1 / 29

Incumbents winning re-election

Incumbents winning re-election. Percent. Year. Source: 2002 Statistical Abstract, Table 381; Campaign Finance Institute (www.cfinst.org). Outspending the losers. Incumbents winning re-election. Percent. Year.

devi
Download Presentation

Incumbents winning re-election

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Incumbents winning re-election Percent Year Source: 2002 Statistical Abstract, Table 381; Campaign Finance Institute (www.cfinst.org).

  2. Outspending the losers OpenSecrets.org

  3. Incumbents winning re-election Percent Year Source: 2002 Statistical Abstract, Table 381; Campaign Finance Institute (www.cfinst.org).

  4. Presidential election voting 56.0 Source: 2002 Statistical Abstract, Table 395; Wash Post 1/15/2005 & Census estimate of population, July 1 2003.

  5. Does the power elite lose? • Sometimes • On ‘minor’ issues • When they are divided • After winning compromises • Examples • National Labor Relations Act (1935) • Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)

  6. National Labor Relations Act (1935) • Labor militancy in reaction to the Depression • Ruling class forced to compromise • Protecting union formation, bargaining • Opposed most by Northern industrialists May Day, 1935

  7. Why did they lose – or did they? • Southern and Plains states made a deal • Excluded agricultural, seasonal, and domestic workers from union coverage • The act was later undermined when the economy improved Russell Lee, "Mexican girl carrot worker, Edinburg, Texas." February 1939. Library of Congress.

  8. “To build a stronger American community, we have taken a new approach, rooted in our oldest values, to protecting families and children. I am especially proud of our success in enacting the Family Leave Law.” --Bill Clinton, 10/2/96 (Chicago Sun Times). Family and Medical Leave Act (1993) • Initially opposed by corporate interests and vetoed by Bush Sr.

  9. Family and Medical Leave Act (1993) • Proposed unpaid leave, but at least… • 18 weeks for childbirth, 26 for medical leave • Applied to companies with 15+ workers • Compromise that passed • 12 weeks unpaid, companies with 50+ workers • One-year tenure required • Many part-time workers exempted • Covers about half the workforce

  10. Family income distribution ($2001) 1971 2001 Percent

  11. The shrinking middle class Change in family income distribution, 1971-2001 ($2001) Percent change

  12. Theories of growing inequality • Individual explanations • Social Darwinism • IQ • Structural explanations • Capitalism • Government policy • Deindustrialization • Family structure Beggar, Mercedes: Beijing 2002

  13. Individual explanations Blame the victim: ‘…the people who are left behind [in poverty] are likely to be disproportionately those who suffer not only bad luck, but also a lack of energy, thrift, farsightedness, determination -- and brains.’ --Richard Herrnstein & Charles Murray The Bell Curve (1994), p. 129.

  14. Biology: Social Darwinism ‘The poor … suffered because they were made of inferior stuff; their struggles were simply the manifestation of … natural selection, and to interfere was to doom the society, the race, or even the species as a whole.’ -- Pat Shipman The Evolution of Racism (1994), p. 109

  15. Intelligence Quotient • Herrnstein & Murray, Bell Curve (1994) • More meritocracy means more inequality • IQ is supposed to be inherent intelligence • A fixed quantity of a single essence • Determined at or near birth • It must be measurable with a test • Not knowledge learned in school • Not something cultural

  16. What is missing? Source: 1917 U.S. Army intelligence test, from Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man (1981).

  17. Intelligence and inequality • Even if the assumptions are correct • ‘Intelligence’ leads to class position, if… • Opportunity is equal • Inequality results from individual actions

  18. Why ‘intelligence’ fails • Life, not birth, determines intelligence • Health, social and physical environment • School quality, parents’ education • Opportunity is not equal • Obstacles to education and employment • Discrimination • Inequality is structural, not individual

  19. Structural explanations • Capitalism (see Marx) • Increasing inequality is inevitable in capitalist society • Government policy • Deindustrialization • Economic development, 1970s-present

  20. $7.18 $5.15 Reasons: Government policy • Lower taxes for the rich, welfare cuts • The falling real minimum wage Source: Economic Policy Institute (www.epinet.org).

  21. Reasons: Economic restructuring From manufacturing to services Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov).

  22. Earnings: BA versus HS The growing education pay gap Men Women Source: U.S. Census Bureau, March Current Population Survey.

  23. Computer / Internet at home, 2001 (%) Source: Census Bureau (PPL-175).

  24. Deindustrialization • William Julius Wilson • The Truly Disadvantaged (1987) • When Work Disappears (1996) • Flight of industrial manufacturing • From the Midwest and Northeast, to the South, West, and other countries • Growth of service sector jobs • Better (college), worse (no college) • Men’s employment prospects hurt more

  25. No work all year, central city men Source: March Current Population Surveys (ages 25-54).

  26. Chicago high poverty areas 1970 More than 40% of families poor (1 area) Source: William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disadvantaged (1987)

  27. Chicago high poverty areas 1980 40-49% of families poor (7 areas) More than 50% of families poor (2 areas) Source: William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disadvantaged (1987)

  28. Detroit: Change in Number of Jobs, 1980-1990 Gained 20% or more Lost 20% or more Source: Ted Mouw, ASR 65(5), 2000.

  29. Wilson’s theory • Snowball effects • Tax base shrinks • Schools and other infrastructure crumbles • Community organizations weaken • Stronger effect of concentrated poverty • Weak personal networks • Discrimination by neighborhood

More Related