SOCI 210: Sociological perspectives

Agenda

  1. Administrative
  2. Discussing fatness
  3. Felon disenfranchisement
    (Uggen and Manza, 2002)
  4. Political participation
  5. Discussion: non-voting disenfranchisement

Administrative

Communication

  • I am behind on replying to messages (I was sick over the break), but I am catching up!

Sythesis essay 1

  • Final marks will be distributed this week
  • TA feedback is brief. For more detailed feedback please message me on Teams for a face-to-face discussion

Synthesis essay 2

  • Due next Wednesday at 11:59pm

Midterm grades soon!

Discussing fatness

March 19 reading

  • Coming Out as Fat: Rethinking Stigma
    (Saguy and Ward 2011)
  • Being fat is extremely stigmatized
  • Anti-fat stigma is often considered socially acceptable in ways that, e.g., anti-queer stigma is not
    (e.g. media, government, science, …)

Discussing fatness

  • Being fat is not a medical condition needing treatment, nor is it an indicator of poor health
  • Medicalized terms like 'obese' and normative words like 'overweight' should be avoided, as should euphamisms that try to avoid saying the word fat
  • Do not single out individual bodies for comment (celebrity or otherwise)
  • Trauma surrounding bodies is common — be sensitive in your Perusall comments and group discussions
  • Because of the sensitivity of these issues, I will be moderating the Persuall comments more closely than usual

Felon disenfranchisement

Democratic Contraction?
Political Consequences of Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States
(Uggen & Manza 2002)

  • What is the research question?
  • What is the theoretical framing?
  • What methods were used?
  • What are the findings?

Felon disenfranchisement

Felon disenfranchisement

Source: Wikimedia user Dashing24

Political partici­pation

Photo of protesters surrounding and on top of a large backhoe, most of their fists raised above their heads. A large banner hangs from the arm of the backhoe reading 'If you build it we will come' and 'Tar sands' with a red cross through it. A second banner is held by protesters on the ground, reading 'tar sands wreck our lands'.

Political participation

A line of people with their backs to the camera on a sidewalk. In the foreground, a diamond-shaped sign reads 'Vote Here' in four languages.

Many types of political participation

  • Voting
  • Direct participation
    E.g. running for office
  • Collective pressure
    E.g. committees and interest groups
  • Direct action
    E.g. strikes, occupations, marches,
    sabotage, service, …
  • Money
    E.g. campaigns, influence, bribery, …

Social categories matter

  • Associations between social identity and political ideals mean turnout influence outcomes
  • Non-participation widespread
  • Non-participation results from preferences and institutional barriers
    In US, most likely voters are wealthy, older, educated, employed, and white

Democratic will

Politics and social identity

  • Political ideals tend to correlate with social categories
  • Gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality, religion, …

E.g.: Democrat vs Republicans (US, 2016)

  • Republicans disproportionately:
    white, men, straight, protestant / evangelical Christian, upper or upper-middle class
  • Democrats disproportionately:
    non-white, women, LGBTQIA+, agnostic/atheist or Jewish, lower class
  • Black Americans ~20x more likely Democrat than Republican
Donald Trump in front of the US White House. His back is to the camera and hi arms are stretched wide. He is facing a crowd of a few dozen prominent Republicans who are exclusively white men.

Democratic will

Disenfranchisement

  • Commonly, certain groups are excluded from voting, either formally or informally.
  • Historically: race, gender, …
  • Currently: age, citizenship, criminal record, location, …
  • Suffrage: the legal right to vote

Informal means often limit electoral participation among certain groups

  • Literacy tests exploit correlation between education and political positions
  • Voter ID laws exploit correlation between socio-economic factors, race, and political positions
  • Polling place accessibility laws exploit correlation between ability/geography and political positions
  • Also applies to non-electoral participation
Torn, yellowed print showing a woman leaving the house to vote on election day while her distraught husband is left behind to tend to the children and house by himself. A plate has been broken, both children are crying and even the cat is in a panic. Hanging in a frame on the wall in the background: Votes for Women and written on a ballot in the bottom right hand corner: Hen Party: 'For President -- Mrs. Henry Peck -- Vice President -- Mrs. Wm. Nagg -- For Governor -- Mrs. Thos Katt.' Caption at the bottom says 'Election Day!'

Political participation

A line graph titled "Voter turnout in Canada (percent)" shows voter turnout in federal elections and referendums in Canada between 1960 and 2012. The x-axis displays the year, and the y-axis displays voter turnout as a percentage. The graph shows a general downward trend in voter turnout over the period, from a high of about 79% in 1961 to a low of about 59% in 2008 in 2015.

Political participation

A bar chart titled "Voter turnout as percentage of population, Canadian federal general election, 2019". The vertical axis ranges from 0 to 100 percent. Age gorup 18-24 has the lowest turnout of about 43%. The voting turnout increases with each age group until 65-74 with a turnout of about 75%.

Theories of political participation

Rational choice theory

  • Political economy
  • Voter decisions based on expected costs and benefits
  • Rational choice predicts extremely low voter turnout

Theories of socialization

  • Democratic participation is learned
  • Necessary to know the norms and procedures of political engagement
    Knowledge of government processes
    Engagement with politicians
    Sources of news
    Understanding of formal and informal voting practices

Structural barriers

  • Structural constraints can explain most patterns of voter turnout
  • Time
    Employment, family structure, access to transit
  • Geography
    Location of polls, rural versus urban setting, neighborhood
  • Language
    Ballots and instructions, get-out-the-vote initiatives

Alienation

  • Lack of trust in political institutions
  • Legitimacy of state in question
  • Voting as implicit endorsement of system of governance
    Non-participation as voice
  • Voter suppression
    Misinformation, unequal resources, districting patterns, voter intimidation
  • Structural barriers ➝ alienation

Discussion

Uggen and Manza (2002) discuss felony conviction as a major source of voter disenfranchisement in the United States. However, as we have just discussed, voting is only one form of political participation.


Consider another form of political participation (e.g. direct action, boycots, holding office, etc.) in the United States, Canada, or elsewhere, and discuss forms of explicit and implicit barriers to participation.

  • Individually: Spend 2-3 minutes thinking of one or two examples.
  • In pairs (or groups of 3): Discuss your examples. Try to complicate or expand on them!
  • As a class: Discuss a few examples.

Image credit

Photo of protesters surrounding and on top of a large backhoe, most of their fists raised above their heads. A large banner hangs from the arm of the backhoe reading 'If you build it we will come' and 'Tar sands' with a red cross through it. A second banner is held by protesters on the ground, reading 'tar sands wreck our lands'.

Image via sub.media

A line of people with their backs to the camera on a sidewalk. In the foreground, a diamond-shaped sign reads 'Vote Here' in four languages.

Photo: April Sikorski via Wikimedua

Donald Trump in front of the US White House. His back is to the camera and hi arms are stretched wide. He is facing a crowd of a few dozen prominent Republicans who are exclusively white men.

Photo: Politico via Getty

Torn, yellowed print showing a woman leaving the house to vote on election day while her distraught husband is left behind to tend to the children and house by himself. A plate has been broken, both children are crying and even the cat is in a panic. Hanging in a frame on the wall in the background: Votes for Women and written on a ballot in the bottom right hand corner: Hen Party: 'For President -- Mrs. Henry Peck -- Vice President -- Mrs. Wm. Nagg -- For Governor -- Mrs. Thos Katt.' Caption at the bottom says 'Election Day!'

Poster: E.W. Gustin via Library of Congress

Canada would look very different if, say, only women or only Francophones were permitted to vote

2021: 62.6%

Question: Which of these is closest to the framing used by Uggen and Manza?