The Paradox of Representation: Racial Gerrymandering and Minority Interests in Congress by David Lublin

Chapter 2 shows how blacks in Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro understand their position within the boundaries of black racial categorization. I analyze how and why they consider themselves black and examine ethnoracial congruency between their black identity and their white partners' assessment of their blackness. I find more ethnoracial congruency between black-white couples in Los Angeles than in Rio de Janeiro. Contrary to many scholars of Brazil, I find that black spouses have a sense of group identity in which they understand blacks as part of their imagined community; this, along with ancestry, physical appearance, and official documentation comprise their black identity. In Los Angeles, black respondents articulated a stronger sense of groupness and perceived history and resistance as elements tying them to other blacks. However, they saw class distinctions, immigrant ancestry, and less fluency in black culture as putting them on the margins of blackness. White husbands and wives understood their black husbands and wives as existing at the margins of what it means to be black in both Rio de Janeiro and Los Angeles. However, they failed to recognize the importance of groupness to their black spouses.

Boundaries of Blackness: Groupness and Linked Fate

Periods of economic insecurity affect different age groups in different ways. Whether you call them generations or cohorts, life experiences framed by the unique intersection of age and history have proved a fascinating subject for social scientists. In their coming-of-age account of the group of birth cohorts some have dubbed Generation X, Lesley Andres and Johanna Wyn provide a readable, theoretically embedded, and empirically supported account of how policy, economic conditions, and persistent inequality create currents that can lead us to different futures from those we imagined. Utilizing a longitudinal design and 14 to 15 years of data from the ‘‘Paths on Life’s Way’’ project, based in British Columbia, Canada, and the ‘‘Life Patterns’’ project, set in Victoria, Australia, the authors examine how these two sets of adolescents, who completed their secondary schooling in the late 1980s and early 1990s, manage decisions about postsecondary education, work, and relationships in a context of increasing economic insecurity, global competition, workplace restructuring, and persistent inequalities by class and gender. The similarities in the political, social, and economic institutions of Canada and Australia allow the authors to spotlight how expansions in post-secondary education were orchestrated, how the goal of expanding education opportunity was reflected in education achievement, and how these young adults tried to articulate their educational credentials and life goals with the changing work environment. The authors organize the material into five interrelated themes: reluctant change makers, an education generation, generating new patterns of family life, a generation in search of work/life balance, and a diverse generation. In unfolding these themes, they show us how, on the one hand, these young people wanted the same sorts of things we wanted at their age—financial security (but not necessarily wealth), good relationships, and happiness. But the circumstances they face are different—better in some ways, more difficult in others. Part of that difficulty stems from the diverse pathways available to young people, which may appear incomprehensible to those who argue that more choice is always better. Those trying to figure out how to get from here to there find that having ‘‘endless possibilities’’ is not necessarily a comfort, especially when we later discover that some of those routes are in disrepair, others are too crowded, and still others come with detours that may keep us from ever reaching our destinations. Rather, seeing some number of clearly articulated routes that lead to a specific outcome assures us that we will be able to reach our goals. The trend toward the individualization of risk that has been noted in both the academic and popular press appears here in various manifestations—for example, the anxiety felt over choosing the right major, finding more than a dead-end job, and paying off student loans. The other side of this trend is showing how the costs of social change are externalized, sometimes with unintended consequences. As families and students absorb the higher costs of post-secondary schooling, parents continue to house their graduates well into their 20s, graduates delay marriage and children until they are able to establish some financial foothold, while employers are able to hire college graduates to fill clerical jobs. When the costs of such widespread social change are shifted, those already in a position of disadvantage are often the most vulnerable. Despite the expansion of post-secondary education, existing patterns of inequality are reproduced as new generations are sorted into winners and losers. Those whose parents are college graduates manage the secondary to post-secondary transition more smoothly

The Trouble with Unity: Latino Politics and the Creation of Identity

Why americans don't join the party: race, immigration, and the failure (of political parties) to engage the electorate

The Application of Social Role Theory to the Study of Gender in Politics

The Latina Advantage: Gender, Race, and Political Success

In the last several elections, there has been a substantial diversification of political candidates both at the national and state level, particularly in the Democratic Party. This includes record ...

Intersectional linked fate and political representation

Scholars of gender and race have long acknowledged the importance that descriptive representation plays for marginalized groups, if not substantively than symbolically. Yet, as candidate pools dive...

Shared Identities: Intersectionality, Linked Fate, and Perceptions of Political Candidates:

Many cultural stereotypes exist regarding the “modernity” of values possessed by Latino immigrants, particularly in reference to gender norms. Common perceptions about Latin machismo and marianismo (the idea that women should be pure and moral) do not paint a portrait of gender egalitarian dispositions. These assessments are upheld by neomodernization theorists who specifically identify gender attitudes as a critical element of modernity. In applying a revised modernization theory to the issue of comparative gender values, Inglehart and Norris (2003, 10) hypothesize that development “brings about changed cultural attitudes toward gender equality in virtually any society that experiences the various forms of modernization linked with economic development.” The idea that gender equality norms develop gradually, as a function of modernization, gives rise to different expectations about accepted gender roles in developing countries as opposed to those in advanced industrial democracies. Another feature of this modernization process is the emergence of gender gaps in political behavior and attitudes. Inglehart and Norris (2000) distinguish between traditional gender gaps found in postcommunist and developing societies (in which women are more conservative in their behavior and cultural attitudes relative to men) and modern gender gaps evident in postindustrial societies (in which women are more progressive than men).

Tracking the Latino Gender Gap: Gender Attitudes across Sex, Borders, and Generations

Introduction: Significance of Latino Gender Gaps. 1. Gender Differences in the Immigrant Experience. 2. Gaps in Political Participation. 3. Gaps in Public Opinion. 4. Gaps in Political Ideology and Partisan Identification. 5. Strategic Mobilization of Latinos. Conclusion: Political Implications of the Latino Gender Gap.

Christina E. Bejarano

Papers

The Latina Advantage: Gender, Race, and Political Success

Intersectional linked fate and political representation

Shared Identities: Intersectionality, Linked Fate, and Perceptions of Political Candidates:

Tracking the Latino Gender Gap: Gender Attitudes across Sex, Borders, and Generations

The Latino Gender Gap in U.S. Politics