Final Exam Review Blog

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, your reading assignments, and the chapter reviews in the textbook 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 final review sheet here: http://thepoliticalinternet.wordpress.com/course-documents/

For Class on 6/5: 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
1 year ago: Protestants no longer make up majority of American population
5 year ago: the first nonwhite president was elected
6 years ago: Unemployment 4.5%, DOW at 14,000 (Today Unemployment 7.5% overall, 7.1 % for whites, 12.5% for African Americans, 9.8% for Hispanics, 5.2% for Asian Americans, more unemployment stats here, DOW 15,375 )
7 years ago: very few of us had ever heard of Barack Obama
10 years ago: The supreme court ruled that colleges still had legitimate reasons to use race and ethnicity as factors in college admissions
12 years ago: 9/11
22 years ago: the Rodney King Case and racially charged rioting
35 years ago: Regents of University of CA vs. Bakke
40 years ago: Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion nationwide
45 years ago: modern civil rights movement ends (according to most historians), Martin Luther King killed, major riots, peak of troops in Vietnam
46 years ago: third year in a row of major racially charged riots throughout American cities
48 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
49 years ago: Civil Rights Act of 1964
50 years ago: March on Washington, Birmingham protests
58 years ago: Montgomery Bus Boycott
59 years ago: Brown vs. Board of Education
68 years ago: end of WWII
69 years ago: Interment of 110,000 Japanese Americans
93 years ago: Women gain the right to vote
106 years ago: peak of immigration at turn of century
117 years ago: Plessy vs. Ferguson - separate but equal is constitutional
119 years ago: widespread lynching and intimidation
125 years ago: Chinese Exclusion Act
136 years ago: end of reconstruction, early Jim Crow Era (which lasts nearly 100 years)
143 years ago: 15th amendment - black men given right to vote
145 years ago: 14th amendment
147 years ago: 13th amendment - end of slavery
148 years ago: end of Civil War, Start of reconstruction, black codes
152 years ago: start of Civil War
204 years ago: end of slave trade
226 years ago: Constitution written including 3/5 compromise and slavery
237 years ago: Declaration of Independence
394 years ago: first slaves from Africa brought to colonies
406 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 10, 20, or even 50 years from now? What can and should be done politically to help?

For class on 5/29: Preparing for the Shadow Senator's visit.

On Wednesday we will have a great opportunity to meet with Shadow Senator Michael Brown, representing Washington D.C. To find out more about the pole of Shadow Senator click here. The overall theme this week will be representation, how Americans should be represented in our republic, and how they are represented. We will discuss issues relating to areas of the country or particular groups who are over or under represented in Congress and why this is the case. We will also talk about different types of representation and what you want from the person who is supposed to represent you in Congress. As you know, the founding of this country was based, in large part, to a feeling of a distinct lack of representation in Parliament (see the license plate above). Some then find it ironic that those living in our nation's capital cannot vote for Congress and have no one to represent them there because Washington D.C. is not a state. Senator Brown is fighting to change that. Historically, the location of D.C. outside of any state was a very conscious decision in order to avoid giving preference to the needs of any particular state. There are very strong arguments for and against voting rights for D.C. What do you think about voting rights in D.C.? More generally, what should be the ideal form of representation in our representative democracy? Should things be changed or stay the way they are today? How could things be improved? Please come to class on Wednesday with at least once question prepared for the Shadow Senator. And in the mean time, I hope you enjoy your holiday weekend.

For Class on 5/22: 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 there it is hard to argue that anything has much more of an impact on our political outlook that our education and our religion. 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 5/13: Inequality in America

Earlier this quarter we saw a video detailing the incredible inequality of wealth in America. This video was striking but was really describing income inequality, which we know is different than wealth inequality. Nevertheless, the video described the differences between what most Americans think should be the distribution, what they think it actually is, and the real income inequality. The results were startling and need to be discussed further. However, there are some important things that the video leaves out, most notably the concept of income mobility (just skim the main ideas), which we will talk a lot about this week. 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 this issue using any of the following as a starting point. Please start a discussion with one another and refer to each other's comments when possible.

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?

For Class on 5/8: Internalizing Social Constructions about Race and Ethnicity

This week's blog will take a slightly different look at how we have internalized constructions and values associated with different groups. I would like you to take at least one Implicit Assessment Test (IAT) which will serve as a tool as to how we have or have not internalized socially constructed values about race and ethnicity.

The IAT tests have been designed by Project Implicit which, according to the project website, "represents a collaborative research effort between researchers at Harvard University, the University of Virginia, and University of Washington. While the particular purposes of each study vary considerably, most studies available at Project Implicit examine thoughts and feelings that exist either outside of conscious awareness or outside of conscious control. The primary goals of Project Implicit are to provide a safe, secure, and well-designed virtual environment to investigate psychological issues and, at the same time, provide visitors and participants with an experience that is both educational and engaging."

You can find the tests by clicking on "I Wish to Proceed" at the bottom of this screen after reading the disclaimer. On the next screen I would like you to select the Skin Tone IAT which should take no more than 15 minutes to complete. Afterward, if you would like feel free to take other IAT tests including a Race (Black-white) IAT, Native (Native-White American) IAT, Asian (Asian-European American IAT), and Arab-Muslim (Arab Muslim - Other) IAT.

I would like you to comment on your experience taking the test and your results. I want to be clear: this is not a test suggesting that you are or are not racist. It is designed to indicate internalized preferences regarding issues that are both sensitive and influenced greatly by social, cultural, historical, and institutional influences.