Whole class

Question 1

Essay 1: Analyze the overall effect of various federal government policies on social inequalities of various kinds in the contemporary United States. Which public programs or actions significantly ameliorate inequalities and/or reduce poverty? Which programs or actions reinforce or even exacerbate specific kinds of inequalities? Identify one new policy intervention that would reduce inequalities you consider harmful - say why and how

Answer 1

Paragraph 1:

As discussed in Lecture #17, DACA was passed in 2012 and gave those who were brought to this country at a young age relief from deportation and work authorization
Gave them things like work authorization, social security cards and drivers licenses
Decreased inequality because it allowed a significant population the ability to live up to their potential, allowing them to go to college and attend high level institutions
This lecture discusses how the average wage of recipients increased significantly and they were able to become more education
Paragraph 2:

As discussed Lecture #20 Dobbs v Jackson, overturned roe v wade and ended constitutional protection for abortions
Disproportionately impacts low income women because they are the ones left out
Allows for the continuation of poverty cycle

Paragraph 3:

In Haskins’ “The Family is Here to Stay - or Not”, he’s trying to promote the idea of marriage because of a common conception that marriage is at the foundation of a successful society
However he suggests doing more to help single mothers raise their children, such as childcare subsidies
This will allow single mothers the time to pursue higher level careers or education that will in turn benefit their children

Question 2

Essay 2: Identify the most important current disputes about US policies toward immigrants. Why and how are these issues divisive, and how have divisions about them contributed to congressional inaction and electoral divisions since the 1990s?

Answer 2

Militarization of border control (Massey, Durand, and Pren)
The issue of how easy it should be to come into this country, coupled with the argument that border enforcement is over militarized and is harming people that are just coming here for a better life

Temporary Protected Status (Lecture #17)
Grants people from selected countries that are either facing ongoing armed conflict, natural disaster, or extraordinary and temporary circumstances a reprieve from deportation and work authorization
However, there are disputes over the continuation of this program and the eligibility criteria (how do we designate which countries are eligible)
Also how long should TPS recipients be allowed to stay in this country
Should they be allowed a pathway to citizenship

DACA (Lecture #17)
DACA was passed in 2012 and gave those who were brought to this country at a young age relief from deportation and work authorization
Gave them things like work authorization, social security cards and drivers licenses
Disputes:
There should be a pathway to citizenship
How it’s still only under an executive order and it needs to be codified through legislation
How have these divisions contributed to congressional inaction
Because of
Partisan politics, more polarization (Mettler and Lieberman)
Electoral consideration

Question 3

Essay 3: How have various kinds of social, economic, and political factors in the United States contributed to abortion clashes between pro life and pro choice forces of various kinds? In turn, how have (or potentially might) major shifts in abortion policies at the national and state level furthered or reduced various kinds of social inequalities?

Answer 3

Social Factor: as discussed in Lecture #20, when looking at the issue of abortion, the biggest divide is not between men and women, it’s between religious affiliations
White Evangelical christians are seemingly looked at as the leaders of the pro life movement
They justify their position through using their religion however this creates major clashes with pro choice people as they feel that they’re having religion forced onto them
Political factor: Lecture #20, in the 80s the republican party reorienting towards white Evangelical conservatives, and dems siding with feminists
Making the issue of abortion a major part of their platform really politicized abortion than it had been previously, and increased the polarization between pro choice and pro life people
Economic: Lecture #19, Drew Halfmann introduces the Hyde Amendment which was passed by congress in 1976, prohibited public funding of abortions through Medicaid
Pro choice people see this as an attack on low income women
Clashes with pro life people because they question if they even are actual “pro life”
How it increases inequality: As discussed in Lecture #20, the result of policies and rulings such as Dobbs that causes the closure of many abortion clinics decreases overall access to abortion
However this disproportionately impacts women of color and low income women to safe access to abortions
As stated in this lecture, states with abortion bans ahve higher rates of child poverty
Also can perpetuate the cycle of poverty

Question 4

Essay 5 Policies create politics. Explain and illustrate this statement, pinning down various ways in which policies enacted at one point in time affect subsequent processes of politics. To flesh out your answer, draw on examples from policies discussed in two major areas of the course - social policy and immigration

Answer 4

explanation: this is referring to how when policies are implemented, these policies can influence the political landscape by:Impacting what is prioritized when agenda settingWhen a policy is popular at a particular time that agenda is being set Impacting what is prominent in public opinion Influencing the ideology of political parties

Immigration policy: Lecture #17 or Massey, Durand, and Pren the immigration reform and control act of 1986 (IRCA), granted amnesty to millions of undocumented workers and made it illegal to hire someone who was undocumented
This increased border patrol and enforcement and increased debates about the treatment of undocumented people
And conversations about
influenced the prominence of the issue of undocumented immigrants
Also dissuade employers from hiring undocumented people

Social Policy: Lecture #11, the impact of the passage of the Affordable Care Act
Politicized conversation about healthcare
Its passage led to debates around healthcare access, government intervention in healthcare, and the role of private insurance. Subsequent political discussions revolved around its repeal, replacement, or expansion.

Question 5

1965 Immigration Act, Hart-Cellar Act:

Answer 5

Introduced under Kennedy and passed Under Johnson. Replaced the quota system with the Uniform Limit per Country, limited immigration from the Western Hemisphere for the first time and had the unintended consequence of increasing immigration from Asia and Latin America. The new law created a preference system that focused on immigrants’ skills and family relations with citizens or U. S. residents.

Question 6

Veil of ignorance

Answer 6

The veil of ignorance suggests imagining a hypothetical scenario where individuals are about to create a new society but are unaware of their own characteristics, such as their social status, wealth, gender, ethnicity, talents, or abilities. In this imagined state, individuals are behind a metaphorical veil that prevents them from knowing their personal circumstances or advantages/disadvantages in the society they’re about to create.

The purpose of this thought experiment is to encourage individuals to make fair and just decisions for the structure of society, policies, laws, and distribution of resources. Behind the veil of ignorance, people would be motivated to establish principles that would benefit everyone equally, as they wouldn’t know their own position in the society being created. This allows for unbiased decision-making that considers the interests of all individuals, regardless of their personal characteristics or circumstances.

Question 7

Diversity visa program

Answer 7

Created by the 1990 Immigration Act to increase visas for Ireland
These 50,000 visas annually allocated randomly to countries that have sent less than 50,000 immigrants in the past 5 years

Question 8

Diversity visa program

Answer 8

Created by the 1990 Immigration Act to increase visas for Ireland
These 50,000 visas annually allocated randomly to countries that have sent less than 50,000 immigrants in the past 5 years

Question 9

Migrant Protection Protocols

Answer 9

Or “Remain in Mexico Program” is a protocol where immigrants without documentation, were sent to Mexico to wait on their immigration proceedings. They crossed the border in Mexico but were not always originally from Mexico.

Question 10

Humanitarian Parole

Answer 10

Provides relief from deportation and work permits. Allows 30,000 people a month from four countries: Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, and Nicaragua in to the US, due to humanitarian crises in the country. They must arrive by air, and have US based sponsors, and are able to live in the US for two years. However, the gov is going to need to either provide a path to legal status or they apply for asylum

Question 11

Crimmigraton

Answer 11

Refers to the criminalization of immigration by integrating immigration law with criminal law.
Examples:
Anti terrorism and effective death penalty act: broadens definition of deportable felons and restricts due process for deportation decisions
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act: mandatory detention for an aggravated felony + connecting local police systems to ICE, providing data of people vs. sanctuary cities who do not corporate with ICE
1996 Welfare reform: restricted access to public assistance programs for legal immigrants during their first five years in the country
2001 Patriot Act: increases in border patrol
Automatic deportation for any non-citizen convicted of an aggravated felony

Question 12

DACA

Answer 12

Deferred action for childhood arrivals, enacted by obama in june 2012. Allowed individuals who came to the us as children work authorization and temporary renewable legal status (protection from deportation), 2 years renewable.
Allows people to get social security card but does not grant green card or path to citizenship. Trump tried to Terminate DACA in 2017

Question 13

Majority-minority myth

Answer 13

A myth perpetuated by right-wing politicians that eventually, due to immigration and minorities increasing, America will soon have a majority of minority citizens and the white population will be the new minority.
Relates to the Great Replacement theory

Question 14

Dobbs

Answer 14

June 2022 Supreme Court Decision ruling to overturn Roe v Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) – concluding that the constitution does not protect the right to abortion. As a result, the Court’s decision turned the issue of
abortion regulation to the elected branches, i.e., back to the states.

Question 15

1924 Johnson Reed Act (Classical Restriction Era)

Answer 15

Limited immigration from the Eastern
Hemisphere to 154,000 per year.
* Created visas, and screening by consuls
abroad.
* Created Border Patrol
* Did not limit the Western Hemisphere
*established quotas based on national origin
- had a lasting impact on immigration patterns to the United States, significantly reducing the number of immigrants from certain regions for decades. It established a preference for immigrants from Western and Northern Europe, shaping the demographic composition of the country for years to come.

Question 16

Immigration Act of 1917

Answer 16

• Instituted Literacy Requirement
• Created “Asiatic Barred Zone”. Barred all
  immigration from Asia.
• Expanded powers of immigration officers to
  exclude or deport people.
• Public Health Service to do screening for
  diseases.
• established a geographic “barred zone” that included much of Asia and the Pacific Islands, restricting immigration from these regions

Question 17

Dillingham Commission

Answer 17

1907-1911
- Its primary objective was to conduct a comprehensive study of immigration in the United States. including patterns of migration, the impact of immigrants on American society, their economic contributions, and the effects of different immigrant groups on the country.
– 42 Volumes
– Recommended restriction of immigration.
– Contained a great deal of debate and testimony
about the “racial” inferiority of immigrants from
Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe

Question 18

Political Nativism

Answer 18

• Importance of preserving US as a democracy
• Fears of anarchists and agitators
• Bolshevik Revolution 1917
• Fears of divided loyalty during World War I.
  (Germans were largest group, had preserved
  language and culture through schools and
  organizations)

Question 19

Racial Nativism

Answer 19

US as a white nation SCE and Irish seen as separate “races”
* Fears about racial contamination and inferiority of immigrants
* Eugenics: “scientific” use of race to explain behavior and
difference.
* Dark skinned immigrants as targets
– Southern Italians, Greeks
* Madison Grant: eugenic theory of Nordic superiority, warned
against hybridism that would lead to reversion to the “lower
type” of race.

Question 20

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Answer 20

1848, ended the
Mexican American War.

There were an estimated 80,000-100,000 Mexicans
living in Northern Mexico in 1846, on the eve of the
US invasion.
* Treaty gave Mexicans the right to remain in US
territory or remove to Mexico.
* Estimated 3,000 chose to leave their homes and
move to Mexico.

Question 21

Bracero Program

Answer 21

a bilateral agreement between the United States and Mexico established during World War II in 1942. It was designed to address labor shortages in the United States caused by the war while providing temporary employment opportunities for Mexican agricultural workers.

Question 22

1952 McCarren Walter Act

Answer 22

Abolished the category of aliens ineligible for
citizenship.
* But it awarded a quota of 105 for China, 185 for
Japan.
* All other countries in the Asia Pacific Triangle (Asiatic
Barred Zone) got quotas of 100 each.
* Granted nonquota status to husbands of American
wives.
- Eliminates all racial and gender barriers to
naturalization.
Continues quota system. Racial for Asians.
Established preferences
- It removed racial barriers to naturalization, allowing individuals of Asian descent to become naturalized citizens, a change from previous laws that had explicitly excluded Asians from citizenship.

Question 23

1986 IRCA

Answer 23

Legalized 1.75 million people who could prove they had been in the country for an extended period for the law was passed
Had to have been in the US before 1982 and able to prove it
Had to apply within 18 months of the law being passed
Made it illegal to hire an undocumented immigrant
Could apply for a green card after a year on the provision that you had an understanding of English and American History
Led to 2.7 million people being legalized (this was intended, but an unintended consequence is that it created a policy feedback loop because the legalized
Unintended Consequences: ethnic and civil rights groups mobilized against national ID cards, although border enforcement increased– flows went back up (for both illegal and legal)

Question 24

aedpa: Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act

Answer 24

Broadens definition of deportale felons
Restrict access to due process for deportation decisions
Excludes foreign born people who are members of terrorist organizations

Question 25

iirira: Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA)

Answer 25

Aggravated felony Mandatory detention
Begins the integration of federal and local law enforcement

Question 26

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (Welfare Reform)

Answer 26

Restricts access to public assistance programs for legal immigrants during their first five years in the country
Bars non citizens here longer than five years for some programs

Question 27

Relative mobility vs absolute mobility

Answer 27

relative: A horizontal comparison between others who are in similar positions (can be demographic)
Absolute: A vertical comparison between you and your parents.

Question 28

Wealth vs income inequality

Answer 28

wealth: Total accumulation of assets through generations (net worth). Wealth inequality is larger than income inequality because wealth multiplies exponentially at the top.
Income: Your current cash flows you are receiving (government transfers plus salary)

Question 29

80/20 gap vs 99/1 gap

Answer 29

Top quintile vs rest of America compared to 1% and the rest of America. 20% is the upper middle class whereas 1% notes the actual billionaires.
80/20 is generally separated on educational attainment. 99/1 is a larger gap in absolute terms and refers to extreme concentration of wealth among the uber rich

Question 30

Federated membership associations

Answer 30

Organization that were much more prominent in the 1970s. It’s similar the U.S. government by having local, state and national chapters. People joined voluntarily. People were able to learn about other places as these associations often covered travel costs. Groups based on identity and policy issues, real and tangible influence in American politics.
These were cross-issue, cross-class and broad-ranging organizations.

Question 31

Tea Party

Answer 31

• a political movement that emerged in the United States in 2009. It was largely characterized by its advocacy for limited government, fiscal responsibility, and adherence to the U.S. Constitution.
• A group working towards the progression of right ideology. Developed during the lead-up to the Obama Era, was focused initially on fiscal / economic policy, but quickly became ethnonationalist (xenophobia, fears surrounding immigration)

Question 32

Right to work law

Answer 32

Made it harder for unions to collect dues because this law gave them the protections without having to join and pay dues, Republican effort to weaken unions
Unions can’t charge dues to nonmembers, instituted by Republicans to weaken unions because why would you join if you get the benefits of unions but don’t have to pay dues.

Question 33

Official poverty measure

Answer 33

• developed in the 1960s
• considers only pre-tax cash income and compares it to a set of income thresholds, often referred to as the poverty line or poverty threshold, which varies based on family size and composition
• doesn’t consider certain expenses or resources that affect families’ economic well-being, such as childcare costs, medical expenses, or differences in housing costs across regions.

Question 34

Supplemental Poverty Measure

Answer 34

• introduced in 2010
• takes into account various factors beyond pre-tax cash income. It includes non-cash benefits (e.g., SNAP or housing subsidies), tax credits (e.g., Earned Income Tax Credit), and necessary expenses (e.g., childcare, work-related expenses, and medical costs).
• adjusts for geographical variations in the cost of living, acknowledging that expenses differ significantly across regions

Question 35

Democratic backsliding

Answer 35

• refers to the gradual erosion or regression of democratic principles, norms, institutions, and practices within a country that was previously considered to be democratic or moving toward democracy. It involves a systematic and deliberate decline in democratic qualities, leading to a weakening of democratic governance and the consolidation of authoritarian tendencies.
• erosion of democratic norms
• weakening of institutions
• concentration of power

Question 36

Temporary Protected Status

Answer 36

a humanitarian immigration program in the United States that grants temporary legal status and protection from deportation to foreign nationals who are unable to return to their home countries due to ongoing armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions that prevent their safe return.

Question 37

Quickening era (through early U.S. history)

Answer 37

Penalties after fetus felt in womb;
but early trimester pregnancies often interrupted by woman and her associates.

Question 38

Professionalizing physicians take moral and legal control mid to late 1900s to 1950s

Answer 38

Elites and state legislatures control procedure, often in class/ethnically biased
ways. Abortionists and many women subject to criminal penalties or obstacles

Question 39

Early liberalization, 1950s to 1973:

Answer 39

Physician and advocacy lobbying persuades some
state legislatures to allow “health” procedures, decriminalizing many abortions.
Catholic Church leads opposition and raises public awareness

Question 40

Roe v. Wade (1973) and other SCOTUS cases decriminalize pre-3rd trimester abortions
nationwide

Answer 40

But also spark increasingly multidenominational and populist anti-
abortion movements, fueling party polarization. Women and individually chosen
doctors are ostensibly left in charge, but Hyde Amendment (1976) and
proliferating state regulations reduce practical access for less privileged women.

Question 41

Hyde Amendment

Answer 41

a legislative provision that restricts the use of federal funds to pay for abortion services, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the pregnant person is at risk

Question 42

Roe v Wade

Answer 42

• access to abortion constitutionally protected
• terminating pregnancy falls under a women’s right to privacy