Racial and Ethnic Politics in the U.S. Final Exam Review Sheet

The exam will include 20 multiple-choice questions (40%), a choice of 4 of 8-10 identifications (important concepts/people from the course) (20%), and an essay (40%). It will cover all material covered since the beginning of the quarter through readings, blogs, and material covered in class. For this exam you can have the following resources with you: your reading reflections, syllabus, and identifying essential political issues handout.

All information related to, and not limited to, the following topics may be included in the exam:

  1. Social Construction of Race and Ethnicity
  2. Essentialism
  3. Social construction (or “constructionism”)
  4. How we construct categories of difference and inequalities
  5. Socialization – what is it and what influences it?
  6. What is the importance of our perspective/history in how we view race/ethnicity?
  7. How do we identify and challenge assumptions?
  8. Differences and similarities between race and ethnicity
  9. Identifications: White privilege, Enculturation, Ethnocentrism, Cultural relativism, essentialism, social construction, poverty threshold,
  10. Historical Construction of Race and Ethnicity
  11. How have different groups defined race (government, society, individuals)
  12. Institutional racism (definition and examples – education, slavery, redlining)
  13. Development of slavery in the U.S. (how it grew? Why? How did its defense change over time?)
  14. Demographic trends (how has the diversity of the U.S. Changed (and how has it been classified – census)
  15. Historical construction of whiteness (Whiteness of a different color, invisibility, role in race and ethnic political debates and policy, white privilege)
  16. Racial formations
  17. Identifications: historical construction, institutional racism/discrimination, indentured servants, Plessy v Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education
  18. Immigration
  19. 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation immigrants
  20. “old” and “new” immigrants
  21. Changes in US immigration policy
  22. Naturalization act of 1790
  23. Chinese exclusion act of 1882
  24. Immigration act of 1924 (Reed-Johnson Act)
  25. Immigration act of 1965
  26. Refugee act of 1980
  27. Immigration reform and control act of 1986
  28. 1990 immigration act
  29. Where do most immigrants live in the US
  30. Characteristics of immigrants today (housing, economy, jobs, education, income, citizenship status)
  31. Documented vs. undocumented immigrants (status, changes, recent policy proposals, DREAMers, etc.)
  32. Effect of immigration on the future of US (diversity, birth rate, changing opinions on immigration)
  33. Effect of Trump/Obama administration policies/proposals regarding these American populations
  34. Identifications: old immigrants, new immigrants, naturalization act of 1790, Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Immigration Act of 1924 (Reed-Johnson Act), Immigration Act of 1965, quotas,
  35. Native American Politics
  36. Civil rights (definition)
  37. Methods of taking land, economic and political power from Native American tribes
  38. Efforts to regain political power
  39. Native American status today (case study: Dakota Access Pipeline)
  40. How are Native Americans similar and different from other marginalized racial and ethnic groups?
  41. Identifications: Indian Removal Act (1830), National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), Implicit Assessemnt Test (IAT), Dakota Access Pipeline, Nation
  42. African American Politics
  43. Slavery (historical buildup, rationale, and resistance)
  44. Civil war amendments (13th, 14th, 15th)
  45. Reconstruction and Black Codes
  46. Jim Crow (literacy test)
  47. Violent intimidation (KKK, White Citizens Council, lynching)
  48. Shifts in population
  49. Civil Rights Movement (strategies, successes, failures)
  50. Hurricane Katrina
  51. Economic and political standing
  52. Reparations
  53. Identifications: black codes, reconstruction, Jim crow, literacy tests, grandfather clause, poll tax, lynching, Plessy v Ferguson, NAACP, SCLC, SNCC, majority-minority districts, representation, reparations
  54. Asian American Politics
  55. Historical context (Okihiro Reading)
  56. Diversity among Asian Americans
  57. Efforts toward progress
  58. Being “yellow”
  59. Economic and political standing
  60. Model minority (myth or fact?)
  61. Identifications: model minority, People v. Hall, Gong Lum v. Rice, Korematsu vs, US
  62. Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, Jewish Americans, post 9/11
  63. Separation of church and state (myth or fact?) – 1st amendment, origin of the phrase – Jefferson
  64. Religious representation in Congress
  65. Similarities and differences between Arab Americans, Muslim, Americans, and People from the Middle East
  66. Effect of 9/11 on these populations (rights, discrimination, efforts toward assimilation)
  67. Impact of Trump campaign/election/travel ban
  68. Jewish Americans (diversity, historical changes, discrimination, economic and political standing)
  69. Effect of Trump administration policies/proposals regarding these American populations
  70. Religious diversity in America
  71. Identifications: Islamaphobia, Anti-Semitism, separation of church and state, 1st Amendment, Establishment Clause
  72. Latino Politics
  73. Identification and diversity (different groups, census, ethnicity)
  74. Latino vs. Hispanic
  75. Discrimination
  76. Rodney Hero – Two tiered pluralism
  77. Changing Latino population
  78. Political issues (immigration, education, languages, etc…)
  79. Sonia Sotomayor
  80. Effect of Trump administration policies/proposals regarding Latinos
  81. Identifications: Hispanic, Latino, two-tiered pluralism, undocumented immigrants, Sonia Sotomayor, Rodney Hero
  82. Media
  83. Powers of the media: Oversight, Agenda Setting, Framing, Priming
  84. Role of news coverage (findings from journal articles and studies from your reading)
  85. Visibility of various groups on TV (news vs popular entertainment)
  86. Changes in who is represented on TV/Movies
  87. Identifications: Oversight, Agenda Setting, Framing, Priming
  88. Economics
  89. Important terms: wealth, income, employment rate, underemployed, Poverty rate
  90. How is the poverty rate determined
  91. Discrimination in hiring practices
  92. Urban neighborhoods
  93. Wealth gap and economic situation in U.S. (how do various groups compare and contrast here)
  94. Economic status of African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans
  95. Effect of the recent recession on different groups.
  96. Identifications: wealth, income, employment rate, underemployed, Poverty rate
  97. Electoral Politics and Representation
  98. How do different groups vote (exit polls)
  99. Representation (descriptive vs. substantive and symbolic)
  100. Arguments for descriptive/substantive representatives
  101. Current representation in congress
  102. Majority minority districts (gerrymandering, effect on minorities and the parties)
  103. 2008 election (Obama effect, effect on race relations, “post racial” concept)
  104. 2016 election (what role did race/ethnicity play in the election? How has it mattered afterward?)
  105. Identifications: descriptive representation, substantive representation, symbolic representation, group representation, Barack Obama, Donald Trump
  106. Affirmative Action
  107. Definition
  108. Historical buildup (political actions and court decisions)
  109. Use in employment and education (effects on other stakeholders)
  110. Modern debate (Bakke, prop 209, Michigan cases, Seattle case)
  111. College enrollment
  112. Long term goal
  113. Identifications: affirmative action, reverse discrimination, Bakke v. Regents, JFK, Lyndon Johnson, Howard Commencement Address, Steelworkers v. Weber
  114. Law and the Justice System
  115. Racial profiling (definition and changing application post 9/11)
  116. How states have monitored traffic stops (what have they found?)
  117. Prisons in America (overcrowding, growth of prison population, reasons for growth, racial and ethnic inequalities, role of the war on drugs
  118. Black Lives Matter (buildup, goals, motivations, reactions pos/neg)
  119. Identifications: racial profiling, Black Lives Matter, Ferguson, War on Drugs,
  120. Future of Racial and Ethnic Politics in the US
  1. Major themes from blogs and presentations

ESSAY: your essay will ask you to identify and evaluate a political issue related to the course. You will be expected to use the four step process to identify political issues including providing a political plan to help improve this situation. You will be expected to cite several of the readings from the course.