The American (national) political tradition emphasizes three major strands of thought (Smith 1993, 1997). Grasping the importance, interrelationships, and potential tensions of these multiple traditions is central to understanding American politics, and perhaps especially so concerning issues of racial equality. This article first delineates the philosophical traditions as they are manifested in major research on American state politics. It then examines the consequences of those traditions, especially the two generally viewed as the most prominent in American politics—civic republicanism and liberalism—for several indicators of public policy that directly address racial equality. The evidence considered strongly suggests that research emerging from the two major traditions overlooks an important side of American politics, that concerning racial inequality (ascriptive hierarchy). Also, the argument underscores the importance of proper attention to multiple traditions, generally, and race, specifically, in American (state) politics.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Barker, Lucius J., and Katherine Tate. 2001. “The Dynamics of Race and Governance in American Politics,” paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, August 29-September 2, San Francisco.
2.
Brown, Robert D.1995. “Party Cleavages and Welfare Effort in the American States.”American Political Science Review89, 1 (March): 23-33.
3.
Dahl, Robert A.1996. “Equality versus Inequality.”Political Science29, 4 (December): 462-462.
4.
DuBois, W. E. B.c1935. Black Reconstruction. New York: Harcourt, Brace.
5.
Elazar, Daniel J. 1966, 1972, 1984. American Federalism: A View from the States, 1st ed.New York: Crowell.
6.
Ellis, Richard J.1993. American Political Culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
7.
Erikson, Robert S., Gerald C. Wright, and John P. McIver. 1993. Statehouse Democrac. New York: Cambridge University Press.
8.
Fitzpatrick, Jody L,. and Rodney E. Hero. 1988. “Political Culture and Political Characteristics of the American States: A Consideration of Some Old and New Questions.”Western Political Quarterly41, 1 (March): 145-153.
9.
Fording, Richard. 2001. “Political Response to Black Insurgency: A Critical Test of Competing Theories of the State.”American Political Science Review95, 1 (March): 115-130.
10.
Giles, Michael W., and Kaenan Hertz. 1994. “Racial Threat and Partisan Identification.”American Political Science Review88, 2 (June): 317-326.
11.
Ginsberg, Benjamin, Theodore Lowi, and Margaret Weir. 2001. We the People: An Introduction to American Politics, 3rd ed.New York: Norton.
12.
Gray, Virginia. 1996. “The Socioeconomic and Political Context of States.” In Virginia Gray and Herbert Jacob, eds., Politics in the American States, 6th ed., pp. 1-34. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press.
13.
Hanson, Russell L.1994. “Liberalism and the Course of American Social Welfare Policy.” In Lawrence C. Dodd and Calvin Jillson, eds., The Dynamics of American Politics, pp. 132-159. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
14.
Hartz, Louis. 1955. The Liberal Tradition in America. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
15.
Hero, Rodney E.1992. Latinos and the U.S. Political System: Two-tiered Pluralism. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
16.
Hero, Rodney E.1998. Faces of Inequality: Social Diversity in American Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
17.
Hero, Rodney E.2003. “Social Capital and Racial Inequality in America.”Perspectives on Politics. March, 1 (1): 113-122.
18.
Hero, Rodney E., and Caroline J. Tolbert. 1996. “A Racial/Ethnic Diversity Interpretation of Politics and Policy in the State of the U.S.”American Journal of Political Science40, 3 (August): 851-871.
19.
Hill, Kim Q.1994. Democracy in the Fifty States. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
20.
Howard, Christopher. 2001. “Racial Diversity and Social Policy in the American States,” paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, August 29-September 2, San Francisco.
21.
Jacoby, William G., and Saundra K. Schneider. 2001. “Variability in State Policy Priorities: An Empirical Analysis.”Journal of Politics63, 2 (May): 544-568.
22.
Johnson, Martin. 2001. “The Impact of Social Diversity and Racial Attitudes on Social Welfare Policy.”State Politics and Policy Quarterly1, 1 (Spring): 27-49.
23.
Key, V. O.1949. Southern Politics in State and Nation. New York: Knopf.
24.
Kinder, Donald R., and Tali Mendelberg. 1995. “Cracks in the American Apartheid: The Political Impact of Prejudice among Desegregated Whites.”Journal of Politics57, 2: 402-424.
25.
Lieske, Joel. 1993. “Regional Subcultures of the United States.”Journal of Politics55, 4 (November): 86-113.
26.
McIver, John P., Robert S. Erikson, and Gerald C. Wright. 2001. “Public Opinion and Public Policy in Temporal Perspective: A View from the States,” paper presented at the Conference on the Study of Politics in the American States, Texas A&M University, College Station, March 2-3.
27.
Meier, Kenneth, and Joseph Stewart, Jr.1991. The Politics of Hispanic Education. Albany: State University of New York Press.
28.
Meier, Kenneth, Joseph Stewart, Jr., and Robert England. 1989. Race, Class, and Education: The Politics of Second Generation Discrimination. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
29.
Myrdal, Gunnar. 1944. An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. New York: Harper.
30.
Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. 1986. Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1980s. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul
31.
Peterson, Paul E., and Mark C. Rom. 1990. Welfare Magnets: A New Case for a National Welfare Standard. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
32.
Preuhs, Robert R. 2001. “Representation Is Not Enough: The Limits and Possibilities of Minority Inclusion and Influence in Representative Policy-Making Bodies in the American States,” paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, August 29-September 2, San Francisco.
33.
Putnam, Robert D.2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Civic Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
34.
Radcliff, Benjamin, and Martin Saiz. 1995. “Race Turnout, and Public Policy in the American States.”Political Research Quarterly48, 4 (December): 775-794.
35.
Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
36.
Rawls, John. 1993. Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.
37.
Rice, Tom W., and Alexander F. Sumberg. 1997. “Civic Culture and Government Performance in the American States.”Publius: The Journal of Federalism27, 1 (Winter): 99-114.
38.
Smith, Rogers M.1993. “Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions in America.”American Political Science Review87, 3 (September): 549-566.
39.
Smith, Rogers M.1997. Civic Ideals: Conflicting Views of Citizenship in American History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
40.
Soss, Joe, Sanford F. Schram, Thomas P. Varanian, and Erin O’Brien. 2001. “Setting the Terms of Relief: Explaining State Policy Choices in the Devolution Revolution.”American Journal of Political Science45, 2 (April): 378-395.
41.
Taylor, Charles. 1994. Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition, edited and introduced by Amy Gutmann. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
42.
Tolbert, Caroline J., and Rodney E. Hero. 1996. “Race/Ethnicity and Direct Democracy: An Analysis of California’s Illegal Immigration Initiative.”Journal of Politics58, 3: 806-818.
43.
Wilson, James Q., and Edward C. Banafield. 1964. “Public Regardingness as a Value Premise in Voting Bahavior.”American Political Science Review58, 4 (December): 876-887.
