Lisa L. Miller
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195331684
- eISBN:
- 9780199867967
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331684.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This book compares interest group participation in the development of crime and justice policy across the local, state and national levels of government and has three main contributions to law, ...
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This book compares interest group participation in the development of crime and justice policy across the local, state and national levels of government and has three main contributions to law, policy and criminology scholarship. First, it provides a detailed analysis of the narrow and often parochial nature of national and state crime politics, in contrast to the active and intense local political mobilization on crime by racial minorities and the urban poor. The book illustrates the ways the structure of U.S. federalism has contributed to the current situation in which national policy responses to crime overlook black and poor victims of violence and how highly organized, narrowly focused interest groups, such as the National Rifle Association, have a disproportionate influence in crime politics. This study also demonstrates that urban minorities and the poor mobilize locally to address crime as one of many social ills, though their tactics are often unconventional and their resources limited. Second, it illustrates how the absence of these groups from the policy process at the state and national levels has encouraged the development of policy frames that are highly skewed in favor of police, prosecutors, and narrow citizen interests, whose policy preferences often converge on increasing punishments for offenders. That this is true even at the national level, where policy scholars often assume the policy process is more open and porous than at subregional levels, is a major contribution of the book. Finally, the comparison of group participation across legislative venues on a single policy issue contributes to our understanding of group theory.Less
This book compares interest group participation in the development of crime and justice policy across the local, state and national levels of government and has three main contributions to law, policy and criminology scholarship. First, it provides a detailed analysis of the narrow and often parochial nature of national and state crime politics, in contrast to the active and intense local political mobilization on crime by racial minorities and the urban poor. The book illustrates the ways the structure of U.S. federalism has contributed to the current situation in which national policy responses to crime overlook black and poor victims of violence and how highly organized, narrowly focused interest groups, such as the National Rifle Association, have a disproportionate influence in crime politics. This study also demonstrates that urban minorities and the poor mobilize locally to address crime as one of many social ills, though their tactics are often unconventional and their resources limited. Second, it illustrates how the absence of these groups from the policy process at the state and national levels has encouraged the development of policy frames that are highly skewed in favor of police, prosecutors, and narrow citizen interests, whose policy preferences often converge on increasing punishments for offenders. That this is true even at the national level, where policy scholars often assume the policy process is more open and porous than at subregional levels, is a major contribution of the book. Finally, the comparison of group participation across legislative venues on a single policy issue contributes to our understanding of group theory.
Jeff Manza, Christopher Uggen, and Angela Behrens
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195149326
- eISBN:
- 9780199943975
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149326.003.0012
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance
This chapter develops a broad historical overview, subjecting race-based theories about the adoption and development of felon disenfranchisement laws to scrutiny. It develops a systematic ...
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This chapter develops a broad historical overview, subjecting race-based theories about the adoption and development of felon disenfranchisement laws to scrutiny. It develops a systematic quantitative analysis that uses detailed information on the social and political makeup of individual states over a long historical period to examine how various factors affect the adoption and extension of state disenfranchisement laws. Why is race a logical culprit in the search to explain the development of felon disenfranchisement laws? In recent years, there has been an explosion of scholarship by social scientists and historians fingering race, and racial politics, as principal sources of the peculiar development of American political and legal culture. This scholarship includes three distinct types of argument: firstly, arguments about the interaction between race and the development of U.S. political institutions; secondly, arguments focusing on the impact of racial attitudes and racism; and thirdly, arguments that stress the nexus between race (and class) in the political economy of the American South.Less
This chapter develops a broad historical overview, subjecting race-based theories about the adoption and development of felon disenfranchisement laws to scrutiny. It develops a systematic quantitative analysis that uses detailed information on the social and political makeup of individual states over a long historical period to examine how various factors affect the adoption and extension of state disenfranchisement laws. Why is race a logical culprit in the search to explain the development of felon disenfranchisement laws? In recent years, there has been an explosion of scholarship by social scientists and historians fingering race, and racial politics, as principal sources of the peculiar development of American political and legal culture. This scholarship includes three distinct types of argument: firstly, arguments about the interaction between race and the development of U.S. political institutions; secondly, arguments focusing on the impact of racial attitudes and racism; and thirdly, arguments that stress the nexus between race (and class) in the political economy of the American South.
Lisa L. Miller
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195331684
- eISBN:
- 9780199867967
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331684.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter summarizes the book's main findings and offers insights into its implications for federalism, political representation, crime, and governance. While federalism may provide multiple ...
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This chapter summarizes the book's main findings and offers insights into its implications for federalism, political representation, crime, and governance. While federalism may provide multiple pathways of access, it also divides and conquers, isolating poorly resourced groups from one another and making it difficult for them to hold legislators accountable to their interests. The federalization of crime control serves not only to promote the narrow interests of highly mobilized groups, it may also atrophy local civic engagement by reducing the opportunities for local groups to participate meaningfully in agenda setting and problem definition. The rich mix of interest group activity at the local level has implications for accountability and representation that are poorly served at the state and national levels. The groups at most risk of victimization—the poor and racial minorities—give voice to definitions of the problem that revitalize a broader discussion of the public sphere, the life conditions the most marginalized experience, and the capacity of collective efforts to ameliorate those conditions. This is particularly significant since state and national venues depoliticize and individualize the problems facing urban minorities today. This chapter also revisits the typology of group representation presented in Chapter 1.Less
This chapter summarizes the book's main findings and offers insights into its implications for federalism, political representation, crime, and governance. While federalism may provide multiple pathways of access, it also divides and conquers, isolating poorly resourced groups from one another and making it difficult for them to hold legislators accountable to their interests. The federalization of crime control serves not only to promote the narrow interests of highly mobilized groups, it may also atrophy local civic engagement by reducing the opportunities for local groups to participate meaningfully in agenda setting and problem definition. The rich mix of interest group activity at the local level has implications for accountability and representation that are poorly served at the state and national levels. The groups at most risk of victimization—the poor and racial minorities—give voice to definitions of the problem that revitalize a broader discussion of the public sphere, the life conditions the most marginalized experience, and the capacity of collective efforts to ameliorate those conditions. This is particularly significant since state and national venues depoliticize and individualize the problems facing urban minorities today. This chapter also revisits the typology of group representation presented in Chapter 1.
Vanessa Barker
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195370027
- eISBN:
- 9780199871315
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195370027.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter summarizes the key findings of the study and points to theoretical, empirical, and public policy implications. It highlights the role of civic engagement, social trust, the resiliency of ...
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This chapter summarizes the key findings of the study and points to theoretical, empirical, and public policy implications. It highlights the role of civic engagement, social trust, the resiliency of path dependencies, black incorporation, and crime control discourse rooted in particular places as key explanatory factors in American penal sanctioning. The research shows that higher levels of civic engagement tend to support milder punishments whereas lower levels tend to support more coercive criminal justice policies. Contrary to conventional policy proscriptions, this chapter argues that the public needs to be more, not less, involved in penal reform as public support is necessary for the legitimacy of state action and is especially critical in policy areas fraught with moral and emotional dilemmas. Crime and punishment raise unresolved moral questions about pain, suffering, the value of human life, justice, safety, and security. These questions should be resolved through a democratic process, and specifically a deliberative democratic process.Less
This chapter summarizes the key findings of the study and points to theoretical, empirical, and public policy implications. It highlights the role of civic engagement, social trust, the resiliency of path dependencies, black incorporation, and crime control discourse rooted in particular places as key explanatory factors in American penal sanctioning. The research shows that higher levels of civic engagement tend to support milder punishments whereas lower levels tend to support more coercive criminal justice policies. Contrary to conventional policy proscriptions, this chapter argues that the public needs to be more, not less, involved in penal reform as public support is necessary for the legitimacy of state action and is especially critical in policy areas fraught with moral and emotional dilemmas. Crime and punishment raise unresolved moral questions about pain, suffering, the value of human life, justice, safety, and security. These questions should be resolved through a democratic process, and specifically a deliberative democratic process.
Carol A. Horton
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195143485
- eISBN:
- 9780199850402
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195143485.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This book traces the roots of the contemporary crisis of progressive liberalism deep into the nation's racial past. It argues that the contemporary conservative claim that the American liberal ...
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This book traces the roots of the contemporary crisis of progressive liberalism deep into the nation's racial past. It argues that the contemporary conservative claim that the American liberal tradition has been rooted in a “color blind” conception of individual rights is inaccurate and misleading. In contrast, American liberalism has alternatively served both to support and oppose racial hierarchy, as well as socioeconomic equity more broadly. Racial politics in the United States have repeatedly made it exceedingly difficult to establish powerful constituencies that understand socioeconomic equity as vital to American democracy and aspire to limit gross disparities of wealth, power, and status. Revitalizing such equalitarian conceptions of American liberalism, the book suggests, will require developing new forms of racial and class identity that support, rather than sabotage such fundamental political commitments.Less
This book traces the roots of the contemporary crisis of progressive liberalism deep into the nation's racial past. It argues that the contemporary conservative claim that the American liberal tradition has been rooted in a “color blind” conception of individual rights is inaccurate and misleading. In contrast, American liberalism has alternatively served both to support and oppose racial hierarchy, as well as socioeconomic equity more broadly. Racial politics in the United States have repeatedly made it exceedingly difficult to establish powerful constituencies that understand socioeconomic equity as vital to American democracy and aspire to limit gross disparities of wealth, power, and status. Revitalizing such equalitarian conceptions of American liberalism, the book suggests, will require developing new forms of racial and class identity that support, rather than sabotage such fundamental political commitments.
Stephen Selka
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813031712
- eISBN:
- 9780813039572
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813031712.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
Brazilians of African descent draw upon both Christian and African diasporic religions to construct their racial identities in a variety of intriguing ways. Focusing on the Recôncavo region of ...
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Brazilians of African descent draw upon both Christian and African diasporic religions to construct their racial identities in a variety of intriguing ways. Focusing on the Recôncavo region of north-eastern Brazil—known for its rich Afro-Brazilian traditions and as a center of racial consciousness in the country—this book provides an ethnography that examines what it means to be black in Brazil. It examines how Evangelical Protestantism, Candomblé (traditional Afro-Brazilian religion), and Catholicism—especially progressive Catholicism—are deployed in discursive struggles concerning racism and identity. In the process, the book provides a model of wedding abstract theory with concrete details of everyday life. Revealing the complexity and sometimes contradictory aspects of Afro-Brazilian religious practices and racial identity, the book brings a balanced perspective to polarized discussions of Brazilian racial politics.Less
Brazilians of African descent draw upon both Christian and African diasporic religions to construct their racial identities in a variety of intriguing ways. Focusing on the Recôncavo region of north-eastern Brazil—known for its rich Afro-Brazilian traditions and as a center of racial consciousness in the country—this book provides an ethnography that examines what it means to be black in Brazil. It examines how Evangelical Protestantism, Candomblé (traditional Afro-Brazilian religion), and Catholicism—especially progressive Catholicism—are deployed in discursive struggles concerning racism and identity. In the process, the book provides a model of wedding abstract theory with concrete details of everyday life. Revealing the complexity and sometimes contradictory aspects of Afro-Brazilian religious practices and racial identity, the book brings a balanced perspective to polarized discussions of Brazilian racial politics.
Lisa Tessman
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195179149
- eISBN:
- 9780199835782
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195179145.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
This chapter suggests that not only might a loyal disposition be detrimental for the one who is loyal, but it may actually turn out not to truly support liberatory ends. In order for group loyalty to ...
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This chapter suggests that not only might a loyal disposition be detrimental for the one who is loyal, but it may actually turn out not to truly support liberatory ends. In order for group loyalty to even be available as a virtue, there must be a worthy object of loyalty. While feminist communities and communities that ground liberatory racial movements are potential objects of group loyalty, loyalty forbids doing anything aimed at undermining the existence of the object of loyalty. Because liberatory principles sometimes do indeed call for dissolving the identities to which one might have allegiances, there may be no morally acceptable opportunities for group loyalty for a political resister. Political resisters who do sustain loyalty to a community by accepting the challenge of being a loyal critic may become burdened in several ways: they may find themselves tied to a community whose practices reflect internal dynamics of dominance and subordination, and they may belong to the community only uncomfortably, for their critical activities will tend to alienate them from other community members.Less
This chapter suggests that not only might a loyal disposition be detrimental for the one who is loyal, but it may actually turn out not to truly support liberatory ends. In order for group loyalty to even be available as a virtue, there must be a worthy object of loyalty. While feminist communities and communities that ground liberatory racial movements are potential objects of group loyalty, loyalty forbids doing anything aimed at undermining the existence of the object of loyalty. Because liberatory principles sometimes do indeed call for dissolving the identities to which one might have allegiances, there may be no morally acceptable opportunities for group loyalty for a political resister. Political resisters who do sustain loyalty to a community by accepting the challenge of being a loyal critic may become burdened in several ways: they may find themselves tied to a community whose practices reflect internal dynamics of dominance and subordination, and they may belong to the community only uncomfortably, for their critical activities will tend to alienate them from other community members.
Carol A. Horton
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195143485
- eISBN:
- 9780199850402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195143485.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter deals with the meteoric rise and fall of social liberalism in the United States during the mid- to late 1960s. In 1964, movement activists and their allies optimistically believed that ...
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This chapter deals with the meteoric rise and fall of social liberalism in the United States during the mid- to late 1960s. In 1964, movement activists and their allies optimistically believed that they could form a new coalition of minorities, labor unionists, left-of-center liberals, and low-income voters that would have the political muscle to move the Democratic Party substantially to the left in order to pursue the ambitious agenda of eliminating both poverty and racial injustice. By 1968, however, these hopes had been crushed. As the social and political turmoil growing out of racial politics and the Vietnam War engulfed the nation, a growing conservative “backlash” gained momentum. Although the election of President Richard Nixon in that year did not inaugurate the sort of extreme reactionary regime that some hoped for and others feared, it was widely taken to mark the beginning of a new, more conservative era.Less
This chapter deals with the meteoric rise and fall of social liberalism in the United States during the mid- to late 1960s. In 1964, movement activists and their allies optimistically believed that they could form a new coalition of minorities, labor unionists, left-of-center liberals, and low-income voters that would have the political muscle to move the Democratic Party substantially to the left in order to pursue the ambitious agenda of eliminating both poverty and racial injustice. By 1968, however, these hopes had been crushed. As the social and political turmoil growing out of racial politics and the Vietnam War engulfed the nation, a growing conservative “backlash” gained momentum. Although the election of President Richard Nixon in that year did not inaugurate the sort of extreme reactionary regime that some hoped for and others feared, it was widely taken to mark the beginning of a new, more conservative era.
Michael J. Klarman
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195177862
- eISBN:
- 9780199870189
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177862.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter assesses how the forces of massive resistance overwhelmed more liberal opinion on racial integration. It stresses that those white southerners who were opposed to the Brown decision were ...
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This chapter assesses how the forces of massive resistance overwhelmed more liberal opinion on racial integration. It stresses that those white southerners who were opposed to the Brown decision were more politically committed than were those who accepted or supported it. It adds that die-hard segregationists used the apparatus of local and state government to destroy political dissent among the southern whites. It highlights the importance of legislative malapportionment, which provided disproportionate political power to rural districts where white racism was most virulent. It shows a dramatic picture of the southern states in the grip of reactionary racial politics.Less
This chapter assesses how the forces of massive resistance overwhelmed more liberal opinion on racial integration. It stresses that those white southerners who were opposed to the Brown decision were more politically committed than were those who accepted or supported it. It adds that die-hard segregationists used the apparatus of local and state government to destroy political dissent among the southern whites. It highlights the importance of legislative malapportionment, which provided disproportionate political power to rural districts where white racism was most virulent. It shows a dramatic picture of the southern states in the grip of reactionary racial politics.
G. A. Bremner and Jonathan Conlin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780197265871
- eISBN:
- 9780191772030
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265871.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This introductory essay outlines the early life and career of Edward Augustus Freeman, setting the context for the subject-specific essays that follow. It discusses the influences that shaped ...
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This introductory essay outlines the early life and career of Edward Augustus Freeman, setting the context for the subject-specific essays that follow. It discusses the influences that shaped Freeman’s worldview and argues for a closer reading of his contributions to key debates of the late Victorian period. Because of his attitude towards race, in particular his insistence on ‘Teutonic’ superiority, Freeman has often been written off or misunderstood. It is true that in light of social developments today many of his views are unpalatable, but he was not unusual for his time, and was seen by both his allies and adversaries as a prime interlocutor on issues ranging from architecture, politics, and historical method, to foxhunting and vivisection. Unsavoury many of his views may have been, but ill-considered they were not. Ultimately we are asked to reconsider Freeman’s importance and reputation in the whole as an intelligent, fiercely independent, and above all fearless contributor to the world of Victorian cultural politics.Less
This introductory essay outlines the early life and career of Edward Augustus Freeman, setting the context for the subject-specific essays that follow. It discusses the influences that shaped Freeman’s worldview and argues for a closer reading of his contributions to key debates of the late Victorian period. Because of his attitude towards race, in particular his insistence on ‘Teutonic’ superiority, Freeman has often been written off or misunderstood. It is true that in light of social developments today many of his views are unpalatable, but he was not unusual for his time, and was seen by both his allies and adversaries as a prime interlocutor on issues ranging from architecture, politics, and historical method, to foxhunting and vivisection. Unsavoury many of his views may have been, but ill-considered they were not. Ultimately we are asked to reconsider Freeman’s importance and reputation in the whole as an intelligent, fiercely independent, and above all fearless contributor to the world of Victorian cultural politics.
