double-space the papers, use 12-point Time Roman
or Courier font, and no funny stuff with the margins; an inch on each side is
about right. Place your recitation leader's name at the top of your paper.
Papers are due in your recitation leader's mailbox in Harkness 314 no later than
10:30 on Tuesday mornings. Requests for extensions will be granted only on a
rare, case-by-case basis; except in the case of a genuine and unforeseen
emergency, no late papers will be accepted without prior permission. Three
anonymous student papers will be posted to the course website each Wednesday
afternoon. You are responsible for reading those three anonymous papers as
preparation for your recitation on Friday; you should copy those papers and
bring the copies with you to recitation.
Week
I:
1/15
Introduction
1/17
Lecture
1/20 No Class - King
Holiday
1/22 Lecture
1/25
Recitation
Declaration of
Independence,
<http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/declar.html>
Constitution of the
United States, (especially articles 1, 4, and 5) <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/const.html>
Thomas Jefferson,
“Notes on the State of Virginia,” Queries 14 and 18, 137--43, 162--63 <http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch15s28.html>
James Madison,
“Memorandum on an African Colony for Freed Slaves” <http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch15s43.html>
Dred Scott v.
Stanford, 1857 <http://college.hmco.com/polisci/amgov/documents/dred.htm>
Lopez, Chapters 1-2
In what ways
were racial inequalities enshrined in the constitution and by the beliefs of the
founding fathers? How did these beliefs contradict the ideas of the Declaration
of Independence? How did the Supreme Courts’’ interpretation of black rights in
the Dred Scott case reinforce the legalization of racial inequality? And
according to Lopez, how was the “race” of people of color who were not black
interpreted through U.S. law?
Papers for Unit
A
Paper 1
Week III, Unit B:
First Experiment with Racial Democracy
1/27 Lecture
1/29 Lecture
1/31 Recitation
Foner, Chapters 3,
5,6,
How did post-Civil
War America address problems of racial inequalities? How did presidential
Reconstruction differ from congressional Reconstruction? What were the arguments
for and against giving blacks civil rights? How did the doctrine of states
rights influence arguments against civil rights?
Papers for Unit
B
Paper 1
Week IV, Unit C:
Women’s Quest for Equality
2/3 No Lecture
2/5 Lecture
2/7
Recitation
“Declaration of
Sentiments,” Seneca Falls, New York, 1848 <http://www.ukans.edu/carrie/docs/texts/seneca.htm>
Sojourner
Truth,“Ain't I a Woman?,”1851 <http://www.afgen.com/sojourner1.html>
Victoria C.
Woodhull, “A Lecture on Constitutional Equality,” 1871 (Search for item in the
American Memory Historical Collection)
Susan B. Anthony,
“On Behalf of the Woman Suffrage Amendment,”1884 (Search for item in the
American Memory Historical Collection)
<http://www.phschool.com/atschool/primary_sources/woman_suffrage_amendment.html>
Amelia Bloomer,
"Woman's Right to the Ballot," 1895 <http://douglassarchives.org./bloo_a63.htm>
Goldwin Smith,
“Women Suffrage,” 1898, 199-238 <reserve>
Jane Addams, “Why
Women Should Vote,” 1915
<http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1915janeadams-vote.html>
On what basis did
advocates of women suffrage justify their cause? What arguments did they form to
appeal to the constitution and to society at large? How did the prevailing ideas
about women in society both promote and undermine the cause of women’’s right?
Papers for Unit
C
Week V, Unit D:
Social Standing and American Citizenship
2/10 Lecture
2/12 Lecture
2/14 Recitation
Shklar, American
Citizenship, Chapters 1 & 2, 25-101
According to
Shklar, how did slavery influence ideas about American citizenship? In what ways
did slavery influence ideas about social standing in the nation? And what is the
relationship between social standing and citizenship in the United
States?
Papers for Unit
D
Week VI, Unit E:
Debating the Consequences of Women’’s Suffrage
2/17 Lecture
2/19 Lecture
2/21 Recitation
Paula Baker,
“Domestication of Politics: Women and American Political Society,” American
Historical Review,” Volume 89, Issue 3 (June 1984), 620-647. <http://www.jstor.org/>
Cherly Logan Sparks
and Peter R. Waknick, “The Enactment of Mothers’ Pensions: Civic Mobilization
and Agenda Setting or Benefits of the Ballot,” The American Political Science
Review, Volume 89, Issue 3 (September 1995), 710-720. <http://www.jstor.org/>
Theda Skocpol,
“Response,” American Political Science Review 89 (1995), 720-30. <http://www.jstor.org/>
Anna Harvey, “The
Political Consequences of Suffrage Exclusion,” Social Science History, 20
(1996), pp.97-132.
<reserve>
Did it matter
that women won the vote? Be sure to draw on the assigned readings in answering
this question.
Papers for Unit
E
Week VII, Unit F:
Beginnings of the Broken Alliance
2/24 Lecture
2/26 Lecture
2/28 Recitation
Aileen D. Kraditor,
“The Southern Question,” 161-218
<reserve>
Anna Julia Cooper,
“Women versus the Indian,” (1881), 88-108 <reserve>
Bell Hooks, “Racism
and Feminism,” 119-158 <reserve>
How did the
racial views and political tactics of white women suffragists influence their
quest for women’’s rights? How do the views of black women such as Cooper and
Hooks counter those of white women activists? According to Hooks, what has been
the long-term consequences of the betrayal of prominent white women activists
during the suffragist era to building alliances between black and white women?
Papers for Unit
F
Week VIII, Unit
G: Political Responses to Racial Exclusion
3/3 Lecture
3/5 Lecture
3/7 No Recitation
Plessy vs.
Ferguson (including dissent by Justice Harlan), 1895
<http://www.toptags.com/aama/docs/pvferg.htm>
Robert Harlan,
“Migration is the Only Remedy for Our Wrongs,” 1879
<reserve>
Booker T.
Washington, “The Atlanta Compromise,” 1896
<http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/39/>
Booker T.
Washington, "Industrial Education for the Negro," 1903 <http://douglassarchives.org/wash_b04.htm>
W.E.B. DuBois, “The
Talented Tenth," September 1903 <http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=174>
W.E.B. DuBois, “Of
Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others,” 1903 <http://www.bartleby.com/114/3.html>
W.E.B. DuBois, “Of
the Training of Black Men,”
<http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/blacked/dutrain.htm>
Bishop Henry McNeal
Turner, ““Justice or Emigration Should Be Our Watch Word,””1893. <reserve>
T. Thomas Fortune,
“It’’s Time to Call a Halt,” 1890 <reserve>
Foner,
9,12
What were the
political and legal forces that led to the demise of Reconstruction? How did
black leaders and intellectuals respond to the erosion of blacks’’ civil rights?
In particular, how did Washington’’s and Dubois’’s strategies differ?
Papers for Unit
G
Spring Break,
March 10-14
Week IX, Unit H:
Dichotomizing “Race,” Legalizing Whiteness
3/17 Lecture
3/19 Lecture
3/21 Recitation
Lopez, Chapters 3-5
Harris, 1709-1745
According to Lopez
and Harris how is white identity embedded into the law? From a legal standpoint,
how do the authors explain the foundations of “whiteness”?
Papers for Unit
H
Week X, Unit I:
The Struggle of Workers Rights in America
3/24 Lecture
3/26 Lecture
3/28
Recitation
John L. Lewis, “What
Labor is Thinking,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Volume 1, Issue 4 (October
1937), 23-28. <JSTOR>
Michael Goldfield,
"Worker Insurgency, Radical Organization, and the New Deal Legislation,”
American Political Science Review, Volume 83, Issue 4 (December 1989),
1257-1282 <JSTOR>
Theda Skocpol,
Kenneth Finegold, and Michael Goldfield, “Explaining New Deal Labor
Policy,”American Political Science Review, Volume 84, Issue 4, (December
1990), 1297-1315. <JSTOR>
How would the
development of labor unions expand democracy in the United States? What factors
led to the development of unions and the passage of legislation that favored the
union movement? How does Goldfield’’s explanation of favorable legislation
differs from Skocpol and Finegold’s?
Papers for Unit
I
Week XI, Unit J:
The Battle for Civil Rights
3/31
Lecture
4/2 Lecture
4/4 Recitation
"Brown
Decision," 1954
<http://www.nationalcenter.org/brown.html>
“Southern
Manifesto,” Congressional Record, 1956 http://www.toptags.com/aama/voices/speeches/sthmani.htm
Martin Luther King,
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail” <http://www.toptags.com/aama/voices/commentary/bjail.htm>
Malcolm X,““Ballot
or the Bullet” <http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/065.html>
Bayard Rustin, "From
Protest to Politics: The Future of the Civil Rights
Movement"
<reserve>
Virginia Commission
on Constitutional Government, "Civil Rights and Legal Wrongs," August 1963
<http://douglassarchives.org/virg_a21.htm>
David Hilliard, "The
Ideology of the Black Panther Party," 1969 <http://afgen.com/panther3.html>
Third World Women's
Alliance, ““Black Women's Manifesto,”” Selections by Maxine Williams, Francs
Beal, Linda La Rue
<http://odyssey.lib.duke.edu/wlm/blkmanif/>
What arguments did
southern politicians use to justify their opposition to the Brown decision and
other civil rights gains? What were the varied visions of black activists and
thinkers during the civil rights movement? Specifically, how did the views of
King, Malcolm X, Rustin, Hillard, and the women who wrote the “Black Women’s
Manifesto” vary?
Papers for Unit
J
Week XII, Unit
K: Civil Rights and the Transformation of the American Party System
4/7 Lecture
4/9 Lecture
4/11 Recitation
Thomas Byrne Edsall
with Mary D. Edsall, ““Race,”” The Atlantic Monthly, May 1991, pages
53-86.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/race/edsall.htm>
Thomas J. Sugrue,
“Crabgrass-Roots Politics: Race, Rights, and Reaction Against Liberalism in the
Urban North, 1940-1964,” Journal of American History, 82 (1995),
pp.551-78.
<JSTOR>
Harold W. Stanley,
“Southern Partisan Changes: Dealignment, Realignment or Both,”
Journal of Politics, Volume 50, Issue 1 (1988), 64-88. <JSTOR>
How did the civil
rights movement alter the partisan preferences of Americans? According to Edsall
and Sugrue did the civil rights movement drive whites to the Republican party or
were other forces at play? What sort of evidence does Stanley provide for
changes in partisan preferences for southern whites?
Papers for Unit
K
Week XIII, Unit
L: Urban Poverty
4/14 Lecture
4/16 Lecture
4/18 Recitation
Nicholas Lemann.“The
Origins of the Underclass,” The Atlantic Monthly, July 1986
<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/poverty/origin2.htm>
Nicholas Lemann,
“The Other Underclass,”The Atlantic Monthly, December 1991. <http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/poverty/othrund.htm>
William J. Wilson,
“Social Change and Social Dislocations in the Inner City,” <reserve>
Adolph Reed, “The
Underclass as Myth and Symbol,”
<reserve>
According to the
authors what accounts for the persistence of urban poverty in America? How does
Lemann explain the difference between black poverty and Latino poverty? How does
Reed’s explanation of the emergence of poverty differ from Wilson’’s and
Lemann’s?
Papers for Unit
L
Week XIV, Unit M:
Contemporary Inequalities in American Political Life
4/21 Lecture
4/23 Lecture
4/25 Recitation
Jeffery Goldberg,
“The Color of Suspicion,” New York Times Magazine, June 20, 1999.
<reserve>
House of Representatives One Hundred Sixth
Congress, 2000 Civic Participation and Rehabilitation Act of 1999, Hearing
before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary.
<http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju62486.000/hju62486_0f.htm>
Cathy Cohen and
Michael Dawson. 1993. "Neighborhood Poverty and African American Politics."
American Political Science Review, Vol 87:286-302.
<JSTOR>
Nancy Burns, Kay
Lehman Schlozman, and Sidney Verba.1997. “The Public Consequences of Private
Inequality: Family Life and Citizen Participation.”American Political Science
Review, 91:373-389.
<JSTOR>
Jeffery Koch, “Do
Citizens Apply Gender Stereotypes to Infer Candidates’ Ideological
Orientations?,” Journal of Politics, Vol. 62,No.2 (May 2000), pp.
414-429. <reserve>
With the evidence
presented in the readings explain how racial discrimination, gender inequality,
and class privilege continues to persist in contemporary American politics.
Papers for Unit
M
4/28
Review
4/30 No Class
5/2 Attend
Conference Roundtable on Richard Fenno's book on black political
representation