Final Exam Review Blog (Due before our exam on 3/13)

Ahhh... the last blog of the semester. This is simply an opportunity for you to ask and answer each other's questions and discuss anything that you think will be helpful in preparation for the final. I would suggest looking at your class notes, handouts from class, and your reading assignments along with your review sheet. This is primarily an open forum for you so check back often during the week and comment/question/ponder/review as much as you would like. 

One request: please take just a couple of minutes to complete your course evaluation if you have not done so already. I would really appreciate it. Just follow this link to go to Campus Connect.


Good luck with all of your studying!

Also you can find a digital version of the prezis here and final review sheet here: http://americanpoliticalculture.wordpress.com/course-documents/

For Class on 3/8 (Due 3/7 at 8pm): Looking Forward

We have addressed American political culture from many perspectives this quarter. We have discussed the evolution of American political culture and several of the important elements that continue to shape it including, immigration, race, ethnicity, religion, education, elections and representation, etc. Although we often find it challenging to view things outside of the modern day perspective, much has changed over time. Consider the following:

2 months ago: you started this class
5 months ago: #MeToo movement begins
14 months ago: Trump signs first of three immigration and refugee bills aimed to curb immigration and refugees from several majority-Muslim nations (all have been stalled in court)
17 months ago: Trump elected president
2 year ago: marked increase in hate crimes in U.S., largely targeting immigrants, Muslims, Jews, and LGBTQ community
4 years ago: Unemployment 6.3% overall, 12.1% for African Americans, 9.1% for Hispanics, 4.8% for Asian Americans, DOW 16,700 (Today: Unemployment 3.9%, 7% for African Americans, 4.7% for Hispanics, 2.9% for Asian Americans, DOW at 24,275)
5 years ago: Black Lives Matter movement begins
6 years ago: Protestants no longer make up majority of American population
10 years ago: the first nonwhite president was elected
11 years ago: Unemployment 4.5%, DOW at 14,000
12 years ago: very few of us had ever heard of Barack Obama
15 years ago: The supreme court ruled that colleges still had legitimate reasons to use race and ethnicity as factors in college admissions
17 years ago: 9/11
27 years ago: the Rodney King Case and racially charged rioting
40 years ago: Regents of University of CA vs. Bakke
45 years ago: Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion nationwide
50 years ago: modern civil rights movement ends (according to most historians), Martin Luther King killed, major riots, peak of troops in Vietnam
51 years ago: third year in a row of major racially charged riots throughout American cities
53 years ago: Voting Rights Act of 1965, new immigration laws dramatically increase immigration (especially from Asia and Latin America), Black Power movement, Malcolm X killed
54 years ago: Civil Rights Act of 1964
55 years ago: March on Washington, Birmingham protests
63 years ago: Montgomery Bus Boycott
64 years ago: Brown vs. Board of Education
73 years ago: end of WWII
74 years ago: Interment of 110,000 Japanese Americans
98 years ago: Women gain the right to vote
111 years ago: peak of Immigration in early 20th century
122 years ago: Plessy vs. Ferguson - separate but equal is constitutional
124 years ago: widespread lynching and intimidation
130 years ago: Chinese Exclusion Act
141 years ago: end of reconstruction, early Jim Crow Era (which lasts nearly 100 years)
148 years ago: 15th amendment - black men given right to vote
150 years ago: 14th amendment
153 years ago: 13th amendment - end of slavery
153 years ago: end of Civil War, Start of reconstruction, black codes
157 years ago: start of Civil War
209 years ago: end of slave trade
231 years ago: Constitution written including 3/5 compromise and slavery
242 years ago: Declaration of Independence
398 years ago: First Pilgrims arrived searching for freedom to practice their religion
399 years ago: first slaves from Africa brought to colonies
411 years ago: first British Colony established
several thousand years earlier: Native Americans living here.

The point: much has changed, and often in a short period of time. Looking forward what do you predict will be the state of American political culture 5, 10, or even 20 years from now? What can and should be done politically to help? 

One request: Please take just a couple of minutes to complete your course evaluation if you have not already done so. I would really appreciate it. Just follow this link to go to campus connect.

For Class on 3/1 (Due 2/28 at 8pm): Religion in America

This week we explore the role of religion in America and there are many directions we can go. However, it seems only fair that as students at the largest Catholic University in America we spend our blog discussion on the role of religion on campus. We have already discussed the role of various socializing factors in our political values and ideology. Outside of our parents it is hard to argue that anything has much more of an impact on our political outlook that our education and our religion (including those of us who are nonreligious). And for much of us those two elements have been linked through parochial schooling at various levels. Obviously we all have various religious affiliations and range in our religious observance from extremely observant to completely nonreligious.

I would like you to address the role the religion plays in your views about society, and by extension about political issues. Have these beliefs been affected by your schooling, whether parochial or public? Please share any thoughts about the nature of religion and politics at DePaul. We are clearly a Catholic institution that leans fairly heavily toward more liberal social politics (generally speaking). What have you discovered about the religious life on campus that is is either surprising or particularly notable in terms of our school culture or politics? This should be a general discussion and you can feel free to expand or elaborate on any aspect of the prompts above or any comments of your classmates.

For class on 2/22 (Due 2/21 at 8pm): Socializing Class

There are many aspects to our identities, individually, as communities, and as a nation. Some are much more visible than others. We have discussed race and ethnicity which has been used to identify, separate and discriminate in various ways through American history. Often people are identified in ways other than how they would identify themselves and other times people from marginalized communities have attempted to “pass” as those in a favored group. Among many aspects of our identities, class is central, but is less obvious to many. However our class inequalities as a society are just as stark. First remind yourself what income levels fall under the institutionally constructed definition of “poverty” here. Next explore some statistics from the U.S. Census breaking down the numbers and percentages of those in poverty by age, race, and Hispanic origin here: Table 3. Poverty Status of People, by Age, Race, and Hispanic Origin. Pay careful attention to the percentage of those under 18 are growing up in poverty and how those numbers vary by race.

There are shocking correlations between race, ethnicity, and class, however, extreme poverty along with those living above the poverty line but still struggling mightily to provide for their families affects people living all around the country, regardless of race, national origin, or ethnicity. And it impacts our politics, policies, and political views in many ways. Some have read Hillbilly Elegy for other classes which talk about this phenomenon at length.

I am interested to hear your thoughts about class inequality, and whether or not the government should play a different, greater, or smaller role in trying to alleviate it. But more important, I am wondering how you are socialized to think about class. Is it something that has been made visible to you through social groups, your communities, schools, organizations, friends, family, representations on media? Have you been socialized to understand the full range of class in America? Or has class remained a largely invisible issue for you. How should we think about it in terms of American identity and our relationship with our local, state, or national government?

For Class on 2/15 (due 2/14 at 8pm): Class Inequality in America

This week we are starting to discuss class in America in terms of wealth and income inequality in America as well as income mobility (just skim the main ideas).

When thinking about class it is important to look at issues from multiple perspectives as much as possible, which is not always easy to do. Take a few minutes to play this web "game" spent, which places you in a position of one of the millions of Americans who are unemployed and are down to their last bit of savings. The goal is simple: survive one month. Good luck: http://playspent.org/. Feel free to share your experiences in your comments below.

One of our readings for the week is about inequality in America and it's potential threat to democracy and as something that may contradict the American political ideal of equality of opportunity. I would like you to address the issue of inequality using any of the following questions as a starting point. Please start a discussion with one another and refer to each other's comments when possible.

To what extent is income inequality and/or wealth inequality a problem for America politically or socially? Does it contradict fundamental American political ideals, or does it reinforce the American Dream by supporting a meritocracy where one can succeed if they work hard? Finally, what should the role of government be in terms of providing assistance to the poor or helping to reduce the income or wealth inequality in America (or should the government stay out of issues such as these)?

For Class on 2/8 (Due by 8PM on 2/7): Check Your Privilege

Over the past week we have been reading and discussing several ideas connected to privilege. Most notably we read Peggy McIntosh's "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack," which described White privilege and gave a number of examples that we discussed in class last week. The concept of privilege clearly can be applied to many areas beyond race, including gender, geography, and class. Recently the topic of privilege has made the news based, in part, on the increasingly common use of the phrase: "Check your privilege." The use of this phrase and various reactions to it have spun into many different dialogues weaving their way through the blogosphere, social media, and cable television. For this week's blog I would like you to focus on the debate emanating from Princeton University a couple of years ago centered on this phrase. First read the post that started much of the recent uproar written by a Princeton freshman here. Next read the public response to the first argument written by another Princeton student and printed in TIME Magazine here (you may also want to check out the I Too Am Princeton Tumblr here).

Much of the debate centers on whether there is, in fact, privilege and whether this supports or disproves meritocracy.  I would like to hear your thoughts now after reading these arguments. Does meritocracy exist in America? Is it affected by race or class or any other factors? What do you think about the use of the phrase "check your privilege," and other attempts by some to make privilege more visible?

For Class on 2/1 (Due 1/31 at 8PM): Growing American Diversity

What happens in the past shapes, in part, our perspectives and choices in the present. Over the course of the past two centuries the United states has become the most diverse nation on earth and Chicago, one of its most diverse (and segregated) cities (see the diversity index video and map data). These trends are continuing as immigration and demographic data show that the white population in America is not growing at near the rate of other racial groups. After looking at the data from our readings over the past two weeks, what do you think this growing diversity (and segregation) means for the U.S.? What does it mean for particular areas like Chicago? How do we, as a nation, think about and treat different types of diversity differently? What are the strengths and/or weaknesses and what does it mean in terms of American political identity?

Please try to create as much of an online dialogue as possible by commenting on classmates ideas and/or replying to them. Thanks