Prompt

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

Lecture Notes

Chapter 8: Power, Politics, and Identities

Learning Objectives

8-1 Explain contemporary political identities

8-2 Evaluate stock sociological theories regarding power, politics, and identity

8-3 Apply the matrix approach to U.S. political history

8-4 Formulate alternatives to the matrix of race and politics

I. Contemporary Political Identities

A. Politics makes reference to all of the processes, activities, and institutions having

to do with governance

B. Political identities are the political positions, based on the interests and

perspectives of social groups, with which people associate themselves

1. Across the United States these political identities, representing race, gender,

sexuality, language, region, and class, frequently interact and intervene in

multiple forms of political expression

C. Traditionally, our analysis of politics within the United States has stressed single

group comparisons

1. The problem with comparing groups using a single indicator is that it fails to

capture the complex reality of voting behavior

a. Intersectionality informs us that political identities are more than just

social groups, and that they intersect across multiple dimensions

1. Space is one such dimension in which political identities can vary

in the United States

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

2. Among predominantly white political districts, the relationship between

income and political partisanship varies very little

a. In the Northeast where large proportions of African Americans reside,

voters that live in affluent block areas are only slightly more Republican

than those in less affluent block groups

b. In rural areas with high concentrations of minority poverty, the link

between white identity, income, and partisanship becomes more apparent

D. Laws regulating voter disenfranchisement differ regionally

1. Seven states disenfranchise less than half a percent of their population, while

six southern states disenfranchise over 7%

a. Among these, Hispanics and African Americans are more likely to be

disenfranchised

1. In some states, such as Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, the

disenfranchisement among African Americans is more than 20% of

the voting population

E. Other intersectional aspects of political identities are associated with how race

and income interact

1. An inverse relationship exists between income and education, and non-voting

(Pew 2014)

a. The highest levels of non-voters are associated with the lowest levels of

education and income

b. While higher levels of income seem to be associated with a higher

likelihood of voting, the same does not correspond with higher levels of

education

1. For education, the likelihood of voting is mixed across various

levels (Pew 2014)

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

II. Analyzing the 2016 Presidential Election

A. Democrats have traditionally relied upon an alliance of identity groups (black

voters and northern white voters)

1. This alliance accounted for the victory of the first black man, Barack Obama,

to win the presidency of the United States in 2008

a. With tremendous support from black voters, Obama easily won a second

term

B. When we examine the 2016 presidential election, distinct intersectional realities

associated with race, gender, and education are apparent

1. The election revealed that people with and without college degrees voted very

differently

a. Clinton garnered 52% of the vote among voters with college degrees,

while Trump scored similar support among those without (52%)

b. Trump’s electoral support among white without college egress was in

accord with projections; he obtained 67% of non-college white’s votes

c. Trump captured 58% of the white non-Hispanic vote, while Clinton scored

major victories among blacks (80%)

d. In the largest gender gap since 1972, women were slightly more likely at

54% to support Clinton, while more than 53% of men supported Trump

e. Young voters aged 18–29 preferred Clinton over Trump by a wide margin

of 53–45% (Tyson and Maniam 2016)

III. Critiquing Sociological Theories of Power, Politics, and Identity

A. Political sociology is the study of government, political behaviors, institutions,

and processes that occur between the state, society, and its citizens

1. It is the study of power, politics, and identity

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

B. Pluralism posits that power within society is decentralized, widely shared,

diffuse, and fragmented

1. Groups throughout society, reflecting business, labor, professions, religion,

and culture, compete and often hold conflicting interests

a. Because no single group is dominant, democratic equilibrium is

established

1. This means that democratic governance is conceived of a

system that regulates conflict between and among various

interest groups

2. These interests groups include (but are not limited to)

economic (markets, industries, and finance), education,

religion, and military

b. Individuals enter groups because they have more power than individuals

when it comes to achieving goals

1.The larger the group, the more influence it will have

2. The essential democratic function of a political institution is to regulate the

conflict among various groups

a. Multiple forms of conflict can surface along distinct interest groups, so

various political elites will be more or less engaged in the political process

depending upon which interests are prominent

b. Two groups are associated with the pluralist model: insider groups and

outsider groups

1. Insider groups hold the bulk of the power

2. Outsider groups are marginalized and have limited power (Dahl

1961)

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

3. Insider groups tend to be well recognized, established, and hold positions of

power and prestige within the community

a. Insider groups may use direct means to affect political outcomes,

politicians, and processes such as voting, lobbying, and boycotts

b. Outsider groups have less access to elected governmental officials, and

may consist of recent migrants, socially discriminated groups, and special

interest groups

4. The pluralist approach assumes that, at least among the various insider groups,

power is dispersed equally

a. Power tends to be coalesced among a very few, well placed insiders

1. For example, even as women and blacks have become relative

insiders over the past four decades, they do not equally share the

power held by whites and males

b. Pluralism has limited ability to actually deal with changing political

climates and conditions

1. The democratic equilibrium that pluralism assumes is often seen as

too simplistic and unrealistic

2. For example, even as women and blacks have become relative

insiders over the past four decades, they do not equally share the

power held by whites and males

c. Binary constructs normalize and legitimize the racial and gender

hierarchies at the expense of outsiders, like other racial minorities and

gender groups

C. The power elite model suggests that power is concentrated among a discrete

group of elites who control the resources of significant social institutions

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

1. These elite's consist of: holders of the highest political offices, heads of major

corporations, high ranking military personnel

a. Power and authority, derived from elite positions, allow these members to

influence governmental, financial, educational, social, civic, and cultural

institutions

2. The first major criticism of the power elite model is that it assumes equality

among the economic, political, and military elites

D. A class approach to power, politics, and identity assumes that the type of

economic system a society has determines the kind of political structures that

evolve

1. In the United States, those who control the economic production control the

political processes

2. The social elites that control the markets control the government, and they in

turn dominate other classes to perpetuate their power (Marx 1852/1964)

3. Two different intellectual traditions derive from this perspective

a. Instrumentalists/Elite view the state as being dominated by an

economic class that controls both political and economic spheres

(Goldstein and Pevehouse 2004)

b. Structuralism posits that the state and all political institutions exist

relatively independent of each other and are essentially a byproduct of

conflict between and within class groups (Poulantzas 2008)

4. Critics of the class approach and its derivatives claim that they tend to reduce

all aspects of power to what happens in the market

a. It does not account for those instances when dominant class interests do

not act in their own self-interests as they pursue either racial or gendered

objectives

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

IV. Critical Race Theory

A. Critical race theory is an attempt by scholars and activists to transform the

relationship between race, racism, and power

1. One of the central themes of critical scholars is their rejection of stock socio-

political theories

a. A second theme is that mainstream ideas, reflected disproportionately by

white scholars, stress the importance of linking structural conditions,

such as laws or the economy, to the self-interests of leaders, activists, or

even regions to understand ethnic identity and the conflict that often

occurs (Hoschild 2005)

b. A third theme is that the political realities that reaffirm racial hierarchies

are normal

B. Critical race theorist Kimberle Williams Crenshaw (1993) coined the term

intersectionality, and argued that political processes were best understood through

this lens

1. According to Crenshaw, the experiences that people face represent

intersecting and interacting spheres that shape structural, political, and

representational aspects of our being

a. The inequalities that result are therefore not the product of any single one

of these dimensions, but the intersection of two or more of them

b. Intersectionality can also be the source of agency and advocacy

1. This agency is a form of identity politics, a political process or

structure that relies upon people of specific religions, racial and

ethnic groups, or social backgrounds, to form political alliances

V. Applying the Matrix of Race to United States Political History

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

A. Since various interests divide people into different classes with radically different

objectives and rationales, the principal purpose of government is to regulate these

conflicts and ensure that fairness, or justice is achieved

B. The stock story of U.S politics teaches us that our nation is a democracy in which

every citizen, regardless of identifying characteristics, has a voice in the political

process

1. The stock story suggests that inequalities associated with race, class, gender,

sexual orientation, or other forms of identity are aberrant and not part of the

core values of our culture

2. Using our stock story to guide us, we understand that conflicts arise in

situations where resources are scarce

3. Power is defined as the ability to acquire scarce resources

a. If the central role of political institutions is to govern conflict, then it also

serves the function of regulating power

b. Resource scarcity and the power associated with its acquisition are both

keyed to specific historical situations, including settings, and

geographical locations

1. Individuals seeking to maximize their access to these resources

are more likely to organize into groups that are more efficient at

resource acquisition

C. One of the most prized resources available in a democracy is freedom

1. In 1776, when the first Continental Congress met to create a government for

our new nation, slaves comprised approximately 20% of the entire population

in the 13 colonies

2. While slavery existed in all of the colonies; political, social, and geographical

conditions resulted in distinctly different attitudes toward slavery

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

a. Southern colonies rested on an agricultural base and almost year-round

growing seasons

1. Elite land lowers found that plantations relying upon slave labor

could more profitably produce such crops as rice, cotton, and

tobacco

b. Slaves in the Northern colonies had more diversified skills (Melish 1998)

1. The complex economies of these northern colonies allowed slaves

to develop a wider variety of skills from domestic to skilled trades

2. Ultimately, northern elites determined that free labor was more

productive than slave labor (Melish 1998)

3. Our current Senate and House of Representatives are a direct result of whether

and how to count the slaves as part of the population

a. The southern delegations, with relatively smaller populations, wanted the

slaves to be counted equally to whites to bolster their population and

power in the government

1. The northern states, with considerably larger populations and

virtually no slaves, were in opposition

b. The Great Compromise of 1787 was the result of this disagreement

1. The compromise included two governing bodies, wherein population

would determine how many seats each state would hold in the House

of Representatives, and the Senate would have two members from

each state

2. Slaves would count as three-fifths in total when determining

Representatives as well as pPresidential electors and taxes

4. Citizenship reflects the legal process countries use to regulate national

identity, membership, and rights

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

a. Citizenship also establishes the political boundaries that define who is and

who is not included in the democratic franchise

b. The 1790 Naturalization Act granted citizenship to “free white aliens”

with two years’ residence, but withheld it from slaves and women

1. It further excluded all nonwhites from citizenship

2. While citizenship was extended to all whites after establishing

residency, only property-owning men could exercise the right to

vote or hold political office (Tehranian 2000)

5. From the onset of our becoming a nation, Native Americans were considered

as sovereign nationals

a. They were considered independent and held authority over their own

citizens and lands

b. The United States signed and ratified almost 390 treaties with various

Native American tribes (Miller 2006)

1. The treaties were formal negotiations regarding the sale of land and

property rights owned by the indigenous peoples but desired by the

United States

6. From the outset, U.S. immigration policies were created to preserve the racial

character of the nation

a. Northern Free states, with their concentration of both commercial and

manufacturing, was a clear choice of immigrants

1. In 1840s, nearly half of immigrants were from Ireland alone

2. Between 1820 and 1930, of the approximate 4.5 million Irish

arriving between 1820 and 1930, most settled close to their point

of arrival in cities along the East Coast (Omi and Winant 2014)

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

b. The mid-1800s’ Gold Rush attracted a large amount of Asian immigrants

to the West Coast

1. By the early 1850s, lured by reports of available gold in California,

some 25,000 Chinese had migrated (Omi and Winant 2014)

c. Almost 5 million German immigrants, also coming in large numbers

during the 19th century, settled in the present Midwest as they bought

farms and settled near such cities such as Milwaukee, St. Louis, and

Cincinnati (Omi and Winant 2014)

d. Anglo Saxon Protestants, nervous about the influx of so many newcomers,

began voicing anti-immigration sentiments

1. The Anti-immigrant, Anti-Catholic American Party (also known as

the Know-Nothing Political Party) lobbied for significant

restrictions to immigration

2. The first group targeted was the Chinese in 1882

e. In 1921, the Emergency Quota Act was adopted, which limited the

numbers of immigrants to the United States by imposing quotas based on

the country of birth

1. Under this act a National Origin’s Formula, a system of

immigration limits, was instituted

D. Geography and history interact in particularly ways. Over these unique spaces and

places we note that two distinct patterns of racial political processes can be

identified

1. These two patterns are de jury (political practices and processes that were

enacted as formal laws) and de facto (political practices and processes that,

although not enshrined into laws, were carried out in practice by various

entities)

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

2. De jury laws impacted many aspects of life

a. Most public spaces segregated people by races and these new laws raised

many restrictions on voting such as poll taxes (a two year tax that had to

be paid in advance in order to register to vote)

b. Literacy tests, which required a person seeking to vote to read and

interpret a section of the state constitution to the county court

c. Grandfather clauses, which permitted anyone whose grandfather was

qualified prior to the Civil War the right to vote

1.All of these laws benefited only white citizens

3. States in the south and north passed residential segregation laws

a. In 1917, the Supreme Court held that such ordinances were

unconstitutional

1. As a result, real estate agents and private developers began to write

their own provisions into real estate contracts

b. Restrictive covenants bared the resale to purchasers of a race different

than the original homeowner

1. The Supreme Court in 1948 ruled that these restrictive covenants

were unconstitutional

2. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done, as residential

segregation had become entrenched

3. Federal Housing Authority reinforced residential segregation and

rules required developers to include restrictive covenants that

segregated buildings owned by municipalities

c. Redlining, sorting out those areas worthy of mortgage lending, were

ranked and color coded

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

1. The D-rated ones, so designated because they held “inharmonious”

racial groups, were outlined in red (Badger 2015)

2. The term was in use by the federal government until 1968, and was

also used by private banks as the country went through one of its

most massive homeownership expansions in history

E. In many ways, identity politics paved the way to the massive political protests,

resistance, and transformation associated with the Civil Rights Movement in the

1950s and 1960s

1. This period is also distinguished by the fact that coalition politics rose to

prominence

a. Coalitional politics represent political alliances of various identity

groups whose purpose is to establish a specific political agenda

b. Perhaps no single movement captured this new form of politics better

than the Black Civil Rights Movement (1955–68)

2. One of the major victories was in the 1964 Civil Rights Act

a. This act banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or

national origin in employment practices

b. It also prohibited segregation in schools, at the workplace, and in public

accommodations

c. This was followed by the 1965 Voters Rights Act that ended voting

discrimination and extended federal protections to minorities

d. In the same year, the Immigration and Nationality Services Act

removed racial and national barriers and opened immigration to black

immigrants from Africa and the Western Hemisphere

e. The 1968 Fair Housing Act ended discrimination in the sale and rental

of housing

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

VI. Building Alternatives to the Matrix of Race and Politics

A. The United States originated as a consequence of political activism

1. That tradition of political activism has been central to every important

phase of our nation’s history and continues to guide us in our quest to

become a more perfect union

a. Protests demonstrate that political activism makes a difference that can

build alternatives to the matrix of race and politics

B. Political activism normally involves various types of actions that go beyond

voting and may be as simple as writing blogs, posting on the internet, or getting

involved in a letter writing campaign, or as active as participating in a protest

1. One of the major insights revealed by the intersectional approach is that

while race, class, gender, sexuality, and other sites of identity interact to

produce unique forms of inequality and discrimination, they also can

become the basis of agency

a. Agency is the ability to effect change, to act independently, and to

exercise free choices

2. Boycotts are voluntary acts of protest where individuals or groups refuse

to purchase, invest, or interact with corporations, nations, or persons in an

effort to punish or coerce

a. The boycott is often used to raise awareness of issues while coercing

entities to change policies, practices, or structures

b. The earliest boycotts in the United States occurred during the

American Revolution as colonists refused to purchase British goods

3. Social media is frequently used to draw attention to important social issues

a. For example, The Black Lives Matter Movement originated with the

Twitter hashtag #BLACKLIVESMATTER

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

C. To create change, we must be active participants in our democracy

1. As millennials become the dominant force in the U.S. electorate, it is vital

that individuals work together to influence progress

2. We have seen throughout our history, immigrants have been frequently

targeted by both federal and state policies

a. There is a long history of political mobilization throughout the country

as various immigration laws and ordinances have been passed at both

the state and local level

b. These laws range from bans on Islamic dress, to the Arizona law (SB

1070) requiring all immigrants to carry registration papers

c. An estimated 60 cities around the country have declared themselves to

be sanctuary cities

1. In these cities, if a person is arrested for driving without a

license and then identified as an illegal immigrant, the person

must serve the time for the state charges or pay stipulated fines

2. Then they are released, not deported

3. This movement reflects growing concerns that Donald Trump

as president will force undocumented immigrants who came

here as children to leave the country (CBS News 2016)