[
Wesleyan Home Page
] [
WesMaps Home Page
] [
WesMaps Archive
]
[
Course Search
] [
Course Search by CID
]
Academic Year 2004/2005
Prejudice in Black and White
GOVT 258 FA
This course will explore the lengthy debate over the last two decades surrounding the changing nature of race prejudice. It will start with classic readings in the area and move to one of the most important and
contentious
debates in American public opinion. We will explore both theories and methodological approaches to understand both the way prejudice is defined and measured. Much of this research will focus on black/white prejudice but
we
will also attempt to generalize beyond this dichotomy. We will try to answer the following questions: 1) is categorization based on race and other salient characterizations inherent to the American psyche, 2) how is
prejudice
defined, 3) how is race used both implicitly and explicitly in political decision making, 4) how has race and race prejudice informed important American political institutions and processes, and 5) how have innovations
in
the areas of survey research and experimental methods allowed scholars to get around individual efforts to give only socially desirable answers. These and other questions of interests will be explored.
MAJOR READINGS
The reading list will evolve once the interests and prior knowledge of the students are assessed; however, below is a list of sample readings. Students will be required to develop their own theory of how race works in
America or whether it informs
decision at all and develop a research design that develops their theory as well as conduct a small pilot study that both collects and analyze data.
Sniderman and Piazza. THE SCAR OF RACE
Kinder and Saunders.
DIVIDED BY COLOR
Gunnar Myrdal. T
HE AMERICAN DILEMMA
Christenson. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
Allport. THE NATURE OF PREJUDICE
Greenwald and Banaji. IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TESTS (www.yale.edu/psychology/iat)
Brewer and Miller. INTER GROUP
RELATIONS
Shuman, Steeh, Bobo, and Krysan.
RACIAL ATTITUDES IN AMERICA: TRENDS AND INTERPRETATIONS.
Omi and Winant. RACIAL FORMATION IN AMERICA: FROM THE 1960'S TO 1990'S
Roediger. HOW THE IRISH BECAME WHITE.
Carmines and Stimson. ISSUE EVOLUTION: RACE
AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN
POLITICS
Sears, Sidanius, and Bobo. RACIALIZED POLITICS: THE DEBATE ABOUT RACISM IN AMERICA.
Aldridge and Levine. SURVEYING THE SOCIAL WORLD: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE IN SURVEY RESEARCH.
Grace Hale: MAKING
WHITENESS: RACE IN THE SEGREGATED
SOUTH
Thernstrom and Thernstrom. AMERICA IN BLACK AND WHITE
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Midterm, research paper, 2 reaction papers.
COURSE FORMAT:
Seminar
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level:
UGRD
Credit:
1
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS GOVT
Grading Mode:
Graded
Prerequisites:
NONE
SECTION 01
- Instructor(s): Price,Melanye
- Times: ..T.R.. 01:10PM-02:30PM; Location: SCIE141;
- Reserved Seats: (Total Limit: 20)
- SR. major: 10 Jr. major: 5
- SR. non-major: 3 Jr. non-major: 2 SO: X FR: X
Special Attributes:
- Curricular Renewal: Quantitative Reasoning, Writing
Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-21-2005
Contact
wesmaps@wesleyan.edu
to submit comments or suggestions. Please include a url, course title, faculty name or other page reference in your email
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459