Race and American Democracy: Problems and Solutions

Session Submission Type: Featured Paper Panel: 30-minute Paper Presentations

Session Description

This panel presents and discusses three new or forthcoming books on race and American democracy. Each of the three books – The Great White Hope: Donald Trump, Race, and the Crisis of American Democracy by Chris Parker and Matt Barreto, Dangerously Divided: How Race Trumps Class in Shaping Who Loses in American Democracy by Zoltan Hajnal, and The Turnout Gap: Race, Ethnicity, and Political Inequality in a Diversifying America by Bernard Fraga – examines a different stage of the democratic process from who votes to who wins elections to who wins on policy. The Great White Hope explains the underlying foundations of our current political era. Dangerously Divided shows that outcomes in the current era are racially imbalanced and tend to favor white votes and white voices more than those of racial and ethnic minorities. The Turnout Gap seeks to offer a solution to that imbalance by explaining the factors that drive uneven turnout and identifying the steps that we could take to even participation.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 36: Elections and Voting Behavior

Individual Presentations

• The Great White Hope: Donald Trump, Race, and the Crisis of American Democracy - Christopher S. Parker, University of Washington; Matt A. Barreto, University of California, Los Angeles

• Dangerously Divided: Race Trumps Class in Shaping Who Wins in American Democracy - Zoltan L. Hajnal, University of California, San Diego

• Segregation by Design - Jessica Luce Trounstine, University of California, Merced

Chair

• Paul Frymer Princeton University

Discussants

• Paul Frymer Princeton University

• Taeku Lee University of California, Berkeley